Essex

Unfortunately last night's dinner left much to be desired. The service was rather lacking and the food was eh.

We started with the Shishito and Brussels. Sadly they were very misleading of the road. Had potential but fell flat. My wife had the eggplant flat bread. Also had potential but also fell flat. Just needed something to bring out the different flavours. It was also really salty. I have the ribeye and fingerling potatoes. The steak was on point, which sadly doesn't happen often! However the fingerling were ungodly salty! Lastly our server also left much to be desired. She was very nice but rather absent and didn't even bother to ask if we'd like anything else, dessert, nothing. Just brought the check. All in all the price for what was received alluded to better good and service, but alas.

Service was very, very slow....could not find our waiter most of the night, MIA. Food came out cold.

This place is a hidden gem and would be fun for date night. Pleasant atmosphere without being overly noisy and the food was excellent. Love the small plate style and have a nice variety of items to choose from to make sharing fun. Highly recommend starting with the Mediterranean dip trio served with a warm baguette.

Loved the mimosa bar. However, the juice decanters were not place high enough for the Champaign glasses! Had to tilt the glass to make the drink.

The food was not tasty, and it was overpriced. The staff never asked if we liked our meal quality. The short rib gnocchi was oily soup. It was disgusting, and other items were not filling. We tried the chicken schwarma which was both bland and somehow over-spiced with a odd, unappetizing spice combo that hurt our stomachs. $130 for a family of four for terrible food.

Great food and service. Suggestion- add a light above the hi-top near the front door. Very dark as is.

Attended their dinner buffet on Thanksgiving. It was phenomenal. Our waiter interacted with us an acceptable amount and was knowledgeable and friendly. Will definitely return again!

Food was great and

Food was good but portions were small for the cost. The ambiance was nice and our waitress was very attentive.

Absolutely one of the best restaurants I've been to in a bit. We had traveled from Virginia for a concert and we love to try new eats. We checked out the menus for several restaurants online, and settled on Essex. We were NOT disappointed! It was INCREDIBLE. The food is amazing, our server Jason was out of this world, and we left so full and happy! Thank you, Essex team!

The Short Rib Ravioli & the Fried Cauliflower were amazing!

Fantastic spot in uptown Charlotte. I've had both lunch and dinner here and you can't go wrong. Menu is diverse and expansive that should have something for everyone. Food was excellent. Flavors were great and execution was spot on. Definitely recommend.

Conveniently located in UpTown. Good bar scene and really good food choices.

I ordered fish taco and fries and my companion orders shrimp tacos and fries, the seafood was cold and the sauce/tortillas weren’t tasty

Food is delicious! Definitely get the bang bang grouper bites.

The food was amazing and our waiter was greatr

Not the best place to go if you want to have a conversation- it was SUPER loud even at 6pm. They were also out of a lot of items, including ALL flatbreads. Kind of disappointing so early in the evening that they’d be out of so many dishes. I was also dining with a gluten free friend, and the server had to ask the kitchen on everything - they’d save a lot of they just had a menu available upon request that indicated the major allergens. I’ll be back, but likely stick to lunch.

The food we were able to get was good but they were out of a lot of items. We arrived at 5:30 since we had theater tickets and they had no flatbreads, which is about a quarter of the menu.

The sound travels badly so it was hard to hear what people at the table were saying.

Great decor and location.

We have been to Essex 3 times. First time we sat down and after 10 minutes were never approached by a waiter and we left. Our second visit the tall waiter with the long beard was boring and a terrible server. Our third visit the waitress was just okay.

The menu is absolutely amazing. The food is my favorite in Charlotte. We love the comfy booths!

This is my favorite restaurant in Charlotte because of the location, atmosphere, and huge variety of food choices. The service is always excellent and the drinks and food are always exquisite. I’ve recommended this place to all of my friends & coworkers and they have nothing but great things to say about it

Essex has a really diversified menu and you can try a lot of great things they seem to do a good job with many different types of cuisine

The food was really awesome , specially the chicken shekwar kababs and butter chicken.

FOOD WAS INCREDIBLE. this place is amazing. highly recommend to everyone in charlotte!

Essex has every opportunity to be amazing on a night when it's not absolutely slammed. We were there on a wednesday night prior to an event at Spectrum Center. The place was jammed. The kitchen slammed. The bar running way behind. There was no time to reorder botched drink order, and we had to send back two menu items due to oversaltiness. They graciously removed the items from the bill.
On the positive side, the portions are ample, so the value per plate is great! Essex is best enjoyed with a party of at least four people to share the generous portions and sample the most dishes. The span of the menu is amazing and there is definitely plenty for every taste to choose from. The ambiance is wonderful but it can be LOUD! I look forward to returning with friends on a less busy evening.

One of our favorite places in our uptown neighborhood. Diverse menu for a variety of diet needs, generous portions for sharing, and food is always so good.

We’ve been to Essex numerous times before a show at Blumenthal. This was by far the worst experience we have had there. The three of us each ordered something different. All 3 dishes came out separately with too much time in between. Then my salad was made with shrimp instead of chicken so had to be redone. Upon digging through my beet salad I couldn’t find one caramelized pecan, Asian pear or shaved Parmesan. When I asked the server about it she became very rude. She tried to say that the pulverized dust on the plate was the pecans. 🙄 She took a whopping $4 off our bill. She didn’t offer to have manager talk to us.

My friends and I had an awesome experience. Given the lengthy menu, everyone commented on how excellent all the food was. Service was great and everyone is looking forward to going back. Only even better if is the outside of the restaurant, it could look better. That didn’t distract from our five star experience!!

Great meal before symphony concert. Recommend the bang bang grouper!

Dinner at Essex last night was the worst dining experience we’ve ever had.
Seated promptly by the hostess outside on the patio. Nice dining area.
Sitting invisible for a good 30 minutes without being acknowledged by the entire waitstaffs hurrying in and out of the dining area, even after flagging and stopping at least 4 servers to ask for service. We finally had to go inside to ask the hostess for help in locating our server. The hostess became aware of the problem and took charge taking our food and wine orders and, from then on multitasked between hostessing and serving us. TY, Allison for saving our evening.
The food was adequate, but not great, with some dishes unavailable at 7:45 pm.
Never encountered such horrible service at any good and reputable restaurant. Looks like Essex needs the presence of a responsible manager on hand to coordinate the service in the dining area and provide the waitstaffs a much needed continuing training course required by such an establishment
A Very Disappointing Dining Experience. We will NOT be returning nor recommending Essex to anyone wishing to have a memorable dining experience.

Unfortunately we did not have a good experience. First, hostess said she wasn’t sure there would be a table available , even though we had a reservation. I explained it was my friends birthday and we would wait. We waited about 20 minutes passed our reservation time. Next, we ordered bang bang grouper, lamb lollipops and a fresh market salad. Bang bang grouper and lamb lollipops came out at the same time and the SOGGY salad came out ONE hour later. Lamb lollipops were cold and flavor was not there. Since we were disappointed with the lamb lollipops, we tried ordering the ribeye and was told they ran out.

I’ve always been a fan of Essex, but the past few experiences leave me questioning on whether this establishment will survive. I live and work in uptown and can tell Essex is struggling.

Went to Essex twice in a 10 day spand. Both times, the food was very good, but the service was very slow and took forever to get drinks from the bar. It was not the servers fault, they were efficient and checked in often. It was just taking too long for the food to come out and when we reordered drinks from the bar, it took forever to receive them.

Everything was great but it is VERY loud, we could hardly hear our server. Food and drinks were on point though! Will def be back!

Brought out of town guests here and was extremely disappointed. Asked to sit outside, sat there for 15 minutes and were never acknowledged. Moved inside and was acknowledged quickly, but server was very unhelpful - couldn't explain what was meant to share and what wasn't, when the bottle of wine we ordered was out, didn't offer any help whatsoever to chose a new one... The prices here are super deceiving for what is claimed as a "tapas" restaurant. Out of all the dishes we ordered, each of them was a full meal - our server suggested ordering two per person, which is an insane recommendation. We never saw our server throughout the entire dinner. The fastest she moved all night was to pick up our credit cards at the end. Food was overall fine, not great - everyone was overall disappointed. Would not recommend this place, and will not be returning. This was all before they added gratuity to our bill for literally no reason (we were not a party of 6+). 100% seemed like our waitress was hoping we would not notice it and double tip her.

They were out of a lot of menu items. My friend tried to order 3 or 4 different things and the server said they were out...surprising for a Sat night. The server was incredibly slow and rarely came to check on us, except when she brought us the bill...then she came over multiple times in a very short span to see if we put our cards down yet and tried to clear my plate while I was still eating and had half my meal still on it.

I love Essex. This was my third visit in a month and I was impressed as always by the variety and quality!

Great food!

soooo loud!!!! no way to converse!!!
our unit was in the weeds so bad. thought it would help to turn in a few food items along with our first round drinks to help. got food before we ever got first drink.
really bad service. she was nice but just could not keep up.

We sat outside and really enjoyed the patio. The falafel and the hummus plates were both very good and I have had them several times - they are always constantly good!

Food and service were good. Unfortunately, there was a large table of very loud people sitting very close that made it impossible for us to have any conversation with those at our table. Pretty much ruined our ability to talk with/hear each other

Allison greeted me and my family at the door. She knew who we were which made the occasion very special. She set us up at a nice booth and my family really enjoyed the food and the experience. The server seemed preoccupied and slightly disorganized. I would suggest that he slow down when explaining the menu to first time guests. However, I would recommend this place to others