Dining Out: Cafe 49
Since Cafe 49 opened several months ago just acrossed the street from my office in Lake Wylie, I have become a regular. The food is almost always excellent and today was no exception. If you are looking a family restaurant with a home-cooking type theme - I would highly recommend it.
I ordered a grilled pork chop and had 3 vegetables - okra and tomatoes, green beans, and fried okra with sweet tea. The pork chop was extra tender and juicy and was grilled to perfection. All of the vegetables were great today. The fried okra almost always comes out hot and crispy. The green beans are some of the best I have ever had at a restaurant and the okra and tomatoes were bursting with flavor. The sweet tea is some of the best around as well.
In the short time they have been open, I have probably eaten there 20-25 times. I usually go for lunch as it is so close to the office, but have also been to breakfast and dinner as well.
The wait staff is always friendly and doesn’t seem to have turned over very much since their initial crew which gives is a consistent “hometown” kind of feel. You will most likely be reading many review on Cafe 49, as you can see that I go there a lot.
Tags: American, Charlotte, Lake Wylie
June 4th, 2008 at 7:10 pm
I have eaten at Cafe 49 on a couple of occasions previously and it was pretty good (home-cooking wise). I was glad there was somewhere else for us to eat in this area. But yesterday, I went with my kids at about 2 in the afternoon for a late lunch. There were only a few other tables there. (Though not the resturaunt’s fault) there was a man with his friend in the booth behind us and the man was talking very loud, then got on his cell phone very loudly and explained in about 40 different ways to some lady’s receptionist and then to the actual lady how he was ‘almost finished here’ and would see her in a few, blah blah, blah. He was HIGHLY annoying and rude to the other customers. I think he thought we gave a rats what he did for a living or that he had somewhere to be.
I looked at his shirt when we left, he was with some safety building company or something, but darn, could he not respect other diners? We could not talk or even think to ourselves the entire time because of this one mouth out of the other 20 or so people in the room. It was not unlike the many (sorry northern friends, but this is a pet peeve of your less abrasive, more genteel neighbors to the south) rude yankees one encounters while on a nice family vacation that thinks everyone within a 500 sf radius of his breakfast table wants to know how much he made last year and what he is buying next.
At any rate, I was soooo disappointed with the food yesterday. I am eating light right now so I had chicken salad on wheat, and it was awful - the sweet relish ruined it beyond repair. It laid on my stomach for hours and I was afraid it would make me sick. I had a side of spinich that was very overcooked and in a brownish pool of water (not vinegar), hadn’t even been drained at all. It was very disgusting. My daughter had spaghetti and meatballs (kid menu) and it was greasy and not very appetizing. My son had a chicken sandwich that looked okay, but the ketchup they brought for his fries was in an obviously VERY old bottle and tasted absolutely putrid.
When we were ready for the check, there was no waitress in the dining room for at least 15 minutes or more - and again, there were about three other tables. Maybe this was just a one time bad deal, but usually when that happens I don’t return, for fear of wasting another nice meal. They really don’t need to start being slack with the food now, it was nice to have another place to eat. Unfortunately, I think they just lost this customer.
I wish them luck and much improvement.
June 4th, 2008 at 8:13 pm
Wow. I am sorry to hear about your unfortunate visit. I have probably been there 30-40 times (it is right acrossed the street from my office), and I have never had it this bad. Between vacation and everything I have not been in a few weeks. Hopefully, they are not going downhill. I have not had any of the stuff you mentioned though. I may have had a chicken sandwich at some point, but do not remember for sure.
Also, have never had the problem getting a waitress. Usually they are all over the place.
Thanks!