Charlotte, N.C. - July 22, 2024
Stopped at Mert’s Heart and Soul while passing through Charlotte. Definitely worth the stop. Located near downtown, we had a 10 minute wait for a table to open at 2pm on a Saturday! That should tell you it’s good. While we dined a steady stream of customers kept coming in. Also a good sign.
Located near the Performing Arts district, the walls are adorned with autographed show posters from what we imagine were many, many cast parties over Mert’s 25* years in business.
The red walls are also covered with photos of great black American musicians and artists. Mert’s many food awards are casually placed arounnd the room as well.
The menu has a great variety of southern and soul food staples. While hard to choose, I knew I had come for a traditional “Meat & Three”.
We started with the Soul Roll appetizer and it was a hit! Greens, black eyed peas, and diced chicken all wrapped in an egg roll wrapper, deep fried, and topped with a delicious house made mustard bbq sauce. Definitely a unique, delicious, must try.
Their “Famous” cornbread was fantastic! The cornbread was moist and slightly dense. Served as a little individual loaf for each person, they arrived steaming hot. That helps instantly melt the butter provided with them. I wish I had thought to ask for some honey. That would have really set it off.
I had FA fried chicken leg 1/4, greens, and red beans. The fried chicken was very good. Moist with a nice crispy skin. I have high expectations when it comes to fried chicken in the south. This was very good but I was hoping for a little more.
The greens were great as well. They advertise that they come topped with diced tomato and onion. Not sure why. They didn’t add anything to the dish. But unlike a lot of places, the greens where wide cut squares. Not super chopped/minced. These greens where closer to how I make mine.
The red beans were sort of closer to a baked bean style but not nearly as sweet as baked beans. Sort of hard to describe the preparation.
My wife opted for the “Famous” Salmon cakes, grits, and slaw. The Salmon cakes were awesome! Fluffy and moist might be a good description. I definitely would order them again.
The grits were delicious. They were the larger grain type of yellow grits so they had that bite that you would expect. Really good.
I didn’t try the slaw. My wife said it was very saucy for her tastes. It appeared that the cabbage was finely chopped and I didn’t see any carrot, etc. She is a slaw aficionado and she was not overly enthused with their slaw.
Beverages we stuck with southern lunch staples. I had Cheerwine because it was from the fountain. My wife had sweet tea and the kids had lemonade.
Both the sweet tea and lemonade appeared to be house made. The servers refilled them from a plastic gallon pitcher. Exactly the type of pitcher you, your mama, and your grandma have in their fridge. 😆❤️
On the whole, Mert’s was worth the side trip. Highly recommend. On a scale of 1-5 Salmon Cakes I’d give them 4 1/2 Salmon Cakes.
My kind of joint!