Restaurant Review: The Kings Kitchen

So, as some of you may know, Graham & I were married on Saturday, April 23rd. He's deploying a LOT sooner than we expected, so we had a simple, VERY private ceremony with our parents. The big party is happening on Lake Norman on December 31, so keep those calendars open.

One of my absolute favorite things about Charlotte is the plentiful culinary options. Unlike Little Rock, it isn't a town of a handful of great restaurants. It is a huge city with enough amazing restaurants to keep you satisfied and challeneged for years. So narrowing down all of those places to just one was incredibly challenging. Especially since our families are quite traditional and not into the types of food we usually enjoy. Also, since it was a party of nine and Graham was planning on paying, I wanted something a little more budget friendly.

The Kings Kitchen was the answer to my prayers. The owner of the restaurant, Jim Noble, has a few other restaurants in Charlotte. I've eaten at one of them. Noble's, and it was fantastic. But a bit pricier than I wanted my new husband to have to deal with. I saw a link to The King's Kitchen, and after checking out the website, I was in love. The food was very southern, but I was immediately drawn to the salmon AND what they do for the community. So, I told Graham about it, made the reservation and anticipated a delicious meal.

After our short & sweet wedding, we headed downtown for dinner. We had reservations, but they weren't incredibly busy, so we probably would have been fine without one. We were seated quickly and our server greeted us promptly. He took our drink orders, came back and we ordered a few appetizers for the table. We ordered the deviled eggs & the pimento cheese. I can't comment on the pimento cheese, since I don't care for it, but the eggs were delicious. He also brought out two plates of biscuits with homemade strawberry jam and cornbread. Everyone raved about the cornbread. I had a biscuit with some jam and it was delicious, but nothing special.

The entrees came out quickly and everyone was more than pleased. I had the salmon with the pea risotto, which was fantastic. The salmon had a lime butter on top and the risotto was perfect. And the color was gorgeous and interesting. I was very pleased with the flavors of this dish (the salmon was some of the best I've ever had).

 

Several members of our table ordered the pot roast. I had a bite of Graham's and it melted in my mouth. I've never had a roast that was that tender and had such great flavor. My new mother in law had the fried flounder. I had a bite of that and it was incredible as well.

Everyone loved their side items (the mashed potatoes, creamed corn & macaroni and cheese were HUGE hits), and almost everyone was pleased with their entrees. My new brother in law ordered the fried chicken, and while it looked delicious, he said their was so much grease it actually became unappetizing the more he looked at it.

Other than the fried chicken, the dinner was a huge success, and a fantastic evening was had by all. And while I loved my delicious dinner, I love what the restaurant does for the community and that just makes me want to go there over and over again. Anyone in Charlotte needs to try it out.