I had the opportunity to attend the soft opening for Vida Mexican Kitchen y Cantina, a new restaurant located at the Epicentre in Uptown Charlotte on Saturday night. I’ve never been to a soft opening or first look celebration before so I was excited to check it out before the public.
When we walked in, a server was right there to fetch a drink for us and asked what we would like. I figured since it is a Mexican place, they had to have good margaritas so I ordered once and he asked what kind and I was at a loss. I asked him what he recommended and he said The Millionaire’s Margarita—” a handmade margarita with corzo blanco tequila, gran marnier and freshly squeezed lime juice served on the rocks”. That sounded like a perfect way to start the evening so we opted for that and he told us he would find us so off we went to find a table in the bar area.
I absolutely loved the atmosphere–very modern and swanky with a touch of old school Mexican influence. The music was pumping but not so loud you couldn’t hear anything and for a minute I could’ve sworn I wasn’t in Charlotte (a good thing). I felt like I was in a big city restaurant or lounge so I am happy to see we now have something like that.
They had what looked like comfortable booths on the left and the bar area to the right along with the patio and upstairs area. We found a table right near the window in the bar area and another server promptly greeted us with hors d’oeuvres
Shrimp Ceviche
Mushroom quesadilla, braised beef and shrimp ceviche
The server found us and brought us our Millionaire Margarita
The verdict?
We went to check out their patio, which is absolutely beautiful and spacious. I can see myself sitting on the patio enjoying a margarita or mojito in the near future. This place is located smack dab in the middle of Uptown Charlotte right across from the Bank of America headquarters and across from the Ritz Carlton so there is a lot going on. Oh and I didn’t mention how the Lady Gaga concert was going on down the block that night did I? Let’s just say it was absolutely AMAZING people watching. I can’t believe how balls to the walls people go out to dress up like her….from high school girls who looked like street walkers to 40 something year old woman who *may* have looked like trannie’s. Good times.
Give me the green light…………
After that we went back inside to flag down a server for another drink. We found one but we think she forgot about us and at that time they were unveiling the Skinny Margarita. They brought out the Skinny Margarita girls and they were very excited about toasting to the new Skinny Margarita yet no one passed out Skinny Margarita’s so I was a bit confused on how we were supposed to toast to it? W e ventured upstairs to try the guacamole bar that we kept hearing about after that. The upstairs area is more of a bar/lounge area but cleared out of furniture for the night so I’m not sure what it will look like when they open.
Ok. Let’s talk guacamole for a minute shall we? I’ve had lots of guacamole in my 30 years on this planet. I don’t allow myself to make it at home since I can down an entire bowl in one sitting so when I see guacamole when out, I get happy. This was some of the best guacamole I’ve ever ran across. It was rich, creamy with a hint of spice with fresh tomatoes. When we got to the guacamole bar, it was almost empty and the guy (Guacamole extraordinare?) told us he would be making some soon so we took what we could get in the almost empty bowl. When I saw him making a new batch, I was tempted to steal the bowl and run outta there. Again, another thing that entices me to go back there again.
One of the servers brought us some flan for a closing taste of their food. I like the taste of flan but I am not a huge fan of the texture but it was damn tasty.
View from the top
All in all, I had a spectacular time. I have a feeling this place will do very well with its location, menu and service. The best I could describe it is authentic Mexican food with a modern twist in a trendy setting
Simply Shaka 