Albertine Restaurant Charlotte – A Mediterranean Gem Uptown

For this month’s culinary adventure, we had the opportunity to dine at Albertine with our good friends Paul and Melissa, perennial guest stars for Fagan Foodie Reviews. Albertine is the latest concept in the well-known award-winning Kindred restaurant group. Each February, it has become an annual tradition to celebrate Beth and Melissa’s birthday with a night out of delicious dining. 

Located in the Duke Energy Building in Uptown Charlotte, Albertine offers Mediterranean cuisine with a southern flair.  Stepping into the restaurant, we were met with grand ceilings and full bar made from marble, and expensive finishes.   It reminded me of the high-end luxury casino hotels, like the Bellagio, Wynn, or The Venetian.  

Appetizers at Albertine

We started off with several small dishes from their Meze (appetizer) section of the menu 

The hummus was a unique flavor, which was made from SC black-eyed peas with marjoram oil.  We also had the deviled taramasalata made with NC tuna & labneh spread, whipped feta with marjoram oil and sumac, green shug, and pickled cauliflower. Other than the cauliflower, everything else was made for dipping, for which they provided several vegetables and delicious fresh warm bread.  We all agreed that the appetizers were outstanding, and you could easily make a meal from these alone.

Our sommelier was very attentive, even noticing when Paul was looking at the wine list - he came over to see if we needed help.

Entrees at Albertine

Paul ordered the smoked game bird, which was a guinea foul in a mix of wood-grilled vegetables. The sauce was hearty and made this a great cold-weather dish. He loved it.

I got the game bird stuffed in a cappelletti pasta - similar sauce to Paul’s - another good cold-weather dish.  I liked it but didn't love it.  I had wanted to get the tile fish but since Beth wanted to get it, I decided to try something else for the sake of our review.

Beth chose the tile fish with wilted/wood-charred greens.  Unfortunately, the fish was way overcooked to the point that the fish was quite tough.  Beth rarely likes to send something back, but I never hesitate at a place at a higher price point.  They brought her another dish, but it took so long that the rest of us had finished our meals.   This should not have happened.   They should have put her order at the front of the line.  They tried to make it right by comping us for her meal.  

Melissa went with the rock crab mafaldine.  She was interested in this because of the crab in a creme fraiche and the aleppo pepper, which should have added a bit of heat.  But as it turned out, the dish tasted more like a heavy alfredo sauce.  And if there was any aleppo pepper in there, none of us could taste it.  

Desserts at Albertine

We ended up going with the knafeh cheesecake which was a persimmon creme anglaise, katafi, pistachio, and browned butter. We also got Wood-grilled milkbread babka with date caramel, nutella, amontillado sherry & labneh ice cream.  I had never milkbread before. It’s soft, almost spongy texture and sweet taste was amazing.  And being wood-grilled, it has a slightly charred outside which played off the sweetness of the dish.  These were two of the best desserts that we’ve had in Charlotte recently.  Also, one important thing to note is that dessert portions were quite large and very shareable.

Conclusion

At the price point of around $100/person we felt like the experience and the treat of going Uptown was worth it.  When Beth and I talked the next day, we are torn about whether we would go back.  If we did, I might just get several of the appetizers, because the atmosphere and the service, other than the issue with Beth’s meal, was quite good.    As we have said before, there are so many amazing restaurants in the area that we like (Restaurant Constance being our current favorite), that it’s hard to think about committing a night out to Albertine again.  That being said, we would recommend that you try it if the menu looks good to you.