CLT Eats – A Charlotte Restaurant Review

M5 Modern Mediterranean is a rather upscale Harper’s concept located on the grounds of South Park Mall two doors down from the Counter. It’s been open for a while but I’ve just recently gotten around to getting over there to check it out. I have been a fan of Harper’s restaurant for many years and have come to expect good things from them, even if my experience with all of there offerings haven’t been the best.

The atmosphere of this restaurant is very contemporary and has a trendy club feel to it. In addition to the large indoor dining area there’s a very large outdoor dining patio, which is were I dined. I typically don’t enjoy dining outside but the weather was quite comfortable despite a slight chance of threatening to rain. Fortunately there are large umbrellas dotting the patio that will suffice through a brief sprinkle although we didn’t end up needing them. There are also some oddly glowing cubes lining the patio wall. Not sure what that’s about.

My appetizer selection is fairly predictable and if Calamari is available I have a hard time resisting. Temptation was too much for me again on this occasion as was the lure of a Mac & Cheese entree. How can you say no to a Mac & Cheese entree? That would be un-American! Anyway, back to business. How was the food? Pretty good. The Calamari was solid and the Mac & Cheese was solid too. Neither were over the top but they both were solidly rock’n. I was almost tempted away from the Mac & Cheese by the Prosciutto PIzza. I’d had it at Harper’s when they were trying out some of the soon to be M5 menu options as specials. It was over the top good when I had it at Harper’s. I can only assume it’s as good here at M5. Service was reasonably good as well. There were no issues to speak of but I can’t call it rock star level service either.

Pros

• Good Food
• Good Service
• Excellent Atmosphere (even though I’m not into the uppity club vibe thing)

Cons

• A little on the pricey side
• A little on the uppity side

Rating: Recommended