amwosu

DS (18 yr old h.s. senior) is involved in Carolina Crown Drum Corp. in Fort Mill, SC so he flies to Charlotte once a month for practice. Never one to turn down an opportunity/excuse to travel, I've decided to go with him for the May practice weekend.

We'll be in Charlotte for one day before practice begins so I'm looking for advice on things we might do and restaurants close to our hotel. I pricelined for a 4* and got the Omni which gets poor reviews on tripadvisor but I won't complain for $65 and a good location.

I thought we might go to Discovery Place (2 blocks from the hotel) to see an IMAX movie, view the Dead Sea Scrolls and do a quick run thru of the other exhibits. I thought about lunch at Mert's but we'll probably be at Discovery Place at that time of day.

leahinsc

Husband and 8 yr old just went to Discovery Place this past Sat. - said tx for Dead Sea Scrolls were sold out weeks ahead. This place is more for very young kids otherwise. for 18 yr old I'd check and see what exhibits Mint Museum has or if he's into high end malls - South Park Mall.

Gretchen

You need to order your DSS tickets now. It is time sensitive that day also--you need to be there 30 minutes in advance, enter. Then you can spend as much time as you want--but it is about an hour. There is an extensive gift shop connected to it also. Discovery Place can also be good for his age. There may be a Knights baseball game that night--it is in Ft. Mill.
Lots of good places to eat uptown. Mert's is interesting but the food can be pretty uneven.
There's a Chinese bistro style restaurant right across from Mert's that is good and reasonable. There is a Brixx pizza place on 6th street near College.

Brian_in_Charlotte

I agree that Discovery Place exhibits will bore an 18 year old, but IMAX is a good idea (you can buy tickets for the IMAX without paying for the rest of the museum.

Omni is a great location - you can easily walk to lots of restaurants. I like Blue and Zink for a nice night out or Brixx for more casual, very good pizza.

Gretchen

Blue may be the best restaurant in Charlotte.

Gretchen

Actually the best may be Zebra, but Blue is right up there.

SAnParis

Blue also turns into quite the bar scene later in the evening (something you may want to avoid). Luce (for Italian) & Monticello (in the Dunhill)will both be much more relaxed & diners only if you want to go 'top-shelf' for dinner. For pizza, Brixx or Fuel.

amwosu

Thanks everyone! We're all about upscale restaurants and I don't mind him seeing the bar scene with me so I appreciate the input on restaurants in the area.

Thanks for the info on Discovery Place. We're not shoppers and I dated a college/minor league/pro baseball player too long to like going to games. Yuck.

We obviously would swing thru most exhibits at DP but I am a Physical Education teacher and am interested in the heart and eyeball exhibit for ideas for my fitness and health lessons.

I did see that ticketmaster sells tix for the Dead Sea Scroll Exhibit so I better check out what times are available.

I have a friend who has done computer graphics for IMAX movies and DS is going to college for computer engineering so we're both into the IMAX stuff.

amwosu

Just made late dinner reservations at Blue via opentable.com. Anyone have suggestions for menu items I just gotta try?

Gretchen

Anything will be delicious. They have specials. I had a Mediterranean sea bass that was delicious. I would go with one of their specials. VERY good stuff.

Gretchen

The interesting thing about Blue is that it is billed as a "Mediterranean" restaurant. My usual categorization of that is French or Italian. But they take in all the countries of the Med--so you have Moroccan, Greek, etc. Really good--and GREAT service.

amwosu

My mouth is watering already! Loved getting onto their website and checking out the decor and menu. I haven't checked out Zebra because I didn't see it on opentable and I noticed Blue is very close to our hotel. I'll have to try Zebra on another trip.

Gretchen

Zebra is out near South Park--a really beautiful restaurant. The chef/owner used to be the chef at our club--THOSE were the days!!! He is terrific.

amwosu

Just got the tix for the DSS exhibit too. Looks like a promising little visit.

Gretchen

We are going tomorrow.

Gretchen

One reason Discovery Place got this exhibit is that they agreed to build a new exhibit for it--and have the expertise to do it. It was VERY costly.
After it leaves Charlotte, it will go to Seattle. Each artifact travels in a first class seat with two attendants. And the exact time of the arrival is not known until the last minute. It is a fascinating story.

woodsters

Not sure on the Omni, but I know that that where I work at, uses the Omni for it's visitors. You will enjoy Uptown Charlotte. There is a lot to see within a few blocks. Make sure you get a map of the city. You can see one at http://www.charlottecentercity.org or call the number on there and they will send you one. There's also a lot of other info about center city there. Hope you enjoy your trip! Feel free to email with any questions you may have about the city.

Brian

amwosu

woodsters- thanks for the website!

Gretchen- how was the DSS exhibit?

Blue just canceled my dinner reservation as they sold out for a private function that evening. Back to the drawing board.

I'm tempted by Zebra but think I'll stick to the immediate area of the hotel as we are arriving in town late and dinner will be late for us.

Brian_in_Charlotte

I agree - stay downtown - Zebra is a 20 minute drive.

Other options: Sonoma - within a block of Omni (www.sonomarestaurants.com) or Town - a decent walk from Omni (www.dineattown.com) or Arpa - a couple blocks from Omni (www.arpawinebar.com).

Gretchen

The Dead Sea Scrolls exhibit was awesome in the TRUE and not overused sense of that word.
If you have time do go to Zebra at some point.
MOnticello, in the Hotel Dunhill, is doing menus with some connection to the DSS. A portion of the menu price is also donated to Discovery Place. I'm not sure if this is for lunch only or for both meals.