As Charlotte’s second-largest migrant group, South Central Asians can now rely on numerous grocery and cuisine options around the Queen City. For everyone else, Charlotteans can benefit gastronomically from said cultural footprint, with menus representing India’s culinary diversity across regions.
Here are 12 spots to grab crispy dosas, fluffy naans, savory chaats, tart masalas, creamy makhanis, and spicy vindaloos.
Restaurants are listed geographically from north to south.
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Eater maps are curated by editors and aim to reflect a diversity of neighborhoods, cuisines, and prices. Learn more about our editorial process.
In the back of this Indian supermarket grocery chain is a counter-serve kitchen and small dining area, with surprisingly tasty offerings to quickly satisfy your tastebuds for breakfast dosas and butter chicken. Don’t forget to grab a few cake slices from the front dessert case as you head out.
A northern Indian and Nepali spot close to the university area, Sarangi offers popular options like a delectable chole bhatura (chickpea curry) pastry and even a Nepalese chow mein, along with momos (dumplings), tandoori, soothing lentil daals, and a variety of fresh and pipping hot naans. A new weekday lunch menu starts at $10.
Though officially a Pakistani restaurant, this bright, consistently busy spot on the top floor of McCullough Commons shopping center in the university area offers Indian flavors among kababs, tikkas, and paneers that always hit and never miss, and are served with sides of plump, yellow Afghan rice. Grab a booth or sit comfortably in the ample dining room, which also offers a lunch buffet.
This longtime, casual chain is a solid bang for your buck. Generous portions of the popular korma, chicken 65, chana masala, and bhindi masala, along with veg momo and samosa chaat will satisfy any hankering. You can also customize your desired spice level on a heat scale from one to ten. Four Charlotte locations range in elegance, for example, from the South Boulevard outpost that took over the Pizza Hut with bars on the windows, to the refined counter service option in Uptown’s Monarch Market food hall, to a new location in Matthews.
This Asheville import occupies a huge back section of Optimist Hall — easily missed if you don’t know it’s there or were tempted too soon by earlier eateries along the way. While wings and sliders aren’t traditionally Indian, the crispy, street-style MG Road Wings and scrumptious lamb sliders offer an Indian Persian, or Parsi take. Tikka wraps, kababs, and recently added rice bowls are also on the menu, and all for around $15 per person. Order at the counter and then take a seat in the ample dining area adorned with nostalgic Bollywood posters that evoke chef Meherwan Irani’s childhood vibe.
This quaint Indian-Nepali restaurant is at the back of a strip mall opposite Atrium Health Medical Plaza in Pineville. It offers fast counter-serve or online ordering options for vindaloos, sag, rogan josh, and a chicken chilly fry (like chicken 65). It also serves many Chinese-style hakka noodles and momos (think dumplings). Carry-out and pick-up are preferred, as the small dine-in area may not comfortably accommodate families or large groups.
A vegetarian and vegan restaurant just over the railroad tracks in Pineville toward Fort Mill, this unassuming spot offers well-flavored, ample dosas stuffed with potatoes and spices, along with chaat specials served on grooved metal trays that resemble thali, where you get to try many things at once. After ordering from the counter, skip the stuffy dining room and head outside under street-facing, covered dining tables.
True to its name, you’ll find joy in ample and perfectly spiced portions of chicken, veg, or paneer biryani along with other traditional favorites like tandoori, saag, vindaloo, and rojan josh, and even Indian Chinese offerings like hakka noodles and a crispy, tangy chicken 65, better known as India’s General Tso’s. A recently expanded dining room is pleasant enough, but much of its brisk business seems to be from carry-out or catering orders.
Nestled behind Eggspectation in Ballantyne Village, come for an upscale but decidedly unpretentious ambience where you’ll find dimmed lights, artistic room dividers, friendly waitstaff, and fast service. Express lunch entrees are around $18, and dinner tops out around $21 per person, including longtime faves like a velvety chicken makhani (aka butter chicken), traditional kormas, tikkas, and plentiful veg options.
Vegetarians and vegans are the star patrons here at this Ballantyne establishment near Stonecrest. Delight in street foods like chaat, mostly bite-sized rice crackers or puff pastry offerings like a savoury Punjabi aloo samosa or Bombay vada pav (potato fritter in a bun). Or choose from dosas, which are large, thin, lightly crispy crepes typically made of rice and lentils. However, millet (ragi dosa) and semolina (rava dosa) varieties are also here, with most menu items under $15.
A samosa or crispy veg pakoda, chicken biryani, and multiple curry options like korma, tikka masala, Nepalese gorkha, butter, ticks all the boxes, along with diverse protein options including tofu, paneer, chicken, lamb, goat, or shrimp at this bright, remote Wesley Chapel spot with a full wine menu. Pick from dishes between $15 and $20, and don’t forget the gulab jamun dessert (small, sticky fried dough circles in syrup).
Recently opened in South Charlotte, this half-grocery, half-eatery franchise is settling in after overcoming its launch and growing pains. An extensive menu of all the traditional favorites is available; however, most popular among groups and families is a large three- or four-person chicken, mutton, or bahubali mandi, which is served in an impressive oversized flat wok of biryani with meats on top.
In the back of this Indian supermarket grocery chain is a counter-serve kitchen and small dining area, with surprisingly tasty offerings to quickly satisfy your tastebuds for breakfast dosas and butter chicken. Don’t forget to grab a few cake slices from the front dessert case as you head out.
A northern Indian and Nepali spot close to the university area, Sarangi offers popular options like a delectable chole bhatura (chickpea curry) pastry and even a Nepalese chow mein, along with momos (dumplings), tandoori, soothing lentil daals, and a variety of fresh and pipping hot naans. A new weekday lunch menu starts at $10.
Though officially a Pakistani restaurant, this bright, consistently busy spot on the top floor of McCullough Commons shopping center in the university area offers Indian flavors among kababs, tikkas, and paneers that always hit and never miss, and are served with sides of plump, yellow Afghan rice. Grab a booth or sit comfortably in the ample dining room, which also offers a lunch buffet.
This longtime, casual chain is a solid bang for your buck. Generous portions of the popular korma, chicken 65, chana masala, and bhindi masala, along with veg momo and samosa chaat will satisfy any hankering. You can also customize your desired spice level on a heat scale from one to ten. Four Charlotte locations range in elegance, for example, from the South Boulevard outpost that took over the Pizza Hut with bars on the windows, to the refined counter service option in Uptown’s Monarch Market food hall, to a new location in Matthews.
This Asheville import occupies a huge back section of Optimist Hall — easily missed if you don’t know it’s there or were tempted too soon by earlier eateries along the way. While wings and sliders aren’t traditionally Indian, the crispy, street-style MG Road Wings and scrumptious lamb sliders offer an Indian Persian, or Parsi take. Tikka wraps, kababs, and recently added rice bowls are also on the menu, and all for around $15 per person. Order at the counter and then take a seat in the ample dining area adorned with nostalgic Bollywood posters that evoke chef Meherwan Irani’s childhood vibe.
This quaint Indian-Nepali restaurant is at the back of a strip mall opposite Atrium Health Medical Plaza in Pineville. It offers fast counter-serve or online ordering options for vindaloos, sag, rogan josh, and a chicken chilly fry (like chicken 65). It also serves many Chinese-style hakka noodles and momos (think dumplings). Carry-out and pick-up are preferred, as the small dine-in area may not comfortably accommodate families or large groups.
A vegetarian and vegan restaurant just over the railroad tracks in Pineville toward Fort Mill, this unassuming spot offers well-flavored, ample dosas stuffed with potatoes and spices, along with chaat specials served on grooved metal trays that resemble thali, where you get to try many things at once. After ordering from the counter, skip the stuffy dining room and head outside under street-facing, covered dining tables.
True to its name, you’ll find joy in ample and perfectly spiced portions of chicken, veg, or paneer biryani along with other traditional favorites like tandoori, saag, vindaloo, and rojan josh, and even Indian Chinese offerings like hakka noodles and a crispy, tangy chicken 65, better known as India’s General Tso’s. A recently expanded dining room is pleasant enough, but much of its brisk business seems to be from carry-out or catering orders.
Nestled behind Eggspectation in Ballantyne Village, come for an upscale but decidedly unpretentious ambience where you’ll find dimmed lights, artistic room dividers, friendly waitstaff, and fast service. Express lunch entrees are around $18, and dinner tops out around $21 per person, including longtime faves like a velvety chicken makhani (aka butter chicken), traditional kormas, tikkas, and plentiful veg options.
Vegetarians and vegans are the star patrons here at this Ballantyne establishment near Stonecrest. Delight in street foods like chaat, mostly bite-sized rice crackers or puff pastry offerings like a savoury Punjabi aloo samosa or Bombay vada pav (potato fritter in a bun). Or choose from dosas, which are large, thin, lightly crispy crepes typically made of rice and lentils. However, millet (ragi dosa) and semolina (rava dosa) varieties are also here, with most menu items under $15.
A samosa or crispy veg pakoda, chicken biryani, and multiple curry options like korma, tikka masala, Nepalese gorkha, butter, ticks all the boxes, along with diverse protein options including tofu, paneer, chicken, lamb, goat, or shrimp at this bright, remote Wesley Chapel spot with a full wine menu. Pick from dishes between $15 and $20, and don’t forget the gulab jamun dessert (small, sticky fried dough circles in syrup).
Recently opened in South Charlotte, this half-grocery, half-eatery franchise is settling in after overcoming its launch and growing pains. An extensive menu of all the traditional favorites is available; however, most popular among groups and families is a large three- or four-person chicken, mutton, or bahubali mandi, which is served in an impressive oversized flat wok of biryani with meats on top.