Charlotte, NC
For Cuban in Charlotte, the local food press points to El Puro Cuban Restaurant, Calle Sol Latin Café & Cevicheria, and Suárez Bakery. Picks from Axios Charlotte and Charlotte Magazine, updated July 2026.
Editor’s picks
Press picks, until locals rank their own Top 5s. Sourced from the local food press. As seen in Axios Charlotte and Charlotte Magazine. Updated July 2026.
El Puro Cuban Restaurant · Madison Park
A dining room at 5033 South Boulevard built to look like 1950s Havana, with live music six nights a week and a walk-up ventanita for a Cuban sandwich and a cortadito. Ropa vieja over congri is the plate to order, and the family behind it also runs Havana Carolina out in Concord.
Calle Sol Latin Café & Cevicheria · Plaza Midwood
A Latin cafe and cevicheria at 1205 Thomas Avenue that serves the Cuban sandwich two ways, the Miami build and the Tampa build, the Tampa one carrying Genoa salami. Ceviche, arepas and a long rum list round it out, and the Plaza Midwood room is the original of the two.
Suárez Bakery · Park Road
A bakery with Cuban roots reaching back to the early 1990s, now in Park Road Shopping Center with a bar attached. Croquetas, pastelitos and Cuban sandwiches come out of the same kitchen as the hand-iced cookies the shop built its name on, and the espresso is pulled the way it should be.
Havana Carolina Restaurant & Bar · Concord
The Cuban family kitchen behind El Puro, at 11 Union Street South in downtown Concord, half an hour up from Uptown. Live bands play Friday and Saturday nights, the mojitos come fast, and the menu holds to the same lechon, ropa vieja and plantains that made the Charlotte room work.
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