Background:
Oh, littleSpoon. You let us down time and time again, yet we keep coming back for more. Back in the early days of littleSpoon’s Myers Park tenure, the food was inventive, fun, and—most importantly—delicious. It even made our Best Restaurants list back in the summer of 2016. Lately, however, it’s been a different story.
The food is often inconsistent, and the service disappoints a majority of the time (that’s been true from day one, unfortunately). But when littleSpoon’s food shines, it really shines. The house-cured pork belly slab bacon will make you close your eyes in non-Kosher ecstasy. I regularly crave their steel cut oat porridge with coconut milk. But then their turkey sandwich is dry, or their avocado toast lacks any seasoning or flavor. Ordering has become a game of Russian Roulette, but we keep coming back for their moments of greatness and the hipster “Are we in Charlotte?” ambiance.
In April of this year, littleSpoon made room to merge with its little sister, Comida (check out our review of Comida in its original location here). Since Comida’s move, I think I have heard even less about it than I did when it was in Plaza Midwood. Maybe it’s doing well and flying under the radar? That’’s another review for another time, however. The main change for littleSpoon in housing Comida is that the bar area changed to a different side of the restaurant, and they added some faux-grass flare.
Below is a collection of dishes we have tried over our many, many visits over the years. Seriously, the meals below span 2014-2018: we go often, to say the least. Note that many of the dishes pictured were daily specials, or feature items that are no longer on the menu. On that note, we certainly give littleSpoon kudos for regularly switching up their menu offerings. This post is essentially our ask is for littleSpoon to be its best self most of the time, so we can go back to loving it and having our go-to, hip brunch spot back again
Eat This:
Dessert:
littleSpoon has some nice “breakfast dessert” options, like 8-minute s’mores cookies, scones, and the aforementioned cinnamon toast brûlée.
Drink:
littleSpoon is known for their giant, handle-less coffee mugs (essentially bowls). Their coffee is Pure Intentions, and I never have any complaints about it. They also offer freshly-squeezed orange, apple, and grapefruit juice, and the full bar can be enjoyed day and night.
Atmosphere:
The rap music is fun, but considering the inconsistency of the food, it makes you wonder if littleSpoon relies on the ambiance to cover up their rough patches. The decor itself is decidedly fine, nothing standout. Except for the tile at their new bar—we are not sure what’s going on there. It is white and orange with text, but all of the text is cut off so you can’t tell what it says. If you know whether that tile has some special meaning, please let us know.
littleHospitality:
We mentioned it earlier, but it bears repeating: littleSpoon’s service is a real disappointment. Even when the servers are attentive, which they often are, they always serve up major attitude to accompany those giant coffee cups, and it makes us sad. The waitstaff basically makes you feel as though your presence is an imposition. Seriously, when we leave here, we often laugh that we keep coming back in the face of such disinterested service—it’s like being unable to quit an abusive boyfriend.
This is us leaving, filled with pork belly and confusion: “Why do we keep coming back here!?” Never again!”
This is us two months later, when the pain has worn off: “Let’s go to brunch at littleSpoon! I want bacon and brûléed cinnamon toast.”
Frankie’s Notes:
What is it about Biggie and Tupac that lulls us into a stupor and makes us forget dismissive service?; littleSpoon’s bigCoffee cups are one of the top five best things about the restaurant; Is there an Illuminati message hidden in the orange bar tile?; Pork belly makes us have amnesia; Taking your parents here is always a wide-eyed adventure, and they will definitely question the lack of handles on the coffee cups and the music; Why can’t we quit you, littleSpoon?