Halcyon, Flavors From The Earth

MMmmMMmMm. LOVE this place!! Try the Froie Gras burger... Umami heaven.

The Atmosphere is rustic and comfortable, yet upscale. The service was spectacular attentive, informational/helpful, and very professional. Lastly, but definitely not least, the food was DELICIOUS! I had beef short ribs with a winter squash purée and sautéed kale; my friend had the phwah burger and said it was one of, if not the best he's ever had (probably would have done very well in the creative loafing burger contest). Portions were very generous, you easily get your money's worth! I'm not sure how many more good things I can say.

Maria and I attempted to go to Halcyon on a cold rainy night last fall. I was rocking crutches at the time and it was a bit of a pain to get around, but I was excited to try a restaurant that has been on my list for a long time. We didn’t make reservations because we were having a major storm in the city that night and didn’t expect there to be much of a crowd. Unfortunately that wasn’t the case. We arrived at the restaurant and were immediately asked if we had reservations and upon us saying that we did not, we were told that they were booked the whole night. They did have some visibly open tables while we stood at the hostess podium but I can only assumed that they were reserved for a customer that had yet to arrive. I hobbled outside to the lobby to figure out our next move. We were limited in options at this end of Uptown Charlotte, by the weather, and my crutches limited us even more. I pulled up my handy dandy OpenTable app to look for options and lo and behold Halcyon had open tables listed in the next 15 mins. We stood there scratching our heads when one of the hostesses came out to ask if we were waiting for a table (funny considering this same person just turned us away). At this point I shared my app results and the hostess ran back in to talk to the manager. She comes out a few minutes later and apologizes that ‘my’ app was wrong and wishes us a goodnight. And that ladies and gents was my first experience with Halcyon. But one thing I must admit is that a foodie on a mission never gives up.

Lovely meal on the terrace. We ate lunch at Halcyon on the outside terrace before visiting the Mint Museum. The terrace is far above the traffic and provides a nice view of the city. I had the ribeye steak sandwich special. It was very tasty. My husband had the PoBoy special made with skate, which he also enjoyed. My mother had the Seafood Bouillon and she raved about it. I also had the chocolate mousse cake with blackberries. Good service, nice ambience outside and in. We will be back!

Delicious food with a first rate view. We were grateful Halycon was not participating in Restaurant Week and decided to make our second visit. As others have stated, the decor is very cool with chandeliers made of branches and tables that look like elegant tree trunks. You can't beat the view of the city at night, and I'm sure the outdoor dining would be great in good weather.<br/ <br/ We decided on a pork belly and Brussels sprouts appetizer. At $10, it was a steal considering the size and flavor. You can never go wrong with pork belly, and the sprouts were a tangy, vinegary surprise. Even though we were trying not to get full before dinner, we ate the whole thing. <br/ <br/ Since you can also never have too much pork belly, my fella got the burger for dinner. We thought there was no way the burger could live up to the hype... but we were so glad to be wrong! The bun was sweet almost donut esque and the pork belly/beef were just the right balance of salt. The bacon marmalade was smoky and creamy, and the cheese made the entire dish. It almost doesn't seem right to call this just a burger, so I'm gonna call it a work of culinary art. <br/ <br/ I got the fire roasted chicken, which was fall off the bone tender, and the greens, sweet potatoes and farro balanced it out nicely. I ate all of it plus a bite of the burger. Oh, and some of the fries with homemade (cinnamon y? sweet ketchup. Nom nom nom.<br/ <br/ Needless to say, we were too full for dessert! I should note that our server was very fun and personable. He made a couple of mistakes (forgot a beer we ordered, messed up the check , but he was so apologetic and nice that it was easily overlooked. I can't recommend Halycon enough!