Midnight Diner serves up final meals at South End location

CHARLOTTE — It’s an end of an era for one of South End’s most popular restaurants.

Monday is the last day of service for Midnight Diner in south Charlotte. In the coming months, the restaurant will move to a new venue in Uptown.

As cooks whipped up the diner’s last meals in South End, customers reminisced on their memories in the stainless-steel boxcar.

“My husband and I started dating here and our family grew here,” regular customer Alicia Fuller told Channel 9. “We would just walk up here and just get a bite to eat. … I was shocked to really find out it was moving from this location.”

The popular restaurant recently announced on social media that Labor Day would be its last day at the location on East Carson St. It will be moving to a new home in Uptown in the 400 block of East Trade St. near the Spectrum Center.

Regular customer Tony Myers wasn’t too pleased by the move.

“I wasn’t happy about it,” he said. “I wish they would’ve stayed where they are. It’s a great location.”

The diner has been in the same location since 2011, but is one of the latest businesses to be displaced by development.

In January, our news partners at the Charlotte Business Journal reported that the restaurant may be headed uptown after the diner and its owner Brian Dominick were named on a city filing tied to the the parcel on Trade Street. The current land where the business sits will be used to build housing and retail space.

“The last 12 years in this spot have been amazing … but we are very excited to open later this fall on Trade Street across from the Spectrum Center,” Midnight Diner said on social media.

Angela Sadar has worked at Midnight Diner for more than a decade. She says she’ll have to adjust to the new commute into the heart of Charlotte.

“Just leaving home coming here is going to be like a different drive. I’m probably still going to come here and think ‘Oh lord, we’re not here no more,’” Sadar told Channel 9. “I got cold chills now talking to you about it, but I’m going to miss this spot.”

Other customers said the great food would keep them coming to the Charlotte staple no matter where it opens.

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