Erica R.
Yelp
I was traveling back from Atlanta recently and had a layover in the Charlotte Airport. Since it was around breakfast time, I decided to try grabbing a bite at Midwood Smokehouse.
Unfortunately, the experience was pretty frustrating. Originally, there was a pretty lengthy wait to be seated, which was surprising given that there weren't many people in the restaurant. The hostess also ended up being the one to serve my table... which wouldn't have been so bad if she hadn't taken my order and then completely forgotten to enter my order into the restaurant system. She came back 20 minutes later asking if someone had taken my order, and I had to tell her that yes... she did. She had to ask me all over again what I had ordered. When I repeated it, it seemed to click that she had, in fact, already taken my order (fairly simply - the grits with burnt ends, as well as the passionfruit mimosa. It's not like I asked for anything special or changes).
Once my order was actually ENTERED then it didn't seem to take long to actually be brought to the table; however, getting the attention of staff at the end of my meal was something that, again, felt way harder than it needed to be.
As for the meal overall, everything was oddly... flavorless? Even my drink seemed especially watered down. The burnt ends themselves were the only thing with any kind of flavor, but the meat seemed fatty.
TL;DR I don't expect high quality food in an airport... but given how expensive the breakfast was, I would have appreciated a little something flavor-wise. I also don't really have anything positive to say about the service, sadly. It felt like pretty much everyone in the restaurant just didn't want to be bothered. It's one of the VERY FEW times I've ever tipped under my usual 20%. I was really torn between giving this place 1 or 2 stars... and the only reason I'm giving it 2 is because the restaurant appeared to 1) be pretty clean, and 2) the kitchen staff actually started singing at one point and that was pretty adorable. If they enjoy working together? That's a great thing. I just wish the rest of the experience matched what seemed to be the atmosphere in the kitchen.