A new Mexican street-food restaurant has opened its doors in South Charlotte, bringing birria tacos, esquite and a full lineup of tequila cocktails to the Pineville-Matthews corridor. Cantina Louie's latest location sits at 7520 Pineville-Matthews Road, marking the chain's third spot in North Carolina.
The restaurant celebrated its grand opening as part of its North Carolina expansion, according to Charlotte Observer. Cantina Louie already operates locations in Asheville and Matthews, along with several restaurants in Florida, where the chain got its start. The Matthews location, at 2225 Matthews Township Parkway, is the brand's second North Carolina outpost, following the debut of Cantina Louie's first location outside Florida in Asheville, according to a report at the time from the Charlotte Observer.
Restaurant management said Cantina Louie is excited to join the South Charlotte community and become a neighborhood favorite, per the report. The new location leans into the brand's Mexican street-food identity, and the company confirms on its own site that it launched in 2014.
What's on the Menu at the New South Charlotte Spot
The South Charlotte menu covers familiar Cantina Louie staples: burritos, quesadillas, fajitas and street tacos, along with birria tacos, according to the Observer's report. Diners can also order La Parilla, featuring marinated steak, grilled chicken and carnitas, avocado enchiladas topped with tomatillo salsa and queso fresco, and a carne asada plate served with Spanish rice, esquite and refried beans.
The chain's online ordering platform lists additional menu items for the location, including birria tacos, per the restaurant's online menu. The same menu describes its esquite as off-the-cob Mexican street corn tossed with mayonnaise, Tajin, cilantro and queso fresco. The menu also lists other dishes, and customers can order tacos and additional menu items.
Fajitas come with a choice of chicken breast, shrimp or skirt steak, plus grilled vegetables, rice, refried beans, salad and flour tortillas, according to the same online menu. Cantina Louie describes its overall cuisine on its website as authentic Mexican street food, a description that has carried through each of the chain's North Carolina openings.
Tequila Bar and Hours for the Pineville-Matthews Location
Beyond the food, the new restaurant offers more than a dozen tequila-based cocktails and margaritas, along with sangria, local beer and Mexican beer, according to the Observer's report. Cantina Louie's cocktail program elsewhere has featured scratch-made margaritas built with premium, all-agave tequilas and fresh-fruit mojitos, per a 2019 report from the Citizen Times on the brand's Asheville debut. The company's own site also touts a specialty drink featuring a mix of mezcal, passionfruit and lime.
Taco Tuesday specials are part of the deal too, with tacos priced at $2.99, according to the Observer's report. The Observer's South Charlotte report lists specialty margaritas at $6.99 on Tuesdays.
The South Charlotte restaurant is open Sunday and Monday from 11 a.m. to 9 p.m., and Tuesday through Saturday from 11 a.m. to 10 p.m., per the Observer's report. The space features colorful hand-painted murals honoring the city's culture and pastimes; separate decorations were imported from Mexico, continuing a design approach the chain has used since its earlier North Carolina openings, when its South Asheville restaurant was noted for Day of the Dead-influenced murals and decor.
A Growing North Carolina Footprint
Cantina Louie's expansion into North Carolina began in South Asheville, where the chain took over the former CharBar No. 7 space at Gerber Village, according to the Citizen Times report from that opening. That location's menu included carnitas tacos, tortas, specialty tacos, quesadillas, burritos, vegetarian fajitas and chile rellenos, plus house-made tamales served on weekends from an owner's family recipe. Pricing there topped out at $15 for a carne asada platter, with most dishes averaging about $10 and tacos starting at $3.50, alongside $2.99 specialty tacos on Taco Tuesdays.
With three North Carolina locations now open, Cantina Louie has a small regional presence stretching from the mountains to Matthews and now into South Charlotte. The brand's roots trace back to Florida, where it was founded in 2014 as a Jacksonville-area Mexican restaurant, before crossing into North Carolina for the first time in 2019.
