Global Restaurant

We thought we would try Global after all of the positive reviews. We had tickets to a show and thought this would add to it nicely and make it a great evening out. It is a small restaurant tucked away in an office complex. We had early reservations so that we could get uptown for our show and were the first diners. It felt a bit odd to be in the only ones in a small restaurant, a bit like goldfish in a bowl, but we were well attended by our server and soon there were others diners.

We started with the cheese platter, which was wonderful. Hard to mess up sliced cheese I suppose. For our main entrees, we ordered a tilefish special and the lamb. I love lamb and theirs is a duo of loin and belly, so I was quite excited to try it. I love pork belly, and am familiar with the cut, and the server explained that the belly was braised for over 24 hours. Yummy, right? I wish I had enjoyed it.. I can only describe my dinner as disappointing. They cover the meat with this gravy like sauce. Since we were the first in the restaurant, I can only assume that the chef was still prepping or had just finished prepping his kitchen for service because my sauce was refrigerator cold. I don't like to send things back, and didn't want my meat reheated past my requested medium rare temperature, so I scraped the sauce off the meat and ate my cooled loin and vegetables. I turned to the belly and realized they had given me the cap. I couldn't find a trace of meat in all of the solid fat. Again, I am familiar with belly. I understand it is a fatty cut, but this was white solid fat. I asked the server if the cut looked unusually fatty and he went to speak to the chef. The chef responded that the belly is basically like a solid piece of bacon, it is supposed to be fatty. If he were to slice me a new piece, it would look the same. Then the server adds.. "it is edible". Hmm. No thank you. If it had any meat, or if the fat were somewhat liquified or caramelized, it would have agreed with the "edible" comment, but this was disgusting. The chef doesn't even want to see the slices to gauge my complaint? I left the two slices on my plate, disappointed that I was still hungry. I ate a bit of my boyfriend's fish and wished I had ordered something, anything, else. I don't really like dessert, but I was hoping to fill my stomach a bit more. We both got dessert. I got this marscapone strawberry thing, which was really sweet.. but I was hungry. He got the trio of brulees, which he was happy with.

When we were presented with the bill, the server asked how everything was. I again expressed my disappointment. I had only eaten half my dinner. He again let me know what the chef had said. He returned with the credit card and let me know the manager had taken a dessert off the check. I was disappointed that at no point, after complaining twice about the quality of the cut, did I see the manager, or did the chef see my cut.

Thanks for the dessert, but way too little effort. A bad situation can e turned around by simply acknowledging a guest's complaint. Rather I felt condescended to regarding my knowledge of the belly cut and unimportant to the senior management to bother stopping to talk to me.

I really wanted to like this place, but there are other restaurants in Charlotte and we won't be back.

VISITED JUNE 8, 2013

I must say this was a real surprise.  Not only was the experience a memorable one for our mid-week anniversary, but it was possibly the best restaurant experience I have had in Charlotte.  We took some special out of town guests downtown a few years ago to a well-recognized old traditional Charlotte restaurant, and spent (with tip) over twice the amount spent tonight per person (without discount) for a nice dinner, wine, dessert, etc. in a dining room that was way too dark to see our entrees.  It was fine, but based on comparisons to other US large city dining experiences we have had, not really that special.  Next time we want to show off Charlotte to our out of town guests, we will definitely come to Bernard.  We had a wonderful appetizer tower with 3 exceptional choices, with our favorite being a tossup between the steak tartare and the spring roll.  We ordered the duck and the beef tenderloin as our entrees, and although the beef was very good, the duck was truly superb.  We shared the nougat dessert and had brandy and coffee to finish out our evening.  I have no criticism to offer, just a hearty recommendation.  I cannot imagine that you would be disappointed.  Bernard lets his food be the star of his show - he does not need anything else to make your evening truly exceptional.

My husband and I enjoyed an amazing 6 course food and wine pairing dinner at Global recently.  Chef Bernard went above and beyond to prepare an innovative, exciting and very delicious dinner.  He took extra special care to make the evening a memorable one.  I would recommend this restaurant without a doubt, special occasion or not, it will be a great dining experience.