Last updated: August 25, 2025

Opening Thoughts

by Kristen Wile

As businesses begin to reopen in the former Epicentre, the once-thriving center of Uptown is coming back to life. Among the new restaurants hoping to bring the crowds back is Sea Grill, a high-dollar concept from the group behind Deluxe Fun Dining. Sea Grill’s interior reflects the glamorous ambition of Epicentre’s transition to Queen City Quarter, with jewel tones, glistening chandeliers, and crisp linens accented by gold, sea-themed decor. The two-story space features a bar and dining room on each level, and is a beautiful, impressive space.

Yet despite its outward impressions of being a culinary paragon — food runners all don perfectly ironed white chefs coats — Sea Grill’s execution is often at odds with how it represents itself. It is at times advertised as both “using fresh, locally sourced ingredients,” as well as never-frozen seafood flown in from Japan. Yet few of the dishes reflect such sourcing on the palate.

The menu is several pages long, opening with raw bar options followed by another page with a selection of sushi. Following sushi is a page listing starters, soups, and salads, with a long list of entrées to close it out. Though the restaurant is named Sea Grill, a large number of the entrées include meat options. The menu spans styles of cuisine, but includes many of the dishes that are the stereotypes of fine dining, including Wagyu, foie gras, and beef Wellington. Listed among the cream of celery and tom kha soup options is a $29 bouillabaisse.

The tartare set, a duo featuring both the salmon and tuna tartare, featured underwhelming flavor on the salmon that couldn’t stand up to the chips, and an overbearing bitter note on the tuna. The highlight of the Tokyo shrimp salad was the fried eggplant; the pieces of avocado were too large to gain enough flavor from the sauce and the shrimp were close to rubbery. The foie gras tart, listed among the chef’s specials, had the potential to be a memorable bite, yet the pastry crust was soggy, as though it had been prepped much earlier. Beef Wellington can be difficult to cook well, but Sea Grill did deliver on tender meat wrapped in flaky puff pastry. However, the accompanying potatoes were over-whipped to the point of tasting gummy, and the Wellington was in need of seasoning.

The octopus had a complimentary smokey note, though it tasted more like liquid smoke than natural smoke, and was cooked to tenderness. When the manager stopped by and said that was his favorite dish, I asked how they got such great smoke flavor. His response was that they heat the grill up super hot, then grill the octopus to add the smoke. Yet there were no grill marks anywhere on the octopus.

It was a moment that made me realize that we, as diners, are putting our trust in restaurants when we step in their doors. It can be difficult to know when that trust is deserved, and when it is not. The only way we can do so is by educating ourselves — asking questions at places we trust, cooking at home with local ingredients, knowing what’s in season — enough to know when something doesn’t sound, or taste, as advertised.

With its glitz and glamour and diligent attention to guests, Sea Grill is sure to become a destination for wedding showers and celebrations. Yet if Queen City Quarter once again becomes the Charlotte destination it once was, we hope the restaurants there understand the greater role they play in Charlotte’s food reputation — and take that role seriously.