14 North Carolina Soul Food Joints That Feel Like Sunday Dinner Every Day
Soul food in North Carolina isn’t just about eating, it’s about feeling at home no matter where you are.
These soul food joints serve up plates bursting with warmth, flavor, and that unmistakable comfort that makes every meal feel like a Sunday dinner with family.
From crispy fried chicken to creamy mac and cheese, each spot offers a taste of tradition that wraps around you like a favorite memory, any day of the week.
1. Nana Morrison’s Soul Food: Where Collards Tell Stories
Family recipes passed down five generations make Nana Morrison’s a Charlotte institution. The collard greens simmer for hours with smoked turkey necks, creating a pot liquor you’ll want to drink straight.
Regulars swear by the candied yams, which strike that perfect balance between sweet and savory. The cornbread arrives piping hot in cast iron skillets, just like grandma used to make.
2. Mert’s Heart & Soul: Charlotte’s Soul Food Royalty
Presidents and celebrities have made pilgrimages to this Charlotte landmark for their legendary cornbread.
The salmon cakes crackle with perfect crust while staying moist inside – a culinary magic trick few can master.
Football players from the Panthers frequent the back table on Tuesdays. Their famous Soul Roll wraps fried chicken, black-eyed peas, and collards in a spring roll that shouldn’t work but absolutely does.
3. Sol’Delish: The Mac and Cheese Maestros
Chemistry professors from nearby UNC Chapel Hill regularly analyze Sol’Delish’s mac and cheese, trying to understand how five cheeses blend into creamy perfection.
The owner, Miss Patricia, guards her recipe fiercely. Oxtails fall off the bone after eight hours of slow cooking.
Every table receives complimentary sweet tea, served in mason jars with mint sprigs from the garden behind the kitchen.
4. Jive Turkey Hut: Where Turkey Rules the Roost
Turkey takes center stage at Greensboro’s quirkiest soul food spot. Forget chicken – everything here features turkey, from smoked wings to turkey-based bacon on their collard greens.
Owner Big Mike smokes twenty birds daily using apple wood from his family orchard.
Their turkey ribs – a menu item you rarely see elsewhere – convert even dedicated pork enthusiasts with one bite.
5. Londa’s Place: The Biscuit Whisperer
Londa makes biscuits so light they practically float off your plate. Her Winston-Salem kitchen opens at 5:30 AM, with dough mixed by hand in wooden bowls her grandmother used.
Regulars know to order the “Hush Honey” breakfast – country ham tucked inside those famous biscuits with honey butter melting into every layer.
No photographs allowed inside, creating a mysterious allure that keeps new customers curious.
6. Boricua Soul: Where Puerto Rico Meets Durham
Soul food gets a Caribbean twist at this Durham food truck turned brick-and-mortar success story.
Their pernil (roasted pork shoulder) combines Puerto Rican techniques with Carolina spice traditions. The mofongo stuffed with collard greens creates fusion magic you won’t find anywhere else.
Weekends feature live music and special batches of coquito, Puerto Rico’s cinnamon-coconut answer to eggnog – available year-round by popular demand.
7. Mama Dip’s: The Soul Food Institution
Mildred Council started Mama Dip’s with $64 to her name and built a Chapel Hill legend.
Though she passed in 2018, her children and grandchildren maintain her exact recipes, including chicken pastry so tender it dissolves on contact with your tongue.
The kitchen still uses cast iron skillets from 1976. Their cookbook sits in thousands of Carolina kitchens, though home cooks swear something magical happens only within these walls.
8. Saltbox Seafood Joint: Ocean-Fresh Soul
Chef Ricky Moore brings coastal soul to Durham with daily catches scribbled on chalkboards. The fried spot becomes transcendent with cornmeal crust so light and crisp it shatters like glass.
Everything comes with hush honeys – his honeyed take on hushpuppies. Lines form early for his famous Saturday fish stew, a tomato-based Carolina coastal tradition that sells out by noon.
9. Mama’s Soul Food: The Hidden Gem
Tucked behind a car wash in Fayetteville, Mama’s lacks signage but never customers. Military families from nearby Fort Bragg pass the secret location to newcomers like classified information.
Their oxtail gravy should be classified as a controlled substance.
Thursdays feature turkey necks so tender the meat falls off with a stern look, served over rice that soaks up every drop of seasoned glory.
10. Big Ed’s City Market: Breakfast Soul
Raleigh politicians broker deals over Big Ed’s country ham and red-eye gravy at 7 AM.
The pancakes stretch beyond plate edges and come from a recipe the founder’s mother created during the Depression when eggs were scarce.
Farm implements hang from ceilings, many donated by families who’ve eaten here for generations.
Their grits come from a water-powered mill in eastern Carolina, ground coarse and cooked slowly to creamy perfection.
11. Allen & Son’s BBQ: Pit-Master Paradise
Allen & Son’s splits their own hickory for smoking, a labor-intensive process abandoned by most modern barbecue joints.
The resulting pork shoulders develop a pink smoke ring that barbecue judges use as textbook examples. Their Brunswick stew simmers for two days with three meats.
Homemade pies come from a baker who arrives at 4 AM daily, rolling dough by hand on marble slabs cooled with ice underneath – an old-school technique that keeps butter perfectly layered.
12. Let’s Eat Soul Food: Sunday Supper Standards
Hidden in Greensboro’s east side, this family-owned gem has been feeding locals for over 30 years.
Grandma Pearl’s recipes shine through in every dish, especially her famous smothered pork chops that fall right off the bone.
The walls tell stories through faded photographs of regular customers who’ve become family.
Kids get extra portions ’cause “growing bodies need good food” according to Miss Debra, who runs the register and remembers everyone’s name.
13. The Chicken Hut: Breakfast Soul
Since 1957, Durham locals have lined up outside this unassuming cinder-block building for what many swear is the crispiest, most perfectly seasoned fried chicken in the state.
The secret? A 24-hour buttermilk brine and seasoning recipe that’s been locked in the McDougald family vault for generations.
Weekday lunch rushes bring together construction workers, downtown office folks, and Duke professors all waiting patiently for their turn.
Nobody minds the wait because the chitlins and oxtails are worth every minute.
14. K&W Cafeterias: Pit-Master Paradise
“Grab your tray and follow the line” might as well be the official motto of this North Carolina institution.
While technically a cafeteria chain, K&W earned its soul food stripes through decades of serving Southern classics to generations of Tar Heels.
Church crowds flock here after Sunday service, filling trays with country-style steak swimming in gravy, candied yams that could pass for dessert, and cornbread that crumbles just right.
Seniors get special treatment and discounts, making it a gathering spot where wisdom gets shared over cobbler.