Thursday, November 13, 2008

M5 goes late night


M5 Modern Mediterranean has conquered the SouthPark dinner crowd with restaurant regulars who include Michael Jordan and Bob Johnson, and now it's trying to carve itself a new niche.

The restaurant is now offering a late-night menu of specialty pizzas ranging from $6 to $12 – almost half the price of the regular menu. A DJ booth has been placed next to the host stand, creating an energetic vibe to the dining room and bar area. DJs spin house music starting at 9 p.m. Fridays and Saturdays.

Managing partner Mark Darvill says he hopes patrons see the new late-night effort as “a great alternative to going all the way uptown.”

Darvill compares his weekend vision for the restaurant to a cross between Tutto Mondo Lounge in South End and the EpiCentre's Suite, and says he hopes it becomes as popular as Villa Antonio's late-night scene in Ballantyne.

“It seems like between Ballantyne and uptown there's really nothing (in the form of upscale nightlife), and that's why I'm hoping I can get this going,” he says.

Darvill wants to eventually add bottle service, and if the crowd gets a touch of dance fever, tables will be pushed aside.

All the makings of a great restaurant-turned-nightclub are there – a beautifully hip space, knowledgeable bartenders who use fresh ingredients, a thumping beat and upscale bar munchies. I look forward to the concept catching on.


What do you guys think? Will you check it out?

19 comments:

Anonymous said...

bunch of pretensious dbags

Anonymous said...

I like the tall seats, they help me look down on people

Anonymous said...

Man, everyone's sippin' on the Haterade. Jealous much guys? You need to find an Applebee's.

M5 is great. Food's awesome, decor is super cool, tons of good looking women. Is there anything else?

Anonymous said...

Hey "Haterade" is my word

Anonymous said...

"M5 is great. Food's awesome, decor is super cool, tons of good looking women. Is there anything else?"

Yes

Anonymous said...

Um, okay. Like what?

Anonymous said...

How About a place with a little soul. Where everyone in the bar does not look like a clone of each other. And defiantly somewhere that does not play repetitive house music that has not changed since the mid 90’s.

Anonymous said...

Well just as important as the women, what do the men look like? Please tell me its not a bunch of dried up, little trolls. Please oh please.

Anonymous said...

I agree with the previous poster....Can we have someplace that will draw a mixed crowd(all ethnic groups)....And whats with the house/techno music... How about a little R&B? It seems to me that the establishment might be afraid to draw the Africa-American crowd with R&B music... But oops. I forgot this is Charlotte.

Anonymous said...

Sarah, good article. However, I do not think Charlotte is quite ready for bottle service, even though it's already happening in other clubs. I first encountered bottle service when my husband and I went to Miami Beach and went to a club. I didn't know what bottle service was, and then I found out that what it really means is all the people who want to show off to their friends and everyone else reserves a table and gets ONE bottle of liquor for $250. That means if you don't get bottle service, there is nowhere left for you to sit. We ended up sitting in the one open spot in that club until we left. NOT fun. I think bottle service stinks. Maybe you can do an article on what others think of bottle service and how prevalent it is in the Charlotte area?

Anonymous said...

I mean the place is alright If your 50 and divorced and trying to pull in some cougars. I'm just glad I'm young enough to realize how gay that place is. I really think once your that old you should call it a day and just get drunk by yourself at your house and do us all a favor and stay off the road.

Anonymous said...

Man, it's like this is the board of disgruntled emo children of divorce didn't make the football team. Again, the food's great, the atmosphere is slick, and there's a ton of people there. In the summer anyway. If you're looking for soul or R&B, and clearly this is not the element they're catering to, I heard they have that at V Lounge uptown. There are also a lot of small 'private' clubs on North Tryon for that. I will agree there are a lot of cougars, I see this as a positive.

Anonymous said...

Okay...Excuse my "squareness" but what are "cougars"...That's a new one on me...

Sarah Aarthun said...

Cougar definitions can be found here

Anonymous said...

day-um, say-rah! no pix of cougars? I yam so dis-approcianat-ed!

Anonymous said...

Anon 1:55 "the atmosphere is slick"

And you just reaffirmed why many people will never go there. Because of people like you who use adjectives like slick to define the place.

Anonymous said...

Is the term 'slick' that much of an affront? I'm not sweating it, I prefer the place without a bunch of people that try to pretend their above it in an effort to deflect from the fact that their own insecurities prevent them from enjoying it. Let me know how those new mini burgers at Chili's are, nothing pretentious whatsoever about that place.

Anonymous said...

At least you spelled idiot correctly, but I imagine you have it as a tattoo on your forehead. Glad to hear you're enjoying the new Chili's redesign, completely makes sense why you're so against M5. If you ask nicely they might get you a Bud Light and a basket of fried beer batter to be more accomodating. Saw a sign for a fish fry on Sugar Creek Road that sounds about your speed as well. Sorry, you can't learn class.

Anonymous said...

Is it cool to anonymously make fun of other people? I missed that section of etiquette school.

To each their own, why are people taking it so personal? If you don't like M5, go somewhere else. If you do like M5, go there.

See, simple.