Community Matters Cafe
Review! Charlotte, North Carolina // American restaurant & coffee shop // eating for a good cause
the ELEVATOR PITCH
Beautiful, inside and out ❤️
When you choose Community Matters Cafe, you are choosing more than a third place. You are choosing to experience the product of, the potentials of, and the messy middle of transformation. From the brick-and-mortar to the brand’s culture and purpose, Community Matters Cafe is an icon of redemption and a magnificent display of God’s love and grace.
The brains behind Community Matters Cafe: Charlotte Rescue Mission, a faith-based organization that offers recovery programs aimed to help people who struggle with addiction obtain long-term sobriety. In 2017, they pitched the idea to open this restaurant to SEED20. The restaurant would function as a critical piece to the life skills training offered in their recovery program curriculum. The pitch won them some seed money to run with the idea.
Within a year, Community Matters Charlotte pledged $1 Million to help fund the cafe (leading to the cafe’s namesake). This collaboration birthed Community Matters Cafe in 2019, transforming an 100-year-old abandoned textile factory into an industrial-chic restaurant-and-coffee-shop that acts as the bread and butter of Charlotte Rescue Mission’s 120-day life skills and rehabilitation program.
During this program, students, aided by staff members, are able to learn various positions in the restaurant and coffee shop. This gives the students real work experience to add to their professional résumé, provides them a natural way to practice life skills such as time management, financial responsibility, and interpersonal skills, and helps them transition back into the community.
The purity of Community Matters Cafe’s purpose can be felt in the atmosphere they’ve cultivated: uplifting and warm and overflowing with the grace to make mistakes and learn from them. A garden full of hope.
So, as a patron, you have to come with the right mindset. At Community Matters Cafe, the mission and the people come first and “business” is secondary. Their primary goal is to transition their students to a thriving life of sobriety, and we get to enjoy a lovely third place that provides delicious seasonal menu items and handcrafted espresso beverages as a convenient byproduct.
Therefore, leave the self-centered consumerist mindset at the door (there’s no room for an “I’m here to be served and I will be a brat if I am not treated like royalty” attitude). We get the opportunity to support this great cause not only monetarily through patronization, but also by giving grace when perhaps the service wasn’t as seamless as you would’ve expected or the operating hours aren’t as accessible as you would’ve preferred. It’s a chance for us to grow as individuals to think about others and the bigger picture and not just about me me me.
Community Matters Cafe is the antithesis of a lot of the gastronomic constructs we see today whose missions are to use click-bait food porn and trendy vibe aesthetics to reel in customers and become the next hype thing. The mission here instead is one that goes beyond food service, and they recognize the beauty of taking their community along with them for the journey. I encourage everyone to take them up on their invitation and join them!
Now onto a couple of the menu offerings…
Reviews on the sips pictured above:
Molasses Cookie Sandwich: (with rosemary buttercream) oh my. Where to even begin?! This exceeded my expectations immensely. Typically cookie sandwiches look like super sweet tops and bottoms and gritty frosting middles, but this one had NONE of that. The cookie was an intense chai-pumpkin-spice-autumnal flavor bomb where the “sweet” flavor was a supporting actress (LOVE). The buttercream had a subtle rosemary flavor and was light and smooth once you let the entire sandwich come to room temp. The cookie sandy had great textural contrast as a whole: super chewy & soft cookie against crunchy turbinado sugar against silky buttercream. Delightful! (rating: 10/10)
the Lattes: the whole milk (vanilla) latte held its frothy texture (but the foam top felt more like a cappuccino). The house made vanilla syrup was perfect with the espresso—it did not override the coffee but offered a great partnership. The almond milk (honeybee) latte on the other hand didn’t have quite as good a frothed milk, and the flavors could’ve been stronger for me. (rating: 7.5/10)
now it’s lunchtime…
Reviews on the munchies pictured above:
New Orleans Chicken Sandwich: the red cabbage slaw & pickles are what makes this sandwich stand out from the rest of the fried chicken sandwiches in this world. The Cajun hot sauce was more sweet than spicy for me (I would’ve preferred spicier), and the brioche had a delicately crispy crust that shattered upon touch and flaked off, and a bun body that sort of melted and disappeared upon grasp (I prefer my sandwich/burger buns to be able to hold their own). The fried chicken breading was crunchy and the inside was juicy and flavorful though! (rating: 7/10)
Crispy Brussel Sprouts: made with black garlic & topped with that lovely head of freshly grated parmesan curls 😍 the menu description sounded delicious already, but somehow the actual dish exceeded it tenfold. The Brussel sprouts were tender yet tastefully charred on the outside, coated generously with flavorful garlic-oil-y-goodness. I could eat a plate every day. (rating: 11/10)
Kale Caesar Salad: I added fried chicken because I love my protein (and have a soft spot for fried chicken)! The garlic croutons had a light crisp bite (you can tell they were made fresh), the kale was well-massaged and tender, the freshly grated parm was a lovely addition. My only complaint: the “vegan cashew Caesar” dressing could’ve been more Caesar-y for me. I guess I don’t need it to be vegan? I missed the anchovy 💀 (rating: 7.5/10)
the RÉSUMÉ
address // 821 W 1st St, Charlotte, NC 28202
operations // Monday - Friday, 7:00 AM - 2:00 PM; Saturday - Sunday, CLOSED.
logistics // easy parking situation (don’t let their Uptown address be daunting to you! You won’t need to scour for free street parking or reasonably priced garage decks), they have their own private parking lot right in front of the building with tons of spaces
amenities //
2 public restrooms, each with two stalls + a changing table
multiple space options: private meeting room in the far corner, restaurant-dining-focus in the middle, and coffee shop/living-room-lounge space up front
free WiFi & outlets
rewards program with Cash App
vibes // industrial warehouse with chic wood & brick & metal accents; casual atmosphere where there’s no dress code pressure
📣lots of noise—there’s a lot of pockets of conversation
menu //
beverages ($2.75 - $6.50): fresh brew coffee, hand crafted espresso, chai, hot tea, hot chocolate, iced tea, lemonade, frappe
⭐house made drink syrups & sauces
⭐all coffee beans used are roasted on-site
⭐non-dairy milk options available
baked goods ($3.75 - $5.00): morning bun, muffins, cookie sandwiches, brownies & blondies, chia seed parfait
⭐house made & prepared fresh daily
food food:
breakfast ($12.00 - $15.00): egg sandwich, classic eggs + toast breakfast plate, French toast, hash/skillet
small plates ($5.00 - $9.00): spiced lentils, hush puppies, done-up veggies (Brussel sprouts, squash, etc.)
lunch ($13.00 - $20.00): sandwiches, warm savory & sweet bowls, salads & soup
recs //
the Brussel sprouts here are to DIE for
their molasses cookie sandwich was SO compatible with my taste buds (not too sweet with great texture and true-to-namesake flavor); I definitely plan to try more of their cookie sandwich varieties in future visits
site // Community Matters Cafe
~ cath!!
Keep wanting to try this. For sure going now !
7.5 for both lattes or just the second? Review for vanilla sounds good!