The Charlotte Review

We made reservations for the Charlotte on a Sunday afternoon for brunch, I love that you can make reservations for brunch, a lot of places do not offer that.  The valet parking was a nice touch!  The staff was friendly, and you could clearly tell who the managers, servers, chefs and hostess were, everyone was wearing matching uniforms.  The place is smaller than I thought, but with careful table placement and a nice playlist it was cozy and elegant.

We ordered the frozen espresso martini, the froze’ and a regular espresso martini, the drinks were well balanced and delicious. I will note that I brought my son here and it’s not really a place for children. It’s more of a grown and sexy vibe.

We ordered appetizers, the crab fingers, oysters and fries. The fries tasted just like McDonalds’s fries (IF you know, YOU know!) I don’t know who has the hook up on the recipe, but they were so good!

The butter on the oysters and crab fingers was well seasoned but not salty. Everything was flavorful. We also order the catfish and grits, the crab friend rice and the salads here are so good. The catfish was well cooked but lacked a little flavor. It could’ve done with a little extra spice.

I did find a hair in my oysters. The manager came over and addressed it immediately, bringing me a menu to order something else and comped both items. Things happen and I understand, but the way he handled it was so professional and apologetic. That’s what will get me to return. I ended up ordering the lamb chops and I am almost glad I found the hair! They were delicious, perfectly cooked, buttery and tender. Everyone cannot DO lamb chops well, the Charlotte absolutely knows what they are doing!

Service was fantastic, music was great (R&B pumped quietly in the background) and the décor is cute! They have these Teddy Bears sitting all over the place, not sure the story behind them, but they were cute and didn’t seem out of place.

The menu is simple but has a ton of great options. Next time I would get the Cesar salad, the table next to us were sharing it and I was VERY jealous. Nothing beats crispy romaine with homemade dressing. So if you’re looking for a great brunch spot for your girls or a cute date night, check out the Charlotte!

SandboxVR Review

Trying to find things to do besides eat and drink as a 30 something can be so hard! The wife and I are on a mission to find things to do that don’t break the bank and don’t break our waistbands! (Dallas has some serious good eats!) We decided to check out Sandbox VR for an out of the box date night. Now I will be honest, I wasn’t excited. I mean I am 36 years old, fresh out of postpartum and the thought of running around wearing a ton of equipment was not high on my list! But my wife loves adventures and activities so of course a compromise was made! VR first, dinner and drinks after.

 Sandbox VR is located at 5321 E. Mockingbird ln, Suite 110 in Dallas. They have multiple locations, but this one was closest to our home. Now, we did NOT make a reservation. Mistake #1, always, always make a reservation before showing up as its reservation only and there may be a wait. Luckily, they weren’t super busy, and we quickly made a reservation on our phones. The process was easy, and we were able to check in at the kiosk, seconds later.  We took a seat and waited about 20 minutes for our slot. The staff was super helpful and took us back to get suited up! They placed sensors on our wrists and ankles (gotta take off that apple watch!), we were given a vest and told to smile for our photos! They snapped some quick pictures and had us name our team. We selected our weapons on an iPad, and they walked us back to an empty room.

Now the room is unassuming, it’s literally a big blank box. The staff was very helpful and helped us get set up with the headset and earphones. You can hear the staff via the earphones, and they give you a key word “cookies” if you need to pause the game for any reason. They explain everything well and tell you SOME of what to expect (that’s the fun!) We chose the Deadwood Phobia game which is a zombie shooting game.  There are tons of different games to choose from, but I will say this is probably not for the younger kids. It’s mostly shooting games and if you are a parent that’s not ok with the violence (or nightmares) this may not be for the family. But grab a group of friends and check it out!

 Once the game was ready, they gave us a warning and then started the game. Now this is where it got wild. Jumping into the game was a completely out of body experience. You immediately feel like a bad A** with this big gun and suited up in a full suit. Seeing my wife next to me looking like an assassin was so cool! We immediately began dancing around with our guns and having fun.

Instructions began to play in the headset. We were on a rescue mission for three of our colleagues who had gone missing. Then BOOM ZOMBIES!!!!! They came flying out of every door and the ceiling! It was a little scary at first, but so cool.

 You move through about 3-5 different rooms fighting the zombies and trying to rescue your people. (truthfully, we lost one, he was turned into a zombie, and he HAD TO GO!)  Each room has great graphics, you’re jumping around, ducking and the zombies are coming fast!  I won’t give all the details because you must try it for yourself, but if you are looking for a fun ACTIVE activity (I was sweating bullets by the end) you must try this out. We laughed screamed and overall had a great time. At the end of the game, they come and remove your gear and walk to you the front. They even do a fun movie trailer at the end that’s displayed on the tv’s in the lobby (don’t be camera shy!)

 The total cost for two people was about $120.00 the cost of a good dinner and few drinks! You can book for up to 6 people and I just KNOW it would be so much fun with a larger group.  This was such a pleasant surprise. I was shocked at how much fun I had! It was nice to feel like a kid again, but even better to go get a cocktail afterwards!

Shortly after our visit, they emailed us different clips of our time, and we couldn’t wait to show them to our friends! Next time you are looking for a fun group date night idea, check our Sandbox VR!