ARBOL Eatery

Description: A Black-owned plant-filled café and eatery in Uptown Charlotte serving coffee, espresso drinks, chai, smoothies, breakfast sandwiches, burritos, gourmet sandwiches, pastries, desserts, snacks, wine, beer, and light café meals. The space has a calm, thoughtfully designed interior with greenery, tree-themed décor, warm seating areas, table seating with outlet access, and a tucked-away feel inside a corporate tower. The menu includes options such as croissant sandwiches, breakfast burritos, chicken tortas, Cubano sandwiches, Italian sandwiches, chicken salad sandwiches, seasonal soups and chili, churros, flan, cakes, and matcha or fruit-based smoothies. Good for laptop work, breakfast, lunch, coffee, casual meetings, relaxed conversation, pastries, and staying awhile in a comfortable Uptown café setting.

Comments: Very comfortable aesthetic. It’s in a corporate office building, but the space was clearly designed to feel cozy in the midst of that. There are plants everywhere, a section with a comfy couch and armchairs, and a few tables with padded seating. I don’t want to call the decor tropical, but with all the plants, bright lighting, and comfortable furniture, it feels lush and inviting. The plants are for sale, by the way.

The food is good. They have coffee, teas, smoothies, snacks, cold drinks, whatever you want. The Italiano sandwich and the bacon, egg, and cheese breakfast sandwich are both solid.

Parking is in the Carillon garage, but they’ll validate it for you, so bring your ticket. The building itself is pretty nice too. There’s a cool mini pond display with some artwork in the lobby. There’s also a gym inside the same space that I think is only for people working in the building, but it’s there. So in the same way the Dowd YMCA has a Giddy Goat location in the lobby that’s open to everyone, this is sort of the same setup.