Idlewild

Charlotte, North Carolina

Idlewild is a small cocktail bar on East 36th Street in NoDa, Charlotte, and it works without a menu: guests name a spirit and the flavors they like, and the bartender builds a drink to suit. Eater Carolinas gives the example of a bottle of Pedro Ximenez sherry turning into a take on an Old Fashioned as dark and chic as the bar itself. Axios Charlotte, which lists it among the city's best cocktail bars, reported in 2023 that the bar was moving, with a dive bar called The Ugly to open in its old space. Idlewild topped Time Out's 2023 list of Charlotte's best bars, and its own site calls the setting moody.