The Penguin Drive-In

Really nice place. The staff was really nice. Plenty of parking. Our waitress was really patient with us as we were trying to pick from their scrumptious menu choices. The Tommy Boy burger taste how a Big Mac should taste it was breath taking. Can't wait to go back.

It's not the old Penguin, but it's worth visiting. Definitely different vibes, but Charlotte is changing.

Fried pickles are ok, but could be better. Burgers were phenomenal and well priced.G
Great weekday snag for a lunch special.

We tried The Penguin for the first time during Charlotte Restaurant Week (Queen’s Feast). Our service wasn’t terrible when we visited, but you could tell the team was a bit stressed and dishes were coming out at odd times (for example, our salads were served last and we saw another table confused as they received their desserts before their full meal had been served). Our waitress was flustered and apologetic about the ‘backed up kitchen’. We extend a bit of grace during Restaurant Week (this was the first weekend) as we know it’s not the standard menu, and every guest is ordering more dishes than would be typical. For drinks we had the Blackberry Mule and the Strawberry Fields. Both were excellent. I don’t typically care for Mules but am glad to have tried this one. For starters, we had the Nashville Hot Tenders and the Fried Pickles. The chicken was tender, but hot chicken is not my thing so I can’t say if it was good or bad. The pickles were very good with a light breading. Next was to be salads- the Shrimp and Avocado Salad was delicious and I was surprised at how good the shrimp tasted. For the main, I had the ‘Hike the Ball Nutjob’ and my date had the ‘Tommy Boy’. Both burgers were amazing. We ended up taking the desserts to go, so I won’t cover those here. Overall the food was very good, and we are excited to visit again and try something different and from the regular menu.

Decide to try The Penguin for restaurant week, I’m so glad we did! My 4 course meal consisted of Nashville Hot Chicken Tenders, Kale and quinoa salad, trio burger sliders and ended with a chocolate mousse cake. The food was amazing and it was enough to take some home! The services was a little slow but overall it didn’t ruin the experience. I will definitely be going back!

Top Tier. Our server made our experience great. At first we just thought another burger joint. Fooled us. Those were the most flavorful burger i had in a extremely long time. Please don’t hesitate extremely roomy.