North Carolina's First Michelin-Star Restaurant Is 'Splurge-Worthy,' According To Yelp

There's nothing in the North Carolina dining scene quite like Counter-, a highly conceptual restaurant from chef Sam Hart, a former James Beard Award finalist. While the food is delicious, the restaurant seeks to be an immersive dining experience that guides diners through a quarterly tasting menu. And it's just been awarded North Carolina's first — and so far only — Michelin star.

At Counter-, Hart organizes the frequently changing menus around his wide-ranging interests. Yelp reviews indicate that previous themes have been almost impossibly wide-ranging, from curry to cinema, and from books to the RMS Titanic. As the courses change, so too does the lighting, music, and even artwork — an all-encompassing journey that the Michelin Guide said was in a class of its own. Online reviews largely agree.

A recent Yelp reviewer credited Counter- for "one of the most inspiring dining experiences of my life ... each course is an emotional note in a larger symphony, a tribute to North Carolina, to craft, to community. It's local cuisine elevated to performance art." It's consistently excellent, too. A 2024 review noted that "it is worth every penny." That reviewer called Counter- the closest thing Charlotte had to a Michelin-starred restaurant. And now it actually has one.

Don't be fooled into thinking that Counter- received just one star out of a possible three. The meaning of a Michelin star is to signify excellent food; the criteria are so strict and all-encompassing that even one star is considered an outstanding culinary achievement. Out of the countless millions of restaurants worldwide, only 3,061 currently hold one Michelin star.

The five qualities that Michelin inspectors use to judge restaurants revolve around the most important aspect: the food. According to Michelin, inspectors focus on "the quality of ingredients; the mastery of culinary techniques; the harmony of flavors; the personality and emotion that the chef conveys in the dishes; and consistency throughout the entire menu and across different visits." For Counter- to have been awarded a star, Hart and the staff had to excel across all five criteria.

A new Michelin star often means a rush of new business, but sometimes the pressure can be too much. One of the famous restaurants to lose Michelin stars was Fäviken, a Swedish fine dining restaurant that received two stars in 2016. But three years later, amid the increased attention, head chef Magnus Nilsson lost his passion and closed the restaurant to become an apple farmer instead. Although he has since returned to food, Nilsson is done with fine dining. We're hopeful that Counter- will have a longer run.