Birkdale Village Restaurant Week runs October 17 through October 23. Taste of Birkdale Village follows on Saturday, October 24, from 1 to 4 p.m. in The Plaza. The last Birkdale Village Farmer's Market of the season opens at The Grove the next morning, Sunday, October 25, from 10 a.m. to 3 p.m. Seen together, the October calendar has a clear order. A week of restaurant specials leads into a ticketed tasting, and the season's last market comes right after. The free Friday nights and the Halloween morning around that weekend are set up to work with the same restaurants.
The ticketed event in the middle also has a reason to matter this year. Every dollar from Taste tickets goes to a Charlotte nonprofit whose county funding recently ended.
Restaurant Week sets the table, October 17 to 23
Birkdale Village describes the week as a chance to try "exclusive, limited-time dishes, pairings, and sips" from restaurants in The Village. As of September 30, two restaurants list fixed-price menus on the event page:
- North Italia has a two-course lunch for $25, Monday through Friday from 11 a.m. to 4 p.m. and weekends from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. Its three-course dinner is $40, from 4 to 10 p.m. Sunday through Thursday and until 11 p.m. on Friday and Saturday.
- Bonefish Grill has a three-course dinner for $54: Bang Bang Shrimp, Bourbon Salmon, Apple Cider Cheesecake and a Smokey Old Fashioned.
The other restaurants on the page list their weekly deals. Fin & Fino has $1 oysters on the half shell on Sundays and half-priced wine on Mondays. bartaco's High Tide Happy Hour runs Monday through Thursday from 3 to 6 p.m., with small bites at 1 for $3, 2 for $5 and 3 for $8. Midwood Smokehouse has a Tex Mex feature with $7 margaritas on Tuesdays. eeZ has half-price sake on Thursdays and two new cocktails, The Cuke Skywalker and The Don't Call Me Shirley. Brixx Wood Fired Pizza runs a buy-one-get-one late-night special on pizza and appetizers from 9 to 11 p.m., Monday through Thursday. The page still says "More Coming Soon!", so the list may grow before October 17.
The week also points toward Saturday. Diners who scan a QR code at participating restaurants are entered to win prizes, including free tickets to Taste of Birkdale Village, Birkdale Village gift cards and swag. A $40 dinner at North Italia on a Tuesday could win you a seat at the event that closes the week.
Saturday, October 24, in The Plaza
Taste of Birkdale Village is the one adults-only, ticketed event of the month. Tickets are $75 per person through Freshtix. Guests must be 21 or older, and IDs are checked at the entry. The ticket covers restaurant bites, an open bar with cocktails, beer and wine, and seating in The Plaza.
Ten restaurants are listed as participating:
- Bonefish Grill
- Buttermilk Sky Pie Shop
- Suffolk Punch
- Kilwins
- eeZ
- bartaco
- Bad Daddy's
- Red Rocks
- Fin and Fino
- North Italia
The list includes stops that aren't in the Restaurant Week lineup. Buttermilk Sky Pie Shop, Kilwins, Suffolk Punch, Bad Daddy's and Red Rocks bring pie, sweets and other dishes to the Plaza for one afternoon.
The price has gone up. Cornelius Today reported in August 2023 that tickets to that year's Taste were $60 per person. The 2026 price is $75. Each guest gets a taste token to vote for a favorite station, and Birkdale Village donates $5 to the beneficiary for every vote, according to Live Work Play LKN's September 3 fall preview. Live entertainment comes from Jacinda Jacobs, Colby Dobbs and Split Second Sound DJ & Entertainment.
Parking details for the afternoon:
- Free self-parking is available in the garages off Birkdale Commons Parkway and Lindholm Drive.
- Paid valet is in front of Concierge, off Birkdale Commons Parkway.
- Birkdale Village strongly encourages rideshare, which makes sense for an event with an open bar.
- If severe weather cancels the event, refunds are issued automatically.
Where the $75 goes
All ticket proceeds go to the Community Culinary School of Charlotte. The school was founded in 1997. It trains adults facing barriers to employment for food-service jobs, runs three classes a year of 20 or more students, and helps graduates find jobs. Its address is 9315-D Monroe Road in Charlotte.
QCity Metro profiled the school in May 2026. The program runs 14 weeks, Monday through Thursday from 8 to 11 a.m., and includes ServSafe certification and job-placement help for life. Its students include adults with histories of recovery or incarceration. The school's 82nd class graduated in April.
The school pays part of its costs with its own cooking. In 2025 it sold about 35,000 pastries and 5,000 box lunches, which brought in about $200,000. For 14 years, Mecklenburg County paid for 10% of the school's operating budget. That funding recently ended, according to the same QCity Metro report. Speaking about the county, the school's Ahlert told QCity Metro:
"It was a reimbursement program, and we were so grateful for all they did for us."
To thank the county, the school named a hamburger The Mecklenburger. With the county money gone, a sold-out afternoon in Huntersville matters more to the school this year. Restaurants like those in The Plaza are the kind of kitchens its graduates train to work in.
Sunday morning at The Grove
The Birkdale Village Farmer's Market has run on Sundays since March 22. October 25 is its last date of the season. Vendors rotate each month. The market page lists artisan breads, baked goods, gourmet snacks, farm-raised meats and seafood, and fresh flowers. Shop Local QC curates the market.
Because the market falls the morning after Taste, Saturday afternoon and Sunday morning cover both ends of Birkdale's food scene. Saturday is restaurant dishes with an open bar. Sunday is raw ingredients from outside vendors, in the same village less than a day later. After October 25, the next farmers market date is the 2027 season.
The other Shop Local QC event this month comes two weeks earlier. The Birkdale Village Commons Market is on Sunday, October 11, from 11 a.m. to 4 p.m., with boutique fashion, handmade jewelry, vintage finds, home decor and baked goods.
The free nights around it, and why Concierge matters
The rest of October is free and outdoors. Each event has its own food rule, and most of those rules lead back to the restaurants. Every Friday event is in The Plaza, the same space as Taste.
| Date | Day | Event | Time | Food rule |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| October 2 | Friday | Lights, Camera, Birkdale: The Haunted Mansion | 7:30 p.m. | No outside food; order restaurant pickup through Concierge |
| October 9 | Friday | Birkdale Social Hour: comedy | 6 p.m. | Takeout from Birkdale restaurants encouraged; Red Rocks satellite bar |
| October 11 | Sunday | Commons Market | 11 a.m.–4 p.m. | Baked goods among vendors |
| October 23 | Friday | Birkdale Social Hour: Dueling Pianos | 6 p.m. | Same as above; also the last night of Restaurant Week |
| October 30 | Friday | Lights, Camera, Birkdale: The Nightmare Before Christmas | 7:30 p.m. | Same as October 2 |
| October 31 | Saturday | Trick or Treat at Birkdale Village | 10 a.m.–noon | Check in at Concierge; route is The Parkway |
Neither series needs a ticket. Seating is first-come, first-served, and blankets and portable chairs are allowed. The movie series is the one to plan around. You can't bring outside food or drinks, but you can order from a Birkdale Village restaurant through Concierge. Birkdale Village's movie page says orders are ready for pickup at 7:30 p.m., the same time the film starts, so expect to pick up dinner as the opening scenes roll. Live Work Play LKN's preview calls the screenings "select Saturdays," but October 2 and October 30, 2026 are both Fridays. Plan by the date.
October 23 is the busiest Friday. Dueling Pianos starts at 6 p.m. on the last night of Restaurant Week, so you could have Bonefish Grill's $54 dinner or North Italia's $40 dinner that night and then walk to The Plaza for the show. The next afternoon, Taste opens in the same spot at 1 p.m.
The Nomadic Jeweler pop-up also stays at The Grove, across from Kilwins, on Saturdays from 2 to 6 p.m. and Sundays from 1 to 4 p.m. Its listing runs through November 29, but it was posted in March, so check the hours before you go.
Taste of Birkdale Village tickets are on Freshtix. The Restaurant Week page is the place to watch for more restaurants joining before October 17.
Maldonado Group works with families across Huntersville and the Lake Norman area, in English and in Spanish. If spending a whole month around Birkdale Village has you wondering what your home here is worth, we can put real numbers in front of you. Get Home Value (Obtener valor de la casa).
