New music lounge will be a coffee haven by day, cocktail and jazz destination by night.

Looking for a drink before or after a good indie film? Eighty Eights Coffee & Cocktails, a new upscale coffee shop and jazz bar, will officially open Friday, Sept. 27 beside beside the Independent Picture House near NoDa in Charlotte.

• BY DAY: Expect a coffee shop with an elevated, curated menu. Coffee and pastries will be served Monday-Sunday from 8 a.m.- 5p.m.
• BY NIGHT: The place will become a jazz bar, showcasing Charlotte’s best groove and blues artists. Cocktails (including espresso martini flights), wine and beer are on the menu, as well as charcuterie and cheese plates. The bar will be open Friday-Saturday from 5 p.m.-1 a.m. and Thursday and Sunday from 5 p.m.-midnight. It will be closed Monday-Wednesday for private events.

FUN FACT: The 88 in the bar’s name is named after 88 keys on a piano.

LOOK FAMILIAR? You may recognize one of the names behind Eighty Eights: Kurt F. Sowers of local contracting firm SoCo Group — but you know him from his “Joe Millionaire” fame in the 2022 Fox reboot of the show.

Co-owner Dan Fulco, who also co-owns Rosie’s Coffee & Wine Garden, said the team is going for a New York Jazz Club style, including the dark wood in the design. “Just a really comfortable place to come, grab a cocktail and listen to great jazz music,” he told CharlotteFive. “We wanted to bring kind of a pre-prohibition, speakeasy vibe, and put that together with the jazz music.”

Eighty Eights Coffee & Cocktails joins a growing area anchored by the Independent Picture House, Charlotte’s only art house movie theater, which opened in 2022. Charlotte Art League reopened recently in a new space in the same building. Just down the street is live entertainment venue Blackbox Theater. Also nearby, Mariah’s Taco Spot will open this winter, serving birria tacos, chipotle surf and turf tacos, oven roasted wings, taco boxes and more. Soul Gastrolounge will also open nearby.

“The future is really bright over here,” Fulco said, noting all of the apartments under construction right now and the Independent Picture House’s current expansion happening right now. “Right now, it may seem like it’s off the beaten path a little bit, but we promise you that we will give you great service, great drinks and great music.”

This story is developing and will be updated — make sure to check back for more details.

Eighty Eights Coffee + Cocktails

Location: 4237 Raleigh St., Charlotte, NC 28213

Instagram: @eightyeightsclt

This story was originally published September 23, 2024 at 3:14 PM with the headline "New music lounge will be a coffee haven by day, cocktail and jazz destination by night.."