Lunch At Webb Custom Kitchen In Gastonia, North Carolina

by Esme Addison

If you’ve traveled to Gastonia, North Carolina lately, you’ll know this quaint small town right outside of Charlotte has a vibrant downtown area filled with excellent dining options and quirky retail shops. On my last trip to visit family in Charlotte, I stopped by Gastonia and had lunch at Webb Custom Kitchen.

I enjoy visiting establishments housed in buildings with character and history. Webb Custom Kitchen is housed in an old Art Deco-style movie theater built in 1927. The theater closed its doors in the late 1980s and today hosts the Webb Custom Kitchen, which features the same architecture the cinema had in the twenties.

My great-grandmother and her descendants lived in this area, so it’s easy to imagine her and her friends visiting this very same location that I dined in with my family. Architecturally, the building is beautiful and wholeheartedly embraces the historical Art Deco style. In fact, in 2018 Webb Custom Kitchen was featured in Architectural Digest.

When you walk inside the restaurant, it clearly used to be a movie theater. The building has high ceilings and the accoutrement of an old movie theater is everywhere, including a film projector from when the theater was open.

The staff was friendly. The atmosphere clubby and elegant and beautiful. We arrived during the middle of the day for lunch. Tables were filled but it wasn’t super busy. My family and I were distracted from the menu by the beautiful interior, but once we moved to our lunch selection we found the menu to have expansive elegant choices.

I decided on the house salmon dish with a side of truffle and parmesan fries. Everything was well cooked and so good. We left having enjoyed a wonderful meal in a beautiful environment with attentive staff. After lunch, we took a pleasant stroll down the downtown area.

I can’t wait to return to Gastonia. Cute shops and restaurants just keep popping up!