Queen Park Social wants you to have fun and be social without your phone.
A New York City inspired boutique entertainment house has opened its doors on Yancey Road in lower SouthEnd. Neighbors like Olde Mecklenburg Brewing, The Broken Spoke, Good Road Cider Works, Great Wagon Road Distillery and Sugar Creek Brewing have made this area a true destination for young professionals.
Georgia-born owner Joe Lariscy has, with partners Reid and Daniel, crafted a sweeping gathering place filled with activities that can be enjoyed under one roof. After living in NYC for over seven years working in finance, Joe finally had the opportunity to become an entrepreneur: His inspiration for Queen Park Social started back in New York when he visited the Brooklyn Bowl on a regular basis, located across the street from Brooklyn Brewing.
“We feel we are a great complement on Yancey to the entire neighborhood which continues to bring more and more entertainment in the Historic SouthEnd,” Joe explains. “Today everyone is on their cell phone constantly. We are ‘throwing it back’ to a simpler time where social interaction happens in person, over great food and drink with fun activities.”
Queen Park Social is all laid-back party atmosphere, meant to lift your spirits so you can fully enjoy life in the QC with your friends, colleagues, kids, or the entire family.
Location Location Location
“We are matching a fun, trendy restaurant bar with some upscale boutique elements you will see more in places like NYC or LA,” Joe explains.
It all starts by picking where you want to hang out. Enjoy cocktails on the plush leather couches in the game room or sit at the indoor bar in any one of their teal leather rivet bar stools or high tables. A spacious front patio houses mounted TV’s, succulent plant bowls on large tables, comfortable chairs and tables gathered together, and a bar stool table overlooking the lawn of OMB. For outdoor activities besides lounging, head out to their large grassy back yard, fenced in underneath the Queen Park cinema sign. Moving around to the different spaces is encouraged, and the list of games include darts, skeeball, basketball hoop, foosball, corn hole, bowling, floor and table shuffleboard.
Food, Drink and Live Music
Joe teamed up with Carlos and Terrell to build a Gastro-Pub / Tex-Mex menu, offering about 40 items ranging from brussel sprouts and tacos to burgers and desserts. It’s really the specialty cocktails and draft list that will keep you coming back for more, though. There’s a little something for everyone. If the fun, games, food and artwork wasn’t enough to get you here, their summer live music events will be.
Artwork
No matter where you are in the 18,000 square foot space, you’ll see homage paid to the 1960’s industrial warehouse where the structure was kept intact with its original elements.The walls have been decorated with newspaper-style movie advertisements for 90’s favorites like E.T., Sixteen Candles, Clueless, Ferris Bueller’s Day Off, Fletch and more.
Many of you have seen artwork around Charlotte by our talented local artists Matt Moore and Matt Hooker. It’s no surprise that they partnered up with a few other artists to create a massive mural taking up the entire sidewall of the bowling alley, appropriately worded “Be Social.” With a comic book style theme created with spray paint and acrylic, it begins at one end with a plug that’s been disconnected from an outlet showing electricity sparking outwards onto and throughout the words, lighting up the entire phrase.
