The sounds of live music at the Whitewater Center’s River’s Edge come from across the lawn at the folksy, funky River Jam each Thursday, Friday, and Saturday from May to September. Like the multigenre music lineup, the menu at River’s Edge offers a wide range of flavors and cuisine like crispy polenta bites, a classic buffalo chicken sandwich, or the fresh ahi tuna salad. River’s Edge takes customers out of the city and into a breezy adventure atmosphere fit for a family, a first date, or anyone in between.

The abundant indoor and outdoor tables, porches, and nooks at the Goodyear House represent a growing home with a warm the-more-the-merrier charm. During the week, Goodyear House boasts a lively farmers-market-fresh lunch and dinner menu built largely on the foundation of Southern fare — the Devilish Toast or the North Carolina shrimp and Jimmy Red grits. On Sundays, alongside the acoustic music on the outdoor stage from 1 p.m. to 4 p.m., it offers a special Sunday Funday menu, featuring a smoked cashew mac and cheese and a strawberry sumac French toast.

Seoul Food Meat Company nails the niche Southern-meets-Korean barbecue fusion — think crispy pork belly, bao buns, kimchi fries, and soy garlic wings. While it offers staple craft and local beers, the drink menu stands out with a unique spread of Korean beverages, spanning from lychee soju to ginseng wine. With a Sunday Summer Music Series in the new Mill District location from 3 p.m. to 8 p.m., Monday Night Music Bingo at the South End location, and rentable karaoke rooms in both locations, the music, drink, and flavor combinations are limitless.

PSA: There’s a dog-friendly patio at Mill District.

The Hobbyist, a spacious coffee shop by day and bar by night at the entrance of Noda, opens its garage door for jazzy live music starting at 7 p.m. on Fridays. It has a rotating and seemingly endless beer and natural wine inventory, on tap and in bottles, along with craft coffee, specialty tea drinks, and a next-level North Carolina Hatchet Coffee espresso martini. With a laptop-free weekend policy at the bar, anticipate conviviality, a wine buzz, and conversation amongst the hanging plants and vintage wall art.

On a cozy corner of Plaza Midwood’s Central Avenue, Workman’s Friend welcomes visitors into a clean and open-air take on an Irish pub. The trusty Guinnesses sharing a table with the cornmeal-breaded fried oysters and staple fish and chips keep Workman’s reliably abuzz. Every Sunday from 6 p.m. to 9 p.m., get a jig on with live Irish music.

Yunta, meaning “friends” in Peru, celebrates Nikkei food, the blending of Peruvian ingredients with Japanese techniques, in a sleek Southend space. The uniting of cuisines gives life to a bright and balanced citrus ceviche, an umami Peruvian seafood risotto, and a bingeable truffle butter nigiri. On Fridays and Saturdays, starting at 7 p.m., rotating resident DJs transform the space with energetic tracks. Sip a Peruvian pisco sour and enjoy the spectacle of both the DJs and the kitchen at work.

Dilworth’s Comet Grill is a twenty-plus-year-old no-frill local’s spot, pairing local wings with local bands that are each unsuspectingly delightful. There’s free live music, spanning from R&B to jazz, nearly every night. With its increasingly rare 2 a.m. closing time, expect to stay out late and don’t forget the fried pickles and pimento grilled cheese.. Still serving as a neighborhood watering hole, Comet oozes with a homegrown and old-school Charlotte grit.