We got an early look at The Crunkleton in Raleigh. Here are our 5 takeaways
If you walk into Raleigh’s new location of The Crunkleton at just the right moment, you’re greeted by flames, brought to life by the drip drip of fat from a gigantic grilled ribeye over wood-burning coals.
It’s in that moment you’ll know for sure, this isn’t Crunkleton as you’ve always known it.
The Crunkleton opened its new Raleigh location Tuesday, April 8, in the Smoky Hollow development on the edge of downtown. This is the third Crunkleton in existence, all in North Carolina, and the second to pair an upscale food menu with its famed cocktails.
When The Crunkleton first opened in Chapel Hill in 2009 it was built to feel ancient. It has old leather couches, mounted animal heads and a wooden wall of whiskey and spirits, with a sliding ladder used to reach the top shelves. Chapel Hill’s Crunkleton is drinks only, but when it expanded to Charlotte in 2019, the brand added a full-service food menu.
The new Raleigh spot was created in that image.
Here’s how it compares.
Raleigh’s Crunkleton is more modern
Of the three Crunkletons, Raleigh’s is the sleekest and most modern.
Chapel Hill is inspired by Scottish pubs; Charlotte is a bit brighter, with Dijion-colored leather banquettes and twinkly chandeliers. Raleigh is wrapped in glass, with dark booths and walls, and clusters of bare light bulbs hung from the ceiling like falling stars.
“We hoped to capture a bit of each city,” owner Gary Crunkleton said in an interview.
Crunkleton’s menu: Fine fare but not fancy
Raleigh’s Crunkleton serves the same food menu as Charlotte. It’s not exactly fine dining, but it’s far from typical drinking foods.
There are raw and roasted oysters, with varieties based on what’s fresh that week. The roasted oysters are topped with a charred and crispy cheese crust.
Bigger bites include a thick cheeseburger draped in melted cheese and Parmesan fries, Crunkleton’s take on the hot honey chicken sandwich and classic steakhouse salads.
A nightly fish gets a smoky hit of the wood-burning grill, which also chars a hanger steak or that two and half-pound ribeye if you have a crowd.
The sides are some of the most interesting bites on the menu, with blistered shishito peppers, off-the-cob Mexican street corn, nostalgic mac and cheese with shells and Brussels sprouts with sweet agrodolce and spiced peanuts.
In some Southern touches for dessert, you’ll find pecan pie and beignets.
The coconut milk is never off
Cocktails are what helped make Crunkleton famous in the South as it was one of the Triangle’s pioneering bars bringing back the art of mixology. That’s true in Raleigh, where the drinks menu serves up historic tidbits along with tipples, citing bartenders and locales where some classics were first thought to have originated.
The opening menu is a guide of classic and contemporary drinks. The headliner is the Old Fashioned, so connected to the cocktail ether that its origin is unknown, says Crunkleton.
At a media preview on Monday, April 7, the Painkiller seemed to be the star — a sweet and strong riff on the Piña Colada, made with rum, coconut milk, pineapple, orange and lime juices and a grating of nutmeg. Crunkleton serves it in a glass stuffed with pebble ice and topped with a crown of pineapple fronds.
Are you looking for rare bottles?
The centerpiece of every Crunkleton is the wall of liquor, which in Chapel Hill and Charlotte is filled to overflowing with bottles of all sorts, from unicorns you might drink once in your lifetime, to steady sippers found on every shelf in every town.
Crunkleton points out that the shelves are not yet overflowing in Raleigh. Give it time.
“Chapel Hill started out that way, we’ll have it here eventually,” Crunkleton said. “The bottles have to accumulate. It takes some time.”
The new restaurant and bar is a place to connect
Over the last decade and a half, drinking and cocktail culture seemed to veer into the thing Crunkleton had already set in motion.
Starting out, Gary Crunkleton’s ambitions were slightly more simple. He wanted a bar he felt comfortable in, that served good drinks, whatever that might mean, and joined people together; a place where they didn’t feel lonely.
“People like to connect with other, we like to talk to one another, it’s as simple as that,” Crunkleton said. “Bars are able to capture that. People are able to be in something bigger than themselves. It could be the fancy cocktail bar, or the pretentious speakeasy or the neighborhood bar — my favorite type of bar — I just like bringing people together.”
This story was originally published April 9, 2025 at 6:00 AM with the headline "We got an early look at The Crunkleton in Raleigh. Here are our 5 takeaways."
