Opening Date Announced for Grey’s Diner, Sam Diminich’s Latest Venture

Sam Diminich’s Your Farms Your Table has announced an opening day for Grey’s Diner and Community Kitchen in the Plaza Shamrock neighborhood, with plans to debut in the old Mattie’s Diner space on Monday, April 27. 

News broke in February that James Beard-nominated chef Sam Diminich would take over the space that was home to Mattie’s since 2022. 

Diminich is the founder of Your Farms Your Table (YFYT), a farm-to-table restaurant group that operates Restaurant Constance, one of Charlotte’s most critically acclaimed restaurants. 

Open seven days a week, Grey’s will deliver classic comfort food made with the care of a fine-dining kitchen, according to a Tuesday release. The restaurant offers a selection for breakfast, lunch and dinner, including salads, handhelds, big plates and bowls, with daily specials, a dedicated kids menu and housemade desserts. 

“Diners have always been about more than just food; they’re where people connect,” Diminich, owner and executive chef at Grey’s, stated in the release. “Grey’s is our way of bringing that feeling back, while doing it in a way that reflects who we are today working with local farmers, cooking with intention, and creating a space that feels like home for anyone who walks in.”

Tuesday’s release from YFYT included menu highlights including: 

• Grey’s short rib and eggs with home fries, eggs, spinach and shorty gravy ($24)
• Fried chicken and biscuit with eggs, bacon, and cheddar, served with choice of hash browns or cheddar stone ground grits ($15)
• Overnight yeast waffles with honey crisp apple butter, maple, and cinnamon ($12)
• 2 Harmony Ridge Farms Eggs Your Way served with Belly Brothers bacon or sausage and choice of hash browns or cheddar stone-ground grits ($12)
• Big Sam’s Lasagna with sausage and beef and marinara ($22)
• Fried flounder plate with jalapeno hush puppies, fries and tartar sauce ($24)

Vegan options include:

• Black bean chilaquiles with salsa verde, tofu, jalapeno, and local tortillas ($14)
• Vegan marshmallow French toast with maple and apple butter ($14)
• Sloppy Joe with smoked poblano and caramelized onions on Texas toast ($16)

Your Farms Your Table in the community

Diminich has transcended his own inspiring personal journey of hard-won recovery from addiction to not only find success but capitalize on that success by giving back to the community. 

In 2020, he launched YFYT, a restaurant group that supports local farmers and shares community-wide stories about the food we eat and the people who provide it.

In January 2025, he announced YFYT’s collaborative project with nonprofit mental health treatment center HopeWay to provide daily meals to the residential patients, outpatient clients, visitors and staff at the center’s southwest Charlotte campus.

Read more: Sam Diminich Partners with HopeWay on Culinary Mental Health Programming (2025)

Later that month, he was announced as a semifinalist for Best Chef in the Southeast region — which includes Georgia, Kentucky, Tennessee, West Virginia and the Carolinas. 

“This nomination is not a singular achievement but a reflection of the collective efforts of the exceptional team at Your Farms Your Table,” Diminich wrote in a statement to Queen City Nerve following the announcement.

He noted that the nomination highlights a belief shared by chefs, farmers and industry partners that they can create something far greater together than they could working alone.

“[That] belief [is] embodied by the success of Restaurant Constance,” Diminich continued. “When passionate individuals come together, we can truly push the boundaries of possibility within our industry and beyond. I am deeply humbled to be among this accomplished group of industry colleagues and friends and inspired by what we can achieve next.”

Read more: At Restaurant Constance, Sam Diminich Cooks Like His Life Depends on It (2023)

In February 2025, Diminich’s team began dishing out more than 100 daily meals to the residential patients, outpatient clients, visitors and staff on HopeWay’s campus. 

The team manages HopeWay’s 9,000-square-foot, in-house kitchen, emphasizing fresh, local ingredients from its farm partners and fresh herbs grown on-site for menus designed to support clients’ diverse dietary and therapeutic needs. Having recently marked the program’s first anniversary, the team served more than 50,000 years in its first year.

For the accomplished chef, working with HopeWay was just one more step forward in his own personal mission — one that goes far beyond business interests and more into helping his community.

Sober for more than a decade at this point, Diminich has been open about his own personal struggles and journey through recovery.

“I was in more than a dozen treatment centers and detoxes myself,” he told Kayleigh Ruller, reporting for Queen City Nerve in January 2025. “I experienced depression, alcoholism, [and] substance abuse.”

Similar to how Restaurant Constance is named after his daughter, Grey’s Diner is named after Diminich’s son. 

He attributes his success in recovery thus far to factors including treating his body better and becoming increasingly mindful of what he puts in it. That’s the same mindset that he will bring into creating a classic diner menu at Grey’s. 

Read more: PostScript Is One Couple’s Love Letter to Their East Charlotte Neighborhood

The original Mattie’s Diner, in the same stainless-steel building, was located on the Music Factory property but was closed in 2015 to make room for the AvidXChange development. The 42,000-pound building was stored away in the Lincoln Heights neighborhood before being moved to The Plaza, where it reopened in 2022. 

Ownership there announced they were looking for a buyer in August 2025 as they explore other opportunities. 

Grey’s Diner is located at 3100 The Plaza and will be open seven days a week from 7 a.m.-10 p.m. Visit the website for more information and updates.