Highly-rated Tasty Bowl delights lunch lovers with rice bowls, subs, hot dogs, burgers, gyros and wings

Charlotteans love this spot as evidenced by a rare 5/5 rating on Yelp, 4.8/5 rating on Facebook and and 4.7/5 rating on Google.

Owner Raja Patel opened Subs ‘n’ Such in the Northlake area in 2010 after working for Quizno’s. Folks at the corporation basically bet he couldn’t make it in this business on his own, but when the Quizno’s closed, he opened his own shop to prove ‘em wrong.

In 2016, Raja added ‘The Tasty Bowl’ to the name and started serving up rice bowls because “It’s what people like to eat,” and made the move from Northlake to Westinghouse Boulevard. The shop is now tucked in the corner of a very unassuming red brick building.

At The Tasty Bowl, you’ll find a variety of subs (available in half, whole or on pita) and customizable rice bowls (small, regular or large) plus Nathan’s hot dogs, cheeseburgers, gyros and wings.

The stars of the show – the bowls – are simple: pick white or brown rice, rice flavor (ranging from Jamaican jerk to buffalo to curry) and chicken or shrimp. It’s topped with pico de gallo and sautéed veggies and served hot.

Here’s a look at what I tried.

Raja is passionate about serving good food, and it certainly shows.

Everything was packed with flavor, and you get a lotta bang for your buck. He’s also very keen on creating what you want, whether it’s extra spicy rice or a totally custom sandwich.

As I ate, I also noticed that Raja knew almost every single person that walked in by name or order. Gotta appreciate the regulars.

In the near future, Raja plans to add pasta dishes to the menu and is also researching how and where to package his creations and sell them off-site.

Find Tasty Bowl at 2900 Westinghouse Boulevard, open Monday through Friday, 10 a.m. to 4 p.m.