AOL: The best of Charlotte winners are...

We all love “best-of” lists, and this week, AOL has unveiled a new list of bars, restaurants and hotspots that it is touting as the “best” in Charlotte.

Charlotte is among 25 U.S. cities that are a part of AOL’s “City’s Best” program, which used editors and writers to select their favorite food, entertainment and lifestyle venues; users of the site were then asked to vote for their favorites, from the editors’ and writers’ lists.

The voting was held at www.citysbest.com between Oct. 13 and Nov. 30, and an AOL spokesperson said “thousands” of people participated in the selection process. Here are the winners:

Best After-Work Bar: Rí Rá Irish Pub, 208 N. Tryon St.

Best Burgers: Penguin Drive-In, 1921 Commonwealth Ave.

Best Cheap Eats: Amélie’s French Bakery & Café, 2424 N. Davidson St.

Best Chinese Food: P.F. Chang’s China Bistro, multiple locations.

Best Desserts: Tasty Yo, multiple locations.

Best Dive Bar: Thomas Street Tavern, 1218 Thomas Ave.

Best Family-Friendly Restaurant: Skyland Family Restaurant, 4544 South Blvd.

Best Fashion Boutique: J.T. Posh, 2400 Park Road.

Best Hotel: Ballantyne Hotel and Lodge, 10000 Ballantyne Commons.

Best Live Music: Visulite Theatre, 1615 Elizabeth Ave.

Best Movie Theater: Ayrsley Grand Cinema 14, 9110 Kings Parade Blvd.

Best Pizza: Luisa’s Brick Oven Pizzeria, 1730 Abbey Place.

Best Places to Break Up: Freedom Park, 1900 East Blvd.

Best Romantic Restaurants: The Fig Tree Restaurant, 1601 E. 7th St., and The Melting Pot, multiple locations.

Best Salon: Lockstar Salon, 2132 McClintock Road.

Best Seafood: Bonefish Grill, multiple locations.

Best Sports Bar: Hickory Tavern, multiple locations.

Ringling Bros. on-sale bash set for Saturday

Ladies and gentlemen children of all ages: Tickets for "Ringling Bros. and Barnum & Bailey Presents Barnum's FUNundrum!" go on sale at 10 a.m. Saturday.

To mark the occasion, fans are invited to celebrate P.T. Barnum's 200 birthday at a special on-sale bash at the Time Warner Cable Arena box office, from 10 to noon. There'll be clowns, birthday cake, and giveaways, plus the first 200 paying adults get one free ticket.

The show -- which features 130 performers from six continents, along with pachyderms, cowboys, pirates and mermaids -- will be at the uptown arena in Charlotte on the following dates:

Wed., Jan. 26 7 p.m.
Thu., Jan. 27 7 p.m.
Fri., Jan. 28 10:30 a.m. & 7 p.m.
Sat., Jan, 29 11 a.m., 3 p.m., 7 p.m.
Sun., Jan. 30 11 a.m., 3 p.m.

Tickets are $15 and up, with a limited number of $100 Circus Celebrity seats also available. All seats are reserved and available at through timewarnercablearena.com, ticketmaster.com, the Time Warner Cable Arena box office, all Ticketmaster outlets, or charge by phone 800-745-3000.

For more information, visit www.Ringling.com