WOW some really long winded reviews for just a chain restaurant!
Its all about your expectations. Its a chain! I really am not a fan of cookie cutter corporate restaurants but Charlie Browns is not so bad. If you keep your expectations in check. The salad bar is a deal - no need to order an appetizer. The best part is the chop liver, love it. Last time here we got the special  that was sliced filet over green beans and I think mashed potatoes, came with the salad bar for $15. the steak was cooked perfectly. Place was clean, service was ok. I'd go back
Charlies Brown's as a whole for years has started to slip the slippery slope of sliding downhill. This location is no different. Years ago the food was top-rate. It was a good steak at a good price. Now as they try to keep up with the changing times and to keep an varying menu, they have sacrificed quality in hope of maintaining some small foothold in the dining world. Alas, it hasn't work. We've eaten here a few times as its one of the few 'decent' restaurants in the area near my grandmother so it's not like its a main destination for us. The service has typically been slow and the food is adequate at best.
This weekend we went in for a special occasion and were all equally excited to notice their current Octoberfest menu on every table. Sadly though it started on the wrong foot. I ordered one of their two advertised Octoberfest beers (as shown on the specially printed menu at the table) and was told they don't have it, so I asked for the other and they didn't have that either. Very odd as it was a special item they were pushing. I was then told that they don't get those beers in for another week or two. Strange as every other restaurant I've been to since the beginning of August has had their Octoberfest beers on tap in an effort to push through summer and move on to the next season. Not the worst thing in the world, but then why advertise it? We ordered a variety of plates and I must say their German Sausage platter (another part of the special menu) was good. My dad's burger (supposed to be cooked well done) came out barely medium and bright pink on the inside (how you can under cook something meant to be way over cooked is beyond me). My wife opted for the salad bar and was sadly disappointed she had as it was incredibly weak and lacking any good options. Odd at lunch time on a day when every table in the place was taken.
Like I said, it's not a place to go out of your way for but its a chain so you know what you're getting and can be assured of at least a palatable meal.
I'm struggling right now. Â I really want to give Charlie Brown's in Lakewood only two stars, but it's really about a 2.5. Â In elementary school, they taught me to round up. Â When it comes to restaurants, I'm not at all sure that the same rule applies. Â Okay, I've convinced myself. Â Two it is.
I really don't like chain restaurants, so my bent is to disparage them for everything, in every way, because I am usually justified in doing so by the poor-to-mediocre food and anemic service. Â I had been here before, once, and I was miserable the whole time, but that was probably more the company than the food. Â So, in a virtual restaurant desert, when searching for a place to stop and share a quick bite of lunch yesterday, my wife and I chose to stop back in.
If I had to sum up lunch at Charlie Brown's in Lakewood with two words, they would be blue and grey, which are the prominent hair colors amongst the swarm of chattering old birds. Â Sitting in large groups, loudly clogging up the works, I was struck by the fact that the only thing more annoying than a senior citizen is a group of them, all of whom having had a few glasses of wine. Â
More annoying was the fact that we ordered only a Mushroom and Swiss Burger and a French Dip, and they took a solid 35 minutes to make it from the waitress' pad to our table. Â
While we waited, and waited, and waited, we had time to drink deeply of our surroundings. Â It's time to replace the carpet, guys. Â Or thoroughly scrub it. Â I'd pull it up, though, and replace it with wood; there might even be some under there, if you peel it back and look. Â I don't mind the green and maroon motif, though it's a bit dated. Â Perhaps they think that if it is allowed to age sufficiently, it will assume the patina and feel of a private club. Â If so, someone needs to let them know that's not going to happen. Â It looks more like a twenty year-old golf bag I have moldering in my garage, with slightly fewer worn spots. Â Actually, the holes in that bag aren't really wear, they're from car battery acid. Â Speaking of battery acid, we also had time to drink our sodas. Â Does anyone clean their taps anymore? Â It seems not. Â That really gets on my nerves.
My wife said her French Dip was "spicy", which is not a quality I associate with that particular sandwich. Â It seems it was the meat, rather than the jus, which lent that peculiar quality to it. Â She ate the whole thing, which she normally does not, so it must have been good.
My burger, I have to say, was perfect; a solid, half-pound of medium rare deliciousness. Â The problem with it was that it was served on a bun that could not stand up to it. Â I'm probably alone in this, but I enjoy eating hamburgers with my hands. Â Yeah, call me crazy, but I do. Â After three or four bites, this sandwich became an exercise in fork and knife skills. Â Aside from the roll just being not quite the right tool for the job, there was another reason for this, which is that they put the tomato and shredded lettuce on the bottom, so in addition to having to absorb the juices from the burger, the bottom half of the roll must also contend with the moisture from the garnish. Â Yes, it keeps the top of the roll from sliding around, but at the expense of being able to pick it up and eat it. Â Still, it was tasty. Â The fries on both of our plates were limp and excessively seasoned with salt and pepper. Â I'm thinking of quitting my job and setting off across the country in a quest to teach restaurants how to make french fries. Â It isn't hard, but you'd think it was, judging by the quality of what you tend get when you order them.
So, what did we end up with? Â A couple of stock standard bar sandwiches that took forever to get, a couple of sodas that tasted pretty poorly, and a tab of $34.00 with the tip. Â I don't complain about prices, certainly not if they align with value, but in this instance, I do not feel they did at all. Â Now I'm thinking of revising that rating down to one star, but I'll be kind. Â I wouldn't want to discourage the geriatric lunch trade, who seemed fine with the whole business. Â As far as I'm concerned, they can keep it.
When I was a kid this place used to be extra packed all the time. Today, I met up with my mother for some lunch and there are a few people scattered here and there and i was probably the youngest person in there. Sr Citizen restaurant? That doesn't really matter anyway but the food was pretty good. I think my favorite part is the array of breads they have at the salad bar. What else, its pretty big, seats A LOT and then there is also a bar thats kind of tucked away on the side of the building. Uhh yeah, dont know what else to say about it.. Its a decent place to go and grab some grub if you want to get away from the Applebees, chillis, fridays theme for a change.
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