Charlies

Sometimes I read other reviews after I have been to a certain place and wonder if the other reviewers were lost and were actually at some other place other than where I was. Be that as it might, here are my thoughts after my first visit to Charlie's.

Charlie's is a neighborhood tap maybe just a notch above similar Wisconsin beer-bars that I have been to, meaning that it's a little cleaner with more lighting and the people seemed to be nicer. The day I visited, Miller-Coors tap pints were $1.75.

There was only a bartender on duty (no wait staff) so YES we did have to go up to the bar to place an order rather than sit on our dupa and have it brought to the table, but this was no problem for us being strong young chelloveks.

The reason for my visit was Charlie's monthly (winter) "meat raffle". I am told that this is a tradition in the Northern Illinois and Southern Wisconsin area that certain bars have been doing for years. The tickets were $1 each or 6 for $5 and are good only for the "current" round. There are 10 rounds, Each round has 4 winners.

1st - Meat
2nd - Bottle of liquor
3rd - A drink
4th - Lottery Scratch Off Ticket.

If you are a meat winner, they allow you to pick whatever you would like from the selections in their cooler. The booze prizes were about half top-shelf and half well to pick from.

The people selling raffle tickets were very nice and there was no pressure to buy. Prizes seemed to be won by people all over the bar rather than like at some places where only 2-3 people seemed to be doing all the winning. Overall I felt that this was fun, and would come here again just to enjoy the raffle.

As previously mentioned, Charlie's does not have a kitchen but snacks such as chips and the like are available for purchase. It is OK to bring in outside food (within reason).

I appreciated that there were coat hooks here and there for patron use which is needed during the dead of midwest winter when it's basically impossible to go anywhere without a coat.

As with most bars in Northern Illinois, Charlie's is non-smoking but they have a small outdoor deck for nicotine addicts to puff away.

The patrons at Charlie's when I visited seemed to be friendly working class folks; not the same sort of crowd that you would find at a place like The Vine, but they seem charming in their own way. Just neighborhood folks would be a good way to describe them (see photos).

Overall I felt that Charlie's is a friendly and comfortable neighborhood tap with a lot of character for the person who likes a basic bar where the beer is cold and the juke box set at a volume that conversation is possible.

The place is marginally cheaper than its competition in downtown Grayslake. That's all you can say in its favor. The employees and patrons are the absolute dregs of G-town. If the conversation at Abel's is a little too sophisticated for you, if the late, unlamented Last Chance was too clean for your taste, if you crave the sensation that comes with being surrounded by people whose presence on your property would prompt a call to 911, if you like waiting 30 or 40 minutes for a stale draft beer from the area's least interesting beer selection, this may be the bar for you. Or maybe you're David Lynch or the producers of "Cops." This is absolutely the place for you.

It's a dive bar.  It's actually THE dive bar, as in, every other dive bar in existence draws inspiration from Charlie's.

The drinks are cheap and the bartenders are friendly. Highly recommended if this is your kind of bar.