Charley's Pizza Parlor LaFollette, TN
Written: Nov 04 '08
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Pros: It is a good place for seeing and being seen.
Cons: Tables not bussed. Poor service.
The Bottom Line: Next time, I'd skip it and try elsewhere.
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| pkmom's Full Review: Charley's Pizza Parlor |
This review is for
Charley's Pizza Parlor ~
103 Cumberland Lane
Jacksboro, TN 37757
LaFollette 423-562-0116
The resaturant is open for lunch and dinner. However, we did not find the opening or closing times to be posted anywhere that we could find.
Our family moved here in June. Jacksboro, Tennessee has a lot going for it. There are beautiful mountains, terrific people and breathtaking scenery. We are excited about being here and are enjoying trying out all the local restaurants and attractions. Pizza always tops the list when you have two daughters in college. That's the one food they are sure to eat. We started asking about pizza places when we began unpacking our boxes. Two places always came up. Charley's Pizza and a national chain pizza restaurant. Since we were wanting to acclimate to the local area we chose Charley's.
First, let me tell you that although we love pizza our standards are not high. All we ask is for a tasty pie with either a thick or thin crust (depending on which it is supposed to be). We like a reasonably clean restaurant, refills on drinks and relatively friendly service. I've worked in a restaurant and understand that when you're busy, you're busy! So, that's our frame of reference.
We tried Charley's Pizza Parlor on a week night. It surprised us to see a crowd standing outiside the door. We took this to be a good sign and went in. There is almost zero ambience to the place. The ordering counter is right in front of you when you walk in. Clerks might or might not acknowledge you immediately. It seemed to depend on if they knew you. That was ok. This is a small town and we expected as much.
Ordering was a treat. The guy behind the counter seemed to expect us to know what we wanted before we walked in. He seemed annoyed that we wanted to take a minute to look at a menu and suggested we have a seat. We obliged. The restaurant was less than half full. We noticed that several tables were dirty and the floor was littered with spilled food. That didn't bother me too much. It even seemed reasonable at first, given the crowd that we saw in the parking lot.
Several minutes after we were seated the server returned with our drink orders. We had to send her back for the correct ones. This took several more minutes.
One thing that you should probably know about Charley's Pizza is that the entire staff seems to be teenagers. Ours was no exception. During order taking she was laughing and talking with another server. This took several more minutes. By the time we finished giving our order we had been there close to half an hour. We still had high hopes but I have to tell you that the situation wasn't looking good.
Our order was for a large pizza with all the toppings and a large cheese sticks. For whatever reason they don't have breadsticks here. You can only get the sticks with cheese on them. The cost for this plus 2 waters, an iced tea and a coke was almost $30.00 with tax.
It took close to another 30 minutes for our meal to come out. Our drink glasses had sat empty for most of that time. The server brought our cheese sticks and plates and then left. We flagged her down for refill then dived in to try the cheese sticks. These were hot, fresh and tasty. It was exactly what we had heard about. We were very pleased with them.
A few minutes after the cheese sticks arrived here came the pizza. This was a bitter disappointment. It was just as hot as the cheese sticks but definitely not tasty. In fact, the ingredients tasted as though they had come out of a can. The crust was very chewy. This did nothing to help the pizza. Putting extra parmesean on it did not help. Using extra pepper didn't help either. By this time our drink glasses were sitting empty again. Again, we flagged down the server for refills. A few minutes later we flagged her down for the check. She looked at the almost fully uneaten pizza but didn't say a word to us about it. She did bring a box with the check though. We did take the pizza home. Reheated and cooked longer the next day it was much better - but still not very good. The kids ate it anyway.
On a reassuring note we did find that the last health department score here was a 9f. This actually surprised me. I did a little more digging and found out that the previous score was in the low 80's. This seems to match closer to what we saw in the restaurant.
As for the dirty tables that we saw. They were never cleaned during the time we were there. We were there well over an hour. The number of customers in the restaurant dwindled. The service level did not increase. We paid our bill and tipped accordingly. The next time we went out for pizza we tried that big national chain and was unexpectedly happier all the way around.
Recommended:
No
Kid Friendliness: Yes
Vegetarian Friendly: Yes
Notes, Tips or Menu Recommendations It helps if you are local.
Best Suited For: Kids and Families
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Epinions.com ID:
pkmom
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Reviews written: 96
Trusted by: 6 members
About Me:
Married Mom of two teens.
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