Oh, Oh, Oh, O'Charley's
Written: Oct 02 '05 (Updated Oct 28 '06)
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Product Rating:
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Pros: Food, Great Service, Homey atmosphere
Cons: Poor beer selection; Menu needs to be expanded
The Bottom Line: This is a very nice, family style restaurant with low prices.
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| Bryan_Carey's Full Review: O'Charley's |
Where do families go to dine when they want a good meal at a fair price? Many family- style restaurant establishments exist, but only a few offer prices that are affordable to most families. One restaurant chain that fits the bill is O’Charley’s, a casual dining restaurant established in 1971.
Menu Selection:
O’Charley’s menu offers food items such as:
Appetizers- Chicken tenders, chicken wings, quesadillas, shrimp dip, cheese wedges, chips and salsa, and potato wedges are among the food items to warm you up for the meal ahead.
Soups and Salads- Caesar salad, black and blue salad, Cajun chicken salad, chicken tender salad, potato soup, and a soup of the day can be selected on this part of the menu.
Sandwiches & Burgers- Several different hamburgers are offered, along with a few chicken sandwiches, a club sandwich, a French dip, and a fish sandwich.
Main Dishes/Dinners- Steaks, prime rib, salmon, catfish, rainbow trout, teriyaki chicken, chicken parmesan, and Cajun chicken pasta are among the choices here. There is even a combo option, allowing customers to select among several different main dishes (like chicken tenders, ribs, shrimp, etc.) and combine them with different side dishes.
Desserts- Key lime pie, caramel pie, ultimate chocolate cake, caramel ice cream dream, and caramel pie ice cream are offered in the dessert section of the menu.
In addition to these selections, O’Charley’s also offers a kid’s menu and a Sunday brunch menu that offers food choices like eggs, omelettes, and different styles of waffles.
Atmosphere:
O’Charley’s restaurants are generally large on the inside, with seating for about 150 to 200 guests. There is a bar area with television sets for sports viewing and at least two other areas for family dining. These areas always include non- smoking. In every location I have visited, smoking was allowed only in the bar area.
Brick makes up a good portion of the interior design of O’Charley’s and it gives the restaurant a home- like feel. The lighting is nice, with light fixtures that hang over the tables, offering a nice, pleasant ambiance.
Pricing:
Prices at O’Charley’s are lower than most restaurants in its class. The sandwiches (which include fries on the side or other side, if you like) are priced between $6.99 and $9.99. Main dishes are as low as $8.99. Kids (10 and under) eat free of charge with a paying adult. All dinners include a basket of four buttered dinner rolls and there is no limit to the number you can eat. Soft drinks (they serve Pepsi products), likewise, are served with unlimited refills.
Customer Service:
O’Charley’s is a pleasant place to dine with friendly and helpful staff. They cater to kids and offer the little ones crayons, coloring sheets, and other material for entertainment. They are attentive to tables and they are continuously bringing customers a new glass of soft drink. And they are always ready to bring another basket of fresh rolls if your supply is finished.
Final Thoughts:
O’Charley’s is a nice family dining option with enough to offer at a low price to make it a restaurant I occasionally visit. This restaurant chain is located in seventeen states: Michigan, Indiana, Ohio, Illinois, Missouri, Kentucky, West Virginia, Virginia, Tennessee, North Carolina, South Carolina, Georgia, Florida, Arkansas, Mississippi, Louisiana, and Alabama. More than 230 locations presently exist with plans to expand into more states within the next year.
Several factors make O’Charley’s a nice place to dine. I have already talked about the relatively low prices and the free food for kids but another important consideration (the most important to many) is the quality of the food itself. This is one of the few restaurants where I can honestly say that there is nothing to avoid on the entire menu. You know how it is with many restaurants- there is usually something that isn’t very tasty that you often recommend against when others ask what to try and what not to try. But with O’Charley’s, everything offered is fresh and tasty. I like the sandwiches and I will often choose one of them if I’m not feeling exceptionally hungry for dinner. But my favorite foods are the chicken dishes, with chicken parmesan and Cajun chicken pasta ranking at the top of my list of best food choices. These food items offer a good amount of seasoning without going overboard, making for the perfect balance in taste. I don’t find anything bland on the menu, and that includes the burgers which also have a good deal of seasoning to give them more character. And the portions are a nice size- not small but also not so large that you can’t clean up your plate.
Customer service is also very nice at O’Charley’s. If something isn’t right, they will make it right, without question and without hesitation. In addition to that, O’Charley’s goes beyond the call of duty in this area in many ways. First of all, I really like the way they continuously bring you more drinks without you having to ask for them. With most full- service restaurants the wait staff will come by your table and ask if you would like another drink. Worse, some of them will grab your glass from the table and refill from a pitcher- a practice I always found rather tacky. But O’Charley’s has it right. The wait staff knows what soft drink you ordered and before you have even finished the one in front of you, they are right there, at your table, with another large glassful of the same drink. This way, you are never without a beverage. A new glassful is there before you finish the old one.
Another thing I really like about this restaurant is the ease of substitutions. O’Charley’s will let you make all sorts of changes to a menu item without hesitation and without altering the base price of the food you order. Sometimes, the substitutions people ask for can, in effect, change the order entirely, making it basically seem like a different order. But as long as the main item (chicken, steak, etc.) is still the same, O’Charley’s doesn’t charge any extra.
Looking for something to criticize about O’Charley’s I can come up with only two complaints: The lack of good beer choices and the lack of a large selection of food choices. The only good beer products offered (out of about 12 on the menu) are Killian’s Irish Red and Samuel Adams Boston Lager. The remaining choices are the usual slop, like Miller Lite, Budweiser, Coors, and so forth. And while I really enjoy the food served at O’Charley’s, I think it would be nice if the company expanded the menu. If you add up the main dinner options, there are a total of about twenty to choose from. In the sandwich and burger section of the menu, there are about ten choices. This isn’t bad, but it isn’t anything to brag about either. An expanded menu would make this restaurant that much better.
Overall, though, O’Charley’s is still a very good place to dine and one of my favorite family dining establishments. Low prices, free meals for kids, unlimited soft drinks (served without even having to ask), and a homey atmosphere make this a good place to take the family for some economical dining away from home.
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Recommended:
Yes
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