Charley's Steakhouse

05/20/2008 Posted by robberken

we were there last might and last week. i am playing tour guide of tampa to 2 of my friends from reno. they are gone now but said they had "researched" tampa hot spots and mentioned this site, so i had to see for my self. they liked charleys best so i have to give them props from reno. i have a 5 year history and i must say that sometimes i find a new favorite hangout but it seems i gravitate back to charleys when i really want to hang it all on the line. i always meet cool people and cant help but smile when i leave. the food is as it always was and the service is very cool (relaxed) but very solid. i like it because no matter what i'm doing i can always break off and show up and charleys.

05/01/2008 Posted by estemper

we were there last night and i heard a table say they were going to post a review on citysearch. we only caught the last half of their troubles but i just have to say they were not there to have a good time. i always have fun and a great steak so i was just curious what she was going to say. i don't see her post so if she does, let me say her party was apparently comparing everything to other restaurants. when i want french/vietnamese, i go to restaurant bt. when i want italian, i go to donatello's. my point is, she wanted charleys to be what it is not and was blind to what they do great. she wanted a kids menu. charleys is not kid friendly. she wanted a quiet table even though she reserved a table in the bar lounge; charleys bar is loud. i guess i had a great time because i know what to expect and i come when i want to have a charleys night out. i wanted to say something to her but decided she would tell us all about how she was disappointed. when i read the reviews from years past on this board it seems to be a recurring theme. those who go to have a good time and a great meal, everything is great. when someone shows up expecting morton's steakhouse or some other experience then they have a hissy fit. one comment was "don't believe the hype". how can you not believe the hype when you are surrounded by happy people? now that's out of the way. last night i had a nice glass of wine and the monster app for 5 people, shared of course. later my friend ordered some south american red wine that was crazy good and we all had shots at the bar after dinner. that's what i call a charleys night out. and for the gal who was not a happy camper, well she is invited to join us next time we go.

03/31/2008 Posted by jed525

I came to the restaurant with a party of eight and not a one of us was impressed. I had started with the beefsteak tomato salad, which was far from pleasurable. The tomatoes were not even close to being ripe. The filet I order medium rare came out charred on the outside and closer to medium well then even medium. Another guest ordered their filet with a bufferfly cut, medium and the oscar topping. The oscar topping was the only thing done right. A few of the guest had ordered sodas to drink but the soda machine broke down around mid-point through the meals. These individuals switched to water but were still charged for the sodas. We all agreed we have had better meals at Outback for a third the price. If you are going to spend this amount of money - I recommend Shula's, Ruth's Crist, or Fleming's. These are all far superior to Charlie's.

Pros: The ambience is the only thing this restaurant has

Cons: Value, Food, Service

02/25/2008 Posted by rlwinner

Our food arrived way undercooked even though it took an hour from our arrival to entree on our table. Our waitress Lisa was not where to be found; finally got another waiter to help us. Lisa claimed we had gotten there too early and it takes time for the grill to warm up. Really??!! You'd think they could get someone to turn the grills on early. When she brought our dinners back; they were still not cooked to our requirements. But since we had been there over 90 minutes; we lived with it. However, my husband was ill when we got home for his under cooked tuna. Total time spent on just dinner, no appretizers, no dessert: 2 hours. My steak was far from the best I've ever had. It was big, but big is not always best. Wonder how many hormones they use to get such large cuts of meat???

02/18/2008 Posted by douglasblackwater

Charley,s use to be great...but since they sold out to "Talk of The Town" group they have gone from the top to the bottom.If you haven't been in a couple of years don't bother..the only thing that is the same is the location...if you do, don't worry about the wait...there isn't any...this same group managed to ruin another one of my favorite places "Fishbones" in Orlando...shame on"Talkof theTown"

Pros: none

Cons: all

02/18/2008 Posted by cwcla

First, we waited for an hour and a half to be seated when we had a reservation beforehand. The restaurant mismanaged and overbooked that day. Second, the services were terrible and not professional at all for the price and level of this kind of fine dinning place. We felt like we were in the bar and the waiters selectively chatting with customers they like. We had to ask for a glass of water 3 times over 20 minutes. The waiters did not spend time with us to explain the menu and recommend dishes. At the end, we were holding two take-out boxes and the waiters didn't even offer a bag. Finally, the T-Bone steak I had was overly flavored. Too salty that I could not taste much of the meat itself. They may have an excuse that they were extremely busy on that day; nevertheless, a fine dinning restaurant like Charley's should keep constant good quality at all time if they are to open the door and charge the same high price every day.

11/18/2007 Posted by jmontessori

first, let me say i have young children and this is a night for adult dinning. leave your kids with a friend. our last dinner was what made me want to write a review ( even three days later ). we were stuck in traffic near the stadium and we decided to upgrade our lifestyle from wasting time in traffic to a warm and engaging meal with friends. we arrived on a tuesday at 5:30 to find the gm carl parker opening the front door for us and after we had not been seated immediately he walked over to fix the problem (no reservations) we were in our seats shortly there after were we learned from our server who he was. the dinning room was full of others dinners who were obviously very happy and were not afraid to enjoy themselves. this made me want a nice glass of wine to take the traffic off. my husband and our guests were pleased with the service not just from our primary guy but all of those who came to the table. even the staff who were serving the tables around us seemed to make themselves available if we needed. now to be specific, i not only got a nice glass from my husband but an even nicer bottle after the wine steward stopped by to advise us. we had three bottles between the six of us and two different wines. i have eaten at charleys for years but never have i realized how much fun wine can add to the meal. i wrote a thank you note to our friends for meeting us on short notice and when my friend called back she said her fiance had looked closely at the wine list and decided nearly all of the wines were priced under "restaurant" retail and that he wanted to have his business dinners there to take advantage of the wine. there is nothing to say about the steaks other than you cannot get steak from a fire any better. if you like the butter and oven or the propane char from the other steakhouses in town then go for it. i happen to like steak the way it was meant to be and i'm learning wine and the fun others people are having is just as important. not just steak

Pros: service, bar, steaks, selection, no kids

Cons: loud, business dinners need private room, easy to get lost

10/15/2007 Posted by hanzraab

i read the reviews, i've dined and wined at the best tampa has to offer and i say if you want have a new definition for a good eat then charleys is the only steakhouse in town. tampa has many very good "places to eat"; charleys will give you great time. i have been to this restaurant 20 plus times and have met the most interesting people in town. their staff has more charisma than the guests at other places. i always meet people from everywhere, miami, atl, chicago, orlando, even costa rica. maybey these are the same people i meet at other tampa high end restaurants but they sure are more open and friendly when at charleys. my last visit was very telling. i showed up after a day in orlando and called my buddy to join me. he did and after an hour at the bar "andre is cool" we saw two more friends and got a table. andre is one of the bar tenders. we ordered this sample app and a bottle of white. then came the beef, raw that is; " i can never get enough of big raw steaks in front of me " so, she talks about the steaks and the fire pit grill and we order up a table full of steakhouse. so the wine comes and the app comes and we are talking and laughing and then the decision is made to have a bottle of cab with the steaks and my buddy's football team lost last week so he has to buy the red wine. he looks at the list and says "you boys are in for a treat". later he told me the prices were less than what he normally pays. so he buys a bottle of california's best export and then the steaks arrive. now there is no way we are not having fun. after that we paid and bought some cigars to smoke on the "deck" outside. sure enough we met some other new people there and decided to move on to the next spot. the bottom line is; if you want a great steak and great service with a big wine list and a quaint little quiet table in a room where you can hear the soft music then you have many choices. when i want to have a great time with my steak and wine then i go to charley's.

Pros: people, everbody from the staff to the bar crowd and even outside

Cons: traffic till 5:30 and they sold out of my scotch but its ok they had some other

09/24/2007 Posted by hdchick

Overpriced, particularly for drinks and wine. $10.95 for a glass of merlot, $3.00 for a small side of bernaisse sauce? Most of the cuts of beef are too large for the average person to dine on comfortably. An ala carte menu means extras add up quickly. It's a shame that such a nice looking restaurant, with great potential for romantic atmosphere, chooses to allow small children (whom parents allow to run around loose with no request from the staff to cease such behavior) and requires no dress code for adults. You can expect to have someone in shorts and a tank top (male) seated next to you while you are paying "big city" prices. It appears the majority of restaurant owners don't seem to have the guts to chuck the "casual beach" atmosphere in Tampa and present a truly adult dining experience. Oh and don't be surprised if you leave with the odor of the pit used for grilling in your clothes.

03/19/2007 Posted by joshzuck

I have had better steaks at Longhorn and Outback. One of the most mediocre meals I have ever experienced. Steaks come to table, and waiter asks us to cut into the steaks to make sure they were done as we had asks. TACKY!! And that was protocol for the waiters because they asked every table when they received their steaks. Do they not trust their chefs? When I ask for a medium steak at a steakhouse, why should the waiter ask me to check the steak? So, I cut into my porterhouse and it looks like it is cooked medium as I asked. Well, the steak was incredibly tough, but I didn't complain. The salad was made with iceberg (the crappiest of all the lettuces). So, my dad cuts into his steak, which he ordered medium, and saw a tiny bit of pink in the center of the fattest part of the steak, and proceeds to tell the waiter that it is not cooked medium. The waiter then shines a candlelight on the steak, and says that it is indeed medium. Let it be known that my father knows his steak. So, we were a bit annoyed that the waiter was basically telling my father he was wrong about the steak. So, not wanting to make a small problem big, my dad continued to eat until he just was disgusted with the steak. He calls the waiter over, and tells him to send it back because he ordered it medium, and not well-done as the steak came out. The waiter sends it back, and comes back 2 minutes later with the same steak, telling my father that the chef said that the steak was indeed medium. ARE YOU KIDDING ME? At this point, we seriously thought we were on some sort of candid camera show or something. This was my mother's Birthday, and it was completely ruined. I don't even understand how anyone can even put Charley's in the same class as Bern's. Bern's is so far superior in every single category from quality of food to service, that it would be the equivalent of comparing Burger King with Spago.

Pros: Cheli, the manager, who comped our meal.

Cons: The food, the service, the tackiness and just about everything about Charley's.