Charlie’s Little Italian

The breakfasts here are really really great. It’s become our favourite breakfast spot quite quickly and the Fat Charlie Special is a winner every time. Excellent value and the food is top notch. The sausage is some of my favourite, and I’m generally not a huge sauage fan. The breakfast pizza is also quite good and big enough to share. Come in early and you’ll be sitting with lots of new parents and loud babies, go later around noon and they’ve cleared out to make room for the walking hungover.

If you come at all, most definitely try their brunch (¹⁰⁄₁₀). Exceeds or even surpasses Yolks. Poached eggs and potatoes cooked to perfection. Best I’ve ever had. Seems silly raving about their potatoes but for something so simple, many other places are either dry & over cooked or soft & undercooked. Here they are crispy on the outside and tender on the inside.
Dinner, particularly the $ 10 pasta night, was great as well (⁸⁄₁₀).
Service on the whole is great (⁸⁄₁₀).

Romantic little place that definitely is way bigger on the inside than it seems on the outside. Cute décor and really awesome ambiance — also smells amazing the moment you walk in. It is right on Main Street so it is super convenient.
My vegetarian friend and I (who was playing vegetarian that day due to the fact that it was Friday and I’m Catholic) both had the mushroom dishes — mushroom pizza and mushroom pasta. Both incredibly delicious — the pizza had a nice thin crust was super chewy and soft, and the toppings were super fresh and flavourful. The pasta had an incredible flavour to it, and the pasta (too long for me to remember) was really unique and special. To finish off, my friend surprised me with a tiramisu cheesecake, which wasn’t too heavy and not too sweet, which was good. Really loved the service and the place, and will definitely come back!

We went to Little Charlie’s for brunch, which was a first for us. The food was really good. They offer a lot of interesting breakfast and lunch options. Good eggs Benedict and caesar’s were on special.
We’ve been for dinner a few times and it has been consistently good. One of the better caesar salads in town.
Atmosphere is good and the staff are friendly. Service is good but can be a bit slow.

Love this place
I have to know how they make the hollandaise sauce because that smoked salmon eggs Benny is amazing

This place was really busy when we waked in.
Music was great.
Service was good,
Best Caesar salad I’ve ever had!
Yes we’ll go back.

Ambience is more hip and laid back. Definitely a hipster feel to this place. Had the spaghetti and meatballs and the salt spring island mussels. The spaghetti and meatballs were lacking in flavour and was bland, definitely need to season with some chilli flakes to add more flavours. The meatballs itself were tender however I found a piece of bone in mine, almost stabbed myself in the mouth with that. The mussels were ok the broth was delicious and creamy. However the garlic bread was old, hard and disgusting took one bite and didn’t touch it anymore. Would I go back? No. There is definitely room for improvement for food. However service and atmosphere was good. That’s why they get a 3 stars.

When you walk in the music is vibrant, the walls and staff are hip and you feel welcome. It looks a little old inside but the atmosphere is nice. I’ll be honest my partner walked in a little angry because we just wanted food and had the food grumps.
I ordered the eggs with toast, hashbrowns, bacon and tomato. Jake ordered meatball sandwich. Both were DELICIOUS.
The eggs came with home made rhubarb jam and it was so good. Everything felt home and in house made. It was a huge surprise. The eggs were fresh and tasted like farm eggs. The toast delicious. The bacon perfect and hand cut hashbrowns were to die for.
A very chill place that is perfect for brunch. Dinner menu looks great too. Staff (Nicola) & team were very nice. We will definitely be back!

Meh really does sum it up. I had wanted to try this place for a long while because I am always looking for good gluten-​free Italian food. It wasn’t bad, but it was definitely missing something. I started out with a nice cocktail, followed by an okay glass of white wine. I had the linguine vongole (gluten-​free version) and it was fine, not terrible, but not great either. Every few bites I found myself adding a little more salt, a little more pepper and a few more chili flakes. So I guess bland is a good way to describe the whole experience. Maybe I’ll go back to try out the brunch? Definitely won’t be returning for dinner.

Friendly, happy and helpful service.
The food is good. It’s my Sunday night go to pasta place.
I do enjoy eating here and I will be back.

Late night dinner choice and arrived skeptical because of the Unilocal reviews.
Ambiance comfortable and warm.
Service attentive and thorough. Just enough friendliness… and menu knowledge.
Started with carpaccio and arugula salad. Excellent! Super fresh, delicious seasoning, delicious presentation. Served timely.
I ordered puttanesca with added mushrooms and chilli. No problem with the modifications. My dinner companion ordered spaghetti and meatballs. For both the pasta was al dente delicious.
Happy to make my way here for an after New Year’s dinner. I will be back.

Very slow service, it took almost 30 minutes to bring us olives and bread.
We called ahead days before to make a reservation but it was not waiting for us when we arrived. We were fortunate they could make room for a group of 7.
The menu was very limited and they are inflexible about substitutions or alterations.
The atmosphere was very noisy and hard to talk over.
Despite having a kids menu I would not recommend bringing children.
I will have to pass if anyone suggests it again.

…We didn’t get any of these free crackers I keep reading about. TWO STARS! No, just kidding, the two stars is for the mediocre food.
But before I get to that I have to say, I’ve been annoyed by the premise of this place from the beginning. Can someone explain to me how it works to open up a brand-​new, old-​school restaurant? That’s their tagline, right– ‘old school’? Don’t you have to actually be around for like, thirty or forty years before you can call yourself that? Pardon my vitriol, but it’s just symptomatic of the hokey manufactured cool/​vintage/​whatever vibe that I see at so many Vancouver restaurants (Donelly Group being the worst offenders). Okay, so it’s ‘old-​school-​style,’ but what’s the point if it’s not the real thing? It lacks the authentic warmth of an actual old school joint.
But I suppose they’d be forgiven if their food was on par with a good old school italian restaurant. However, my friend’s pizza, as she put it, «tasted gluten free but it’s not.» Which isn’t a compliment. I was really looking forward to the spaghetti but I found the sauce to be watery and skimpy! I don’t know much about italian food, but shouldn’t the sauce be enough to cover the noodles, at least? PRetty let down.
However! Breakfast here (I’ve been twice) was equally as tasty as the Wallflower, or other brunch spots in the area, and if I recall correctly with much less of a line. So go for breakfast.

Charlie’s gets 5 stars for what it is — a smallish inexpensive, unpretentious restaurant with great friendly staff and very impressive food.
The menu is not large yet every item the 3 of us had was exceptional. The appies are varied and PACKED with flavour.
You won’t spend 45 minutes — or 10 for that matter — on the wine list but you will find a good bottle.
It’s a keeper.

I’ve wanted to try this place for ages, because it’s just so damn cute! So finally last week we did. And.meh.
Maybe it’s because I had high hopes — maybe if I had gone in with low expectations it would have been better — but $ 18 for a plate of pasta? I Just can’t justify it.
Husband had mushroom cannelloni and although delicious — incredibly rich and salty. Delicious, but he could only finish about half of it because of how salty it was. He was still hungry after, which is a bummer when you’re spending $ 18 on pasta.
I had the spaghetti and meatballs on recommendation of our server, and It was definitely delicious — but it’s still spaghetti and meatballs for $ 18.00, you know?! I had enough for leftovers, and the next day spiced it up with some chili and fresh grated parmesan. I actually liked it better the second day, but alas.
The pasta was a touch over cooked for both of us, which is unfortunate, and I definitely couldn’t tell if it was fresh made pasta or just dried. I’d lean toward dried, because it definitely didn’t have that fresh springy bite to it that fresh-​made pasta does.
Anyway, with the sheer volume of delicious authentic Italian places in town we likely wouldn’t come back. For two bowls of pasta and waters our bill was over $ 40.00, and I just can’t justify that for pasta unless it’s insanely mind-​blowing.
Sigh.
Oh well. It is still super cute inside.

A cozy Italian restaurant along Main with reasonably-​priced menu items, $ 16 – 20 for mains. Great for families, kids and a chill hangouts with friends.
Rye bread — delish and complimentary
Beet salad — beets, walnuts, apple and mixed green. Simply and healthy!
Duck ragu — duck was tender, pasta served al dente
La campagna — cocktail, too sweet and sour.
Everything was decent.
Comparable Italian restaurants for price point, family-​friendliness, portion
L’Artista, Campagnolo Roma, Al Porto’s

Come here for extra chewy pasta! Clearly they don’t know what al dente means here. Food was very average. The two pasta dishes we ordered were quite bland and required chilly flakes to make it taste only slightly better. Felt like I could have made these dishes. There are plenty of Italian restaurants in Vancouver…
Service was also mediocre. Not exactly attentive.

The first thing I noticed when I got here was the friendly staff. My friends and I were supposed to meet at 11 – but me, being an early bird, I was already there by 10:30. I told one of the staff members that I was too early, but she gave me a booth anyway.
The food was fantastic as well. I ordered the pig and eggs. The pig component was actually a piece of really tender and flavorful pork belly. My sauce also had tomatoes, adding much needed acidity to the fatty meat. The plate came with two perfectly poached eggs as well as crispy polenta.
I overheard the table beside us that the pancakes were to die for, so we also ordered them. They were fantastic: the coconut worked well with the fluffy cakes, and the pecans added some nice texture.
The restaurant had a nice mix of hipsters and young families (with their cute toddlers). It wasn’t busy at all; spacious and well ventilated, Charlie’s is the modern-​day equivalent of a hipster diner.

**3.5 stars**
I’m giving it an extra half star because the service we got was excellent which differs from some of the other reviews. Our server was attentive and not overly hipster ie. she was hired for her skills and not just for her look. The food was hit or miss — I ordered the spaghetti and my partner had the linguini vongole. My meatballs had a nice basil flavour but overall the dish left me wanting. If you’re going to specialize in Italian and serve a simple traditional dish, it should be damn good. But on the other hand, the linguine made up for it with its flavour — garlicky and lemony with a touch of spice. There are definitely better Italian restos in the city but I may give this one another try since it’s in the hood.

Charlie’s LI has been open since the end of April. It’s a cute Italian reincarnate of Habit. The ambiance is casual hipster and the staff were friendly and accommodating.
The menu offered a small variety of items, and I was excited to try each one. It was simple Italian food, just like your non-​Italian mom used to make. Unfortunately, this was part of the problem.
The sodas were probably the best part of the meal and the free «skinny» homemade crackers were a nice touch. If you decide to give it a go, I’d recommend that you try one of these homemade bevvies before you order your wine with your meal.
We ordered:
1. arancini– included bocconcini & ragu, and pomodoro sauce. They were fine, but were made with rice over risotto and a bit disappointing.
2. tagliatelle bolonaise– $ 16-​tomato, preserved lemon, Parmesan
3. linguini vongole– $ 16 porcini & ricotta, greens, white balsamic vinaigrette
manila clams, preserved lemon, chili, white wine.
I was so anxious to try these dishes that I actually forgot to take photos. The portions were adequate if not generous.
I marveled at the al dente pasta, but it just didn’t taste homemade. They were none-​too-​heavy and we enjoyed the light, lemon infused flavours of each. Yet, «something» was just missing.
We did finish our plates, so I have no specific complaints. Unfortunately for them, there are many authentic, amazing, homemade, Italian options for the same price throughout the city (when in doubt, please do check my lists). There are also many fantastic restaurants on Main. For these reasons, we can’t see ourselves making this place a «habit». Perhaps in time, they will find their little Italy.