Good Time Charleys

This place is the best place for drinks in Ann Arbor. It is really popular among the college folks. The food is like any other bar or pub though. You must go to this place for their ambience and fishbowls!

Love love their fishbowl fruity cocktails! Favorite being mad tea party! Always have a great time hanging out with friends here!

I LOVE THIS PLACE. The drink selection is incredible. Honestly, the only thing that would make this place better is if they had more locations because if this was closer to where I live, I’d be here every week– no question.

The food is good — the menu is slim compared to their neighbors, but everything we’ve had has been good. The bread stix in particular are delicious. Service is not great — if it’s slow then it’s seat yourself and good luck with getting served. If it’s busy, they will have a hostess who doesn’t want to quote wait times because they have no idea.

Their new menu has definitely pared down the food options, including removing both reubens. The food is edible, but not great. The service was horribly slow, it took over 30 minutes for burgers and sandwiches at lunchtime. And to top it all off the raspberry cheesecake had raspberry vinaigrette as the raspberry «sauce» (not a combination that should ever leave the kitchen).

My favorite bar, hands down. Prices are definitely fair ($ 10-​$ 20 per visit per person is expected). Other than beer, the drinks are sugary, which some people like and some people dislike (I liked it that way). The bartenders are nice.
The fishbowls are good deals, but most people usually get them to share. It is possible to finish an entire fishbowl by yourself, but if you do so be safe and pace yourself.

In the beginning, I was a little bit unsure because fishbowl seemed way too much to drink. But I ordered the black widow fishbowl on 5÷30÷15. It was delicious! I basically finished a whole one by myself!
A lot of the umich college kids hang around here so bumped into some couple of friends and drank and mingled with them too!
If you’re in Ann Arbor, this is one place you must go to drink and have fun!
Definitely coming back here again when I visit Ann Arbor!

OK, I love Charley’s. And I always have a good time here. Always. On my most recent trip, I had a Bangporn fishbowl, a chicken avocado sandwich, pizza stix, and a few other drinks (food and Bangporn were split). As with all the fishbowls, it was quite sugary, but it definitely got the job done. The chicken avocado sandwich and fries were pretty mediocre, but that’s not why you really go to Charley’s. But we needed to eat. And so we of course got the only thing on the menu that’s truly a must — pizza stix. Pepperoni and mozzarella baked into pizza dough rolls and served with marinara dipping sauce. Mmm mmm good!
I had a few more drinks in my time there with the whole group just catching up and reminiscing about old times. It was, truly, a good time.

I have been here three times. It’s usually one of the busier bars in the area, which I don’t understand. The fishbowls are delicious, however the service has been terrible for me every time. The first two times it was very busy, but the bartenders were extremely rude to me. I was waiting patiently to order a drink, I hadn’t said anything to the bartender yet, and she very rudely exclaimed «you’re going to have to wait!» The second time I was standing at the bar for at least 10 minutes, and the bartender did not even acknowledged my presence when we made eye contact. The third time it was not busy but it took at least 30 minutes to get the check after I’d asked for it. The waitress was cleaning up tables instead of checking up.

Charley’s fits the bill for the term «college bar». If you’re 25 or older, you can feel a little out of place :)
The food here isn’t anything to write home about. They have a huge selection of drinks, but outside of the beer most of them are too sugary.
Service here isn’t that fantastic. Was with some friends on the outdoor patio last night to have a few drinks. It took about 20 min for us to get our drinks after ordering. I know the place is busy on weekends, but waiting more than 10 min is a little ridiculous.
There are better bars on South U.

I’ve never had more watered down drinks. We bought three rounds of shots and I felt more sober after than I did when we started. Pretty sure we just paid $ 41 for water.

They were out of a lot of ingredients. We wanted to order a fishbowl and it took us 4 tries until there was a drink that they had the ingredients in stock.

The bread «stix» are awesome! And the food is OK. The service though, especially on a Friday night was poor. Was seat yourself. Picked our table and waited 15 minutes for a server. Took another 35 minutes for the food to arrive. Was it because we weren’t drinking and that’s why the service was poor? No idea. They do have a large drink menu.

Make no mistake, this is the quintessential college bar, but that isn’t a bad thing. The bartenders are friendly (just be patient when they’re being slammed), and the drinks are fairly priced.
I highly recommend the Timbo Slice! If you happen to be around when I am, maybe I’ll buy you one!

Terrible service. Sat down for over fifteen minutes without anyone coming over to take my order.

Pros: Great atmosphere, expansive shooter/​fishbowl selection
Cons: Poor service, pricey, meh food
I went Saturday March 21 around 8pm. The seating was about 85% full, but we were able to quickly get a table. Ambient atmosphere with a lot of TVs showing sports.
Once we sat down in our group of 7, we waited 10 mins for a the waitress to come by. She gave our whole group one menu, and then we in return asked for more. She then came back about 5 mins later with only one more menu!
I got the South U Jaywalker Burger. It was messy (but I expected that) but tasted overly greasy and fell apart. The caesar salad side was doused in dressing, which defeated the purpose of the salad.
Half of our table needed cutlery with their food, yet they did not acknowledge to bring napkins or cutlery, and had to wait a couple minutes to get some before just getting up and finding where they held them.
Finally when we were waiting for a box to take food home, the server came back three times and each time she acknowledged she forgot the box, but continued to serve other tables. Eventually we just got up and found the boxes.
In summary my experience would’ve been better if the service was up to par, as we spent half the dinner waiting for the waitress to return with simple items.
I will probably go back because it is a college hotspot, but I was disappointed in my experience.

We met a friend here for lunch while we were in Ann Arbor. She is a student at Michigan and this is her go-​to place when guests come to town.
GTC is not fancy, but in a college town, there is not a whole lot of need for fancy.
We started with a sampler because we were starved and it had artichoke dip among the offerings. Our server did not balk when we asked for all the dressings rather than just pick one. The flatbread was very good.
Burgers and chicken sandwiches were not gourmet but they were tasty. The ½ pound of fries was crazy but they were good and cooked to perfection.
Service was not the fastest but we were never neglected and our food came out hot.

I give this place 4 stars because it hits close to home. I recently graduated from Michigan and if I want to go to a bar with my friends when I visit, Charleys is the place to go.
It is honestly your typical college bar. dirty bathrooms, dirty floors, not enough table space, loud, obnoxious, some rude and busy wait staff, but what more can you expect?
I usually always order their fishbowl (Ecto Cooler is my favorite, but it is pretty sweet), and sometimes their shots. I have tried a variety of their shots, including Jagerbomb and liquid cocaine (gross, but gets you buzzed quickly).
Their food is also pretty good for a bar. They have really juicy burgers (and they have $ 1 burger specials from 5−9PM on Thursdays), and their fries are generally fresh and fat. I’m never disappointed at their portion sizes.
Overall, I recommend you try out this bar if you are a visitor, or just recently moved to Ann Arbor. It is pretty «frat-​y,» but remember you are in a college bar with a whole bunch of college students. After 10pm it is 21+ only and Sunday nights is karaōke nights. Fun to watch drunk people sing their hearts out.

Get the nacho’s for food and obviously get a fishbowl. ALWAYS GET A FISHBOWL. always.
The fishbowls are what makes this my favorite college bar in Ann Arbor. Purple rain or California Beach party are among my favorites. But I have yet to order a fishbowl I didn’t like.
It’s crowded at times but Charleys is just the place to go for daytime or nighttime shenanigans.

An Ann Arbor classic. Nothing is great about the food but the drink menu keeps it interesting! If you’re looking for something fruity and strong with an outdoor patio, this is the place to go! Service is just okay… tends to be pretty busy most of the time. One of my favorite long islands is the «purple rain»!