O’Charley’s Restaurant & Bar

Last night I ate dinner here (once again) and the experience was not much better, if at all.
Sat at the bar early Friday night, say about 5:30. The bartender was friendly enough although not attentive enough. The first bar stool that I sat in wobbled left and right — surely a liability suit waiting to happen. Switched stools.
Menu — Yes I understand it is corporate but feel as though regular plain cheese sticks should still be offered, instead of a cheese that is not authentic to the appetizer. Pepper Jack cheese leaves out those that do not like it, those that do not want spicy. That was a let down.
Ordered the Prime Rib (16oz) for a dollar extra instead of taking the ‘special’. My reasoning was, the appetizer offered with the ‘special’ was to restrictive and not enough of a variety (three were offered). With the special you only got one side. No substitutions allowed. The meal did not offer the Appetizer but you did get two sides. As earlier stated there was not enough of a variety in the appetizers or any of what would be expected so no loss there.
My wife and I ordered our Prime Ribs cooked to Mid-​Rare and Medium respectively. They arrived at our table being one (1) at Medium-​Well and the other was closer to Medium then the Rare-​Mid Rare that was ordered. One was sent back leaving the other in front of me, waiting for her to get hers, so that we could eat together, not so that we could watch one eat while the other is left waiting.
The knives (tried three of them) couldn’t hardly cut through the meat never-​mind the fat which was plenty.
The picture in the menu looked nothing like what was served. The photo showed the outside rubbed with Salt, Pepper and other spices prior to being roasted. The outside of the cuts that were served was nothing. No spices at all.
The Au-​Jus (is and also) tasted like a bag pre-​mix. As one would expect it lacked flavor and tasted flat.
The two plate should have looked the same leaving the kitchen. Being oval in shape one plate had the meat at the bottom and fries (double order of fries) taking up the rest of the plate. The remaining plate had the meat on the side and only a single order of fries instead of the double order that we had requested.
I had talked to the Kitchen Manager when he brought out the re-​cook. Friendly enough individual. He asked how we were finding the dinner, and inform him I did.
Sadly he dropped the ball by not even offering a complimentary desert (not that I would have taken him up on the ‘free’ offer, sometimes the offer does more then the little cost of the item in bringing a customer back) or compensation for the problems. By the time we left even the wobbly seat was still where I left it. He failed in making sure that the meats were properly seasoned before roasting (he talked to me about the whole process from start to finish), he failed in customer service (although as I said he was friendly), he failed in making sure the plates looked the same when going out and sadly he failed at making the customer want to come back.
I left full, dis-​satisfied and most likely will be another couple years before I go back there for anything more then the rare drink at a bar.
The last time I ate there was approximately three years prior where a kichen manager tried to argue with me that a steak with a light pink meat IS what a Rare side of Mid-​Rare steak should look like.
Come On O’Charley’s get on the ball!

First time I’ve had fried pickles so i can’t say much except i thought they were pretty good. Had the prime rib pasta and it was good. Decent service and prices. Still not used to the cotton candy on the soda thing.

Service here was excellent. My husband and I ate on a Wednesday night which happened to be free pie Wednesday. We ordered the sampler appetizer which came about 40 seconds before our entrée. I hate that, by the way. But the order was correct and hot. The potato skins were covered in bacon. I try to eat smart so there was too much bacon (I know… never too much bacon) for me. My husband took on the chicken tenders and the cheese triangles which he loved. Pepper Jack cheese in a fried triangle was a different twist on mozzarella sticks that seemed to work for him. I ordered the club sandwich with a salad substitution so I conquered my greens while he took out the fried food. My club sandwich was a typical club which I liked. It had real cheddar cheese and plenty of turkey. Although it wasn’t cut perfectly, that in no way effected the taste. My husband order the sirloin and chicken tenders combo. More chicken tenders… I know, but his mentality is every restaurant has chicken tenders and they are difficult to mess up because you just fry them. He also picks out his food by looking at the pictures so, go figure. His steak was cooked exactly as he ordered it, medium rare. This was nice to see. He actually eats steak medium but when out to dinner he always orders it slightly more rare in case they mess up. We do not like a overcooked dry steak. Actually, no one should. After asking for a Togo container for my sandwich and his chicken tenders we decided free pie for us both. Who in their right mind would turn down free pie? They had a decent selection of pie but he ordered the pecan and I decided on a warm slice of peach. After my first and only yummy bite (took the rest home) I looked up to see the crust is all that was left on his plate. I am taking that as a two thumbs up. We had a pleasant experience all in all. Quiet atmosphere, quality service, and delicious food. pricing was moderate. After leaving a $ 7 tip, we spent about $ 50. We will be heading back again. Maybe even on a Wednesday.

I eat lunch here almost every Wednesday afternoon with a group of friends. The hostesses and servers are really great. Not one of us has ever been served a bad meal. Plus, free pie on Wednesday. Did you get that? FREE PIE!!! I get mine to go and give it to my husband in the evening to make up for the fact that I probably won’t cook since I’m so full from my delicious lunch.
The Riverside Dr. location is definitely my favorite. You can be sure that a large party of cackling ladies really puts the wait staff and kitchen through it’s paces! They always accommodate our crazy requests with a pleasant attitude and a friendly smile. I recommend O’Charly’s Riverside to anyone wanting a relaxing break from work or a fun time with friends. I’ll definitely go back… next Wednesday (FREE PIE!)

I would prefer to give this place ZERO stars but since I can’t I’ll settle for one. It all started with a girls night out. Both of us are mothers and were looking forward to a nice dinner although inexpensive with some drinks and a little girl talk. No talk more like bitching the whole time about the horrible experience we had to endure…
I’ll start with our crap waitress who found it more important to sit with her boyfriend and spend time with him. in the booth right behind us. We both ordered a grilled chicken salad which after a while we assumed they had to wait for the lettuce to grow, then pick it in order to prepare the salad. We waited 45 minutes and still no salads. I turned around and asked our waitress if she could find out when we would receive our food to which she replied in just a moment. are you kidding me?! We were paying customers that had been waiting for a long time for our food. A simple grilled chicken salad how hard is that? I guess she finished her «important» conversation with her boyfriend and finally went to check on our food, mind you this is about 10 minutes after my request for her to do so. She returned to our table only to inform us she had forgotten to put our order into the chefs. WOW! And then she once again say down right behind us and continued her conversation. 20 minutes later we received our salads which by this time I didn’t even want to eat I was so furious.
On to our drinks or more like my drink. I ordered a margarita which tasted of straight tequila, don’t get me wrong I love tequila but I had to drive home and I let the waitress know I could not drink it. I needed a different one or I was going to be drunk off one. Knowing I had licked the salt off one of the sides before taking sips just to help with the strength she brought me the same margarita with a lime on the rim thinking I wouldn’t notice. WRONG! I did, it was obvious and ridiculous.
After several complaints to the waitress and eventually the manager stopping by our table we got the margarita taken off the tab. This was the WORST experience I have ever had at an ocharley’s and I will NEVER be back to this location EVER!
Sad part is the manager was listening to our complaints while the waitress was seated right behind me still talking to her boyfriend. Absolutely ridiculous!
If you’re into be ignored and a very long wait and horrible service than this is the place for you, if not STAY AWAY from this travesty of an establishment!

Everytime I come to this particular riverside… something goes wrong. One time they messed up my order and the next… the credit card machine was not working. It makes me not want to go there… I go here on breaks at work and I don’t have time to sit there forever and wait for food or have someone mess up my order. But it’s not TERRIBLE.