O’Charley’s Restaurant & Bar

My wife brought home my meal, after sitting with her colleagues for a nice sit-​down meal She ate and paid for hers and all was great, then my takeout. Well, most was fine, minus they missed my wedge salad. $ 3.99 is a good price to add to a meal for a soup/​salad plus a slice of pie, but not receiving the salad; womp womp. Maybe $ 2 is negotiable to you, but receiving my complete order is more important to me. And yes I womp womped you.

The rolls are amazing. Women’s bathroom needs help, cleaned, the soap dispenser was broken and smelled of sewer gasses. No matter how tasty the food… if they can’t keep the bathrooms maintained then no way is the kitchen clean.

I took my parents here for dinner this evening and the food was good as usual. My parents like O’Charlie’s for the food as well as the prices. I have had their prime rib here in the past, and it was pretty darn good. They only serve prime rib on the weekends though. Tonight I had the rib eye, rare, with a loaded baked potato and broccoli. Very good! It was cooked just right. The service was excellent as usual.

The service is very friendly and good at this particular restaurant. The food was ok. The food is tasty, but nothing to write home about.

Finally a restaurant with chopped steak. Ate there twice in one week (just for the chopped steak). Busy busy place. We were seated under a fan so cool we moved. Didn’t know it but the waiter at our new spot already had 5 full booths and a table of 8. Took a while to get our food but I was so impressed with the smile an attitude of the waiter despite being so busy. I commented to the manager about what a great attitude the waiter had. Yes, I’ll go back and Yes I’ll get the chopped steak.

Good value but temperature of prime rib and potato was not even tepid get the kitchen a food thermometer my wife and I both rated meal a five on a scale of one to ten

Great meals for under $ 10.00. The Louisiana sirlion is surprisingly better than I have had at local steak houses.

I just keep wanting to believe that people in Columbus want to eat better than this. Maybe their niche is the brunch but I’m just kind of amazed of the quality of food that I experience here. Having grown up around Columbus, I know the midwest, but now I live in the food mecca of New York City (which also has its share of crap food, believe me), and I’ve always been a self-​righteous food snob, but bear with me.
Firstly, the rolls. I don’t know why the commenters think the rolls are amazing but jesus, this is just overprocessed white flour and tons of sugar. I mean, they were sweet to the point they taste like a pastry of some sort. The butter is weirdly flavorless. It tastes like crisco with a little salt (seriously). Our server was super friendly, and working so hard, but rushed us along. Gave us our check before everyone was done eating. There was no line so I can see how they would want to turn a table over, but seriously, that’s not okay esp when we waited over 20 minutes to get our food. Not the server’s fault, but at the end of the dinner, I started to think the kitchen was full of newbies, high, or just short-​handed. As well, she was (told to) push the gift cards. Twice she asked. The promo is complicated but really, you only need to ask once and you should ask before you bring the check.
The food.
My mom ordered shrimp scampi. The server was great b/​c that’s not on the menu as a single entrée so she just swapped the other shrimp dish with scampi style. The weird thing – the shrimp part of the order came out in two dishes at two different times, about 5 min apart. The good thing is that the server brought all the orders w/​o that last dish b/​c she wanted to get us served, but it was strange they couldn’t cook shrimp together and in one dish (Shrimp is probably the quickest thing to cook).
My dad ordered the «famous chicken tenders.» I have eaten and made a lot of fried chicken. Seriously. So, take this with a grain of salt that I am a fried chicken-​eatin’ and making self-​proclaimed expert. Chicken tenders should not be fried in the same oil or use the same batter as your fish/​shellfish. It gives it a, well, fishy flavor. Yes, they were fine. They tasted like Nathan’s at the ballpark. It’s kind of hard to f– up chicken tenders so making them «famous» is kind of like saying you are really good at making toast. But whatever. They were moist but slightly fishy tasting.
My kid ordered the chicken soup (Sat soup). It was super salty. Everything was super salty. I like salt. I use a lot of salt. But salt is not a herb. It’s used to make the spices come out more. This was like salt soup with chicken in it (and dark meat chicken). It was gloopy. I don’t know if it had been sitting there too long, but my kid didn’t really like it. My kid is one of those kids you hate as a parent b/​c he is a GREAT eater. I’m going to crow a bit, but that kid can eat sushi all day, squid, I saw him pound 2 dozen steamed clams and a lobster. He likes seaweed soup, carrots, cukes, anything that isn’t mush. He is 4.5. I trust him when he says he doesn’t like something or doesn’t want to eat it. He did like the lemonade (the homemade one which was nicely sour due to additive I wondered, and sweet).
My husband ordered the Western Burger (?) b/​c the description reminded him of Carl’s Jr. He said Carl’s Jr. was better but it was okay (Reminder: Carl’s Jr. is a fast food restaurant)
I ordered the club sandwich. And I admit, I usually order the off things on the menu. Seems to be my luck. And I will admit that maybe this isn’t what you order at O’Charleys, but I figured «how can you f– up a turkey club?» I use the Turkey Club as my litmus test on a restaurant b/​c if you can’t make a turkey club then you cannot be a good restaurant. And here you go. The turkey club came with DELI turkey (not real turkey…) and ham (no bacon). It had about 8 tablespoons of mayo that was not very good quality mayo b/​c it was not opaque… kind of translucent. The bread was not toasted enough (or was it even toasted?). I had to take out the middle bread to get rid of some of the mayo which was oozing out the side. It was super salty b/​c of all the deli meat and mayo in it and there was more lettuce/​tomato than meat. That’s just sad. AND it was $ 9 – 10! Seriously, that’s what you pay in NYC for a turkey club in a diner. And it is made with real turkey and toasted bread (of your choice) and bacon. WTF. I was kind of insulted by this egregious food blasphemy.
The fries were actually good and they did not taste like fish.
Saturday I would think is a busy day for eating out I’d imagine. If this is your idea of your first string cooking team, I’d be concerned.
This restaurant is even sub par for a diner. It IS more like Applebees as one commenter said. Given the popularity of Applebees in general (of which I went to once just to see why it’s so popular and I will never return), I guess I’m in the minority here.

My wife is in love with the Cowboy Sirloin, and we were there Sunday night and all was very good, service excellent. A very reasonable place to eat out.

My office is a few miles away from this O’Charlies. My staff and I have been eating here at least twice a week for the last few years. This is, in my opinion, one of the best restaurants in Columbus. Many of the staff have worked here for years, which speaks highly of management. The food is consistently excellent, the prices are reasonable, and the service is always top notch. I’ve eaten at other O’Charlies locations which were good, but this location stands out. The steaks here are better than many nearby steakhouses. I almost hesitate to post this review because I’d hate to see my favorite restaurant get crowded.

Very good service, comfortable surroundings. The food was good, not spectacular. The broccoli casserole was very good. The steak was average. My sister had the salmon and said it was very good. Portions are perfectly sized.

Cheerful staff, fast service, lots of parking, good food. What more could you ask for.

Had dinner here the other night with a friend at her recommendation and it turned out to be a pretty good place.
The bread rolls are AMAZING! And our hostess was more than happy to bring us more. The service was pretty quick and our hostess (Tammy) was very nice and cordial.
I ordered the spinach and artichoke dip, which was pretty good though I found it odd that they brought sweet salsa with it as well (not that I didn’t enjoy it).
I had the cajun chicken pasta which was pretty good, and the spice level was definitely right for me.
The only thing the two of us found odd was that my friend asked for the onions on her burger to be grilled rather than raw and they put on a $ 0.90 charge for grilling the onions. Not that it broke the bank, but it just felt weird.

This rarely happens, but it happened to me at O’Charley’s. My boyfriend is always saying he is fat (he is not fat) and he wants me to eat healthy (I like unhealthy treats far too much). We ordered our salads… matching salads. The lady waitress brought me the wrong salad. I decided to try it anyway and it was equally delicious. She also brought our food out and ‘forgot’ our extra bread. She didn’t get it ‘right,’ but it couldn’t have worked out better!

Das mann & I popped in here on the way home from a long day in Richmond, IN. The server was sweet, and prompt. They had Stella on-​tap and the food was ok. Nothing great, nothing fancy. Maybe a step above Applebees. Not a bad experience, the place was clean, they opened the doors, etc. Just nothin’ fabulous.

My uncle got my wife and I a gift card for O’Charley’s so we finally decided to go. I didn’t realize it was a lot like an applebee’s or other american bar and grill. We ended up ordering their special 2 meals for $ 20 and got the queso cheese with chips, the teriyaki fillet and the cowboy sirloin.
We were a little sad that most of the appetizers their are cheese or fried cheese based, but the dip was tasty enough though our chips were a bit clustered and as we tried to break them apart they got a bit small for dipping.
The house bread that is served with the meal is rather tasty though so i was happy waiting for our entrees.
My fillet was served as ordered (medium) and the mashed potatoes were good, though I think my dish waited on the pass for a bit cause it was a little colder when served then I would have liked. My wife enjoyed her fish which was served with vegetables and rice.
All in all I can see why the other reviews are as they are. the greeter was a shy young man with a frog in his voice which made it awkward as he took us to our table, but our waitress was very nice and helped us make our selections. give it a shot if you want, I was happy we went at 8pm on a monday though and avoided the game bar traffic.

Pros: Service is exceptional at peak hours.
Cons: Pasta selections are inferior to other entrees.
Suggestions: Avoid the pasta.

I had the family out for a hazy, late morning shopping spree in the Polaris sprawl just north of Columbus, Ohio. I am not a fan of shopping, especially when it involves being exposed to the bumper-​to-​bumper predictability of chain retailers. However, having just moved into a house earlier in the week, a run to Target, World Market and Best Buy were necessary stops for us to get things cleaned and settled.
It was around 11:30 when we left World Market with some curtains and a rod :) My wife said she was hungry and my 2 year old daughter anxiously whined for apple juice and a snack. We were disappointed to find that our prime choice, locally owned Marcella’s, was not open until noon. As the whining escalated to craziness, I frantically noticed a non-​descript restaurant just a few parking lots to the north. Decorated with a few green awnings and little else, I wondered, «Could it be Applebees? Chilis? Red Robin? Smokey Bones? TGIFridays? Red Lobster? OIive Garden? Max and Ermas?» I knew that it wasn’t Bob Evans, because Bob Evans has red awnings. Anyway, trying to figure out what this place was didn’t matter. White panic was quickly setting in and sustenance was crucial for our survival.
After painstakingly freeing my tired, hungry daughter from her car seat, I turned towards the restaurant’s central, green awning above it’s main entrance… O’Charleys. «Well,» my inner self told me, «there’s no turning back now.»
What then followed was very consistent with the typical «not-​quite-​fast-​food» chain restaurant experience:
* We were welcomed by a rosy greeter, menus already in hand, before we had the main entrance door fully open.
* We passed a shiny, prefabricated bar advertising signature drinks with names like «Cotton Candy Cosmo».
* We were presented with a booth that was adequate, but (as is often the case) the walk prompted my inner self to wonder, «When a restaurant isn’t busy, what makes an attendant pick a particular booth amongst a sea of otherwise empty booths?» The answer to this riddle involves waiter/​server assignments, but in this case we passed 5 or 6 perfectly good booths before being asked, «Is this OK?» It was OK.
* We were overwhelmed by a menu that was more like an expansive book. I ask the following, «Chain restaurants like O’Charleys… what’s our niche??? What are you trying to accomplish??? Do you throw pasta dishes into the mix because you don’t want me to slam the menu together and flee over to Olive Garden across the street??? Is „Chapter 3: Seafood“ offered because Red Lobster is a viable threat???»
* We were still in the act of sitting down when the greeter handed off the baton to our waiter who asked, «Can I get you something to drink? Perhaps freshly squeezed strawberry lemonade, or a Bloody Mary?» I wondered, «What. No Cotton Candy Cosmo?» Iced tea worked.
We audibly placed our orders as music blared mainstream country artists covering classic rock hits, and before long we were presented with a basket full of sweet, buttery rolls. These were actually pretty tasty and served as a nice hold over for our meals:
* My wife got a Classic Burger with cheese and fries.
* My daughter got some Mini Corn Dogs, fries and whole milk.
* I order a 2-​side Lunch Combo that consisted of a Loaded Baked Potato and a Caesar Salad.
My Loaded Baked Potato came with a large creamy swab of butter, creamy sour cream, creamy melted cheddar cheese, and creamy bacon bits. As I took off the creamy swab of butter and picked out my creamy bacon bits to put back on the potato (because I like bacon), the place suddenly began to fill up with old people. I found this interesting because there was nothing in the place that communicated to me that O’Charley’s wants to target that demographic, but hey… everyone’s gotta eat.
Wait a minute, O’Charleys… there’s you niche! Old people!
My daughter, normally a picky eater, seemed to enjoy her Mini Corn Dogs, and at one point noticed my discarded swab of butter slowly melting on a side plate. «Daddy, what’s that?», «Butter.», «What color is it?», «White», «No it’s not. It’s black!» Currently, every color is «black» in my little girl’s eyes, but ultimately she may have been referring to the stranded bacon bits oozing down the swab’s slope. To be honest, I was relieved that she didn’t ask to eat the butter or dip her last Mini Corn Dog in it.
We drove home tired and sweaty. There was no crankiness, no cries of hunger… just a few burps that came from the back seat. Would I eat at O’Charley’s again? Only in an emergency situation such as what happened on this day.

Holy O Charley’s!
It was like the prodigal son (daughter) and I was served the fatten calf.
Truly I think I ate the kitchen and took some home… extra rolls with the delicious sweet whipped butter.
So my glutton-​est feast began with a sweet tea martini, it was ok, wouldn’t get it again but it did its job. Then there were the curly fries, although I wouldn’t actually call them fries they were more like potatoe chips exported to manna status due to the cheese and chili sauce heaped on top. And whoever though of the idea of two or three meats, a side and a salad plus rolls combo, I’m single and easy to please, hit me up! I chose the two meat combo deal because really no one needs three different meats on their plate. I completed the salad, stake a basket of rolls w/​butter, my drink and the manna (fries). I took home an extra basket of rolls w/​butter, my cat fish and baked potatoe. Come to think of it, I may have been the fatten calf.
The damage without the drink and manna fries was $ 13 with tax. With the other two added in it was about 30 with tax and tip. * happy dance*
The atmosphere was relaxed and I got my waitress’s phone number to go shoe shopping with the following week. As I left the host gave a friendly good-​bye and see you soon and I left feeling as if I would be back soon.

We went on a Sunday around 11am, and while we expected it to be busy, there were numerous issues with our service and orders as a result.
First off, they tout their commercials with the «it all starts with the rolls». This should be amended to say «it all starts with the rolls if we don’t forget to make enough». We got two rolls, and only two rolls, 30 minutes after we sat down, and after our main courses had already made it to the table.
We make it a point to know what we will order so we can get the fastest service, so we got drinks after ten minutes, main courses after 25, and then rolls after 30.
If you can’t hire enough help to handle the Sunday brunch rush, then don’t seat so many tables!
Food was ok, standard american faire and nothing fancy. Portions were reflective of price.