Charley's Steak House....YUCK!!

[ToyStoryMom_inRI]

I just returned from 1 week in Orlando. 3 days on business and 4 days vacation at WDW. The only restaurant that I went to while on business was Charley’s Steak House and it was one of the worst meals that I have EVER had! We were seated at 7:00 and soon ordered our drinks. 30 minutes later we ordered our appetizers, 30 minutes later we ordered our meals...by this time we were already not thrilled with the amount of time that it was taking for the waitress to service us. The appetizers were decent. We had a couple of seafood samplers, which was stuffed shrimp, sautéed langostino’s and fried calamari. The calamari was pretty good, but the rest was disappointing. We finished our appetizers and waiting for our salads. They finally arrived at 8:45! I ordered the Tomato, Onion and Blue Cheese salad for my salad selection and it was AWFUL! As a matter of fact, the dressing was so oily that the combination of that with the heavy blue cheese made me very sick. I ended up canceling my meal because I felt so miserable afterwards. Others had the grilled Caesar salad that was made with lettuce that they actually grill...very weird! I guess if you like that sort of thing it would have been ok, but it was too strange for many in my group. After spending 9 hours in a meeting and now another 2 hours in the restaurant, we were all pretty beat but we waited patiently for our meals. At 10:05, the waitress began to serve the entrees. She had the orders all goofed up and most of the steaks that were ordered medium were burnt to a crisp and the others were cold. The person next to me ordered the blue cheese stuffed filet (5.00 extra for the blue cheese) and it came cold with only a few crumbles in the middle. Obviously, by this time nobody was going to wait for the orders to be reprocessed so most of us left there unfed. They comped us for a few of the meals that were sent back but they still charged us for dessert.

Now I have heard many great things about this restaurant and this was probably just a bad night, but you can be sure that we will NOT be dining that at next years meeting!

 

[DrCool]

I was at Charley's last January and overall I was pleased. The service was a bit slow but that is OK becuase it gave me time to talk business with a client.

The steaks were good but not great. I would go again the next time I am in Orlando but wouldn't be heartbroken if I had to skip it.

 

[Scottish-Helen]

I found the food at restaurants in general to be rather poor EXCEPT for Charlies Steakhouse. We went to the one on International Drive and had a wonderful meal there.

 

[FLeisure]

If you want a really great meal, get away from US 192. There are loads of great restaurants in the Dr. Phillips area. Basically take US 535 (Apopka Vineland Rd) and head North from US 192. Go through the Crossroads area (past I4) and keep going for about 8 minutes. Look for Dr. Phillips Blvd at a set of traffic lights and then turn right.

Morton's, Ruth's Chris, Christini's, Chathams, and many many more restaurants can be found in this area. Well worth the short drive.

 

[UKDEB]

After reading rave reviews of Charley's for years, we decided to try the one at Orange Blossom Trail after a trip to the Florida Mall during our most recent trip in October. We drove into the parking lot and I decided I didn't even want to look inside the restaurant! We ended up going to Ruth's Chris on West Sand Lake Road. WOW! How have I never before found a Ruth's Chris in seven trips to Orlando?

 

[MissingMickey]

I also had a baaaad experience at Charlie's. Reviewers usually love it or hate it. You couldn't pay me to go there again. The service was unbelievably slow -- and I am usually very patient because I waited tables through grad school and know how tough it can be to seat and cook and time it all just right.

I like Ruth's Chris and the Palms are ok -- I don't mind paying more for a meal if the service, atmosphere, and food quality are worth it. Charlie's just didn't have any of that for me personally. It was bad enough that they won't get a second chance.

We would recommend the Yachtmens Steakhouse at the Yacht Club to anybody. The only thing that has ever bothered me there were stuffy waiters -- great service, just a little snotty for my tastes after a day being a kid in the parks. Our last 2 visits to YS have been wonderful, though. Servers were gracious and very attentive. Food was marvelous.

We learned this last trip that you can order off of the Yachtsmen Steakhouse menu in the Crew's Cup next door. This would be great if you have the kids in tow -- want a great steak -- but don't want to take them into the Steakhouse -- or if like us, you want great food and still want to watch the ballgame on the TV by the bar without feeling like you are in a bar.

 

[FLeisure]

Missing Mickey

Interesting to note the problems at the Yacht Club. We too had a very similar experience a year ago. the food was fine but the waiter was trully the most appalling and obnoxious member of Disney staff we have ever come across.

Don't know whether the guy thought that because we are British that we don't tip well but he started off with the most sarcastic tone I've ever come across. Frankly, this doesn't bother me that much as I enjoy a bit of banter with the restaurant staff but this guy was truly appalling and after 30 minutes we realised he was being serious and not making the poor efforts at comedy we thought he was !

After enough of his crude comments we complained to the manager and had him removed from our table. We don't know what happened to him but it sounds like he may still be there.

On a better note, we went to Morton's last week. We swore we would never enter the place again after one of the worst meal experiences of our lives two years previously but friends talked us into it. We are glad they did. Everything was excellent. Set us wishing we had taken them up on the free meal they had offered us as a result of the previous occassion two years ago.

Also worth mentioning is Arthurs21 on top of the Wyndham. Always great..... but pricey !