Regal Charcoal Chicken — Restaurant in District of Belconnen

Very clean shop with a huge menu of food options. I've been recommended to try this take away for quite some time as I have been on a potato cake pilgrimage around Canberra (in search of the best potato cake). Unfortunately the potato cakes I got were old and with a cardboard-like mouth feel, I'm guessing they had been sitting out for quite some time - disappointing considering the hype I had received. I will note that they did look good and appeared homemade. I suspect if they were cooked fresh they would have made it into my top 5 in Canberra, but it was not meant to be. The other food available looked quite good; the salads and pizza had good quality looking ingredients and the photos look great! The charcoal chickens were small but smelled fantastic. There were a lot of staff working for a Monday night, probably more than 1 staff member for every customer in the shop. Weirdly it still took an oddly long time to be served, especially to just order a few potato cakes. Also worth noting their EFTPOS wasn't working, so perhaps this caused a bit of mayhem and added to the waiting time.

I will probably have to give this place another chance as my experience does not reflect all the recommendations I've received to come here.

Edit: I have since found out the "EFTPOS down" notice has been in place for "as long as I can remember" according to a mate who has lived in Charny for 13 years. So it sounds like they only want cash only payments; rather than admitting that they just want cash, they say that the...

Let me start off with saying I have been getting take out here for over 6 years, and over that time I have tried most things on the menu.

During this time I have ordered my fair share of pizzas, 1-3 a month over the past year, and every so often before that, so I know what to expect when I order a pizza.

Today I ordered my usual, a large Supreme for $17.50 and got home to enjoy it, only to find that the outer 2 inches of the pizza had virtually no topping on it, just cheese. Now like I said, I've been going here for over 6 years and have had my fair share of pizzas, and this has not happened before. NEVER have I had a pizza from Regal Charcoal Chicken so lacking of toppings, so I knew something was up.

So I called the store and asked to talk to the manager (who had answered the phone) and explained my situation to them, the best excuse that he could come up with (he made the pizza) was that it was normal having 2 inches of empty pizza all around the edge, due to the dough shrinking in the oven, and if he was to put toppings all on the pizza it would burn. Now this might be true, however not for 2 inches of pizza. Let me remind you, 6+ years, multiple pizzas, never happened before.

This is the last time I will buy food from that store, the horrible pizza accompanied by the horrible customer service is not worth my, or your time or effort. If you want a good pizza and good service, I recommend you avoid Regal Charcoal Chicken at all costs and goto Steves Melba Take-Away & Pizza in Melba (5 mins...

*edit 10/6/23 a bit hit or miss. Got the same usual pizzas and chips. The chips went up in price. Cost 65.90$ 2l pizzas and chips. I was disappointed I did not get the crinkle cut chips. Also the pizza toppings weren't as loaded this time. Atleast the base wasn't burnt. And also they said 45 mins when I ordered at 515pm. And it took 35 mine.

edit 10/7/22 got 2 pizzas n chips n calamari rings last night. Spent over $60. I was told my order would take 20mins. i came in the for pick up and my chips weren't even ready so had to wait another 10mins. 30 mins in total. My pizzas werent as nice this time. One the base was burnt (see photo) and the other was soggy. A bit disappointed. Not sure if it was the young staff or what went wrong. Might try another takeaway joint next time.

Pizza's were delicious, they are loaded and toppings are just as thick as the base of the pizza, there chips while large in potion just aren't the same as they use to be, no longer crinkle cut and are now straight cut, and not crispy enough plus was lacking salt even though I asked for extra chicken salt, the chips take away from the overall experience, but seriously 5 star pizza's and couldn't speak highly enough of the pizza and the roast chicken's, will be back for them

Edit June 22 got my crinkle cut chips. Super yummy and cant wait til i get more. Also has our roast whole chicken. Was a bit disappointed it had almost no stuffing..not sure if i had to request a chicken with stuffing. I would give 5...