Charlie's Neighborhood Bar and Grill — Restaurant in Stuart

Even though Charlie's is only 5 minutes from where I stay in Stuart, I had not had the opportunity to visit before this most recent weekend. After a late work appointment, on Friday evening being hungry and thirsty and with an empty fridge at home, I decided to take a flyer and try it out before I went home.

Being a Friday night at about 8:30, the parking lot was literally overflowing. This seems to be a constantly busy place during work hours if parking lot fullness is a guide for popularity.

I would describe it as a very traditional bar and grill style restaurant. Varied menu, lots of neon and signs, but a welcoming ambience and a lively crowd. A good live cover band was playing and the dance floor was constantly hopping. The vibe is definitely that this is a locals hangout, but I felt comfortable and the bartender Mike treated me well for a first timer.

I ordered a couple of drinks and a blackened mahi special with steamed vegetables and garlic toast. On a 5 star scale, food was a 3, but a solid 3. I'm paying $10 for fast food nowadays and this was real food for only $5 more. I'll take it! Drink prices are typical local pricing.

Weekend nights are definitely for the grownups, but I can see families having an early dinner here during the week with no issues.

I would have given it a 5 star, but between the 3 star food and some service struggles for some of the non-bar tables, a low 4 is more than fair. Charlie's is in a convenient spot with decent food and decent service.

If you're not in a hurry and local, this is a pretty...

The food was great and decor was very fun to look at. He had the brisket, I ordered house salad and potato skins. The service, not so good. We had been waiting for our food for a bit and hadn't even recieved my salad that was supposed to be brought out before our meals. When the server finally came back to bring us silverware my boyfriend asked about my salad. She look surprised and just replied yes. 30 seconds later a food runner brought it to the table. Guess it was sitting up there ready the whole time. Then when the meals were brought out only a few minutes later by another food runner, she dropped the food and ran. He was missing his cold slaw. The server never came over to check on us to see if we had everything. He tried several times to flag over the server or a food runner but everyone seemed to have blinders on. He finally had to go up and tell them. The server then brought the slaw out and I asked for another beer. After she brought that out we never saw her again until we were done eating. When we received our bill there was an "extra" charge of $0.50. Not alot of money but we were curious. When she came to collect payment we asked and she said it was for the extra sour cream I asked for. Restaurants normally tell you when there is going to be an "up charge". Anyway, we will go back but just ask for a different server. I won't mention her name on here but if Management is interested they...

Very disappointing. My husband has been staying in town for business. Have been to this restaurant a couple of times for drinks and clam chowder which was very good. Not this time. Clam chowder tasted almost burnt. Not one to send back food because of horror stories so we went on to order other food. Ordered the fish dip which was excellent but it came with homemade kettle chips that were so greasy we couldn't eat them. They substituted club crackers for us. We ordered a burger medium rare and a Lily's Philly with side salads. Food was out within 5 minutes. Took one bite and the burger was so undercooked it didn't even have charbroiled marks on it. We like rare but this was moving on the plate. Noticed the table next to us looking at their burger as well being so undercooked. Decided to take it back to the hotel and heat up at home to cook a little bit. Now on to the philly which we decided to share since we are both still hungry. It was so dry my husband just gave up after eating part off it. Arriving back at the hotel we spoke to a gentleman in the elevator and mentioned the place. He looked at us and said "I learned the hard way not to go there for food." He also was staying there for business and had a terrible experience. Half way thru the night my husband was up in the bathroom so sick. Not sure what happened with this place - maybe they just had...