Catfish Charlie's — Restaurant in Dubuque

Went there on Father's Day at 630pm. Not again. Way, way, way too many problems with our waitress and our meals. There were 3 of us. We got seated in a booth. First off, the boith seats MOST DEFINITELY NEED 2 B REDONE!! U sink down about 6" when your derriere hits it. Then our booth had TONS of room on one side and barely 12" on the other. That table top actually had The Sisters resting on it, it was that narrow. And I'm only 5'2" and slight 2 medium build. So very uncomfortable start to the meal. We ordered our drinks, 2 pops and a beer. Took forever 2 get our drinks. My son got like a Dr.Pepper, but Pepsi's version. Was extremely FLAT. Plus I got a Pepsi with grenadine on the side. The waitress spilled some of the grenadine and then just used a dry napkin 2 swish it around. So, it was sticky. Then the bottom of the glass of grenadine was sloshed with spilled grenadine, which then got all over the table...and sticky. Asked for a wet cloth around 8-10 minutes after she brought our drinks, bc that was the only time we could get her attention, finally. After about yet another 10 minute stretch, I asked her, yet again, for that much needed wet cloth. Finally got it when she brought our food over maybe another 6-7 minutes later. I got a salad for one of my sides. It had sunflower seeds on it that were definitely questionable as they had a funny taste 2 them. The salad was mixed greens. Some of them were so huge, you could've swept the floor with them!! Very hard to be eating lettuce pieces that were so huge and so wide and still B presentable. And cutting them was ridiculously absurd as U were constantly hitting the back of the booth with your elbow, adding 2 the fact that the table was literally covered by my tatas. The shrimp was really a fantastic size, but was also 45% batter/breading. But had great flavor. The 'seasonal' vegetables option 4 a side is ALWAYS green beans. That being said, they R really good. Both my son and I love them, and we really don't even like green beans. They're fresh green beans and have a butter/olive oil coating with garlic added. Quite tasty. My son got shrimp and steak. His shrimp was good his steak...not so much. He asked 4 it 2 B well-done. From the outside, it definitely seemed so. Almost too done. Literally almost black. Inside, however, quite a bit of pink. Was most definitely cooked way too high and way too fast. Their 3 cheese smashed potatoes look ABSOLUTELY NOTHING like ANY of their pictures. They're not brown and bubbly like from under a broiler and they R neither cheesey like they look in their pictures. They're nothing more than glorified instant potatoes with a little bit of a cheesey SAUCE over them. And I mean a LITTLE BIT 2!! And once the cheesey sauce is gone, so is your appetite for the lackluster glorified potatoes. And I absolutely have 2 say, their salt and pepper shakers LEAVE A LOT 2 B DESIRED!! The pepper is not a fine ground pepper yet the shaker tops is meant for that type of pepper. Getting it out of the shaker was a work out in itself. And the glass shakers R out of this world nasty!! Absolutely disgusting. They're COMPLETELY CAKED with GOO!! They're Gummy and sticky 2 the point U actually need to clean your hands off bc you can feel it transfer 2 your hands and fingers. It's beyond gross. I'd rate our meal as...

First time dining experience was subpar at best. We ordered alligator bites (delicious!), Charlie's catfish (good), and 3 of us ordered walleye (terrible). Walleye is my favorite fish. The walleye here is filets. We got fried walleye (breaded). The walleye had an immense amount of bones in it, difficult to see with the breading. Literally in the first inch of my walleye, I pulled out a dozen bones. The other 2 people also had several bones in theirs, just not as many as mine. The server brought it to the managers attention. The manager approached the table asked how things were going, we explained about the boney fish. Received no apology ever, just an explanation of how it was their suppliers fault. Asked if I wanted something else. I switched to Charlie's catfish, which came out after everyone else had finished eating. By then, I ended up taking mine to go. I wasn't charged for the walleye but was charged for the catfish even though my dinner was ruined. I was appalled by the quality of the walleye. If you know your supplier sent you a bad batch, why wouldn't you return it to the supplier. As a customer paying $30 a plate, I don't want your excuses. I want quality food, but if I can't have that, an apology and making it right is more acceptable than the blame game. The manager was not dressed to represent a manager (literally in a sweatshirt & jeans), was more rude than apologetic & never followed up to make sure the replacement was acceptable. Our first time experience will be the only experience we will have here. We will not return and definitely do not recommend this establishment. With the economy, you'd expect better for your hard...

I went here on my birthday never been here before the food was amazing and the employees are great but the owner was even better.. I had an issue with my card where my transaction got declined but they took my money and I still ended up paying but I went back in to see if we can get stuff figured out he was so nice to me Charlie the owner that he booked me and my girl a cruise on his boat for the inconvenience of my own bank and this is nothing that was his fault he even offered to give me the money that my bank didn't give me and just I could give it back to him when my bank decide to give it back.. I even got offered a job I have the application I'm filling it out right now he said he will hire me to work on his boat I recommend this place to anybody in Dubuque or visiting Dubuque for an owner to even book me on a cruise for free and offer to give me money for the inconvenience of my own bank I feel like he deserves all the business in the world that is a wonderful thing and that is a great person not everything's about money and he showed that and that is awesome and I love that so much so I will recommend this place to anybody the food was amazing the employees were amazing and overall the owner is a wonderful man an a caring man and to me that is all that matters.. ❤️🙏 thank you so much for everything...