Charlie's Italian Restaurant — Restaurant in East Ellijay

POOR FOOD QUALITY/NOT A KID FRIENDLY ESTABLISHMENT! Last night I dined for the third and final time at Charlie's. We are new to the area and I have been seeking out kid friendly establishments since our arrival. Upon my first visit to the restaurant it was evident to me that the quality of the food was quite subpar (over cooked/under seasoned noodles, under seasoned red sauce, over dressed salads, store bought desserts....). Upon each subsequent visit, the poor quality of the food was reinforced. However, the restaurant was seemingly kid friendly with their paper table clothes and the offer of crayons upon arrival along with the very basic spaghetti kids dinner. So, I went back despite my personal displeasure with the food.

Last night I was dining alone with my 3.5 year old and 10 month old as my husband was out of town. As we were seated I let the two servers who sat us know that the 10 month old would be quite messy and suggested we might do something to prevent the floor from getting dirty. They both assured me it was not a problem- that they regularly had small children in who were messy- and that they had someone who cleaned up such messes after the guests left. We had dinner and to my delight I was actually complimented on the excellent behavior of my young children by patrons at a nearby table as we finished up our meals.

At the end of dinner, a woman who I am assuming is the owner from reading previous negative reviews on many sites, comes near our table and very loudly lets me know that I should have told the server or hostess that we needed to put paper under the baby's highchair because of the mess he made. Making a scene at this point, she said to me, "I remember you from last time. It took me twenty minutes to clean up after him". I was very taken aback, but explained to the woman verbally accosting me and embarrassing me in front of all of the other diners that I had, in fact, let the individuals who sat us know that my young child would be messy should they want to take preventative measures. *Aren't all children messy? I'm still so confused as to why this person was suggesting that it was MY responsibility to let the staff know that they should do something to prevent a mess under a baby's highchair? I would suggest putting a protocol in place in which you put a mat or paper or something under the highchairs of all small children if you don't want to spend time cleaning up after them...... Just a thought.

I have been in the service/hospitality industry for over a decade and understand what it takes to provide exemplary customer service. I am a small business owner and I cannot fathom treating a client in this manner. The very sad part here is that it is very apparent to me (and many others according to the reviews!) that this woman hates her job. When you have lost the love for what you are doing, it's time to move on. And it is very obvious you have lost the passion for your restaurant-- both in the quality of your food and the treatment of your customers. Hire a manager who has exceptional customer service skills because you are doing a major disservice to...

We are in the Ellijay area fairly often. My wife has said for a long time she would like to try this place but for whatever reason we never had. On this particular day we decided to. It was a Friday evening around 6:30.We had no problem finding a parking place(which probably should have been a red flag).We entered and was greeted promptly and was seated right away in the Bar area. The bartender was who took care of our servicing.... which is the norm in a lot of restaurants. She did welcome us and take our order after about 10 or so minutes. The restaurant was not even close to busy. We placed our order...a very simple one that was Spaghetti with meat sauce, salad and the Charlie's signature specialty Pizza.We had Fried green tomatoes as an Appetizer. It took around 30 minutes to get our meals. Longer than you would expect but it happens sometimes.We were told at about the 20 minute point that we were waiting on my Pizza to cook. Ok.. that's all fine. Here is where the main problem lies... The food was NOT up to par. The over $20 signature pizza was not thoroughly cooked( very doughy in the center) and the flavor was very bland. The Spaghetti dish was for sure not a $15 or more dish. Very minimum effort put into it with products that were not even at the Wal Mart level of flavor. The Appetizer was ok and the sweet tea was probably the best thing they served. My wife's salad was never brought to the table... not sure why. Our server was polite and friendly but seemed like that she could have used someone to help in her area. Wrapping up...I was disappointed over all especially with the taste compared to the price. I would suggest the cook and maybe even owner visit other Italian restaurants nearby and compare prices and quality. Maybe Papa's Pizza House in Jasper or Marie's Italian Deli and Bakery in Cumming. Their costs are lower yet their food is just simply put much...

PLEASE READ!!!!! ( WORTH THE LONG READ!) To say that this is a "special" experience would be an understatement. The worst experience I've ever had- disfunctional wait staff, mediocre tasting over priced food, long wait, rude owner. IM NEVER COMMING BACK.

We come from Orlando, with a lot of amazing food and a range of prices so we had open expectations of this place. So it seemed pretty busy when we got there and the hostess said a 25 minute wait, we probably waited 30-40. The hostess ( or I think the owner) was complaining about how busy it was and how she couldn't wait for it to end- a complete turn off. When we finally got our table the waitress seemed busy and un-happy. We were at our table for a solid 20 minutes waiting for our waters even though we asked twice for them. The food was super over priced! It was 11 $ for chicken fingers, and the food was okay, definitely not worth the high price. We ordered something with pork and because I don't eat pork we tied to send it back, we didn't want to pay for something we didn't eat. Normally in Florida this is no problem at all, but here the hostess/ possible owner came and asked all these questions, sounded real snappy, and reluctantly gave us the refund for the meal. Then they lost our credit card to pay, and like 3 waitresses were running around for it until they found it.....The whole wait staff seems disfunctional and bad. The okay at best food was overpriced and took forever. All in all this place would be a pass. Some of the waitressess were very kind and apologized for all the trouble and I don't blame them but the actual restaurant and it's owners. This experience was not good at all and I feel terrible for the staff. Some locals may enjoy this, not I know better. The second we walked in some people looked at us like trash, even some locals. This was not a pleasant experience and we will...