Charlie's Best Burgers

When the person who would become my wife and I met back in the mid 80s, we were stunned, nay, SHOCKED to learn that both of us were, at the time, each on a quest to find what we felt would be the perfect diner in Southern California. We “guilded-up”, shared notes (and French Fries), and continued our search, but as a couple.

One morning, some 32 years later, we found ourselves waiting for our truck to be smogged at a shop in Fullerton. We decided to use our wait time by checking out the diner across the street.

The name was intriguing, but the draw was the collection of signs in the diner windows promising lots of food for little moneys.

We found the name of the diner interesting because we, as customers who don’t know Charlie, have absolutely no point of reference to determine just what “Charlie's Best" actually is. Is it “not very good, but it's the best Charlie can do”? Is it “Charlie's Best effort at whipping up some grub for all of his hungover friends on Sunday morning"? Perhaps it is “Charlie is pretty mediocre but of all the dishes he isn’t very good at cooking, the ones we serve here are the definite best of the worst"? We were determined to find out.

We had resigned ourselves to the fact many meals ago that diners in SoCal won’t be caught serving “traditional” “American” diner fare like Hollywood has taught us they would. Instead, we enjoy myriad “ethnic” options on the same menu with our grits and eggs and country fried chicken. Owners of diners in SoCal may pair their Southern breakfast with options for gyros, or they may serve “Chinese” food with donuts. The "ethnic" twist at Charlie's Best is that the menu is heavy with meal options generally regarded as being from Mexico (most of them aren't REALLY Mexican in origin, but to discuss that fact would be a distracting digression). Burritos, tacos, taquitos, chilly-killees. There were also hamburgers and fries and eggs and pancakes. Like most diners, Charlie's has a very eclectic menu – something for everybody.

To give the place a fair “shake” across-the-board, I ordered the basic burger and fries while my wife went Mexican.

We ordered and sat down and watched the crowd. The diner was packed. This was a weekend morning around 10am. Finding parking in the lot would have been a challenge had we drove. The cashiers were quick and efficient without making the customer feel pressured through their order. The lines were not short, but they went quick. A long line to us means that most of the people in the line feel that the establishment/food/prices/service are worth the wait.

I noticed also that while the cashiers were taking orders they weren’t afraid to be casual with their customers – little jokes and levity in general help to soften the wait.

I made a quick visit to the salsa bar for Santa Salsa (mix red and green) and while I was there, a person came to clean the area. That person was awesome. Very friendly, she obviously enjoys her job. And she was quick with the jokes! Alas, I didn't get her name.

But, we got two other things - we got our burgers and we got disappointed.

My burger was okay, but it wasn’t really “the best" at anything. The burger itself was huge, as was the order of fries. My Wife's chilly-killees were also just “okay and the portion-sizing method employed during the cookery and plating of my meal was shared by her meal.

No self-respecting diner will ever serve perfect food. That is kind-of the idea. Charlie's less-than-best grub therefore will not affect my star rating for them. “Meh" food at a diner, to us, is exactly the reason we go to diners. Real food cooked by real people. Real human-interaction, and VERY VERY REAL coffee.

We loved it, but a general lack of coziness (or diner-ness) in both décor and the diner location (busy street, limited parking) keeps this Diner out of our running as “best" anything.

Charlie, however, insists that it actually is HIS best!