Louisiana Charlie's Long Beach Shoreline Village — Restaurant in Long Beach

I am an LA Native born and raised in California with southern roots. I lived and went to CSULB and dine in the area all the time as I love trying different dishes. I review restaurants a lot!!! I review more on Yelp but at level 7 with Google. I do travel in state and international. I have had some of every taste bud sensory awaken and olfactory receptors inside the nose as well. I would go on in detail about the food, but I was so turned off by the restaurant entrance process!!!! No reservations are allowed, and I'm okay with that because some restaurants and most of the one at the pike do not take reservations with exceptions of Parker Lighthouse. The restaurant is located near the end close to Parkers. When you arrive they ask you for the munber of person in your party and give you a menu and state that your need to know what you want before you are seated because you have to order at the counter and pay first. It gives me fast food restaurant service, and I definitely DO NOT LIKE THAT!!! If I wanted a fast food experience I would go to a fast food restaurant. For a party of 3 and one toldder the bills was 120. 00 and we did not order the most expensive items. I do not know who and why they think this is a good idea, I'm not sure if they are trying to prevent the dash and run where people leave and eat before paying or what???? If you want more food or a drink, you physically have to get up and order it. The staff was not mean, but I have DEFINITELY HAD BETTER FIT PERSONALITIES at an establishment. I felt rushed to make a decision, and I had questions about the menu as this was my first time there, and the staff asked me if I was sure I was ready? Wth, not I wasn't I had a question about the menu and I am not a picky person and wanted to know if an item of food could be remove or if I needed to pick something else. I wasn't demanding to change a dish or ask for substitution, I wanted to make sure I wasn't going to eat something my body didn't tolerate. Back to this fast food style of dining, perhaps let people be seated have a individual credit card reader were you can take order at the table and have a limit on dining if time is an issue but the counter style and having to get up while I'm dining to add some more food that's going to help your establishment is not a smart business choice. By the way I had the crayfish etouffee, it was seasoned but only one scoop of rice. My daughter had frog legs as a meal that it does not come with ANYTHING ELSE. Those are not appetizers, so the side or sold separately. She had the Mac n cheese and the candied yams. The Mac was just okay. My daughters Mac n cheese is more seasoned, and the yams were good. It's only one option for a child meal, chicken finger, and fries. Again, I was so displeased that I had to get up and order another drink and I had to wait in the hot sun because my daughter was looking for a parking spot. I got out so I could be seated. I been eating at Shore line since the 90's and I never experienced this before. The food and the other dishes look good but not enough for me to come back to try. The counter paying is a no for me. Maybe this prevents, us as costumers paying tips, I just don't know why. Why Louisiana Charlie? I didn't even take photo because I was so turned off how I had ro waited to be seated and then questioned was I sure I was ready because I had a question, it was actually rude. Nope not coming back until...

I see why they make you pay before you sit and eat. No exchange or Returns lmmfao, I understand. The food is by far MID, and I'm being generous.

I came for the Gumbo fries and left wanting to return or exchange it for my money back. The fries weren't crispy, the gumbo sauce, I still don't know what flavor it was, but I can say for sure it wasn't gumbo. The sausage tasted like a pepperoni pizza from Costco or Sam's club, 3 nice size shrimp but it was only 3 and any gumbo I've eaten has always had chicken there was none. But it was loaded with onions and bell peppers. Totally disappointed, our group wouldn't recommend it.

Next the Jambalaya was served cold, being that we were already outside we would have loved for it to be hot. Too many stewed tomatoes, very bland. He said the Cheesecake factory is better and that's saying something.

Next the Pulled Pork sandwich, would have been better had it came out with all the ingredients on it, and without all that fat Instead of plain and having to ask for coleslaw, but the kicker is he was asked when ordering if he wanted the coleslaw on the sandwich and he said Yes. SMH

The Full rack of Ribs were the best item we ate. We saw those ribs being pulled off the grill in front while waiting, so we knew they were going to hit. But those 3 sides we not it. I ordered Baked beans and Bush's home style is what I got, overly Sweet Relish Potato Salad, and Macaroni and Cheese, it is cheesey and light on flavor.

PS. Shareables are supposed to come before your Main Entree not after you get all the food. I almost forgot we paid before hand because I was going to cancel the order.

I personally had high expectations being I've heard from family and friends how good the food is or used to be. It was an experience we'll never have again thankfully we all agreed it's a NO for us.

But the Staff was very attentive, 3 different people would come one after another checking on the table. So A+ for...

I wanted to come here after i seen their sign while i was walking along the board walk. So the next day my fiance and i came to eat. I thought it was weird that we had to figure out what we wanted to eat outside before we could even go in. And then we had to order at the register and pay for the meal before we were even seated. I also thought it was kinda weired that they took no cash. Card only. And took the tip at the register as well. Not really the restaurant vibe you would expect.

Nontheless, the guy who took our order was very nice. I ordered the catfish dinner with mac'n'cheese and greens. My fiance ordered the bbq chicken sandwich with cajun corn. And we split a half order of gumbo fries.

We sat at the outdoor patio, giving us a beautiful view of the water. A sever brought us our drinks with a smile on her face. Not too long later our food arrived. The food LOOKED absolutely delicious. Unfortunately the flavor wasn't really there. EVRYTHING was subpar. Not nasty, but not what I was expecting or hoping. The cornmeal on the fish was fried perfectly, the fish just lacked flavor. The greens and mac lacked flavor as well. The half order of gumbo fries was HUGE. Waaaaay bigger portion than what I thought. Unfortunately that too lacked flavor. I took a bite of a few of the sausages by themselves and they literally tasted like nothing. And there was only four pieces of shrimp in the whole thing. My fiance was disappointed in his bbq sandwich because he thought it was going to be a chicken breast but instead it was pulled chicken. I tried his sandwich and would say it had the most flavor out of everything on table. You could taste the smokiness in it.

For the price our tab came up to be, the presentation was good, the portions was good, but overall, the flavor wasn't there so I was...