Charlie's Up North Inc. — Restaurant in Minnesota

This review is during the restrictions due to Covid.

We have a family of 8. Eating at restaurants always requires a call ahead or reservation.

We called charlie's early on Sunday June 7th to make a reservation, which is legally required during the limited reopening of restaurants right now. Obviously outdoor seating is limited, so we're careful to make plans and call ahead even when it's not legally required.

We called charlie's, told them we had a party for 8 and asked what time they preferred, as we're flexible. We're trying to be accommodating given the size of our family and limited seating. The individual on the phone told us not to worry, and arrive at 6:30.

We arrived at 6:30, it was elbow to elbow and packed. I asked one of the waitresses or hostess if we could be seated and she said, it's going to be a while, we're full. I told her that we had a party of 8 and called ahead and were told to come at 6:30. She said, ya, we don't take reservations. I asked, aren't you required to? She rolled her eyes. We obviously had to leave and try to find another establishment who would take us despite the lack of a reservation.

Let me tell you why this is an issue. I am as annoyed as anyone else about these restrictions, but when reservations are REQUIRED, and seating is limited, people make plans. It's difficult to seat a family of 8 during normal times. We called, were told to arrive at a time they preferred, and were told to take a walk. It's not right. If they would have told us that they don't take reservations and that it was first come first serve, we would have made plans elsewhere. Instead, we arrived, could not be seated, and couldn't go anywhere else because we didn't have a reservation. Just not the right way to treat people. No apology, no explanation, no interest in trying to help us out.

Will not...

Me and a few friends were coming back from Itasca state park and were a bit hungry. We arrived and the boat bar seemed a little busy but there was a few open tables. There was only one server on staff at the time. Which is odd with the amount of people there on a holiday weekend. Service was slow and hectic. Which I don't blame the server for by the way. They understaffed for the day. I ordered a bacon cheese burger medium well. Which came out passed medium well. The main complaint is once again the lack of any seasoning. I complain about this a lot when I go get hamburgers. How hard is it to add a little seasoning. A dash of salt and pepper. I mean come on... It's not that hard. I mean look up any pro chef making a hamburger and they always add salt and pepper. Its not that hard. God forbid if you have a more expensive item on the menu.

Here is a tip for the chef. Google "gordon ramsay hamburger" notice how he adds salt and pepper... It's not that hard and cost...

We had a group of 11 people, all of us from out of state. We contacted the restaurant prior to coming to it to see if we could make reservations. The lady on the phone said, “no, it’s a first come first serve basis”. So all 11 of us walked in and a young lady greeted us and she said “hold on a sec” and was going to see if they could accommodate us. In the meantime the lady behind the bar asked us if we had reservations and we told her no and then she proceeded to roll her eyes at us. Then another lady came up to us and told us the cooks could not accommodate our group. We would have been very understanding if they told us no they couldn’t accommodate a group this large at the time. Very unprofessional to tell us we don’t need reservations then roll your eyes at us when we don’t have reservations. We ended up eating at The Piggy BBQ in Walker Minnesota and was greeted and treated with the utmost respect and will definitely pass along how great their staff...