Charlie Brown's Fresh Grill — Restaurant in Scotch Plains

FIX THE SALAD BAR

For my girlfriend and I, Charlie Browns is a huge favorite of ours to the point we drive well over an hour to their Woodbury location just to enjoy their salad bar and prime rib.

There are only two locations left in NJ and we happened to accidentally stumble on their second location in Scotch Plains this last week. We were so excited to find this place and knew we had to have lunch there.

Before I get into the huge negative of this location I need to stress that we had an excellent meal and everyone was incredibly friendly from the gentleman who greeted us at the front desk to our waitress. The location is clean and my Prime Rib was perfectly prepared.

The huge disappointment here is the salad bar. When you go to the Woodbury location, they have an open salad bar where you can walk around and serve yourself as much as you want. Here, the salad bar is served to you by an attendant.

It was explained to us that this change was made during Covid. Okay, understood. However, Woodbury has their salad bar out in the open, so why not put yours back out?

Now, credit does need to be given to the attendant who dished out our salads, giving us ample portions of everything we asked for.

However, there is something to be said about the experience of doing it yourself, picking your portions, and organizing those items on your plate exactly the way you want. That experience is completely lacking here at the Scotch Plains location.

It's a shame. Scotch Plains is half the distance of going to Woodbury. Yet, we are going to choose to drive twice the distance just so we can experience a proper salad bar.

I would urge management to put their salad bar back in the open again. There aren't many restaurants left that offer an open salad bar (or any salad bar at all) and what you guys have done here has ruined...

I went to this establishment and ordered the king cut steak medium well with loaded mashed potatoes.When I received my meal the steak was cold. I asked if the steak could be warmed up. After ten to fifteen minutes I received a new plate with the steak still cold. I told the waitress I didn’t want a new steak but for the steak to be warmed up because it wasn’t hot or even warm. She started to tell me if they would have warmed it up it would n’t be good. I advised her that I know it wouldn’t have been as juicy but I couldn’t eat it cold. The waitress then went on justify their decision to give me another plate with the steak still being cold and that it wasn’t her decision. I told her I didn’t understand why my request couldn’t be honored if she told the cook what I wanted done to the steak that I was served the first time. I asked to speak to a manager who never appeared. I requested a second time for a manger who still did not appear and then I was advised that both managers was on the phone. After waiting with no appearance of a manager I went to the front and requested to speak to a manager. The greeter advised me that the manager was speaking to someone at another table, who I seen speaking to that person at their table will come over to my table afterward. The manager never came to my table to speak to me. Keep in mind I paid for the food I could not eat. The sad part about this situation is I liked the restaurant the first time I was there that’s why I went back. The treatment I received the second time will be my last. I will not agree to be treated in that manner at this establishment ever again. Things could have been handled differently with a...

The wife and I went on a Saturday evening after a fun day out. We live in the area; and I've driven pass numerous times, wondering if the food was any good. Well we decided today would be the day. They have onsight parking. I assume the weekends are busy for them; so good luck finding a parking spot. I don't take that as a negative, just a fact. I saw it as the place must be good if it's packed. We were seated quickly (had my wife go inside while I looked for parking; which luckily took me about 10 minutes) service wasn't prompt; but once our service came over she was attentive. The menu features your standard American meals (that's not bad at all). There's a good amount of choices without being saturated causing you to feel overwhelmed, thus confusing you making you unable to decide on what you may want. My wife, who's a huge meat lover chose the prime rib with sauted spinach. I picked short ribs with mashed potatoes and a side of onion rings. With the meals you also get a salad of choice from the salad bar across the restaurant. If the person fixing your salad can understand what you want(there's two guys and the one fixing mines didn't seem to understand 1/2 of what I was asking for my salad). In short the food came n a timely manner; and was fine enough. Did it knock it out the park? No; but it was good or what it was. The drinks (well mine atleast) was very mild; I ordered a strawberry daiquiri. All in all we both were satisfied, but not blown away; and we said we would come back again. While loud(definitely a whole family place) it was still comfortable and inviting. The meal plus drinks set us back...