Charleys Cheesesteaks and Wings — Restaurant in Tampa

On 09/07/2024 I went to the location on Fowler and 14th Street in Tampa FL (address 1248 E Fowler Ave, Tampa FL) around 1:00pm.

The first thing I noticed upon pulling up was that the location and parking lot was empty, other than what I presume were three employee cars in the parking lot and their procurer delivering food (Sysco truck) out back. When I got to the order board at the drive thru and ordered a large Philly Cheesesteak, the employee responded that “We are currently out of lettuce and our toaster is broken…”. I stopped her from continuing and just said “Never mind” and pulled off.

My issue with this is, I have been a longtime fan of Charleys. I was excited when non anchored locations (standalones) started opening in Tampa versus ones attached to a Mall.  This location is the closest one to my address and is the only one that has a drive thru.  Of the 7 or so times that I’ve been to this location, atleast 3 or 4 of those times they didn’t have a specific ingredient that makes the Philly Cheesesteak a Philly Cheesesteak. I recall during these prior visits being told during separate visits that they didn’t have tomatoes, didn’t have green peppers, etc. How in the hell can you operate a business where the ingredients matter? And despite not having all the ingredients to fulfill the order, still have the audacity to charge the same high price for the food?

I am completely fed up with the inconvenience. I enjoy this location for closeness and the convenience of not having to walk in and stand around waiting for my food.  I no longer will be going to this location and truly hope that it finally closes permanently since the management clearly is incompetent and can’t keep/manage keeping supplies in stock in order to run the business efficiently and keep their customers happy.  Sadly, this will also ensure that I’m not going to any Charley’s location anytime soon because they do not have a drive thru.  DO BETTER or CLOSE!

REBUTTAL TO OWNER RESPONSE: Thank you for your response and offer. I respectfully disagree that this was the first incident like this at your location specific to the missing ingredients. I cannot recall dates but I can recall the reason I stopped frequenting your location was because prior to yesterday the last time there either it was missing tomatoes or green peppers. I left the drive thru that time without food and yesterday was the first time I'd returned after such a long time between visits. During a visit prior to that one, I accepted that your location didn't have either the tomatoes or green peppers and paid for the sub. It did not taste great. Again, I didn't return for a while. I understand things happen in your industry however I must have the worst timing that it's happened multiple times at your location. I visit other high volume cooked to order restaurants (i.e. Culver's, Salems, Portillos) and actual fast casual restaurants (i.e. Outback, Colony Grill, Bonefish Grill) and have never experienced this running out of ingredients phenomenon that happens at your location. Lastly, the Sysco truck was there at the time I ordered yesterday. If it was known that there was a "temporary" supply shortage, why didn't someone go to Sprouts right up the street to get a few heads of lettuce until your Sysco supply could be received for use? Full transparency, I also submitted this same review online at the Charleys website but did not believe it would get to your location so I came to Google. Again, thank you for reading and responding, I wish you/your location...

I realize it was after a 2nd hurricane here in tampa florida 4 days afterwards but at least they were open. It was lunch time (noon) there were only 2 people in the building (poor scheduling), it took just shy of 30 min to get 2 sandwich combos, they came out fairly cold with lymph greasy cold fries. They seemed more intrested in filling online orders (door dash) than people in person in line. Another person possibly a manager and his family showed up about 50 minutes into this and things started picking up a bit. Out of all this I was not upset about the food I was mostly upset that the cook who I think they refered to as (Chris) was cooking the food with long hair down to his shoulders and no hair net nothing but a ball cap, with his pants falling off of him and even though he had plastic see threw gloves on should not have been having to keep pulling his pants up. It appeared to be common enough that no one was saying anything to him about it even the eventual help that showed. My wife remarked to the lady that had showed with the manager about it and seemed to just get ignored. Thats not sanitary in any restaurant. I doubt I'll ever be back. This is the location on fowler ave in tampa florida...

My Fiancé & me wanted to try something new. since we were in the area and Charlie’s was a new spot. we decided to dine here. I have to say i understand you’re fairly new. the place looks great, However, customer service sucked, they forgot we ordered and our food sat there. we reminded them & they said it would take another 10 mins after we waited 20 mins already, the food is overpriced for the quality it was in. i ordered 6 habanero wings with fries and a strawberry lemonade. The lemonade tasted like dirty water. my wings were cold and once bitten into were undercooked… and not eatable. my fries were probably the best part of the meal and saved my hunger. many customers came back because they had gotten their orders wrong. The public restroom has feces on the floor & the trash closes to the door was so overfilled it was literally falling out the open dispenser. front counter cashier has attitude issues when asked to do what’s supposed to be her job. sadly we will never eat here again. my fiancé thought his food was ok but very overpriced. definitely not kid friendly since they do not offer the option of...