Judge's Char-Grill — Restaurant in Woodland Park

In response to the owner's review - I cannot post a reply; don't know why

Thanks for the reply; I respect that.

As far as tips on doing things better, I thought the review was pretty sufficient to extrapolate areas to improve: Change the deep fryer oil, watch cooking times so things aren't overcooked and quit putting filler in your food and then using IT as filler.

We didn't have time to deal with it at the time and it likely wouldn't have made a difference.

I fully get the card fee thing. I was a family business myself. If we didn't make sales, the kids ate Ramen... Ok, I'm being a little dramatic but you totally understand what I mean 😊.

Having said that though, part of our merchant services agreement was very clear: we were NOT to charge fees for card use. Granted, this was years ago, so things may have changed.

Regarding the reply about reading the menu; it's borderline out-of-line and nonsense. I would have used cash if I had it as an option. So people still routinely carry cash nowadays? In 2025?! A few years ago, we were virtually a cashless society!

That extra $1.51 from me, and the other customers that use their card, (the majority of them, I am guessing) is the difference between you staying afloat or staying in business another month?

Especially when probably making over 450% profit on $17 chicken tenders? I understand expenses and all that but either reduce your overhead (maybe start with the footprint vs. average paying customer load) or find another way to avoid taking it out for on the (also) hardworking patrons?

It is clear, and respectable that you are making a go of the dining business. It's tough and thankless and yeah, you are probably opening yourself to criticism (aren't we all, in one way or another, lol)

Sometimes we gotta figure it out as we go. (if I had known THEN what I know NOW, whew!😁)

I'll dust off the old car and cruise up there again and give it another go. Probably when the weather cools in the fall (old car, no ac 😂)

Thanks for taking time to respond. We all have "off" days and maybe this was one for you (or me, for all I know.)

Keep on doing you. I can see your heart's in it, and that can truly be the edge you need.

REVIEW: I hate to give any place a less than stellar review and to be fair, maybe they deserve another visit to try some traditional food like burgers.

However, my visit was hit-or-miss. I had the green chili pork burrito. Looked good (the pork green chili WAS good) but it quickly dawned on me that the same slaw, or whatever it is, was in the burrito, the salad and even the rice/bean mixture one of us ordered.

When I was eating my burrito and I found green peas in it and what looked like shredded carrots, I was pretty much done.

Chicken tenders (how do you even mess those up?!) were practically inedible. It was like they were breaded in drywall compound and fried too long in old grease that also fried catfish, gym socks and was also used to hot-tank engine blocks.

The beans and rice soupy-thing was actually pretty good. We finished it off with pecan pie. Good, but nothing special.

Expensive: For us to have lunch, with waters, basic food, was about $58. Oh, and there's a 'credit card fee' apparently for using my debit card, because; 2025... (The interesting thing is, I think I got that bill BEFORE I actually presented my card and paid. As a former retailer, I also believe it's illegal in the U.S.to charge customers a fee for using credit/debit cards. Checking into that.)

$17 for chicken tenders... CHICKEN TENDERS! You know, what every kid eats and you can get (better ones) at almost any fast food restaurant for about $6... Yeah, those.

Service was adequate. We finally got lunch served and managed to leave while it was still daylight.

The place itself is nice looking, a little GTO Judge-themed, (I'm a car guy so that's cool) and roomy. I think they are probably trying, but they've got some things that need addressed. Otherwise they'll unfortunately probably not be there by next summer. (You can only support a place on bar revenue...

Disappointing. Three of us had room temperature food. The server had no personality, and it was a damper on the expereince. We had been waiting to come back here after a great experience about 1.5 years ago. In the past, the food was tasty and hot, and the service was great! Total disappointment this time. My son had the only partially hot food... chicken fried steak. The steak was good, but the mashed potatoes were dry and also luke warm. When I told the server that all our beans were cold and that my whole plate was room temperature, his response was "I wish you had told me earlier, then i could do something." I felt like he treated me like I was trying to get a free meal or something. I definitely did not feel like he cared at all - no concern, but defense. I was very nice and told him to just let the cooks know please. I doubt he did. Bad service all around. I can not recommend this restaurant.

UPDATE: I am further disappointed at the Owner's response. To be CLEAR: My family arrived 40 minutes before close. We arrived at 8:20pm and the restaurant closed at 9pm. I asked, before we were seated, if it was still okay to be seated for dinner. I was told YES. Then I asked again "Are you sure?" and was told YES. I do not go to restaurants right before close. I worked in restaurants for many years and am aware that some cooks start cleaning the grill an hour before close and get resentful if they have to use it again. Some places happily serve until close. So, my rule of thumb is that I won't go into a restaurant within 30 minutes of closing, and within an hour of closing I ask if it still okay to be seated. And I trust I will be told the truth. What is disappointing are the excuses made by the owner, and the untruth told about our arrival time to back up the excuses. Additionally, I did not want the waiter to take my food back to be remade or reheated and here is why: in some restaurants (and since our food was room temperature the red flags were up for me already), the cooks get angry and will do things to your food. I don't know who is in that kitchen, but they were already willing to send out subpar food, so I don't trust asking for anything from the kitchen. I'm not saying these cooks would do anything like that, but I'm not going to ignore my experience in the industry either. Also, note in the Owner's response how he says that "at the end of the day things like this happen." This says that this Owner believes that if you come in 40 minutes before close, you don't deserve hot food or good service. It's a top down way of running this business. If you aren't willing to provide good food and service after 8pm, then stop seating an hour before close. There seems to be a culture of non-accountability from the top down here. And a bad experience is the customer's fault. Hope it changes and lessons...

Underwhelming, flavorless, burnt, and dry come to mind. When we first pulled up the smell was amazing. We were quickly seated and the server was friendly. The atmosphere was pleasant, somewhat quiet and not too busy when we showed up. We ordered the fried okra, mushrooms, and pickles as an appetizer. The breading on the mushrooms was extremely burnt and tasted somewhat like I would expect food to taste like when cooked in cigarette ashes. The okra and pickles appeared to have been cooked separately and they were good. I ordered th Carne asada burrito and it was very underwhelming. It was somewhat like they tried to make enchiladas, was very bland with a few pieces of cheese melted and dried to the top of the burrito. It had beans and rice and meat in it but all I could taste was the green chile they put on top that tasted like a can of green chili sauce you would buy off the shelf for a couple dollars. Green tomatoes was the only taste that came through, no spices, nothing. We ordered horchata, which was super sweet like horchata but not even the slightest hint of cinnamon and it was quite watered down. Two members of my family got the judge burger and fries and ordered without mushrooms. It was discussed twice while ordering and the server repeated it back. Both burgers arrived with mushrooms. They were dry and there wasn't any flavor to the burgers. The french fries were good. I have been to quite a few places to eat and this has to be at the bottom of the list. I imagine, since there is a bar attached, this would be good food to eat while drinking as you don't know how bad it tastes and don't mind paying that much. As a restaurant, I would...