Charlie Blood’s

I loved this place
Loved the memorabilia hanging all over the place — so interesting
— food was great — big portions
And Sal the owner is a really nice guy
Told me to make yourself at home as I looked around at all his memorabilia
And told me stories about his Dad and family and his business history
I felt very welcome there
And as I was leaving Sal said to me will i see you again and when I said sure
He pulls out a shot glass and said name whatever u want it’s on the house
— loved the hospitality
Great experience — Sal is the salt of the earth

With only 14 reviews no wonder it has 4 stars. If more people reviewed this rating would drop very quickly! Most likely the people that work there too!!! This place is filthy!!! Order bottled beer and watch dust doesn’t fall from the fans

Now THIS is what I call a local dive, and we enjoyed our visit. The vibe is like an old Honky Tonk bar brimming with John Wayne memorabilia, Loretta Lynn pouring out of the stereo, a pot belly stove, lots of wood, agricultural equipment hanging from the ceiling… get the idea?
No plastic taken here, but they have an ATM in front. Just pass through the small area where the ice machine is and you’ll find it. Prices are reasonable.
The menu is a mix of Italian, continental steakhouse, burgers, pizza, etc. Rolling Rock is on tap at the bar. Service was attentive and super friendly.
Here’s what we chowed on:
Seafood salad: calamari t&t’s, shrimp, and imitation crabmeat, slivered onions, oregano, wine vinaigrette on a bed of lettuce. A generous portion that was enough for two or three people. The flavor was good and the seafood wasn’t over cooked at all.
Linguini with Shrimp and Crabmeat Scampi: very tasty for sure, but left a gigantic puddle of garlic butter in the plate. The crabmeat was that imitation crab again, but we like the stuff, so it’s not a big deal if you do too. Pasta wasn’t salted, though… and it should have been.
Eggplant rollatini was delicious, with the insides of creamy ricotta just warm after a bit of time in the oven. Topped with melted mozzarella and marinara, it was very great, indeed. Pasta was served with it, and could have used some salt during the cooking.
Two house salads were also served with the mains; we opted for the bleu cheese dressing. Just the right size with a nice dollop of dressing completing the picture… and a loaf of bread with olive oil and balsamic for dipping.
We loved our time here, even with a culinary misstep or two. As another Unilocaler indicated, places like these are dying every week, and I’m glad that we found this joint, really dug the name, and ventured out on a snowy night to try it.
We’ll be back with cash for pizza next time. Leave your preconceived notions and pretentiousness at the door, listen to Johnny Cash and Earl Scruggs as you enter, pull up a chair which scrapes along the worn wooden floor and enjoy this endangered species.
Four stars. Go for it!

It’s ok. I wouldn’t go back. I’m not to fond of their steak seasoning. I feel steak shouldn’t have a seasoning as it already has its own flavor. Lighting was a little too dim. If you’re a western boy you’ll love it. The waitress/​bar tender was helpful.

Great little family owned gem. The food was good and the waitress and her father were very friendly. Check this place out its a fun place with a country western theme.

What a Gem! I can’t believe I live 5 minutes away and never knew about this place! It was excellent! I felt at home. The service was amazing. I felt like we knew Tracy forever! We will definitely be back! Highly recommended.

I’m going to level with you, if you’re a human being who lives in or around Northern New Jersey and you don’t frequent Charlie Blood’s then you’re part of the problem. You’re one of the dopes that allows horrible places like Applebee’s and Burger King to infiltrate our small towns and our neighborhoods. If we all wake up one day and look out the window and all we see is Walmarts and Buffalo Wild Wings, well, guess what? It’s your fault. Because Charlie Blood’s was there, welcoming you to have an exceptional meal with an actual family and people who would introduce themselves to you and ask you how you enjoyed the food and, hell, maybe even buy you a shot.
Anyway, I’m off my soapbox. Here is my actual review. I turned 32 and every year I go somewhere to eat with my family. I chose Charlie Blood’s after reading an interview with the owner in «Weird NJ» magazine. I don’t usually use «Weird NJ» as a restaurant guide, but damned if I didn’t love everything about what I read. So I dragged six of my family members to a dark corner in Garfield, NJ, and guess what? We all had a killer time.
From the moment we walked into the back dining room, the entire family had a big dumb grin on their collective faces. The walls were sweating with Western charm, from John Wayne posters to advertisements for outdated chewing tobaccos. The food was great. Affordable steaks that were so full of flavor and taste that you had a hard time wrapping your head around the fair deal you were getting. The delicious Italian bread they brought to the table made you want to stuff a few loaves into your jacket and take em home for sandwiches on Sunday afternoon.
We drank cold Rolling Rock off the tap and traded barbs with the waitress who was married to the cook and the daughter of the owner. You don’t get this type of personality and kinship in horrible chain restaurants. This means something. This is a part of our culture that is literally wasting away, and if we don’t cultivate it, it will truly be gone.
I loved Charlie Blood’s. Not just because the food was affordable or because they gave me free ice cream on my birthday. I loved it because it was a part of New Jersey’s fabric that was unwilling to turnover and become a Dunkin Donuts.
If your’e going to live in this state, it’s important that you preserve what matters. McDonalds will always be there. Dumbbells pump a billion dollars into it. Take a minute and go to a place like Charlie Blood’s. Put your money towards culture, towards family, towards New Jersey. We’ll all be better off for it.

The waitstaff and chef were very nice! and made sure everything was perfect the whole time we were there.
The homemade onion rings with the homemade bbq sauce was amazing!
I had the rib eye steak which was HUGE and extremely good and not expensive. I will definitely go back soon

Steak perfected!
I’ve been coming to this Steakhouse for about going on 3 years now and every time it taste like the first.
Let’s start with the service. Most of the times I’ve been here it has never been really busy so the service is something that I truly enjoyed. It’s very personalized and the waiters do a good job of frequently checking up on you.
The main reason I come here is for the Ribeye Steak. The flavor and the way the steak is cooked is beyond belief! Great marbling on all the cuts I’ve ever hard and not to mention it’s a 24 ounce for under $ 20! Value/​service but most importantly the Ribeye make this place a must for anyone.

We went to eat at Charlie Blood’s about two weeks ago and found overselves upset that we hadn’t been there sooner. The place has a lot of character with all of the antiquated memorabilia on the wall. Every where you look there’s something different to with a little bit of American history.
We started with the wings — A-​MAZING! Best wings we have had in New Jersey. Then we ventured onto the giant burgers — again, ridiculously good. Without a doubt the next time I crave a burger, I’ll be driving over to Charlie Blood’s. The owners were so hospitable to us and even gave us a great, deep fried treat at the end of our meal. We honestly couldn’t stop raving about the food for days. Definitely check out this diamond in the rough. It’s worth the experience for sure.

best steak ever. don’t need to say anymore!!!

This place is a dive! One thing I can say is it has a lot of character.
When you first walk into the place you are in the bar and have to walk through the kitchen to get to the dimly lit dining area. The dining area is covered in wood paneling and various random license plates/​cowboy paraphernalia/​statues etc. all covered in cobwebs — lets just say adding to the ambiance.
I came here with a large group for a birthday and the waitstaff was very accommodating and attentive to all of our needs.
The food is average, very simple menu, nothing too crazy.
I had the fried calamari and the shrimp scampi. The calamari was average and the scampi was so so. It was drowning in butter and garlic more of a butter soup with linguini and shrimp than a scampi.
Definitely a cheap meal and you get what you pay for.
I would return again but more so to check out all the crazy décor and have a few beers than to dine.

My dad is friends with the owner so I used to go to Charlie Blood’s a lot when I was a younger. At that time, Sal, the owner served kids spaghetti for 99 cents. The price hasn’t gone up much and the décor hasn’t changed a lot, which is awesome.
Sal’s dad was a boxer named Charlie, where he earned his nickname Charlie «Blood». I remember talking about going for dinner at this mythical place and other people wanting to correct me asking if I meant Charlie Brown’s. No, no I didn’t mean Charlie Brown’s, at all.
The owner is a super nice guy, and he even has jokes about the John Wayne and taxidermy adorning the walls. The fried calamari is awesome, and the Duke is something that keeps people coming back again and again.

This place is your quintessential neighborhood bar/​restaurant, for one it’s been around forever and for two, it’s actually in a residential neighborhood, in what looks like a 2 family house.
The décor is old and dark, the service is friendly. When you walk in the front door (which I recommend over the side door) you get to cut through the kitchen and say hi to the cooks. Great.
The food is okay, some things better than others. The shrimp cocktail is cheap and perfectly done; the very hot mussels are mostly just heat not much flavor, i recommend getting regular and adding pepper yourself; Shrimp scampi is butter and garlicky, great with pasta.
It’s a cheap meal, not amazing, but they are definitely in a league of restaraunts that are disappearing, worth seeing at least twice.

Upon entering Charlie Blood’s Restaurant we were whisked away to a wondrous world of wood paneling and draught beer, that I lovingly call DiveBaria. This extraordinary land is a lot like Narnia from the acclaimed novel, The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe, except that the Wardrobe is a bar, the Lion is food, and instead of a witch there is beer. Come to think of it, there are really not any similarities between these places, except of course, they are both magical. Once inside, we grabbed a table adjacent to the bar, ordered a round of drinks, and asked for a few menus.
The Duke is Charlie Blood’s Famous 24oz Ribeye Steak and I felt obligated to my readers to conquer it, especially since it was only $ 17.95. To add to the affordability of this spot, this meal came with a house salad and fries as well.
Our salads arrived and I have to say I was impressed by the portion size. That is not to say that the salads were oversized but they were not overtly petite either. The actual contents of the salad appeared to be fresh and as far as a dinner salad goes, it did its job flawlessly.
With my appetite intact and properly primed, I was ready to go round for round with The Duke. As this 24oz beast of a steak came to our table the theme song from Rocky was playing in my head. I have never met a steak I could not finish and I was determined to make sure that the Duke was not the first. So far Charlie Blood’s Restaurant was not disappointing this blue collar foodie, but as the first forkful of steak was slowly approaching my craw, I knew that the moment of truth was upon us. For, a cheap bill is not the only requirement for a restaurant to be Blue Collar Foodie approved. But alas Charlie Blood’s Restaurant did not dissatisfy, it was love at first bite.
This colossal slab of cow was perfectly cooked, medium rare, and seasoned just enough to enhance the natural flavor of the meat. This was one of the best steaks I have had in a long time, and I could not believe that I was having it at a place like Charlie Blood’s Restaurant. As I finished my steak, I found myself sopping up the juices with my French fries so I would not waste any of the deliciousness.
All in all, Charlie Blood’s Restaurant is the perfect two punch combination, it is affordable and the food is terrific. This is yet another establishment that makes you hear your wise mother’s voice urging you not to judge a book by its cover, in that motherly tone that we all love to hate. These hyper local Blue Collar foodie havens are difficult to find and get harder and harder as the years drag on. There is something extremely comforting about Charlie Blood’s, a Cheers’esque’ quality, that is sadly endangered nowadays.
There are a few notes about Charlie Blood’s Restaurant that I wish I knew before we visited that I will now share with you. This blue collar foodie find, much like many others, only takes cash. They do have an ATM on site, but if you want to save the fees stop at the bank before you head over. Furthermore, if you are not into eating at the bar, I have been told that there is a full service restaurant side to Charlie Blood’s Restaurant that I will be checking out on our next visit. The entrance to the restaurant is apparently around the corner from the door we used to get in.

Charlie Blood’s is a nostalgic neighborhood bar that has an old school feel to it. Food is phenomenal! Service is great! The wings are bangin! Victor makes his own BBQ sauce, from original, honey BBQ, apple bourbon, spicy ranch, green label jack sauce to some fire hot sauces! So if you like wings, this is definitely a place to be! Also check out the yuengling beer battered rings, and pulled pork sliders!