Charlie Brown’s Steakhouse

At approximately 5:30PM 1÷29÷16 my husband and I arrived at the Charlie Brown’s in Springfield PA and instantly had to wait to be seated for several minutes, no host readily available and no apology upon her late arrival to seat us. Once seated, our server Mike was below satisfactory at best. Salad bar was satisfactory to almost neglected. I asked for lemon with my diet soda, none arrived. I ordered the cheeseburger meal with French fries, no ketchup or condiments offered. I had to wait until he came back in the area to ask for ketchup. The server, Mike was not attentive at all. When I asked for another diet, he never brought it and forgot that I asked. However, he also did not check on us as much as we observed that he checked on other patrons. I noticed that we were a table of color (African American), maybe this had no influence, maybe it did. I requested to speak with the manager (Jennifer-​I believe). I explained my concerns and her immediate fix was to pay the tab, I informed her that this was not what my complaint was about. My experience was that of poor service. I paid my tab and did not feel like the restaurant was at all concerned about their reputation. I was completely insulted by the wait person and lack of managerial leadership by the manager. I thought you would want to know.

Availability on a Friday/​Saturday night is about the only thing this restaurant has going for it. 15 minutes to take our drink order, another hour until your food arrives (2 of which were kids meals). Broccoli was soggy, premium side spinach was rotten. Bruschetta topped tilapia had only 8 small pieces of diced tomato on it. Salad bar was pretty much empty.
We’ve been to this location 4 times in the past year and have consistently left disappointed. Unless they drastically turn things around, we’ll never go back.

Something tells me we should have known better after seeing this place dead at 8:00 on a Friday night. But, we sat down anyway. The restaurant was empty, but we were seated in the bar by a window, which isn’t the warmest place in the winter, but whatever. Our waitress just comes up and says, «what do you want?» Not, are you ready?, any questions? Nothing like that. I picked one of the steaks from the specials menu. It was a Cajun spiced steak with potatoes and brussel sprouts with green beans. I switched out the baked potato for mashed and kept the brussel sprouts because they looked absolutely delicious. I had my steak cooked medium rare like I like it. When it came out there were no brussel sprouts. I asked her if they came with the meal and she said yes and brought them back about 3 minutes later. They look disgusting. They were cooked so much they were almost yellow, not the vibrant green they looked like on the menu. They were mushy. They may as well have been mashed potatoes also. My mashed potatoes were lumpy, and my steak was chewy. It had a silver skin inside, which leads me to believe they had not rendered the fat at all. It was like boot leather. Nothing was seasoned. Super bland. Their salad bar has changed. They got rid of the yummy tomato and mozzarella salad and replaced it with what seemed to be chunks of lunch meat. I would not have fed that to my dog. There are too many restaurants in this area to go back there. It seems that they have been going downhill for the past few years. I’m over it. I will attach a picture of my mushy brussel sprouts.

Went for Thanksgiving dinner, they were very busy but even without a reservation we were able to get a table after a short wait. The salad bar is nice and fresh items to choose, enjoyed the serve yourself salad. The entrees were good, but servers were busy since it was holiday, so hard to really judge on the service. No room for dessert, sorry have no pics on the sweet stuff.

My mom suggested this for my dad’s birthday. I had no input. The venue doesn’t matter for family members taking pot shots at each other. They have a mix of seafood and steak options in the $ 15-​$ 30 dollar range. It seemed to be popular when we walked in. The wait was a reasonable 20 minutes.
Or server was very nice. My parents are difficult, and probably not an optimal table but she toughed it out. The food just wasn’t very good. Entrees come with a salad bar that just don’t have much on it. Everything was over cooked or over fried and dry. They were out of one of the apps we ordered, but we didn’t know until they’d brought out everyone else’s apps. My dad sent the flounder back because it was dry the sauce really cold. He basically eats anything. Kind of a downer.

Pretty gross. Waitress was dull and indifferent. It took her forever to bring us our food and the place was dead. Maybe cause she was chatting with people instead of checking on our food. Then the food came and it was disgusting and soggy looking. It makes me sick just thinking about it.

Went to Charlie Brown’s for lunch on a Monday. We got there when they first opened, so they were not crowded. Service was great, the waitress (Bernie) was a lot of fun and VERY helpful. There was an issue with the bartender, so we waited a little while to get our drinks, but the manager apologized, brought them over, and discounted our bill without our asking, which impressed us. The food was pretty good, not Earth shattering, but good (we were all happy). All & all, it was a good place for lunch. I would recommend.

Decent salad bar with some selections slightly different than the choices for this kind of place. Ordered a NY strip, medium well, which arrived bleeding all over the plate. That steak shouldn’t have made it to my table. I usually don’t blame the server for this, but a medium-​rare steak shouldn’t have a pool of blood on top of it. Sent it back and watched my husband make a second trip to the salad bar, then finish his entrée. I worked on my soup (which I had to ask about – «Oh, you don’t want it with your steak?» What??) When my husband finished his food, I told them to forget my steak and left. My husband then had to wait while our server mixed some drinks before he could get the check. Two servers and a manager on a slow night, and they make him wait after I’ve walked out?! Thanks for reminding me why I haven’t been here in years.

Went here with girlfriend.
Their «14oz ribeye» was a 1 cm thick piece of steak that probably weighed half that, precooked. Pretty much impossible to cook medium rare as requested.
Salmon special was overcooked and dry.
This place used to be a reliable restaurant to get quality steaks done right. I’ve probably been here 20+ times over the past 5 years, and they did a great job with the steaks. But the last few times have been a disappointment in terms of food quality.
I know they can do better because they have, but I’ve been disappointed too often the last 2 – 3 visits, and given them the benefit of the doubt. I’ll take my hard-​earned cash elsewhere.

Convenient location, no lines, good service. We got steaks, a bottle of Malbec and the firecracker shrimp app that was a free Unilocal offer. All the food was prepared well and tasted fresh. The carpet did look a little dingy, but we were seated in a lovely high backed round booth, which made up for any leanings toward «casual» vs fine dining. An all around good meal!

Our server, Tiffany, was fantastic. Party of 6, she handled us very well. Took orders without writing anything down. Always smiling.
We got a free firecracker shrimp for checking in. It was really good. I had the Garlic Bistro Steak. It was great. Meat was tender and well cooked.
Salad bar was ok. Not spectacular. Desert was good, but… My tiramisu had a frozen spot. Tasted great and I was pretty sure they did not make deserts on site. But still a frozen bite was not all that pleasant.

Service and food was very good. The tables are too close together. Did not have to wait to get in which is a plus. Ask for a booth next time.

Came for a friends birthday. Upon arrival the hostess was nice. Walked me to the group table and gave us the name of our waiter. Met my friends. Waited for the waiter to show up as it took him away. We also waited for about 6 more people to arrive.
30 minutes later our waiter shows up and takes our drink order. Drinks arrived quick. One of our friends ordered a Long Island ice tea and it tasted like it was sitting their for 30 minutes and had no alcohol. Smh. I got lemonade. No problems there. Lol
I did get the free fire cracker shrimp and calamari. The fire cracker shrimp was doughy and greasy. Small and not as pictured in the menu. The calamari was ok. We ordered our entrees. Chicken Marsala, fried shrimp, coconut shrimp and fish and chips. I had the clam chowder as my soup. About 10 minutes after our order was in. The group came. They placed their order 25 minutes after us.
Soups came out and those that wanted salad got up and went to a salad Buffet. My clam chowder was watery, bland and not so good. The salads that everyone brought looked good.
Our entrees came out and my chicken Marsala was cold. Plate was not hot. Lol. I did get to try a fried shrimp from one of the girls and it was salty and doughy and greasy. I opted to not eat my chicken Marsala because it didn’t taste right and it was cold.
My friends also ordered the brownie sundae. They said «it was the best thing they are all night.»
Overall, this place was ok. Not bad and not good. Price is reasonable. Entrees either come with a soup or salad. Service is ok. Could have been faster.

I ate at Charlie Brown’s, Woodbury, NJ with a group of family for the first time this past week.
My first impression was that the facility was way too dark for my liking, smelled like a men’s locker room/​dirty socks which leads me to believe that the kitchen is not clean and sanitary.
The staff needs better people skills. First of all, there was no one at the door directing us which way to go. After we wandered around and finally found the desk, the young man seating us made negative comments about the restaurant all the way to the table and expected us to read his mind. Several time, I wanted to say, «Speak up. Which way do you want us to go.»
When our waitress brought our meals, she asked who had which and gave us each the wrong meal anyway. We each asked for water and iced tea. The iced tea came, the water did not. When we reminded her, we received one glass of water for the whole table.
Good new is that the food was excellent.
I would only recommend Charlie Brown’s to others if there was a thorough sanitizing cleaning, better trained staff and more light. What are they hiding with the dark?
Perhaps they should contact the Mystery Diners or Restaurant Stakeout TV shows.

Suburban classy… I like this place, seated immediately on a Sunday at 5:00pm isn’t bad at all.
You have other choices on Baltimore pike but for a different experience we tried Charlie Brown and actually liked it.
Two picky kids enjoyed the free (with Unilocal check in) firecracker shrimp which is probably a spin off on bang bang shrimp at (bonefish grille) but let’s just call it the younger version, shrimp are tinier… yet tasty and they do give you a lot.
Food came out fast. our Waitress was new but she was fast, couldn’t tell she was new.
very cute giant booth we were seated in, not too noisy…
I had a garlic crusted steak w mashed potatoes, great! that was after two Delicious Margaritas… yum!
everyone enjoyed their meal they are more expensive than famous Dave’s or miller ale house but it is more classy.

This is going to be one of those cases where it might have been a better review if I had wrote it when I first went.
Multiple visits though, have left me not as thrilled as I once was. Slow service, steak not cooked to temp. requested and just not the level of service to food quality I would be expecting with the price tag.
Not a bad selection, but not really anything that «stands out for me» from one of the lesser priced chain stores.
Not sure if I’ll be back again unless it is by request of someone else in the family.

This had to be the worst meat I have ever received from a restaurant, and the fact it’s supposedly a steak place makes that a real crime. Add on top of the debacle that this «prime rib» cost $ 23.99 for less than a pound and I walked away hurting from the beating I took.
The meat was tough, stringy and tasted reheated. I’ve had prime rib all across the United States, including my own amateur attempts at home and cheap all you can eat bargain basement stuff at buffets, and I’ve never tasted such poorly done meat. I ended up taking most of it home so I could dip it in some teriyaki sauce and make it edible, the sign of truly bad beef.
Sides and salad bar weren’t any better. My girl got a salad and nacho appetizer and said they were pretty horrible.
In the plus column the staff were nice and the ambiance decent, though they sat us in the bar area for no apparent reason. We didn’t ask to sit in the bar section and the dining area was almost empty, so even the ambiance takes a hit.
I’ll never be getting close to this restaurant again, let alone eating there. A huge swing and miss.

The boyfriend had a hankering for prime rib and neither of us wanted to travel far or pay the big bucks. Believe it or not, Outback is his favorite go-​to for a reliable prime rib… and while that was just across the street we decided to try out Charlie Brown’s since we had yet to do so since moving to the area.
I will start off by saying the décor is nice and cozy and our waiter was attentive but that’s where the positives end.
The food was a complete miss.
We started with the happy hour nachos appetizer. It should be noted that not only was the appetizer half price, but it was HALF THE PORTION. Err… nice try, guys. Anyway… it was pretty gross. Chili from a can, tasteless cheese and guacamole that was almost soupy. It was also served on a plate that was far too small for the portion so we ended up with nachos everywhere.
I figured the salad bar was a safe bet but I quickly discovered I was mistaken. While the options were vast, the lettuce was old and very, very watery to the point I had to grab a napkin and pat it dry before I built my salad. I skipped over the mayonnaise-​based salads as they aren’t really my bag. I liked that they had a few bread options but unfortunately they weren’t very fresh.
My boyfriend, as he intended, ordered the prime rib and was appalled. He’s sort of a prime rib aficionado and thought it was a crime they charge as much as they do for such low quality meat. It’s the extreme rare occasion I see him not enjoy prime rib (or any hunk of beef, for that matter) so that pretty much sealed the deal that we won’t be returning to Charlie Brown’s.

I’ve never had a steak at this location. Decent well priced salad bar, though they took the cold ham, cold turkey and cold steak off the salad bar and replace it with less expensive stuff. Their chopped liver is very good. The assorted cheeses and smaller salads are excellent.
I had the crock of chili today, which was decent. It will be perfect to pop in for a chili on a windy winter day.
Service and staff are excellent.

OK, for some reason I could not get the name «Beefsteak Charlie’s» out of my mind — and indeed, this place takes me back to 1984 — but not in a good way.
The good parts? Our server Brian was attentive and kind — and took the overly-​salted French Onion Soup off our tab without hesitation — nor us asking.
The salad bar is also nice — and very ’80’s — one whole section is mayonaie-​based salads (pasta, potato) so I skipped that part.
My friend ordered a «Queen Cut» prime rib — and I had 2 bites of it — he ordered it medium and it actually came out rarer than I had thought it would. It was OK but no flavor to it other than (you guessed it) salt.
Do NOT order the French Onion Soup here — it looks great and the cheese/​croûton are good — but the beef stock is like eating a salt lick. I could not eat more than a few spoonfuls ($ 4.99) what a shame!
Just OK. Not in a hurry to go back.
Strangely enough — with the exception of no «pick and peek» shrimp on the salad bar and no «Free Sangria» (remember that???) this place could be a Beefsteak Charlie’s.
Ah, the ’80’s.
Childhood.
Recaptured.
I guess…