O'Charleys
Stuart Laird
I just want to say that to my taste (big on subtlety and variety of flavor),
O'Charleys is a waste of space. (Located on the E-W street north of Target,
between Borders and Damons.)
The first time there, I had a spicy "Southwestern" chicken quesadilla which
was surprisingly good, if pretty darned small (certainly small for the $7
price tag), so I thought I'd go back and try some other stuff. (My
companion had the steamed vegetable plate which is a Ton of veggies way
oversteamed --he likes 'em that way, complains if they're crunchy, so it was
just right for him.)
The second time, I had the 1/2 rack of ribs. Very sweet, very greasy,
absolutely nothing of special interest. No fire. Just sweet bland. Very,
very ordinary. Ditto the salad that came with it. Head lettuce, thin
slices of cherry tomatoes, whitebread unseasoned croutons, and a bleu cheese
dressing that may be so called because the bottle it was in at one time may
have held or been near a bottle that held a little bleu cheese.
By now, I'm ready to write the place off. It's definitely white bread --
where the Denny's/Taffy's crowd goes when they want something a little more
upscale. But I have another friend who wants to try it, and I figure I can
get the quesadilla again and be OK.
Only I get there, and I see a club sandwich (their "signature" sammitch) and
the juices start flowing for one of those. The first sign of trouble is
when the waiter (who was just awful, but it's a new restaurant, so who knows
what the service will really be like) tells me that they don't have any
wheat bread. I should have known right there and ordered something else,
but I was semi-committed to a club, so I said what the hell I'll try it
anyway. Big mistake. Quite a bit of thinly sliced ham and turkey (or at
least ham and turkey product) and a little hard and chewy bacon, stacked
with a lot of lettuce between two pieces of white toast. Period. Very
little flavor to any of it. (For a good club, try the Courier)
About the service: Two out of 3 were ok. The 3rd, a fresh graduate of some
rural high school, perhaps, was not just bad, but horrible. He not only
forgot the little things (like lemon for the tea), but had reasons why he
didn't bring them. And every time he addressed us, it started or ended with
"You guys". ("You guys," is apparently how they're trained to address the
customers, because all 3 of them did it.)
I suppose O'Charley's is a perfectly OK place to eat if you think Denny's is
a good place to get dinner and want a slightly more upscale venue. For my
money, it's the very least imaginative of all the midscale chain restaurants
in town, and with an Applebee's and a Cheddars practically on the same
block, that's really saying something!
ymmv - there's no accounting for taste
-sl
--
The most dangerous element in any society is ignorance
-Emma "The Red" Goldman
www.laird.com
Doug McDonald
>
> I feel too lazy to write a "real review" today, but after trying it 3 times,
> I just want to say that to my taste (big on subtlety and variety of flavor),
> O'Charleys is a waste of space. (Located on the E-W street north of Target,
> between Borders and Damons.)
>
>
I tried a steak. The so-called Caesar Salad wasn't even trying to be
Caesar, but I must say, it was quite good. Lots and lots of cheese and
a nice spicy and tasty dressing.
I ordered the steak as I always do, RARE, emphasis mine and in my
voice tone when I order. I do this in the hope, sometimes fulfilled,
that it will come less than medium well. This one did ... it came
a quite nicely done medium. It was exceedingly overlean. No fat
at all. On the scale " ..., good, choice, prime" even in these
inflated times, it could not possibly have been above "good". Actually
I think the word "watery" applies.
I won't be back.
Doug McDonald