My friends and I were looking for a place to have a few drinks and enjoy the glorious New England weather we were experiencing. So low and behold, we ended up at Charlie's Beer Garden. The place was packed with the afterwork crowd. You get quite the mixed scene here. I quickly realized we were near Harvard with all the people upping their dress. Lots of pleated pants and sportcoats with patches on the elbows. I looked at the beer selection and immediately gravitated towards the Pumpkinhead Ale. I have heard many people talking it up and decided to try it for myself. If you haven't tried it before, I highly encourage it! If that isn't your thing then I am sure you will have no problems finding your brew of choice. The prices were reasonable. However you will have to understand that I have spent time in Orlando where the drinks are cheap cheap cheap. I agree with Bob P. about the food. We snacked on chicken fingers and their waffle fries. The fries are definitely worth trying while you are here. The fingers needed some work. The service was good. After flirting with our waitress a little bit, she would check up on us more often. The patio area was really nice and fit the mold of a beer garden. However the one draw back is the limited seating area. Another minor downside is that they have one bathroom for all of its patrons. Like other Yelpers have mentioned Charlie's Beer Garden has a great atmosphere and is certainly worth cruising through for a brew or two! Yeah I rhymed so what! WeatherMan Predicts: Strong chance of feeling wicked smaht cause you are drinking near Hahvard! 50-60% chance of wishing you had worn your sweater wrapped around your neck! read more

Divey place, fast service, good selection of beer, and cheap! Best part is that it accepts credit cards, has a lot of transportation options around, and feels very lively. I don't suggest coming here for food. Beer drinking/chill night out with close friends is the way to go. read more

Greg took me on a sweet date in Cambridge one fall weekend. It was just starting to get cold, as I remember sitting being a bit cold, and wishing we had one of the fireplace seatings. Lets back track though. We were trying to find somewehre to go, Greg wanted a drink, and we both wanted lunch, and I wanted to sit outside. Greg brought me to Charlies, and showed me what was on the street. I thought that was the extent or Charlies so I quickly turned it down. We continued looking for somewehre else to eat and ended up in front of Charlies again. I gave in and said we can give it a try. Little did I know about the cute, garden bar in the back! If Greg had only mentioned that we would have saved so much time! I can imagine in the summer the outdoor garden is packed and a fun place to be. Even in the middle of the day on a Saturday it was. We first seated at a high top, but when a fireplace opened up, we asked to move there. The waitress was confused but it was worth it. The fireplace in the middle of the table seems particularly dangerous, but no one seemed concerned. It added a very fun, young, edgy vibe and I liked it. Greg warned me this was not the type of place to go to the bathroom at. I can say I am glad I didn't go inside, and only saw the garden, for I fear my rating would have been lower. We both ordered the chicken finger and fries, which were very good. I would highly reccomend them and would certainly go back for them. Charlies is the perfect low-key, bar food, anti-Harvard in the middle of Cambridge. It has a fantastic beer garden, with beautiful terraces above where you eat/ drink. read more

Finally a comfortable place to hang out and just chill. Good food, great service! Thanks from Chicago!

I was impressed with the service at this place even though it was crowded. We were on the lower floor, I thought it was cool that the waiters had these little handheld computer things (almost like what the Fed Ex guy has) to put orders in with. After a night of drinking with friends we made our last stop here on a Saturday night and found a booth to sit in (yay). As people were starting to talk about heading home, I flagged down a waitress, ordered two cheeseburgers to go, and they were out in just a few minutes. It was around $9. Said good-bye to everyone, hopped in a cab and were eating them in bed in 10 minutes...they were yummy. Not gourmet but pretty close to perfect at 2am on a Sunday morning. read more

Charlie's Beer Garden is only open when it's nice out because well, the whole point of it is the outside part. They have an outdoor bar with tables and patio-like furniture and cheap beer. It's mostly for beer and the outside atmosphere. It's ALWAYS packed with a million people starting at like 6pm. They have outdoor TVs as well so people can watch the games. It's also a huge sausage fest. I can see it being a great place to go with your buddies to have a beer and watch the game but at the same time, it's incredibly packed all the time. It's fun though. If you want to eat, go inside to Charlie's KItchen itself, because getting an actual table is impossible unless you just hover around somebody. But they do serve their usual menu at the beer garden as well. I think Charlie's Kitchen food suckssssss. It's just cheap bar food of very low quality. Like their chicken fingers are cripsy and dark brown like they are burnt, which might be okay for some people but for like $8, you get like 4 small pieces of what I think is too burnt for my taste. If you want to drink outside on a nice summer day, this is a good place to go. read more

More than 10 of us came here together on a Friday night after an afternoon of festivities that involved early drinking, so we were obnoxiously loud and clumsy. However, they found us seats right away in the back of the restaurant where we would minimize the disturbance of the rest of the diners. Overall, the service is GREAT! Cannot stress it enough. Our server took our orders quickly, and told us right from the start that she will split our bill however many ways as we want it. The food here is very reasonably priced. Most burgers are under $10, and some seafood items may be slightly above $10. I had a clam chowder, which was very tasty, though, being from the west coast, I still do not appreciate having celery in my clam chowder. Our group size changed throughout the following 3 hours. The server was great, and let us go check in with her and pay for our own orders whenever we wanted to. :)This saved so much trouble. read more

You seriously can't ever go wrong with Charlie's. This is a place that is perfect for a show like "Diners, Drive-Ins and Dives." It is completely unassuming from the outside. Then, you walk in, and you see a biker at the bar and a businessman eating his lunch in the corner. Random? Yes. Common for this place? Yes. The burgers here are great. There is nothing that screams special about them -- they're not specially seasoned or cooked or dripping in some kind of flavoring. They're just GOOD. The fries are also great as well. Doesn't matter what kind you get -- shoestring, sweet potato or waffle -- they are all amazing (my personal fave is waffle). When I don't feel like a burger, my go-to is the steak tips. I feel like they're the hidden gem here. They are tender and juicy and perfectly marinated. Yum! Also, when the weather is nicer, Charlie's Beer Garden is the place to go. read more

My first time there ever last night. The waitresses were friendly and made sure the drinks were coming. Super cheap drinks! Where else can you get Jameson for $4? The beer selection was great, too. Although the vegetarian section was small, I was happy I didn't have to resort to nachos or mozzarella sticks like I have to at a lot of places. I ordered a veggie burger with fries. My boyfriend got the veggie reuben on rye with fries. We both liked our meals. My veggie burger was huge, mind you. It came with grilled onions, too. I'd definitely come back for cheap eats, and drinks. read more

The double lobster roll was good, not great. But the price is right for this part of town. This is a classic diner but with more menu selections, a full bar and a nice outside bar and seating area. There are several televisions which are all showing sports, of course. This is Boston after all. read more

Charlie's Kitchen - Double lobster roll - Burgers Near Me - Cambridge, Massachusetts

I had beer battered shrimp and fries. It was good and fast. I also had the hot apple pie mixed drink (rum and apple cider). read more

Charlie's Kitchen - Hot apple pie Apple cider and rum - Burgers Near Me - Cambridge, Massachusetts

A dive that has been around forever in Harvard Sq. Great place to hang out and enjoy a good pint. The double burgers are a lot for your buck but don't expect it to be as good as Bartley's. read more

Charlie's Kitchen - Charlie's - Burgers Near Me - Cambridge, Massachusetts

I am hooked on their burgers and grilled cheese. Worth the trip across the river anytime. I wish they were open 24/7.... you never know when a craving will hit. They lost a star for their outrageously gross bathroom. read more

This is my GO TO place. Great for a small group of friends (4-6), with the girlfriend, or by yourself. I feel totally comfortable going here by myself with a book and eating/drinking for cheap. The gf and I come here often and almost always get the same thing: The double lobster roll and Steak Tips. The double lobster roll has a bit too much mayo, but has the most amount of lobster you will get anywhere in the city for 11 bucks. Buns are perfectly toasted and ask for waffle fries: awesome! The steak tips are marinated in something sweet like brown sugar. If you like sweet things, and you like steak tips, these are some of the best around: 11 bucks. The beer garden is always crowded, but nice. I recommend Charlie's if you like good food cheap! read more

Getting a table takes a bit of doing. Keep your hawk-like wits about you. Be ready to pounce and if you've got a group you may need to get creative and "borrow" chairs from elsewhere Once seating is achieved, the Beer Garden is lovely and the food, while not completely memorable, is solid. As you might expect, the beer selection is impressive. In general, thumbs up on this place. read more

Outside and Below. Those two words quickly summarize Charlie's Beer Garden, and I'm down with that on a sunny afternoon. The food is relatively inexpensive, the beer selection is adequate & there's enough seating to snag a table if you get there early. Why not more stars? Well... the bathroom situation... it's awful. There are two bathrooms for the entire bar, and it can get predictably gross as the night wears on. Don't let this fact deter you, but you've been warned. Good luck! read more

As far as dives go, I thought this place was pretty great. A friend and I were in town for a conference, so we wandered around the square for a while until we said we would eat at the next place we saw- and it happened to be here. I had a Shipyard Applehead on draught and a lobster burger with some of the best sweet potato fries I have ever had. Prices were decent, service was fast, food was good- I would return! read more

This place has a really cool dirty vibe to it. I was here during the day and got a double cheese with fries for the dirt cheap price of $6.50ish. Serious. And it was actually descent. I also had a downeast hard cider. Unfiltered and delicious! I would be back if I was in the neighborhood. read more

mayoka said something super funny about this place: "the reason there are so many guys here is because it's so cheap". i'm not too sure what she was implying, but it was funny as all hell when she said it. this was the first place my brother took me when i arrived to boston. oh man. it's loud, there's beer, it's fun, they have burgers, sandwiches, french fries, fish and chips, more fried foods, and plenty of condiments to accompany your fried desires. the bathroom was FREEZING. my brother said that he has never seen the bathroom window closed (probably for good reason). read more

Charlie's Kitchen - mmmmm - Burgers Near Me - Cambridge, Massachusetts

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It's actually really difficult for me to give this place 3 stars. The first plus, we went during the 87th (ok I'm exaggerating, but not by much) straight day that Boston has seen rain. The rain stopped about 20 minutes before we showed up, and the sign out front said: What rain?? We're still open! It was like the middle finger I really want to give Mother Nature these days. Then things made a turn for the worse. I'm not sure exactly why it took over 15 (that's fifteen) minutes to get 2 beers when the place was maybe 1/4 full, and there were three bartenders/waitresses behind the bar. And then one of those beers was not what we ordered. So annoying. The second plus arrived when we saw how much those 2 beers cost - a mere $8.50. A place in Boston/Cambridge that serves beer cheaper than $5? SCORE. I WANT to give it only 1 or 2 because of the service, but when it comes down to it, the number of places in the Boston area where you can sit outside and have drinks - ONLY drinks, no food order requirements - require just one of my hands to count. So... a reluctant 3 stars for giving me another option to drinking outside when it's a glorious day/night without being forced to eat anything. read more

Perhaps the reviews of this place should be separated between those who were patrons sober and those who were not. I was sober. Very sober. And yet.... still had a fairly good time. Started outside in the fairly sorry excuse for a beer garden (compared to Astoria Beer Garden) and then ended upstairs....the music was your standard fare. I left right after they played Sweet Caroline. One caveat -- the restroom. It's not so much that it was slimy and icky...welll, it was somewhat difficult to maneuver because it was slimy and icky... ok so the bathroom was a hot mess. Like many patrons. Proust! read more

Downstairs Charlies is my favorite but either floor when not too busy is nice. I love their selection of drinks because they includ ONE of my favorite beers (not the other) but Framboise is really good and i can live with it. Charlies kitchen has an outside section that i have yet to try but i am looking forward to the summer when its open. :) read more

I don't get out to Cambridge much as I generally stick to my side of the river, but Charlie's Kitchen has given me a reason to visit the other side again soon! Charlie's is a simple laid back pub environment with a great menu that has lots of vegetarian options. Beers are cheap and food is good. Perhaps the best part is the patio. With the warm weather coming back Charlie's has a vast outdoor patio so that you can eat and drink outside! read more

Great neighborhood bar with a killer outdoor patio for when the warm weather finally returns. Decent beer selection, great place for large groups of friends. read more

Charlies is a great neighborhood diner/bar that has a just a bit of that comfortable no-questions-asked dive-bar feel to it. The beers are alright -- nothing out of this world. Their Guinness pour isn't perfect. The food is great if you're in the mood for a greasy burger (which I frequently am). Most of the burgers are double burger and they serve them with a lot of flair -- open faced and ready to be slathered with condiments. The onion rings are pretty good too. read more

So we went here for a quick dinner and beer on Saturday night. Being that it was about 20 degrees the beer garden area was not open but it may have boosted ratings. We each got a beer and they gave us huge samples to try which was a nice plus. They had a ton of beers on tap and the prices where good for the Boston/Cambridge area. For food we ordered the King special which was three bacon burgers with waffle fries. The waffle fries where delicious. The burgers where pretty bland and really over cooked. The wierdest thing is they only came with a bottom bun so it made it difficult to eat. We had to ask for silverware, and plates. The service was awful. My fiancee had to go to the bar to get a beer refill. The decor was fun, the prices where dirt cheap. I probably would not get food again but the drinks where cheap enough for another stop by. read more

Good cheeseburger, good waffle fries, good fried green beans...plus when the weather is nice you get to enjoy eating outside in Harvard square. It's a win win situation. read more

Been here a couple times now and so far I'm a fan. I'm the outdoorsy type...in that I like getting drunk on patios. So Charlie's fits the bill. They've got a lot of good beer to choose from (plus a full bar if you'd rather have the hard stuff) and the food is decent enough. The servers seem to come by as infrequently as possible but always at the exact right moment - just after you finish your drink and right before you start getting angry that you haven't seen your server yet. Plus those remote ordering things they have - a la flight attendant - make it easy enough to split the bill when in a large group. The one unisex bathroom is something out of a horror movie. But I pee standing up (most of the time) so I'm fine with it. read more

Nothing about Charlie's that I can complain about. Its a real dive bar. They have a great beer selection, and always really good seasonal beers come and go. Their food is so inexpensive and so amazing after you've had a few beers, trust me. This isn't a place I would go to have an ice quiet drink. This is where you go with your friends after a long day of classes/work/anything. It's fun, easy going and you are bound to run into someone you know (especially if you are a Cambridge resident). In the summer time the Beer Garden is definitely worth paying a visit to as well. After leaving Cambridge, Charlie's is definitely a place I really miss. read more

Attentive staff. Prices are, eh. Can get raucous, but generally just casual and relaxed. The booths are small. A tight squeeze between the seating. We didnt have any food... so I cant say this is an entirely comprehensive review. One note that happened in my visit - we ordered 2 drinks when we sat down. A boston lager for myself and a bluemoon for my friend. But I could definitely taste some blue moon in my sam adams. At first I thought my tastebuds were just losing it. Some time later we ordered another round, and it was definitely different. It actually tasted the way boston lager tastes. So I believe that my glass was first filled, partially or fully, with blue moon, then upon realizing the second drink was suppose to be a lager, they poured out the glass and refilled it, instead of washing it or getting a new glass. read more

Yay! I am definitely a fan. I'll start this review off by saying bf and I have only been in the dining room part of this beer gahhhhhden, so the review is for there. Great beers for cheap, decent (cheap) food for cheap. I think we spent $50 (tax & tip included) for 3 beers, wings, a burger and a black bean burger (yes, that one was for me, I was trying to be healthy but ate the wings anyways). They have a decent selection of beer on tap, including a great Oktoberfest, so I was pretty satisfied. read more

Total Boston charm, our waitress was perfect and the drink menu was holiday themed for Christmas and everything we tried was good. I wasn't blown away by the food but it wasn't bad. And the prices were amazing! $6 for a premium cocktail, hell yeah :) If you are in Harvard Sq check it out, if only for the ambience alone. read more

This place is really popular in the summer since they have a beer garden. The have a an upstairs as well but this place is basically as no-frills as they get. Nothing special but cheaper than most other places in Harvard. I went during the cold months, sat outside & they actually have these gas fire things in the middle of the tables which is pretty damn cool. This does tend to be a younger crowd but I guess it depends on the day of the week. read more

Location is fabulous, great little spot to sit and people watch while enjoying a cold drink. They were out of three of the beers I tried to order, kind of annoying. The food was decent, the burger with short rib meat and garlic aoli was tasty, the french fries were sub-par and service was on the slow side. Would visit again for location alone. read more

The epitome of a dive bar. Super grimey and full of hipsters but that's not necessarily bad if you're into that sort of thing (my friend's definitely are). The food is pretty good for the price -- the lobster roll was definitely not as flavorful and filled with lobster as many other places around but what do you expect when you can get two for a total of $13? They have a bunch of cheap drink options too. Charlie's is fine, the beer garden is nice is the summer, but I feel like it calls for a certain kind of night/mood. read more

Charlie's Kitchen - Two lobster rolls for $13 - Burgers Near Me - Cambridge, Massachusetts

We've ordered three burgers - they were tasteless and well overdone. Appetizers were plain and with no salt and pepper - just tasteless. One of the worst burgers we've had in a while. read more

$13 for a respectable lobster roll?? This would normally rate a 3 star sandwich and there is too much lettuce underneath but for the money, this is a great deal. Place is a bit kitchy but what do you expect for a college town bar? read more

Charlie's Kitchen - Lobster chunks are a lit small and too much lettuce underneath but for the price, it's a great deal - Burgers Near Me - Cambridge, Massachusetts

I avoided Charlie's for the longest time, because I figured people who occasionally tucked their shirts in were not allowed. I was wrong. 4 dollar Crown and Cokes and nobody cornered me and made me untuck my shirt. I will definately be back. read more

Cheapest double burger and brew in the City! $10, done and done. Good fries too. Only bad thing -- limited seating, gets pretty packed. The server also tried to short-change us once, which was pretty annoying. But overall, I really love this place. Parking is TOUGH though, and the lot next door, even w/ validation is $12.00..even if you're only there an hour. The staff is also awesome -- b/c I left my wallet there, didn't realize till the next morning, frantically raced over to get it -- and they had it , all contents present and accounted for! ps - there's seating upstairs too, if downstairs is crowded :) read more

I feel like Charlie's deserves an update review because of the beer garden. This is a late review, since I initially went to the beer garden right when it opened. I have this to say: it's basically an extension of the inside...but outside. Which is great in the summer, if you can get a seat. I spent a great deal of time hovering and such. If you're okay with that, then by all means please go. BUT if you're someone who gets agitated or feels really weird about searching and looking and getting a friend to do the same across the garden, perhaps you should just go inside. Bottom line: I love it. But you might not. read more