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    Charlie's Restaurant

    3.9 (103 reviews)
    Closed 7:00 am - 3:00 pm

    Charlie's Restaurant Photos

    CHARLIE'S RESTAURANT ATMOSPHERE

    What's the vibe?
    Casual
    Moderate noise
    Good for groups
    Outdoor seating

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    Recommended Reviews - Charlie's Restaurant

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    Lunch menu
    Hayley T.

    I've been here a few times with my family and it has never disappointed!! There's always plentiful parking. We sat inside for the first time and the staff were so attentive. It was pretty packed but it never felt too claustrophobic or too loud. Outdoor seating is great, especially if you have kids who want to watch the planes take off (window seating is available inside but can be limited) and I like their toy plane and car that kids can sit and roll around in. The food was satisfactory and they have HUGE portion sizes. Every time we go, we always end up walking out with takeout boxes. So consider sharing a dish with someone!

    Great artifacts
    Jeff N.

    Food was below average. My pork chops were so overdone! Nothing special. View is great with lots of small plane action. I believe this is a one and done place. Service was good and the artifacts are fun to look at. Food is below average.

    Eating watching plane taxi
    Greg P.

    Great breakfast. I had philly cheesesteak skillet. Pancakes really good. Plus you can watch planes land and take off

    Turkey club and fries
    Jessica M.

    Charlie's Restaurant is an excellent choice if you're looking for simple diner food with a view. We've dined in twice on a Sunday and there were plenty of tables when we arrived around 10:30 AM for a party of six. Here are some of the items that we've tried: 1) Coffee can be skipped unless you really need caffeine to kick off the day. For me, it was an energy booster to start the morning with two active toddlers. 2) Cheeseburger with fries was standard and nothing really particular to bring home about. 3) The normal turkey panini comes with pesto, lettuce, tomato, and fries. However, I chose to forego the toppings in case my toddlers find them a turnoff. The staff was kind enough to divide the portion into two plates for us. One less thing for me to do and that is definitely a pro! 4) I am a huge sucker for diner type turkey club sandwiches with fries. This really hit the spot for me and would likely be a recurring item. 5) My husband and in-laws really enjoyed Charlie's garbage omelet which seemed to have a little bit of everything. 6) We were hoping the girls would try something new in the strawberry crepe. They had a few bites and lost interest. More for me and I always have a sweet tooth to fulfill! Portions are standard and service was attentive. We will likely return and would also like to check out the neighboring aviation museum.

    Corned beef hash skillet ($10, right) comes with 2 eggs any way and choice of toast or pancakes (left)
    Eric S.

    PLANE AND SIMPLE This diner serves excellent no-frills breakfast all day next to the runway at Bolingbrook's Clow Airport. Charlie's Restaurant is in between airplane hangars at the end of Clow Int'l Parkway by the mini golf course, which itself is off of Weber Rd behind the Lowes. The diner is fairly large; they've got plenty of seating by the windows (perfect for watching turboprop planes takeoff & land) as well as counter seats for folks that just want a quick coffee. Service is chill, usually it's one of the cooks who brings out orders from the kitchen. My first time here I ordered the corned beef hash skillet ($10) that came with 2 eggs + toast or pancakes. My wife got a strawberry Belgian waffle ($7) and the two egg breakfast ($8.75) which includes bacon/sausage and choice of carb. Everything hit the spot and struck us as a very good value. The Denver omelette ($9.50) was pretty tasty, too. It was your standard triple egger with ham, cheese, peppers and onion that included hash browns and toast--I usually go with English muffin, though sometimes I mix it up and choose sourdough. I heard our server rattle off nearly a dozen choices for bread, which was kinda fun. Jelly, butter and sugars are on each table. Bread = 4.5 Circuses = 4.5 I like their tasteful seasonal decorations, like bats/witches for October, snowmen/Santas for December, etc. This place gets a lot of foot traffic from "the locals", as it seems like they've got their fair share of regulars. We've seen people land their Cessna 2-seater, come in for a bite to eat, then hit wheels up an hour later. Almost makes me want to get my pilots' wings (which you can do, as they offer flying lessons next door!) * TL;DR* After much searching, we've finally found 'THE ONE' breakfast place, and it's practically in our backyard -- only 1km from us as the crow flies. You wanna support local? Come to Charlie's. Fascinated by planes? Check out Charlie's. Ya dig breakfast, dawg? Foshizzle your nizzle on down to Charlie's, homie. It's not hard to see ourselves coming here every couple months for the rest of our lives. Charlie's might be one of Bolingbrook's best kept secrets: inimitable, cozy, and very easy on the wallet. Just delightful.

    The outside area allows for a great view of the planes while enjoying a meal
    Rita B.

    The second we stepped into Charlie's, it was a feel of a family restaurant, a little older but very well Maintained. We were there for breakfast and had the corned beef hash casserole and omelette while the kids enjoyed some pancakes and waffles. Corn beef hash was a little heavy on the onions so took away a little more flavor from the main dish But otherwise everything else was fantastic

    Great view of the ramp from our table.

    Dropped in recently for lunch and gee what a nice surprise. Two of us ordered the 1 pound "B-1 Bomber" burger and OMG, it was insanely huge. And good too! Excellent quality beef seared to perfection with fresh lettuce and tomatoes, crisp pickles and tasty fries. Really didn't need the delicious appetizer, but we ate it all anyway. ALL of it. Can't beat a table near one of the many line side windows with a great view of the active runway. The meal was an extremely good value and one of the best meals we've had in a while. We have a list of five local places we can depend on for a good meal. Charlie's is now one of them

    Strawberry Belgian Waffle

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    4 days ago

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    11 months ago

    Always a good breakfast and on a good day you can watch planes take off and land. The double sized breakfast sausages are great.

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    11 months ago

    Everything is great. Breakfast all day or lunch. Whatever the food is great as well as service. Plus you can watch the planes take off

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    1 year ago

    Wow, what a difference. Excellent service, good food. Good job from a year ago. Great experience for our grandson to see the planes

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    1 year ago

    Everything, service, food, cleanliness, wait time for food, great wait staff. Also great take off & landings enjoyed by the kids.

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    6 years ago

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    3 years ago

    Great local business, nice folks running the place. Only been there for breakfast, and everything we tried was thoughtfully prepared.

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    The food was great the home made corn beef Benedict's was fantastic the ash browns were perfect as…read moreI requested well done crispy brown not burned- The only problem was the food a little to cold ash browns and eggs were warm not hot Wait staff needs to pay more attention to detail Including personal appearances. Thank you

    OMG!! Where do I even begin. If I could give this place 0 stars I would…read more Anyway, my friend and I went here for lunch today. We arrived may be about 15-20 minutes before 1 o'clock. Upon sitting down, I noticed that there was salt and sticky stuff all over my side of the table. So, I asked the waiter to wipe the table, at which point he seemed fairly discombobulated and he asked if we wanted to move to another table. I said, no - I'd like to stay where I was and if you just get a rag and wipe the table. But, he wasn't sure how to do that without wiping crumbs into my lap. Well, buddy there's more than one way to wipe down a table without flinging crumbs in my lap, but I'll digress. He came back moments later with a small red bucket, ringing out the rag at our table side. I think at this point I was more worried about getting splashed with soapy, bleach water than I was with a crumb falling in my lap. After the waiter wiped my table I had to use my napkin to wipe up the tsunami of water that he left behind. WTH!! Ok, so we ordered our food. My friend ordered Corned Beef Benedict with hashbrown potatoes (not fruit), I ordered a Monte Cristo with fries, which came with a cup soup, so I ordered their Minestrone Soup, and I requested a side of Parmesan Cheese. A little while later, our waiter came back to inform me that they had ran out of the soup I ordered, and he asked if I wanted the other soup, which was Jalapeño something or another. Nah, I'll pass - thank you! Well, we waited a good 15 minutes for our food to come out and when it did, my friend did not receive her hashbrown potatoes, but rather a side of fruit that she did not order. She also received a small cup of Parmesan Cheese, which was supposed to come with my Minestrone soup that they "ran out of." Surprisingly enough, the waiter noticed that it was on her plate, so he casually grabbed it and set it over by me. Not that it would've done me any good considering, I didn't even get my soup, but, OK! Now let's talk about my Monte Cristo. At first, it looked great, but looks can be deceiving. The size of the bread was absolutely astronomical, but when you opened up the sandwich it reminded me of the commercial, "Where's the Beef?" Needless to say, I had to call a manager over to the table. When she arrived, I explained to her that the meat on the sandwich was being overtaken by the sheer amount of bread. Instead of offering solutions at this point, she was merely looking at me completely dumbfounded, so I had to literally ask her what we could do to remedy the situation? She asked if I would like my sandwich on thin bread. Sure, fine - that sounds great! When my second sandwich arrived, it was on thin "toasted" bread, not the French Toast style bread that it usually comes on. Well, once again, I had to call the manager to my table and send my sandwich back. I explained that my sandwich came out on toasted bread and that's not what I expected. She said, "well, the French Toast is the thick bread that was on your first sandwich. Well, look lady, it's not friggin' rocket science. Take the thin bread, dip it in egg and make French Toast, then add the meat and cheese. WTF!! At this point, I'm completely frustrated and flabbergasted at the sheer amount of incompetence with the most simplest tasks. My friend is literally done eating all of her food, I have eaten almost all of my French Fries and I'm still waiting for my damn sandwich. So, I received my third sandwich, which looked OK until I cut into it and realized that it was just thin bread, dipped in butter and grilled on the stove with one slice of cheap lunchmeat, turkey, and one slice of thin cheap lunchmeat ham. As for the cheese, I think a mouse ate the other half of it because it definitely was not on my sandwich. There was definitely more meat on my first sandwich even though it was being overtaken by an abundance of unnecessary bread. I called the manager over, yet again, and explained to her that the bread had literally been dipped in butter and grilled. I also explained to her that I am diabetic and I need to eat however, I am not paying for this food. During the 1990s and early 2000s I worked in the restaurant industry as a server and as a manager, and I can tell you this, I would've offered to comp the bill or a portion of the bill before ever waiting for a customer to tell me that they're not going to pay for it. With all that being said, I will never eat there again!! Once was more than enough! Don't even get me started on all the caked on dirt that was visible on the baseboards. Yikes!! At least the bartender was cool, and made a pretty damn good Mimosa, which I'm glad I ordered because after that shit show anyone in their right mind would need a good drink just to be able to cope.

    Photos
    Unfinished ceiling
    Unfinished ceiling
    My 1st Monte Cristo sandwich.
    My 1st Monte Cristo sandwich.
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    2.6 mi
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    Food is always good, staff is always chill and pleasant, ambiance is always solid. Favorite road…read moretrip stop. Or if I'm just deep in the suburbs, great place to stop.

    I stopped in around 4:30 on a Thursday and the restaurant was very quiet, with only a few couples…read moredining. I ordered the Thursday turkey dinner with two additional sides, including one upgraded side. Overall, it was delicious and definitely satisfied my turkey craving. The turkey, dressing, gravy, and warm biscuits were the highlights. The biscuits were soft, fresh, and very tasty. My waiter was sweet, attentive, and efficient, which made for a pleasant dining experience. There were a few things that kept this from being a higher-rated visit. The sweet potatoes barely had any topping, and the mashed potatoes weren't as creamy as I would have liked. The restaurant also could have been cleaner. We had to swat a fly on the windowsill where there was a small cobweb, and toward the end of the meal a Nat appeared around our leftovers. For about $20, it wasn't quite like a homemade holiday turkey dinner, but in today's economy I felt it was a decent value. I left full, satisfied. With a little more attention to cleanliness and a few improvements to the sides , this could easily be a better experience.

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    Christmas in August?
    Christmas in August?
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    Charlie's Restaurant - tradamerican - Updated July 2026

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