Great food, great service Our server was a he just amazing he was just on it his name was Ambiance was so relaxing and Casual no pressure it was a Very nice Mother's Day!! read more

Nice service but that's about it! First time here, and last. We were in the area and thought we'd pick something up. Our order took 45+ mins to come out, they forgot the sauce I asked for, good thing I checked before leaving! When we got home, the fish and chips smelled fishy and was dry and rubbery and then we found a hair in the fries! $60 for fair food and I've had better at the fair! The burger was just decent but that's about it. read more

I'm a food first kind of guy. So while the service was great and the host attentive, the server just fine... the food ain't that good. I mean, let's be honest, it's fair food like you literally get at the Del Mar Fair. They have funnel cake, Dr Pepper with pickles and deep fried Oreos on the main menu. So we didn't come here for health purposes. And that's fine. I appreciate indulging now and then. We ordered the Maui chicken which is great presentation and comes in a pineapple (which to their credit, the pineapple is fresh!) and the ribs. The best dish was the side salad Cole slaw which tasted house made and fresh with crisp cabbage. The Fries were decent too, thick cut and cooked extra long for an outside crisp and soft center. But. The hearty helpings just weren't all that good. You get what looks like a pound of chicken which is very mediocre with a teriyaki that tastes like it came from a bottle, and the ribs were so dry and not soft. I politely took them to go but I'm not sure I even want to wash them off and give them to my dog. That being said this place could be for you if you don't have high standards. I just love ribs and those are such a hard no. Even 3 stars is bumped up because man they were trying hard to give us a good experience. read more

Chicken Charlie's Table - Maui Chicken and Ribs (8) - American Near Me - San Diego, California

The staff and hostess were great, everyone there was happy and very helpful. Ambiance was good as well...typical open space, gloss wood tables, huge bar on one side...kind of like a sports bar/restaurant combo vibe. Unfortunately the food is just mediocre at best. I ordered their daily special, a burger with the works and the patty was the perfectly shaped, dense frozen type, cooked well all the way through (as you have to with these type of patties). Fish and chips were pre-breaded frozen type as well and the rest of the food we saw was like you'd get at the Del Mar Fair...right down to the funnel cake and deep fried Oreos. But hey, likely cheaper than you'd pay at the Fair! Anyway, I can only give this place an OK review because the food brought the rest of the score way down. Unfortunately I didn't take any photos to share, because the food didn't justify it. read more

The first time I visited Chicken Charlie's at the Del Mar Fair I tried a fried Twinkie.  It was amazing.  Each year I looked forward to seeing what new delicious treat he would fry up.  Later he opened a sit down restaurant in Clairemont and I looked forward to his Facebook specials which featured a discount or something not on the regular menu.  Sadly that location closed.  The Rancho Bernardo location opened up and it was the fanciest yet.  Now I visit this location to see what awesome treat Charlie is cooking up. This visit the Facebook special was 4 pieces of fried chicken with mashed potatoes, and a biscuit.  Biscuit looked like ones from KFC.  It was fresh out of the oven with a thin crispy outer layer and fluffy goodness inside.  Loved how moist it was and the delicious mild flavor. Fried chicken had a thin crispy outer layer and tender juicy chicken beneath.  Loved the southern style batter which was seasoned with salt and black pepper.  This is one of my favorite places to eat fried chicken. For dessert Chicken Charlie fried up a pair of Twinkies.  There was a crispy outer layer while the middle cake part was fluffy, and the center was filled with sweet cream.  Fried Twinkies were very sweet and delicious.  The fried process changed the flavor a bit. Customer service was excellent.  Servers checked often to see if I needed anything.  Charlie fried up Twinkies for me although they are not a menu item.  Chicken Charlie's is one of my favorite spots to eat as you never know what awesome culinary creations Charlie is going to whip up. read more

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We attended a dinner at Chicken Charlie's for the Scripps Ranch High School football banquet, and overall it was a very positive experience. The dinner was a set menu. My son tried the hamburger, which he said was okay but not great, while my husband had the chicken tenders and really enjoyed them. As a vegetarian, none of the set menu options were meatless, but the owner went out of their way to accommodate me by making a special dish with eggplant, chickpeas, and peppers served fajita-style, along with a side salad. It was actually very delicious and much appreciated. To top it all off, the fried Oreos for dessert were awesome and a big hit. Overall, I was very happy with the experience and truly enjoyed the banquet. read more

It was all delicous. I would go back again. We came for brunch on a saturday and it wasnt packed at all. I only thought they were available at the Del Mar Fair. read more

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We came here for a fundraising event for the local high school. I appreciated that there was lots of staff because it was a pretty big group and our service was fast. The portions here are pretty large. We tried the chicken and waffles as well as a chicken sandwich with the fries. The fries are really, really good. The other items were equally as good but not as good as those fries! Fried Oreos also seem to be a big hit with the younger kids read more

Chicken Charlie's Table - Chicken & Waffle - American Near Me - San Diego, California

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The food is amazing.My husband loves the shrimp and I had tacos- perfect! The restaurant is small and always busy. We have been there three times and will definitely be back. read more

Service was exceptional! Food is always great! If you order the Chicken Fried Steak, bring your appetite because it's a hefty portion! My wife had one of their breakfast burritos and it must have been the size of her arm! We both enjoyed our meals and will continue to come back as long as Charlie will have us! read more

I had their Maui chicken bowl at the OC fair and it was delicious! Presentation was great and the service was quick. I wish they had more locations? read more

Ordered uber eats . Ordered a beet salad with extra feta ($2.00 chicken ($8.00 and ranch . When uber dropped off my salad i didn't have chicken i didn't get the extra feta and got a wrong dressing . When i called the store kelsey answered and refused to give me a credit . I paid $40.00 after a delivery fee and tip and this is so frustrating read more

Too loud inside for noise-sensitive people, and the staff seemed like they really didn't want to be there, although it wasn't too busy. The food was good, but WAY too expensive. I probably wont come back. read more

I was craving pineapple, teriyaki chicken, and I was not disappointed. It was as good as I remember. Cannot wait for the fair. The ice tea was superb! Samuel did a great job memorizing our orders. He was very professional, personable, and polite. Nice dining out experience. read more

Chicken Charlie's was a staple at the Del Mar Fair when I used to visit so I decided to try this place out. Service was very friendly and quick, but the prices are a bit too high for what you get. My son got a $9 strawberry shake and had two sips. I guess he didn't like the chunks of sprinkles inside, but that's his personal preference. The bacon wrapped pickles were way too salty, but the fried chicken dinner was yummy, with both the Mac and cheese and coleslaw sides tasting great. Parking was easy and the sangria was good, but based on the pricing I'm not sure I'll be back soon. read more

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My son wanted to come try the Dr Pepper and pickles drink that he saw on social media. We were surprised how good the food was. They have a happy hour from 2-5 almost every day. The kids loved the tacos with crispy corn shells. Daniel gave us the best 5 star service! read more

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Everyone was helpful and fried chicken was good it took 20 for a to go order but it was worth it

The food was good and the employees were friendly. Josh and Ashley were awesome. The food was a bit slow, though.

Josh and Ashley are amazing employees. Josh is humorous and kind and Ashley is the goat.

Stay away from this place. The food was terrible and service was worse Ordered a basic breakfast - scrambled eggs, well done bacon, sourdough toast We got bland eggs with no salt or pepper even on the table Tater tots instead of toast Sausage instead of bacon Asked for it to be fixed Hit plain bread - not toasted Got light bacon - far below well done Salt and pepper was difficult to get Then said we would like a fork to eat with The tea water was not hot enough So we just asked for the bill and she only said "it is ...." Never gave us the bill to review Who knows what we actually got charged for ... crazy to expect us to just pay whatever she says the total is after such a mess It sounded close enough We paid We left We will never ever return read more

On 1/25/25 my family of 4 was eating dinner at a corner table in the restaurant. The only customers were my family, a man on one side of the bar and one standing on the other side. As we were finishing our meal, the man standing at the bar walks ALL the way over to our isolated table and just STANDS in front of our table and doesn't say a word for a good 20 seconds. We all proceed to not entertain this drunk man and ignore him as he literally just stood there looking at each and every single one of us. My family is really not the type of family that you should try any funny business with, so we were truly hoping that he gets the hint to walk away. It is not until he begins to make comments to us to the point where we just say that we are trying to eat our dinner. He proceeds with saying he is not bothering us and ignores our request for him to leave and intentionally stands there and continues to stare. I can see the workers watching the situation with concern and as we flagged the servers I can see their urgency in them trying to get this man away from us. Once he was removed from our table, the manager apologized for the situation, checked in on us, and compensated with a free dessert. I do not blame Chicken Charlie's for this experience. I was thankful for the workers but, I do think that there is a time and place to refuse service to someone. Unfortunately it was just an odd experience that I felt had to be shared. On a different note: Overall food was good, I would say Happy Hour and/or lunch deals are more worth it. The inside was clean and it is a good location for watching sports with a meal. The price of everything is fairly expensive, but some things are more worth it than others. The crispness/fried food is a staple piece that is worth trying. The bathrooms were tidy. This is definitely a place that can sit some bigger parties if needed. Funnel cake, tater tots, crispy chicken and onion rings were all fantastic! I do not think I would willingly come in again, however, think it is definitely a place to for sure try at least once if you have never gone to Del Mar Fairgrounds to try this food. read more

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First time at Chicken Charlie's on Easter Sunday. We were driving around the area to see who was open during the holiday and landed here. Every customer was at the bar except us that day. I really enjoyed my Fried Chicken Dinner which had pieces of breast, thigh, wing, and drumstick plus choice of two sides. I picked mac n cheese and side salad. The skin was well seasoned, fried nicely, and not greasy, while the chicken was juicy. I loved it! Mac and cheese was good but nothing out of the ordinary; reminded me of the one they have at other restaurants like El Pollo Loco. It was also happy hour when we went, so we ordered a margarita, beer and cheese balls off that menu. Cheese balls were a good choice; nice cheese pull. My family enjoyed their sandwiches as well. The restaurant is pretty spacious with a lot of seating. It was decked out in Poway High School decor when we went. Service was friendly, no complaints. Food took about 20 minutes to all come out together. read more

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Came here for some light bites on a recommendation for something local. My friend and I ordered a handful of apps-- I had two tacos which were pretty decent- one chicken, one beef. They were fresh except for the avocado which looked like it had been sitting out for awhile. I also had the buffalo cauliflower- it was crispy but very overbreaded and vinegar-y tasting so I scraped the breading off and just ate the cauliflower. My friend had buffalo wings- her usual which came out as expected. If you are the beer and buffalo wings kind of person, you may be totally satisfied with this place that offers standard fare and an easy way to watch games and grab a bite. read more

My Boyfriend treated me to this place after trying it with his longtime friend. Loved the Fish n Chips and we took the Maui Chicken home in the pineapple. Only con was the rice content was smaller that what we are used to. Great food! read more

Chicken Charlie's Table - Maui Chicken - American Near Me - San Diego, California

I agree with the others. The staff appear to be nice. However, the cook (or the recipe/process) made the food pretty gross. Mac and cheese is worse than the box. Mash potato gravy had a sticky odd taste. Ribs and fried chicken terrible. I think the only decent thing was the teriyaki chicken. Only reason I tried to eat as much as I could bc I paid $160 to feed my family. Sadly a hard no. read more

Love the beet salad!!! And the carbonated grape kool-Aid! You can find a lot of good things if you're a pescatarian. The staff is great!

Overall a wonderful lunch experience! Yes they do serve cocktails! Plus they have two different flavors of kool-aid on tap! Ordered a drink with the blue kool-aid (including vodka, lime juice & orange juice). Pleasant surprise on how delicious and smooth it tasted. Not too sweet at all. I'd definitely order it again. My lunch order was The Jessica salad. A tasty cheeseburger salad (which is the only way to eat a cheeseburger with no guilt) surrounded by bacon, avocado and veggies. Love this idea however wish they would serve it in a big bowl to accommodate mixing everything together with the dressing. Next visit I'd like to try the loaded breakfast tots or perhaps the Philly fries. Our servers were just fabulous in every way. read more

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Great food and lively atmosphere. This is our go to local for a burger and a beer....great tacos too!

First time here and food was great ! Ample portions for one person, I feel most of the entrees could be shared to leave room for dessert . Service was good , a little slower than expected though . Ambiance is that of a all age sports bar . We did have the desserts , we ordered funnel cake and fried cookie dough . These desserts are designed for two people to share .. would be too much for one . I will definitely come back if I'm in the area . read more

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We came here with high hopes ... with fond memories of Chicken Charlie's from the County Fair many years ago. But this did not live up to our expectations. I wasn't very hungry, but ordered buffalo wings and a side of mac and cheese. The wings were clearly pre-breaded wings...with an almost lemon pepper seasoning on them and served undressed. The buffalo sauce was flavorful, but thin, and when you have to dunk wings into the little dish, you want something that'll stick to the chicken. They were not even close to the best wings we've had in the area, which was disappointing. The mac and cheese was positively foul slop...clearly out of an industrial can and just inedible. My husband's buffalo chicken sandwich was ok, but nothing special. And the fries were sub-par at best. You're basically paying high prices for very bad fair food in a restaurant setting. Maybe the dessert would have lived up to our memories, but we didn't stick around to find out...the meal was that underwhelming. The service was good and everyone was friendly and accommodating, hence 2 stars instead of 1. Really wish we could rate higher, but we left so disappointed and won't be back. read more

I went there for lunch today. Ordered their fish and chips. I don't even know where to start. It was so embarrassing bad. The fish was not fresh. The batter was horrible almost like it was a frozen product to begin with. And then they put some kind of seasoning on the fish. I asked the waitress what it was. She said it is Cajun seasoning. Quite possibly the worst fish and chips I've ever had in my life. read more

I'm familiar with Chicken Charlie's from the local fair food every year. On my lunch trip here I decided on the crispy shrimp and fries. It was what I expected and was overall sufficient. Our server was attentive and friendly. The only issue I had was the wait time for the food. I believe there were only six other patrons at the restaurant for lunch. Our party's orders (there were 5 of us) took over a half hour to get. It seemed a bit extensive. They appear to have a full bar here and a happy hour deal from 2pm-5pm beginning on Tuesdays. I forgot what day that deal cuts out though. read more

Chicken Charlie's Table - Crispy Shrimp - American Near Me - San Diego, California

I will never return. Ordered fish and chips which is typically my favorite dish. As soon as they arrived, I noticed the fish was thin and extra crisp. I asked the waiter if the fish was cod and why it wasn't dipped in beer batter like typical fish and chips. He said he didn't know. The fish was bland and tasteless. I ordered a side of cucumber tomato salad and it had no seasoning except being drowned in oil. Yuk! I started to replace it with cole slaw but noticed peanuts were in the slaw. That is the weirdest thing I have ever seen. The service was good and our waiter was nice. We didn't eat the food, politely paid our bill and went elsewhere to get something good to eat. read more

Chicken is good, but not as good as other places I've tried - I did assume that having "chicken" in the name of the place would mean exceptional fried chicken - It tends to be a bit saltier and doughier than I expected... I recommend it for the local area, since there aren't many other options for fried chicken in RB. read more

This is my 5th time at Chicken Charlie's. When I ate here 3 weeks ago with a large group. I had not heard of Chicken Charlie's before until the large group posted that they were having their monthly social get together here at Chicken Charlie's because people liked it so much when they came before it. Well this visit I ordered the daily dinner special which is Maui chicken for $15 instead of $18. It was heavily review and dark meat is the best if it were white meat I wouldn't even order it but I verified it was dark meat and they give you a decent pile of chicken on top of half of a pineapple with some of the chunks down at the bottom and my I'm making it four stars because one of the Maui Chicken reviews is right they don't give you enough rice for all the heavenly sauced chicken that is a very intense and flavor the white rice is not enough to eat that chicken with but I told my server. When she asked the manager about bringing me another scoop of white rice for no extra charge, he said No. Another complaint and I told the owner... he came to my table and I said I have some feedback about this Maui chicken I'm eating for the first time. The extra teriyaki sauce that they bring you is freezing cold and he was like he was not aware that it was being served freezing cold. I said I asked my server to bring a heated up teriyaki sauce. He said he never thought about heating the teriyaki sauce. I said when you go to a barbecue place they heat up their barbecue sauce and he acknowledging that was true, and he thanked me for the tip. But I don't know if he'll follow up on making all teriyaki chicken servings with heated up barbecue sauce. But at least I gave my feedback because when you dip the chicken in the freezing cold teriyaki sauce is quite a rude awakening. So I downgraded my review from five stars for last time if you read the previous review about the Fried Chicken special I had for $10. It was terrific! I was euphoric over the coating being crispy like a potato chip. This time whoever cleaned the table just wipe the crumbs onto where I would sit. That happens often in restaurants they just brush the crumbs off onto the seating area. I went another time, for Daily Special which was 4 chicken legs and rice for $10, no rice substitutions, and at 5 pm, they ran out already. I did not stay to eat something else, cos I don't wanna pay full price. I went on EASTER Sunday March 31, and only 1 table had people sitting. I ordered the daily special which was 2 pieces fried chicken, dark meat, and fries. I really like Charlie's fries, crispy like the chicken coating. Everything friend tastes great here. My server was sooooo attentive, came to check on me at least 4 times. Took trash from my table as it accumulated, not when I leave the table and go out the door. I am moving my review back from 4 stars to five stars. Bathroom was so clean this time, too. read more

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I don't understand why this spot doesn't have more five star reviews. I'm thinking probably because of the price but there's ways to still enjoy the food at a better price. I've been to their booth at the fair once and didn't know they had a location in Rancho Bernardo. I'm in RB a lot so I have to make this one of my spots. The location may not be the best as it's tucked away in a neighborhood. I think because of that it's usually not too busy but I don't mind because there's always a table available when I get there. The food is pretty much the same as the food at the fair. I love the food here plus they have adult drinks that aren't on the cheap side but they have a Happy Hour. Some of my favorite dishes are the chicken and waffles, the onion rings, tacos, and the hazy IPA from Modern Times. I still haven't tried the chicken teriyaki with pineapple but I will soon enough. read more

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Went to for Thursday Special. Freshly cooked chicken with mashed potatoes & gravy. HOT & FRESH!!! Excellent food, great service by our server Daniel. Overall a totally excellent experience. read more

Went to Charlie's for a quick lunch. Ordered Buffalo Wings and biscuit, gravy with an egg. Cook time pretty long for what was ordered. Biscuit/gravy came out with wings. Egg came out when biscuit was 1/2 gone. When you order it all together don't you think it should be served together? As for the wings, you would think if you had the name chicken in your business name, that the chicken would be a cut above. They were borderline awful. Just a bad, bad day at Chicken Charlie's read more

Hubby chose this because he had seen it on TV and proposed it for lunch. I saw the Maui chicken on the menu before we even drove there and got real excited It is in a shopping center and there were plenty of parking lots available. When we first opened the door and stepped in, they responded that they were coming soon. After 5 minutes , they told us to pick a table. They would come over with the menus. There are a variety of seating available. There are booths, seating at the bar and regular tables. It felt like there was an industrial- like cool vibe. It gave me the feel like a fast food restaurant with a bar. We picked a table and sat for about 5 minutes before they came with the menus. They took our drink request and the drinks came about 15 minutes later. The restaurant wasn't very busy. But it appeared that they were still struggling to serve in a timely manner. I ordered colada on the rocks. This was a little dilute I feel. I thought I didn't stir it enough so I borrowed the straws from my husband's margarita and stirred it. After stirring, I still felt it was dilute. It wasn't bad. it just lacks the oomph. I snuck a taste of my husband's maragarita. That was really good. So it was just my drink. My husband ordered margarita without the salted rim. It was really good compared to mine. We ordered the kicking shrimp. The shrimp utilized was definitely fresh. The battered shrimp was placed in a bed of lettuce. I feel the batter was not crispy enough. The sauce was not spicy enough for both of us. Also, it would have been great if there was more sauce. The entre we ordered to share was Maui chicken. This was to die for!! The chicken was served in a halved pineapple. The pineapple bowl had sweet cold chunks of pineapple in it topped with grilled chicken thighs and a bowl of jasmine white rice. The meat was succulent and had a sweet and savoury sauce reminiscent of teriyaki but not as sweet as that. Between the two of us, we still had chicken leftover. This was a good meal. If service was a little more timely, this would be perfect. We would definitely come back again. read more

My family visited Chicken Charlie's Table and had an underwhelming experience. Overall the service was disappointing. When we arrived the person near the hostess table seemingly didn't want to seat us and appeared to be avoiding eye contact. Our waitstaff service was underwhelming. She never came to check on us after bringing the food (no offer of refill, condiments, "how is the food?"). Given that it was 2pm and there were only 3 occupied tables, and she was seen standing around appearing bored, this was disappointing. The food was fine but not anything particularly special. A positive note was that parking was ample and convenient. read more