Char-Grill

4 Reviews on “Char-Grill”

• Jason

  A contender. I have been looking for a burger that could match my favorites from Los Angeles, and Char-Grill is the first serious contender. The half-pounder is meaty and substantial. The beef retains it’s flavor and is enhanced by the grilling in a way that should make other fast food grillers feel ashamed. There are a few other unique details here as well. You can have coleslaw in place of lettuce. The chocolate shake uses cocoa powder instead of syrup, and there are brownies available for dessert. Char-Grill offers a lot, but it is far from perfect. A good burger should be a controllable chaos of meat, cheese, toppings and sauces. Even in a two handed affair, a mess is to be avoided. For some reason, NC seems unable to put together a tidy burger; you will need napkins. The other thing about NC is that they seem to prefer fat fries. There is nothing inherently wrong with fat fries, but they are harder to do well. The threshold between lifeless and overdone is thinner. When there’s is more potato inside, the flavor of that potato is more important. In general fat fries require small batches of highly flavored room temp potatoes cooked in perfectly temped oil. Char-Grill is not alone in it’s limp, uninspired fries, but that doesn’t excuse them. The shake was novel in the first taste, but I ended up throwing it away; the cocoa lacks character to my palette and has a bitterness that robs the savory foundation of the cream, it is not the partner to the burger that I have come to expect from masters like In & Out. Also, skip the bacon; it was so sparse that I could barely detect it. It did more to harm my opinion of Char-Grill than anything else. If there is one thing they ought to be able to do well in NC, it is bacon. Hopefully, I have found all the pitfalls at CG, and next time I will have a better meal. Like I said, after a long drought, CG is a true contender for the best burger in this area.

  December 10, 2011, 9:04 pm

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• EdRock

  Good Food not so great service. I’ve been a fan of the original Char-Grill for more than 25 years, though I have to admit they have never been the best at customer service. The newish Durham location, however, takes a dive in that department.I attempted to dine there this evening, thinking it was an ok idea to put my name at the top of my order in the new place on the form. Wrong. The inept manager on duty at the time, rather than calling order individually in the time-tested tradition of the Original Char-Grill, decided to call 5 or 6 at the same time. The morons in front of me, assuming they were the only folks around, confused the manager by saying they wanted to pay for two orders together; but the manager, instead lumped three orders together… theirs and mine. The ensuing confusion was terribly disappointing, resulting in one of the morons ending up with my order, opening it, and then bringing it back. The manager then proceded to give me the order he had mistakenly given the other guy. I don’t know where that person’s hands may have been, and I’d be amazed if the health department approved of a store taking food back from someone and giving it to a total stranger.It will be a long time before I go back!

  February 28, 2010, 2:51 am

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• Justin Belcher

  Don’t skip the chicken. While their burgers are tasty I feel like Char-Grill has one of the best grilled chicken sandwiches out there; make sure you give it a shot. Not much else to say about this Raleigh institution–great food that’s a welcome addition to South Durham.

  August 22, 2009, 10:19 pm

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• Yettanr

  Incompetent workers!!!!. PLEASE check your order thoroughly before you leave!!!! I order two hot dogs w/ chili and I was on the highway across town when I opened the wrapper only to find a hot dog without anything! I called the store and the manager said I could come back but I was almost in Raleigh. So she offered to replace only 1 hot dog if i returned or give me complimentary chili!!!! WTF???!!!! That was an error on THERE part not mine. I don’t know why they won’t give me my original order. The assistant manager there is terrible!!!!

  May 21, 2009, 6:03 pm

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