Chart House

Extremely disappointed in the food here!
(See my review update below, which I made after the owner replied.)

We are fortunate to visit fine dining restaurants around the country. Our dinner here was probably the worst fine-dining food experience we've had in at least 5 years.

Having said that, we must rave about the spectacular service we were provided by our server, Kay'Onna. She was stellar! Pleasant, helpful, knowledgeable, and professional.

About the food:

Heirloom Tomato Salad - 3 or 4 paper-thin slices of tomato buried in a sea of ricotta cheese, topped with a small amount of unseasoned greens. If there was any flavor to the tomatoes (or greens), it was completely overwhelmed and obscured by the ricotta. Even the vinaigrette couldn't cut through it.

Clam Chowder - The soup was a perfect consistency and with an abundance of clams. However, the sour taste - sour cream? buttermilk? something else? both? - was so odd, strong, and off-putting that my wife, who loves clam chowder, couldn't finish it. I had a spoonful and could easily see why. Concerned about possible spoilage, we asked our server about the sour taste. She assured us that it was made fresh daily. Gladly, we did not become ill from it.

Black Linguine di Mare (entree) - Squid ink pasta should have a subtle flavor undertone that is both unique to the ink and reminiscent of the sea. None of that here - just blackish pasta, three rather small and unseasoned scallops, and three average-sized unseasoned shrimp. (See photo.) The lemon saffron cream sauce added nothing to the dish and was hardly even discernible. An employee (not our server) who was passing by at the moment we were being served advised that the dish was lacking in flavor and that adding salt would help that. She was correct! Why doesn’t the kitchen know this? In fairness, the scallops and shrimp were cooked perfectly.

Prime Rib - It was a nice medium rare as ordered, but was easily the fattiest piece of prime rib we've ever seen. Yes, it is a fatty cut. But normally nothing like this - about 35% of the volume received was inedible fat that was left on the plate.

Hot Chocolate Lava Cake - Another of my wife's favorites. On a scale to ten as compared to the many we've had over the years, we give this a 3.5. Overcooked and dry cake with no "lava" inside - just a gummy bottom and a tiny, tiny bit of soft chocolate sauce stuck to the bottom inside. The flavor of the cake and sauce, and the ice cream, were good. This could have been an excellent dessert.

Finally, there was a group of about six loud and rowdy baseball fans watching the game, cheering and yelling for the first 45 minutes we were there. Did I mention Loud? We get it, but this ain't no sports bar. It was at times even difficult to converse, and we were obviously not the only guests being disturbed by this. Management should have done a much better job controlling it. Other than that, the atmosphere and river view here were nice.

All in all, we cannot recommend this place.

Update: Here’s the response from the owner that was posted a day or two after my review went up. They want me to go online and fill out a form! As if my review didn’t contain enough information. Their response following my disappointing visit is for me to do more work?!?! Shame on them! I guess I just wasn’t disappointed enough for them to give a meaningful reply. I wonder how Mr. Fertitta would enjoy this response and treatment.

“Hi Bruce, thank you for choosing to dine with us, as we know you could have chosen anywhere to enjoy your meal. We are always looking for ways to improve and would appreciate any additional feedback you would be willing to provide at the link below.
http://www.bit.ly/landrysfeedback”

Atmosphere: 3

Food: 2

Service: 5

Dined here numerous times couple years ago. Way overdue for facelift. Will not return until that has occurred.

Very good place

Food: 5

Service: 5

Amanda was great! She was excellent, fast and efficient. And extremely nice.

Great experience and great customer service

Atmosphere: 5

Food: 5

Service: 5

Recommended dishes: Lobster Bisque, Mash Potatoes, Lava Cake

Food was delicious, we sat outside it was a great day for that.

Atmosphere: 5

Food: 5

Service: 5

Recommended dishes: Mash Potatoes, Lava Cake, Steak, Shrimp Crab Avocado Mango Stack

Food was great, drinks once got them were good. Service super slow, was mostly empty. Loud, atmosphere like an upscale Red Lobster.

Atmosphere: 2

Food: 4

Service: 2

Amazing experience!!!

Atmosphere: 5

Food: 5

Service: 5

Recommended dishes: Lobster, Steak

I recently dined at Charter House in Philadelphia and, while the service was friendly and attentive, the food left much to be desired. My mom ordered the salmon, but it was overcooked, as were the green beans on her plate. I ordered the mahi, which unfortunately came out undercooked. I initially thought it was supposed to be served that way, so I ate most of it. However, when I shared the last piece with my mom, she pointed out that the fish was actually raw. I informed the server, and the manager came over, offering me a 50% discount on the dish because I had already eaten half of it. She also mentioned that if I felt unwell, I should let her know. After I got home, I ended up feeling sick and even threw up. While I haven't contacted them about this yet, I will definitely reach out to the manager if I develop intestinal parasites or if I start feeling very ill and miserable.

Within 24 hours of the meal, I began experiencing nausea, vomiting, diarrhea, and stomach pain. However, this experience has made me very hesitant to return unless the food quality improves significantly. Proceed with caution if you decide to dine here.

Atmosphere: 5

Food: 1

Service: 3

This was my first time eating here in over 30 years. It was nice to hear that they were still around despite some bumps and bruises, and I was looking forward to dining at what I thought was still a 5 star restaurant. My party had to wait a bit for our table even though we had reservations and the restaurant was not even half full. The place looked outdated and so did the restrooms. The mens room had outdated everything, sinks that looked like aluminum prison sinks, hardly any seat covers and zero paper towels (not even 2 hours later). My Niece said that the ladies room smelled like cat urine.

After ordering all of our choices, the appetizers came out. Most of it was decent, but the salad was bland and so was the lobster bisque which was not even hot. Then while we were waiting for a while, our server came out to inform me that they were sold out of Swordfish. Substitute time. Then we continued to wait for a long time for our main meals. The herb crusted salmon was a little dry with very little flavor. The prime rib was good except for the fat not being cooked properly. The asparagus and cream spinach were both just average and not hot. I had a faux jito that tasted like a flat soda and had no hint of raspberry or blueberry. Lastly came the chocolate lava cake that was a little hard and tasted more like a box cake. We were all very disappointed. I for one will not be returning. I don’t mind the prices but my experience should be worth it.

Atmosphere: 2

Food: 2

Service: 2

Great food

Atmosphere: 5

Food: 5

Service: 5

Recommended dishes: Mash Potatoes, Lobster, Steak, Crab Cake, Shrimp Cocktail

Went this past weekend for restaurant week, and even though we had a reservation, we waited 20 minutes after our reservation to be seated. Our food took forever to arrive, and the salmon literally only came with salmon on top of cedar paper (not cooked IN the paper) and on top of a salad (which, of course, was wilted with hot salmon being placed on it). After it took forever to arrive, the shrimp was grossly overcooked with absolutely no seasoning, let alone any type of bourbon or peach flavoring. Even dessert took forever to come out and we were getting that to go.

If Restaurant Week was a marketing tool to showcase their great restaurant so that we could come back for more, it was an epic fail.

Atmosphere: 3

Food: 2

Service: 2

This was my first time visiting the Chart house, and definitely my last!!! After a hour and a half wait the service was mediocre and the food was horrible. I had some peach flavored shrimp, they were like rubber, even the salad was bad. when I mentioned it to the waitress, she sent the manager over which was a waste of my time and energy as well as hers. She didn’t even have the courtesy to offer anything complementary a drink a glass of water. She kept trying to push me to re-order why would I re-order? NOTHING ON THE MENU APPEALED TO ME!

Atmosphere: 4

Food: 2

Service: 1

I went for the food and drink. It was unseasoned and bland. Gave hospital/nursing home food vibe. No char or even pepper on my prime rib just warm meat that tasted like it was cook under a heat lamp instead of over a pan and fire, mash was grey, unseasoned and looked like it had been sitting out too long. Mojito was watered down so I ordered a shot of rum ...that was watered down too. Waitress was good though. Bottom line, I wouldn't go back for free. I'm sorry, save ur money and go to Longhorne; or, Ruth Chris if you wanna stay fancy.

Atmosphere: 2

Food: 1

Service: 4

Recommended dishes: Chart House Signature Dessert

The restaurant is beautiful and elegant for any occasion. It was too late and chilly to be outdoors, but the outdoor area is amazing. The food was delicious. Our service was nice and attentive. I would definitely dine there again.