Fantastic Char Broiler

The service here seemed good, was greeted as soon as I made my way to the counter to order my food. I ordered chili cheese fries and a drink to go. The wait was not long at all the tables were clean and ready for anyone to sit. I got a horchata it was basic, to sweet on my opinion. It took about 5 minutes after I ordered for my chili cheese fries to be ready. I asked for a side of thousand to dip my fries and was surprised it was free most places charge so that was nice. Upon eating my chili cheese fries they were again average but I expected it from this place. After digging a bit dipper I noticed that it was extremely greasy, I could see that the fries had soaked up all the grease which gave them that orange look so I stuck to the fries on the top that weren’t as soaked. All in all the fries were decent but next time I wouldn’t pay $ 10 for this lunch, I guess that’s what we call fast food.

Omelet was alright but I had to get my own coffee I feel like that impacted my tip hugely.

Been coming here for years and the last few years a rude guy works the register, touches money and puts his dirty hands on all the your food! Never once does he wash his hands, he is nasty! Gross! I told him he was dirty and that he shouldn’t be touching the food but he just gave me an attitude. Where are the owners? At home in bed? Wow!

I go here every once in a while if I want a good cheap meal. The menu is huge and most everything is affordable. There is free chips and salsa which I think is nice. It gets crowded here around dinner time and especially Sundays after church gets out. Overall, a pretty good place.

My neighborhood restaurant, I have been coming here since they opened. the menu is quite large american short order with dinner items, in addition mexican and some healthy and greek selections available, the strong points are (some) char broiled items and a full breakfast menu (always available). The physical plant is large and clean in all respects. outdoor seating allows smoker friendly environment. specials run from burger combos (with soup and/​or salad) to full dinners. Staff is friendly, well trained and competent, order at the counter served to your table, free chips and salsa, self serve drinks and refills (including coffee) a great place to hang out, a lot of locals have group meetings there (under 20) everything up to this point is a five star rating, so why the three star rating? the food! Its all over the place, some items are excellent others total meh, for example; the best items are not the char broiled burgers (frozen meat patties) and I have detected a finishing note of ammonia in the patty (I always get a patty melt) some of the dinner items are quite good the mexican items are also generally good and there soups are home made and range from wonderful to fair, see my problem here? I have collected reviews from numerous friends over the years and some people think the burgers are fine and do not detect any of the problems I do. If ever there was a good example of a place that is very hard to rate this is the place, the bottom line is when I want convenance of a nearby clean and safe restaurant with the advantage of a locals knowledge of the menu, like all my neighbors we still go anyway.

Our family diner of last resort. Nothing here is particularly good nor spectacularly bad. The menu is huge and covers the traditional American diner spectrum, plus Mexican favorites. Had the chicken noodle soup once and it was outrageously good. Gets crowded at around 5 p.m. and on weekend mornings it is packed with breakfast eaters.

Been coming to this place forever cuz i’m from the neighborhood. I remember when the place caught on fire… and the neighborhood nick named it the «Char Bucket». Everything about the place is pretty good, especially the free chips and salsa. Sometimes I just go in and eat those and then go home. I always steal a bottle of tapatio when I go in too. Most everything on the menu is really good and so are portions. I gave the place four stars so enough said. Now let me tell you what I don’t like.
1. Get a credit card machine you idiots! Welcome to 2009. I pay in cash all the time but other people try to use that atm you guys have and it’s a ripoff. Makes you guys look like selfish bastards.
2. Most all the food is good but your teriyaki chicken bowl just plain sucks. Take it off the menu. It’s a joke.
3. Chili fries are ridiculous. I buy a burger and fries for about six bucks or so but if I say «Put a scoop of chili on the fries.» then the price goes up like four bucks. Hey owner… your proctologist called and he found your head. So now when I order I don’t get fries at all.
Whewwwwwww had to get that off my chest. Other than those things… Great Job… gotta go place an order now.
P. S. How bout putting you menu on a website. Or is that too futuristic for you? ahhahahahaha Just do it!!!
From the Lovely,
Tom Vu

I grew up coming to the Char Bucket because i lived right behind it. We used to buy chilli cheese fries for $ 1.62 and pay in exact change. That was almost 20 years ago. I still live in the area and ride my bike here to eat all the time.
The food is your basic diner style food. I think it’s much more pricey now, but what isn’t. They have orange bang which is a ++. There’s an atm inside that charges like 2 bucks or soemthing. and free chips and salsa. there’s tons to choose from off the menu and sometimes the hardest thing is to pick just one thing.

I went here in the early 90s while attending CSULB. The burger combo (burger, fries, onion rings, soup or salad, drink) is still under 7 bucks! And it’s still pretty good. I heard the Breakfast Burritos are pretty good and are served all day. Lots of police officers stop here to eat, so no need to worry about security. Conveniently located near the 7^th St. offramp on Studebaker.

Ah, Char, where else would I have spent all those countless hours after school my freshman and sophomore years of high school?
I can still taste the white/​yellow cheesy goodness of the white bread and melted butter grilled cheese sandwich…
And those tasty greasy chili cheese fries…
Mr. Pibb! Oh, how we loved you!
I remember when my friends and I would buy one soda and refill it 10+ times and still not get kicked out.
Super casual with basic diner food and open all hours. Always a fun thing to do when I’m back home. Just remember to hit up the 7 – 11 for candy afterward, and mill about in the parking lot for a minute or two while remembering good times past.