Charlie’s On Prior

The meal was excellent. Herb roasted chicken with hash brown potatoes cooked to perfection. Son had seared walleye very good. My wife had fish and chips. High quality service. Sound level inside not good. The bar and dining layout was terribly odd. Creating to much noise. Casual conversation was not possible because of the roar. Will not go back because of the noise level.

Checked out Charlie’s on Prior a couple days ago. It is a brand new restaurant (building and all) that occupies the space that once was a terrible restaurant called Captain Jacks.
Charlie’s is very bright, clean and fresh. Both the hostess and bar tender (Matt) were extremely attentive and offered great service! I ordered the walleye tacos and a bloody marry. Both were terrific!
The food, the service and the ambiance were all wonderful and I will be back with family and friends.

We love Charlie’s! We haven’t had a bad experience yet! Beautiful new restaurant, and they did a fabulous job with the branding and menu design. Also the food is great! We love the bruschetta, and the walleye is awesome! So happy that it’s so close to our house!

Charies has great food! However, the sound in the restaurant is TERRBLE! You cannot eat comfortably it is much too noisey! I am waiting until summer to be outside, unless they fix their sound level.

THE WORST PLACE IN PRIOR LAKE
1. No service, who’s my waitress, 6 times of a walk by before someone acknowledges you?
2. Someone finally showed up and without a smile, ok… «I didn’t come to your home to irritate you.» This is your job… the one you applied for; if you don’t like it or cannot handle the public service industry, please go work somewhere else. You know the type that cannot separate their personal life from their work life and takes it out on the customers. That was her and the bartender.
3. This just shows you that the hiring process lacks experience also and unfortunately we as customers pay the price.
4. Maybe the food is worth the trip here? NOPE. I don’t want to put my mouth on your glasses, where is my straw? Watered down cheese? Undercooked food? Strips should never be mushy. Now I know it’s possible to have bad fries. Why is it so loud? I could go on and on about the disappointments but you get the point.

Very loud. Loud. Super loud. Ears ringing when you walk out loud. Food and drinks were average and it was extremely crowded. We were jammed in next to a very vocal and raucous table of six and literally had to shout at each other to hear, and were sitting almost side by side. They need to fix the noise issue. The lake location won’t compensate for it.

Great food here, but oh boy it is loud inside! Like rattle your fillings out loud.
Definitely not a place to come for a nice quiet evening, but for lunch it is nice and for evening out it can be a fun place too. Just know that you will have to yell to talk to the others at your table. Lots of good beers on tap and some gluten free food options are a plus.

My husband & I have been here quite a few times. The food is great! So much is delicious here & I love that it’s fresh & homemade! Tacos are awesome! Burgers and apps are great! They must use very high quality beef for their burgers because they are so juicy & prepared perfectly!
A couple things I would do differently or add is a regular chopped or Cobb salad & then a few healthier low cal options. It’s definitely a place to go when you want to forget the diet & splurge… unless you count their amazing fried avocados with ranch as healthy? So yummy! Oh, the bruschetta is great except it makes the bread a bit soggy cuz they put the spread in a pile in the middle of the plate with the bread surrounding it. I’m thinking it should be placed in a bowl maybe instead?
The service is awesome! The managers are great! I’ve never had a bad waitresses or bartender here… everyone is very friendly & attentive!
The noise is a bit loud. That is the only reason for not getting 5 stars! Last time we were there (a couple days ago for lunch) it seemed a little bit better though. That was definitely a mistake when building but hopefully they can do more to help with the noise levels.
Summer will be a blast on the patio! Can’t wait! So happy to have a good quality restaurant on the lake!

Pretty much any place will be better then captain jacks. It’s unfortunate it’s so loud. Breakfast was good, especially the sausage. Manager and wait staff was nice. Hopefully this place does well.

Cool spot on the lake. Amazing food. Fun crowd. Outstanding service. As a family of seven we had to wait a while for a table, but when we got one they rolled out the red carpet. I’d describe it as the Lord Fletcher’s of Prior Lake. I cannot wait to check it out this summer. Take visitors for delicious Minnesota Walleye.

My husband and I have been waiting to try Charlies on Prior Lake. The last place that was there was a huge disappointment and being that they are owned by people who own a restaurant on one of the most expensive lakes here in Minnesota, I had high hopes for this place.
The interior is pretty but its all bar. They have about 25 tables. I am thinking in the summer, this will be an issue.
We sat at the bar and the waitress approached us with no smile asking immediately what we wanted to drink — no small talk. I literally just sat down and didn’t have time to look at the menu to pick a drink — my husband asked for a Bloody Mary — He said «I would like a chaser» She said «what do you want» He said «Do you have Blue Moon»? She said «No» and he then asked for «Shock Top» She said «I don’t have that either» I said «What do you have being that you do not have those» Since she was having him play a guessing game vs suggesting something.
There was a whole lot of employees just hanging around chatting with each other right in front of guests at the bar — right in their space at the end of the bar — manager opening card board boxes in front of people at the bar — just no sense of personal space — Then while they were all conjugating around one another — the male put ice down the shirt of the female bartender. She gave him a hard time and he made a comment saying «no, we should have fun and the customers should be happy to see us having fun» I will say, if the staff was nice and friendly, maybe that would have been enjoyable but, not so much.
Half way into my husbands bloody — the guy bartender just plops (and I mean plops) a plate with something fried in front of us at the bar — doesn’t say a word — I have to hail our bartender over to ask what it was «Its a deep fried pickle, it comes with your drink» Again, he was half way done. My hubby did say it was delicious though. Just had no idea it was coming, what it was, no conversation.
She came back over to take our lunch order — I asked for a California Burger and asked if I could have a turkey patty instead of the red meat — she stood there for a moment and then said «I have to ask, I am not sure I can do that» She asked and of course, the manager said yes — who cant do that? UGH
Husband loved his Fish Tacos — said they were great. My Turkey Burger on the other hand — fried to a crisp — they obviously put meat oil on it to cook it and it was mush inside. Cole Saw came on the side for the both of us — it was okay. It was the greasiest Turkey Burger I have ever had and I eat a lot of Turkey Burgers.
At this point we are so annoyed with the lack of interaction with our waitress/​bartender that we were ready to leave. Never were we asked how our food was, if wanted anything else… nothing. The staff interacted more with each other than with the guests — except with a bar regular that we used to see when this was Captain Jacks.
The place is pretty, its very loud, its typical Prior Lake bad service. I would NEVER bring an out of town guest or even thing of going there. My husband said maybe for a drink but never to entertain someone
I was disappointed, wouldn’t go there again. Two Managers there, both of them doing anything but interacting with guests. Its not that big of a place — the managers could circulate.

Absolutely love it. Just what Prior Lake has needed for a long time. Food is excellent, service is excellent. Some people complain about the loud noise levels but they are working on that issue. Been there 5 times now and order something different every time. Everything I’ve had has been excellent. Weekend breakfast is very good, biscuits and gravy are phenomenal.

The food was good but terribly noisy. Couldn’t hold a conversation with the person right next to you. Will definitely come back though and experience in the summer when I can sit outside.

Awesome food and great service. We came in today for lunch and drinks. We had a basic salad, but the jalapeño ranch dressing really made it special. We also had the chili with it chunks of steak and a turkey burger. We would definitely recommend this place!

When you first walk in to Charlie’s the first thing you notice is the noise, the place is extremely loud. They designed this place very poorly for acoustics. It has very clean lines and is quite rectangular much like an Apple computer store. The deck outside is huge and should be pretty fun when the summer hits. I had the walleye, this recipe will need changing. I think Charlie’s will need to tweak a few things. A big plus is that they are asking for feedback and are making an effort to improve. I will try them again.

Interior is very nice. A business a couple weeks after opening should be. As others have stated, it is extremely loud inside. Had a hard time hearing the waitress and I felt like I was yelling at her. Normal dinner conversation volume is impossible.
The food was pretty good, nothing to make it even a 4 star for me. Had the steak quesadilla to start. Good, fresh, dilla. Id give it a ⁷⁄₁₀. I also had the «lobster roll». I use quotation marks because I am pretty sure that when the shrimp to lobster ratio is definitively on the shrimps side it should be called a «shrimp roll». Pretty disappointing value on a 17 dollar sandwich. Value diminished ⁶⁄₁₀ for me.
Wife had the walleye tacos. For those unaware they are the same tacos you can find at Lagos Tacos in Excelsior. The tacos are where its at. ⁹⁄₁₀
Im sure they will do very well at this location, but I assure you it wont be because of the phenomenal «lobster/​shrimp roll».
I will be back, especially for breakfast when that gets going in a couple weeks.

First time here and we were pretty impressed. I had the «Mack» burger and it was just what I hoped for. Two all beef patties, special sauce, lettuce, cheese, pickles, onions on a sesame seed bun! Ordered «pink», it was a bit beefier than the fast food version but had the signature tang from the sauce. I’ll be back specifically for this burger. The fries are off the hook! If you’re familiar with fries at The Nook, that’s what you’ll get. Fantastic! The atmosphere was new and nice but ultimately typical sports bar. And it was too noisy. Even the bartender had a difficult time hearing our order. I’m certain this place will have a better vibe in the summer but they’re still off to a good start.

Stopped in for a beer and tried a few apps. The Extreme Wings and Fresh Cut Fries were great, the Calamari was good as well. They have a huge patio with amazing views of the lake. There appears to be a separate bar, kitchen, and a window to buy ice cream dedicated to the patio itself. That area isn’t open yet but I’m sure it will be come springtime. The service was quick and the staff very friendly. I’ll be back soon to dive deeper into the menu. This place sits where the old Captain Jack’s used to be. It’s a brand new building and it looks damn good.

We are so excited to welcome Charlie’s to Prior Lake! Beautiful building, expansive deck space and docks, very large menu portions and nice drink list.
Our food was beautifully presented and delicious! I will say, though, that they love their Siricha! Things are a bit on the spicy side.
A lovely addition to Prior Lake! My only real critique would be to add sound proofing. It’s Extremely loud, which hampers the otherwise energetic atmosphere.

Food and service were exceptional. Prices are VERY reasonable. Steak quesadilla is the best ever! Chicken dinner was fabulous and HUGE for only $ 12. Nice selection of tap beers. LOVE the energy in the place. Can’t wait to try the breakfast!