Charlie’s – Town And Country Resort

If you are a BBQ fan this is a most stop in San Diego. Great smoke, tender brisket, cook was prefect. Top 3 BBQ in San Diego for sure. Home made bread, pickles, and Mac and cheese, made for a great meal!
Raised in Kansas City

Had a blast tonight watching Basketball on the TV. We got good BBQ, Beers, Pepsi, and Salad there. The Food was fresh and the drinks were cold. With great service from Karolina. She made everything go so smoothly and to cap it off, our team got the W.
Charlie’s is unexpectedly a great place to have BBQ and watch sports.

Keep San Diego Classy. This place is what CREATES genuine & fabulous character in a town!!!
Great Staff, Good Bones, and Easy parking.

After reading a very favorable review of the food in the San Diego Union Tribune, we paid a visit, and found Charlie’s to be a high quality experience in every way. The poutine was savory, hot and delicious, and the wings were tender and highly favorable. Brisket, ribs, slaw, beans, mac & cheese, and potato salad were all superb — rich, gourmet preparations of every dish. The service from Errick was masterful — friendly, attentive, and enthusiastic, he treated our family to a great meal in a relaxed sports-​bar setting. The unusually good «bar food» (which is anything but) was enhanced by the walk to and from the nearly empty Town & Country, which seemed like a 1950’s-era Vegas hotel ghost-​town. Charlie’s is a great place to eat, and to watch a game with sumptuously delicious food.

This evening I came into Charlie’s for a quick beer and a bite to eat before heading to a friends graduation in the convention center at Town and country. A waitress named Karolina greeted me at the door and offered me a table, but I chose to sit at the bar and see what beer they had on tap. The bartender was genuine and didn’t seem like the robotic customer service associate you usually come across in hotel venues. He really knew his stuff when it came to craft beer and their selection on tap. I ordered the Poutine, which was a meal in itself along with the Mac and cheese and the Monster dog. This was enough food to feed me and my friends. The food was great and the portions are large, so If your stopping in solo for a beer you won’t need to order as much as I did. After eating all that food I’m surprised I did not sleep through the entire ceremony in what I would describe as a delicious food coma. Thanks for the great service Rez! If you come to Town and Country you must check this place out. I was told they are renovating the entire resort, and now I am curious to see this place when its complete.

Pretty good food, very nice and personable staff, but holy over-​priced batman! I had the classic burger with a side of sweet potatoes, and a glass of wine. It was all very good, but it was over $ 30. A meal as simple as a standard burger for 1 person should not be that much.

The only restaurant at the Town and Country resort that doesn’t look disheveled, beat down, or plain S***y. Food is decent by most standards yet the bar has been set so low at the Town & Country over the years, this sports bar seems gourmet compared to the other awful restaurants on the property.

Horrible service. Took them forever to bring out drinks and food. Food was nothing special.

I want to like this place. It’s sort of unique, I have a couple vacation days and I’m here for 5 nights. It would be great to feel like I have discovered a really great place with local beer steps from my hotel room.
Alas, it’s a good attempt in the food department and a admirable selection of local beer. I came for lunch and a dinner today. The first bar tender read off the beer selections after stopping at the light beer and waiting for me to be excited, the second knew her stuff. Lots of hoppy beer but that’s the craft thing.
Food is more inspired than your usual bar food. I had the White Chili for lunch, it came with jalapenos, sour cream, onions and maybe parm? on the side. Served with corn bread that was a square of dried bread I didn’t even taste. The chili was good but no where near a temperature I would describe as“hot”.
Dinner, I ordered the grilled Cobb salad which was ok but suffered from too much salt overall: bacon only tasted of salt and the green goodness was more salt than flavor. Admittedly, I don’t like a lot of salt in my food.
Dessert was tasty but again not hot enough: the Apple pie didn’t even melt ice cream. Good flavor, esp Maple ice cream.

My wife and I ate here while staying at the resort. I had the bbq chicken with baked beans and Mac and cheese. My wife had the chili. We also had the fried pickles and jalapeño chips as well as the bread pudding for dessert. The food was awesome! My wife’s chili was great with a nice smoke flavor. My chicken was smoked nicely and was very good. The baked beans were ok. The bread pudding was a great ending to a great meal!

What a difference a year makes. If you read the most recent reviews, there has been a change in décor and food offerings. Not more cheap chicken strips, the burgers are stacked high, and the addition of real smoker has turnedvthe genric into a legitimate place for BBQ. And that includes sides of chili, poutine, smoked gouda mac n cheese, jalapeño cornbread. Even the desserts are amped up, which make casual beer drinking and sports viewing a little better now.
The food was a bit slow to come out, which doesn’t bother me as a sports bar, you tend to linger watching the game, but the manager definitely made up for what he considered an unacceptable wait time, with another side of mac n cheese, and I’m not above a little incentive to put up a good review. The staff is actually friendly if you keep the time frame in mind, and as they renovate the Town and Country to the new hotel group’s standards, they already revamped their once-​shoddy bar into a decent grill to watch the game.
Of course, try out their BBQ sauces on their pulled pork and chicken and bratwurst, and rate your own opinion. It makes the meal.

Talking BBQ! We are from Washington State have stayed at the Town and Country Resort twice in two years for business. We did not really eat here last year. Food offerings were blah. Executive Chef Paul McCabe has turned this place around. Terrace Café and Market Deli have been renovated and new menus are great. Now on to Charlie’s. We were strolling around the property and bumped into Todd Bemis. Todd, with his southern accent and asked if I needed anything. I said I was looking to see when Charlie’s was going to reopen. Turns out Todd is the Food and Beverage Manager for the property. He said «Today, would you like to look around?» Space was totally renovated. Big screen TV’s, soft couch seating mixed in with High tops and regular tables, along with outdoor seating. He said «Do you want lunch?» I said no but would be back for dinner. Real southern hospitality. It was pretty obvious to me Todd should know BBQ as he charmed us with his Texas drawl.
We arrived around 6:45 and it was still a little quiet. We decided to sit outside. The courtyard was adorned with brand new patio furniture. California heaters available. Beautifully manicured landscape.
Bridget was our server. She kept up on our drinks all night. We were with a friend who now lives in San Diego so we spent a few hours. We started with deep fried deviled eggs, what a treat! (the menu doesn’t say deep fried) Todd recognized me and brought by the Charlie’s Chef Matt Hobbs. Matt was working the giant outdoor smoker. The smell of BBQ was in the air. He came by and answered a few questions on how he does his BBQ. BBQ is all about the preparation of the meat. The meat should stand by itself and the sauce just finishes the dish. He made us a special sampler platter because we could not decide. OMG! Ribs had just a little pull, chicken almost fell off the bone, brisket was tender and juicy and sausage had great smoked flavor. No sauce necessary, but wait!!! So many kinds of sauces to choose from. Jesse Pennington, one of the managers, came by to tell us about the sauces. We stuck to the basics: Texas, North Carolina and a few others. I took a chance on a habanero and was very careful and used it sparingly. Rocked my socks! Charlie’s has two sauces that are even hotter and will likely have you sign a disclaimer if you try them. The one I had was probably around 100,000 Scoville units, but if you are insane they have two in the millions on the Scoville scale. Sides were amazing: mac and cheese had a smoked cheese flavor, coleslaw was standard, baked beans were tasty but still a little firm. (Chef acknowledged and they started another batch so I guess we have to go back again today, tee hee) The warm tater salad was out of this world. I could make a meal of it! On to the desserts. Again could not decide so we ordered three. The brown butter pecan tart (restaurant scene from Harry met Sally) attracted attention from surrounding tables. We also tried the bread pudding as well as the fudge and candied bacon. They could sell the candied bacon by itself. If I owned the hotel, I would have the cooks walk around the property passing out samples to lure guests to Charlie’s.
Service was timely and another manager, Kristen Vandergaw, checked on us often. She noticed it took a while for our entrees and got us our food right away. Opening night and all! I end this with: I think we got the party started. Guests passing by could see us enjoying the great BBQ and warm hospitality Todd was providing. By the time we left the courtyard was brimming with guests.

My family and I stayed there because it was the home base for our basketball tournament. It was a pleasant experience, except it was slightly outdated. Even though we found it very clean, it could use a renovation. The on-​site restaurant had much to be desired in terms of service and motif — there were lots of stains on the carpet and I had to ask three times to wipe off the table, then I saw the waitress wipe her hands and arms with the cloth BEFORE wiping down the table… But the kids liked it, and we only stayed two nights. Wouldn’t go there to «relax» but for a bball tourney, it was good enough.

I got my home tented for termites and needed a hotel to stay at near Point Loma. I have been to the Town & Country several time for business conferences and knew they had a nice convention area,
I messed up on my booking and was told there would be a penalty to change. The person said hold on a second let me see what we can do. She said since I was not cancelling but just changing dates they would waive the fee and re book the room for me.
How often does that happen???
When I got to the hotel I explained to them I need a room close to parking as i have a sore shoulder and had a hard time with carrying things. She set me up with a awesome room across from the pool area in a lower level room right next to the parking.
I have enjoyed my stay here and feel you deserve an awesome review form a local San Diego resident. Thank you for the special treatment.

Took over 15 min to check in, only one staff checking in people. $ 18 for parking which takes 10 min to find parking. Very loud, people drinking outside. This hotel is not for a family, more for college kids. I will never stay here again

This sports bar is spacious and not very modern, but the food was good (I had pizzaway to much for me to eat, but its strength is the bar staff – particularly Jeanne Young. She was attentive, helpful, and a great bartender. She is very knowledgeable and positive – you can learn a lot from this woman. Keep up the good work and it was a joy to be served by you each day after I got down with my conference.

really nice hotel, huge place. i loved that they have 3 pools to chose from and they are heated. complementary breakfast in the mornings is also a very nice gesture since most places don’t do that any more. comfy beds and pillows. they also gave us free shuttles if we needed to go somewhere on the property if it was a long walk or we didnt know how to get there
That being said since this place is so big we got lost when we first arrived trying to find our room and we had to park really far from our room but other than that this was a really nice hotel and a fun experience.

If I could give less than one star, I would be deciding just HOW far to the left on the number line this review would go. We met a group of friends for dinner here — they were attending a fairly popular SciFi con in the complex.
We knew going in that service here, ESPECIALLY during conventions when they are chronically understaffed, is known to be sub-​par, and adjusted our expectations before we went.
The server staff did not even rise to meet those low bars.
Our waitress was overworked, yes — but that doesn’t excuse the short, surly, pissed-​off attitude from the get-​go. I also didn’t appreciate the manner in which my pint of beer was slammed on the table — with the bonus of a scowl aimed in my direction.
Good. The food was okay — meh bar food. I and the friends on either side all got the fish and chips. The fish was okay, nothing to write home about. The french fries and coleslaw were the typical Sysco restaurant pre-​fab stuff. Acceptable as a baseline.
Prices for the food items were the usual elevated hotel prices but not outrageous — food quality was Bob’s Big Boy or Denny’s level. The amount of food was good as well.
The pints — a friend and I ordered a Guinness and a Flat Tire respectively, and the Guinness was well-​poured. The bartender was efficient and pleasant, and did a good job of keeping up with his customers. Prices were very reasonable for pulled pints and pitchers.
As I was leaving, I heard my server snarl at her coworker «It’s NOT my f*cking table, YOU f*cking deal with it!» — which pretty much summed up our dining experience.
Many of the people at my table have experience working restaurant service, so we understand getting slammed while being understaffed. Intentionally bad service, like ignoring numerous *polite* attempts to flag her down went by without reaction other than nasty glares. Slamming food and drinks down repeatedly won her no points, and have made most of us decide that at the several conventions we have at the SAME hotel complex, we will all be dining elsewhere. This is NOT the first time this venue has provided less than stellar service, but it will be the LAST time it receives any custom from my group of friends.
The bar was half-​full and they were still understaffed… A server from another section DID try to help as much as she could.
Oh, yes a warning should be given — this is an EXTREMELY noisy venue, so take that as a warning if you intend to attempt conversation with your party.

Quality was okay. The restaurant/​hotel should be on the show Hotel Hell. Maybe they can get better tips on food and overall service (not just the restaurant but the hotel). Better off going to a Denny’s for food.

Awesome service! Pitchers always full and plates cleared promptly. The fish and chips were awesome — crisp outside, tender, white fish inside, and flavored just right. Accompanying tarter sauce tasted fresh and homemade. Coleslaw was creamy with celery seeds and carrots.
We also got the club sandwich on pretzel bun. I love club sandwiches but this one failed for me. I loved the bun; but I love the traditional toasted white even more. It lacked any sort of flavor; I probably would have liked more mayo on it. The bacon and avocado were crispy and fresh though, respectively.
They have two pool tables, a foozball, 5 – 10 old school arcade video game machines and a few TVs.