Charley's - A Bargain Brunch and a Solid Meal

After celebrating A's birthday on Friday night, B and I woke up early on Saturday for an appointment with our cleaning lady. Since we needed to leave the apartment for a few hours, we decided to head to Newbury Street for some brunch to recover from the previous night and to gear up for the day's activities. It was an absolutely gorgeous day and we were happy to get some fresh air along our walk.

After a quick stop at Johnny Cupcakes, we headed to Charley's. Located at 284 Newbury Street, Charley's is a chain restaurant that is a part of the Back Bay Restaurant Group known for serving classic American dishes. While I'm normally not a huge fan of chain restaurants, I really like Charley's a lot. I started going there for brunch during law school because they have a huge outdoor patio and are very dog-friendly. This was really useful since my law school partner-in-crime has an adorable yellow lab that we would take with us on our Newbury Street adventures. Ever since then, I always enjoy going back to Charley's for brunch.

B and I arrived around 11:30 AM and we were seated right away. We were happy about this since it was really busy there and every table upstairs was full. Our server was very friendly and attentive. He got us our waters quickly and told us the day's special. We both knew what we wanted and ordered our meals fairly quickly. To start, D had a Diet Coke and I had the immediate hangover cure - a spicy Bloody Mary. I asked that the Bloody Mary be extra spicy and it was just a little spicy, but it was still okay.

The bread basket arrived with a huge sourdough roll, along with two mini corn and carrot muffins. We were happy to indulge in the carbs and the mini muffins were warm and moist. Shortly thereafter, our entrees arrived. B ordered a bacon burger medium rare. The server made a big production of asking him to cut open the burger to make sure it was cooked as ordered. The burger was definitely more medium than medium rare, but the server didn't seem to notice. B was famished and is not a picky eater, so he didn't complain. B loved the burger and said it was full of flavor and juicy. The burger came with a side of golden steak fries and onion rings, and the fries were absolutely delicious. My meal was the eggs benedict and it was cooked to perfection with grilled English muffins, Canadian bacon, poached eggs and hollandaise sauce. I dipped the accompanying home fries in the egg yolk. The meal also came with a little bit of fruit but it seemed more like a garnish than an actual part of the meal.

I've had brunch countless times at Charley's and I think it is such a great deal with the complimentary Bloody Mary. With their standard American fare, the meals aren't necessarily inventive but will always please even the pickiest of eaters. Our meals weren't perfect but it was solid. And as always, the service was fast, efficient and attentive.

xoxo