Mr. Charlie's Profile

Short Story: Really nice, simple middle Eastern food, very good service, comfortable and not crowded. Please give it a try. Long Story: We've been wanting to try this restaurant for a long time and today we finally made it. I wish we'd come sooner! We've only seen it crowded at lunch a few times but today it was not, so that's why we were able to relax and enjoy our time there. Welcome in by the Uncle Waiter who was friendly. Ordered through the app. Ads in the ordering app are kind of annoying, please get rid of these, guys! I'm already your customer and I want to get to ordering! We order the lamb and beef hummus, the beef hummus, and the extra large chicken leg/thigh. Soup comes with it, it's a very nice, basic tomato soup which it very nicely seasoned and just hot enough and not overly salty or oily, as Western soups can sometimes be. I liked this a lot. The soup came fast and the main dishes came shortly after we finished the soup. Great service detail! To me, the lamb beef hummus was PHENOMENAL. Portion is not huge, but definitely not small, as many places do that these days. Could have been more hummus, though, as it really matches the meat and vegetables. Meat is almost perfectly cooked. I say almost because the beef is a tiny bit over but I'm not complaining. The seasoning is really nice. I've not a pro palate, but this tasted fabulous to me. Excellent work, guys! The beef hummus was a little bit over salty, and maybe there's some vinegar in the sauce? But it was nice that Mrs. Charlie did finish it. The chicken was for my daughter, Charlie Jr. Its just a fried chicken thigh leg, but... It wasn't greasy at all. This part was really good, guys, a simple thing like that is great. Drinks were OK. The Apple ginger drink they cut a little heart shape in the aoole which is a very nice touch, and the drink has strong ginger but not too sweet for really nice balance. Milk tea was... a bit too milky. The coffee tea (yin yeung) had strong coffee taste but tea was not strong. The balance of these two drinks was only OK and not great. Uncle Waiter was doing a good job helping the other customers with friendly conversations we heard and giving helpful tips. No rush to leave or time limits or anything so we can talk while Charlie Jr. is drawing pictures in her book. To sum up, I'll definitely be back to try more dishes. the hummus, a simple dish, was done simply fabulously and it was one of the best dishes I've eaten in many years. Really that good in my humble opinion. Thanks, guys! …Read More

Short version: it's very nice value for money with friendly staff in a canteen type environment, and in a very popular and busy area, just up to 2nd floor! Food is basic vegetarian style and all reasonably well seasoned and simple but flavorful.I'm always on the lookout for nice vegetarian food, especially the kind with meat substitutes like fake chicken, fake shrimp, etc., and this restaurant did a great job. I don't know why it's got so few reviews online because the food has nice taste with reasonable portion size! We ordered the pine nuts fried rice, lemon flavored looks like chicken, shrimp with broccoli and walnuts, and pepper fried shrimp. Food came out fast and with nice portion size. Each dish is $49 but for $59 you can add rice and soup. But we had the fried rice, and they gave us soup anyway. Fried rice was flavorful, not too wet type, but good texture and lots of pine nuts which were yummy. Fake shrimp was nice, together with broccoli and walnuts is a bit unusual but a good mix of the simple flavors. Free sweet soup, like ginger and pumpkin I think, was given for dessert. Refreshing! We took our time to enjoy the food and it was a very pleasant experience. But keep in mind it was Monday night so if it's busy, I imagine it could be a tight squeeze because this is a very small shop. Overall I really liked the food here. I would definitely return. Basic and good, even though I'm not vegetarian I can really appreciate the effort they put into making the dishes attractive. …Read More

Overall, it is very good. Tasty experience, better then many basic burgers. NOT a soggy grease bomb! Worth it.First, the good thing is it's not a total soggy mess even after delivery. Burger meat is substantial and the cheese is really well melted but not overly so, as many other shop melt the cheese onto a greasy mess. Bun is a nice, albeit basic white bread type but not too thick and not too spongy. high quality bun! I got the double cheese so some of the sauce squeezed out, of course, but no problem! It's a thick juicy, not greasy burger. Well done, guys!Fries were actually somewhat crispy and fresh even after delivery so that's a huge plus. Not restaurant fresh but still good!My daughter had the cornflakes chicken nuggets, which were not greasy macdondon style, but instead reasonably crisp and fairly tasty. They're just a bit under seasoned, I'd say, maybe a bit of salt would do, and I'm not a huge fan of bbq sauce, so maybe their perfect for children, but I'll probably pass next time. My wife had a similar burger experience so not much to add for hers, other than the strong truffle oil is.... strong. But I know people think they're tasting an expensive thing, so... Give it a try. I've seen people lining up at the shop, and now I know why. I like burgers so I'll be trying others before I return but I definitely wouldn't hesitate given the chance.…Read More

This is my second review, but my third visit. Briefly, the first time was fantastic but second time left us hoping for better, (see my other review) but this time it was great again. Not really sure why the hit and miss but, again, for the price it is worth it for some pretty good vegetarian food.Dishes were well refreshed, hot, and well seasoned. Wide selection with some nice desserts this time too. Trays were all full and more variety than you might expect, I mean there seems to be only vegetables, tofu, and mushrooms types of dishes but they do quite a good job of making them different. They seem to change the dishes each time, so some that I had liked before weren't there this time, but I guess that's a bit of a trade off.Service is very friendly and polite, and some staff even made an effort to speak English to me which is nice because I'm a guest and I should probably be able to speak Cantonese with them, so I'm thankful for that. Clearly a good boss and good culture. The basic nature of this shop attracts a slightly older clientele but some of those oldsters really know how to butt in to get ahead of you when something hot and fresh comes out, but I guess that's just another minor issue one can live with.Excellent shop, will definitely return, but be aware of their religious holidays, it might affect the crowd level and availability. Definitely recommend it to you if you like the occasional vegetarian meal! …Read More

If you love the K-pop vibe, and you want to overpay for pizza and fried chicken, than this is the place for you. We won't return. First, I don't like to sit close to others with the small side by side table while I eat, but I realize this is common. That being said, we didn't really like that the restaurant was mostly empty when we arrived and they sat us right next to others, and didn't let us change. I mean, at last space out the customers until it fills up! This kind of thing makes me want to just leave and find someplace else, but Mrs. Charlie was hungry so you know that would have been a bad idea. There is a giant projection screen on the wall running back to back k-pop videos, which is a bit distracting but as mentioned above, this is their theme. Ordered the honey butter fried chicken, and the mushroom truffle pizza. The chicken was supposed to be 6 pieces, but they were the size of slightly oversized chicken Mcnuggets, and in addition 2 of them were another flavor, one was spicy and the other definitely not honey butter. Each piece had numerous small bones, think chicken backbone, ribs, or whatever, from whacking the chicken into smaller pieces. But this obvious cost cutting measure and sloppy delivery made for a disappointing dish. I can say the pizza was kind of nice, but truly too small for the price. I can't really say it was anything special though. I had walked past this shop numerous times thinking it would be worth a try but it wasn't. This place had lots of dates going on; cute young couples would come in, stare at their phones, order food, eat some of it, and leave. So the vibe isn't even really very energetic. For all these reasons we won't be going back, and you probably should pass it by. There're much better restaurants in that mall anyway. …Read More

Short version: Quite good dim sum, well above average, very nice, carefully prepared, and fresh quality. Good service, nice environment, dog friendly. Plan to go again. Iced milk coffee-table HK style was well worth it. Not overpriced. First impression was pretty good because there is an outer seating area that looks a little more inviting, but sadly this is reserved for people with dogs, as this is a dog friendly mall. So, I felt a bit disappointed about that, as by the time we left, that area was empty.The menu is shorter than in the usual Chinese restaurant, but seems there should be plenty of choices and all the basics were there. Ordered and waited a little while, and the food and drinks came out. I know local people can be very particular about their dim sum, so maybe I don't know enough about it. But to me the quality was above average to excellent. The steamed char siu buns actually had some char siu in them, not just a tiny piece of fat and some sauce. This was a very pleasant surprise, each bite had some nice char siu taste. Well above average. Let's continue with the egg custard bun, which also had a large amount of egg custard inside. Not the usual sticky yellow substance, but really nice, egg yolk taste custard. A little liquidy, but not at all a problem because it was so tasty. very nice egg yolk taste. The shrimp dumplings and shrimp rice sheet rolls were filled with... wait for it... SHRIMP! I mean nice sized, properly cooked, tender shrimp. Reasonably well seasoned as well. I ordered an iced lemon tea by mistake because I misread the menu, and I meant I wanted a iced milk-coffee-tea. The boss changed it without complaint, which was very kind because it was my fault. Let me just say that I love the Hong Kong's milk tea coffee a lot, and have tried lots of it in the years I've lived here. This was, hands down, the BEST I've ever tried. The coffee taste was strong but not overpowering, and the tea was clearly testable as well, very rich but also not overwhelming. Very strong, and very tasty. I'd probably not ask for less sugar next time to see if its equally balanced with a little more sugar, and I look forward to that. Highly recommended. Mrs. Charlie and daughter Charlie enjoyed as well. Excellent value for money, as the price is about average but the quality is so nice! …Read More

Short Version:It's good pizza, and there are a variety of toppings available. The price is a little higfh, but you're getting a good amount, and you can buy one slice. You may have no idea where the queue is.Details:Since I think New York/New Jersey style think crust pizza is the very best kind of pizza, I was excited to try this, and pizza is one of my top ten all time favorite kinds of food. I thought it might be similar to Paisano's, which is in Central and Mong Kok. Paisano's is the closest to real NY style pizza in HK. However, this Canadian Pizza is more similar to the popular PhD Pizza shop. First, let's talk about the crust and the base. The dough is slightly thicker than a traditional thin crust, and has an almost bread-like texture. Now, this is not bad, and based on the number of shops they have, I'm guessing this style reflects the preferences of Hong Kong people. So it's only my opinion that it's a bit too bready. You may like it, and I indeed enjoyed the pizza. Next, let's talk about the toppings. The pepperoni was a little on the spicy side, but again you may like that. I thought the plain cheese and tomato sauce was just fine. When you approach the counter, you can see the pies on offer, and they will re-heat your slice(s) if you're not going to go home to eat it. The service is fine, it's a kind of fast food after all. However, there is no proper queue, and this proved frustrating as multiple people pushed and shoved to get at the pizza, and you basically just need to be assertive to get your order in. Otherwise, I'd have given it 5 stars for service,They weren't offering drinks at the time of my visit as I was there before the official opening, but I've since passed by and seen them selling drinks which are prepared upon your order. I think they are going after the bubble tea market, too. Overall, it's a good piece of pizza, nice, simple, and just a bit expensive. …Read More

Went to The Chippy for my birthday with Mrs. Charlie, and was excited as this restaurant got good reviews, and fish & chips is one of my top ten all-time favourite dishes. So my expectations were on the high side.Short version: The staff were very nice, the service was fast enough, and the atmosphere is probably much better when it’s crowded and busy. Multi-restaurants-in-one concept was a bit confusing at first. But the fish and chips and pie we ordered were nothing very special, and the fish was greasy with a rancid oily aftertaste. $10 for a small packet of tartar sauce is just sad silliness.Details:Upon arrival, it was a bit confusing because this restaurant is actually a few restaurants in one unit, almost like a canteen or food court. When you sit down, the waitress gives you a set of menus, so there is one drinks shop (bubble tea, milkshakes, Vietnamese tropical drinks, etc.) menu, a Thai food shop menu, and a couple of others, including the fish and chips shop menu. you order the food from any restaurant from the waiter or waitress. So ordering was straightforward once we understood the concept, as we knew exactly what we wanted, however it did take us a few minutes to understand the fusion concept. As Mr. Gordon Ramsey might say, “Fusion confusion.” Our order was the full sized fish and chips, a pie, and a milkshake. Food took a longish minute, but when it arrived there was an immediate realisation that things might not be so cheery at The Chippy. There was a shiny layer of oil/grease on the fish. Then upon cutting into it, the coating did not exactly stick to the fish very well, and the texture of the fish was a bit on the firm, almost crumbly side, not exactly flaky and light. I would almost guess that it was frozen fish. Don’t get me wrong, Mrs. Charlie often prepares frozen fish for dinner, so I don’t mind at all, but I was kind of hoping for a big, fresh, flaky, meaty piece of fish in a nice crunchy batter coating. This was not that at all, unfortunately. The worst part was that the oil must have been quite old, because we both couldn’t get the oily taste out of our mouths for the next couple of hours. Mrs. Charlie’s pie was OK, I would say it was simply lacklustre. I know these are what might be called humble foods but I think it could have been better. My mom used to buy store-bought pot pies when I was young that, although a little bit of a different thing, were quite a bit better. The strawberry milkshake was also unimpressive.I need to say something positive, and that is that the french fries were good, but that old oil aftertaste was still a taste bud killer.Let’s talk about the atmosphere. We went on a weekday afternoon after lunch hour, so seeing the manager walking around, doing business, eating her lunch at the table next to ours, and various other non-busy time activities was not really a bad thing, but this restaurant definitely has an after-drinking at the bar feeling to it. Because then you might not notice the grease on the fish and the taste of rancid vegetable oil that coats your mouth because that’s what alcohol does, it helps you forget. I hope that we just went on a bad day, and that this place fixes some of its shortfalls, but for now I probably won’t go back. There’s way too many other fish in the sea, so to speak. …Read More

This shop has been here for a long time, and it has been excellent every time. Burgers are big and fresh and really tasty. Fries and onion rings are crispy and not greasy. For me, their hot dogs are a bit small given the price, maybe more dog and a bit less bun would be better but overall it's good value for money. If you're in Kwai Chung, this beats Five Guys because it's more of a traditional big burger made to order. Lots of options, too. Take away only. Wish they had a few tables like they used too. …Read More

We went about a month ago in January for lunch on a Monday and it was fantastic. Not super crowded, every tray was full and staff were constantly monitoring and tidying up the buffet. Lots of interesting dishes, given that it's vegetarian. They had an especially nice broccoli and “chicken” and everything was fresh. So needless to say we were excited to go again. We did notice the negative reviews, but we decided to give them another try anyway. Unfortunately the negative reviews were right. We went on Monday the 20th, at 1pm. It seems it was a special day in buddhism so it was crowded but we had reservations so seating was no problem. Sadly, lots of empty trays and limited variety, and no more chicken and broccoli, no more jelly desserts. It was such a major disappointment. We really hoped this place would succeed and of course I hope the owners see this and take note. Not sure if there's a system or a plan they use, but when we were leaving at about 2, they started refilling again really fast, but too late for us. But, still less variety. So to be fair, for the price, it was a fantastic value the first time. The second time I'd say your getting about what you pay for, and given how crowded and pushy some of the elderly customers were, you might want to give it a pass, unless they improve. There is another good, non buffet vegetarian restaurant just around the corner so that might suit you better. Dear owners, please bring back the variety and quick refills! …Read More