Charcoal House Restaurant and Bar

My wife and I have had dinner at the Charcoal House twice in the last two weeks. The first time we ordered two appetizers, Steak Bites and Mediterranean Trio (hummus and tabbouleh, two of our usual favorites, and chopped pickles), and the shawarma plate (the chicken version, with tomato slices, onions, and chopped pickles) including an excellent lemon chicken rice soup (a robust salad is an option). Although each dish was quite good, our senior-​citizen capacities meant that we took a lot home.
That successful trip led us to host a family gathering of 10 this week. We shared and enjoyed variety of appetizers (priced specially for early diners): the Mediterranean Trio and Steak Bites again, but also a cheese-​and-​pickle plate and a mushroom dish. Knowing (correctly) that we would have a sizable take-​home after sampling so many appetizers, my wife and I ordered the shawarma plate (she, chicken and salad, me, beef and the lemon chicken rice soup). Two others had lamb with vegetables flambé, one had the macadamia-​coated halibut, and three had the prime rib sandwich plate, which contains a HUGE slab of prime rib along with chips or french fries. Another had a shrimp cocktail and the rib-​eye platter (salad, potatoes, veggies) (The 10^th eater was 3 ¾ year old, who sampled the appetizers, especially the Steak Bites and pickles, and nibbled at her grilled cheese sandwich.) All the adults were quite enthusiastic about their meals, from appetizers to main courses. But no one had room for dessert, and others besides my wife and me had take-​homes.
All in all, both our visits were quite pleasing, food-​wise. My wife would like a wider selection of by-​the-​glass wine. But the only reason for the missing star is that the service was a bit slow, although we’re not sure what a table of 10 with a variety of orders, on a Thursday night, should expect, and the server was quite pleasant. One praiseworthy service happening was that the rib-​eye eater had to leave early and the server expedited his order so that he could make his engagement. In any case, we look forward to our next visit.

Love this place! Fabulous ambiance, great food and hooka and lots of fun:) My friends and I always have a great time here and the service for us has always been nothing less than amazing! Accommodating staff, comfortable cabanas, great music and flat screens, delicious food and variety of hooka! Always a great time! Check it out:)

We were greeting but what I thought was a host, but it turned out it was the only guy working. Kyle, who was our waiter showed us to our table in a very nice seating area inside. It was very quiet. Too quiet. There was no music and the lighting was too bright. There was only 1 other table with people at it. Very dead.
The food was not bad. I ordered a filet mignon steak and it was a little crispy on the outside, but nice. We ordered the lamb and it was burnt. They light it on fire at the table, but the bourbon they used didn’t finish burning and all the food tasted like it. The desserts were so-​so, but average tasting.
I would go back it the food was better and the atmosphere improved. Service was great btw, and the price was average for what we ordered.

I don’t understand was up with those bad reviews people are just expecting to much I really enjoyed it thanks Daniela for helping us out;)

I haven’t seen recent reviews for Charcoal House but I’ve been told that it’s not the same owners and it used to be a fun place.
I gave it a try and to me it was just okay.
Our server was very nice and always smiling. :)
Food:
Chicken Koobideh Kebab
Rib Eye Steak prepared medium
Our dinners came with either soup or salad and both the house salad with vinaigrette dressing and asparagus soup was delicious. I would come back for that soup.
Although I enjoyed my starters, I was not pleased with my steak and Kebab. The steak was hard to cut and not tender at all. I was literally fighting with it. The Kebab was just blah. Nothing stood out. I think next time I visit I should have the beef Kekab. Hopefully it’ll have more bursting flavors.
Overall, I will definitely return to try the other dishes. I do like the hookah cabaña’s outside. It can get busy so be sure to make reservations. $ 150 minimum in order to have a cabaña.

Came here after a long day to enjoy dinner with a friend who came down from Australia. Bartender was about 60 years old and she was extremely rude to me and my guest. The straw that broke the camels back was when weAsked her if they had salads and she responded «they are somewhere on the menu» and walked away. Didn’t give us any suggestions and wouldn’t recommend this place to anyone.

The outside patio and hookah area is very nice. We had the prime rib sandwich which was very good. The service leaves a lot to be desired however.

Love this place Tuesday they have buy one get one free drinks and Hooka. I always have a good time and the employees are so friendly!

I love the middle eastern vibe and the cabanas .
I can see why they have low ratings for the service it is a little bit slow but I really like the ambience and prices so I will look past that.
The regulars are dressed to the nines and so whenever I go I have to dress the part.
This review is solely for the bar cabanas!

Came here bunch of times after 9pm and they never carded me. Which was illegal since you have to be 21 years old after 9pm to stay here. Today I got here around 8pm and all of a sudden it is illegal blah blah.
The people that work here is rude and disrespectful. Not coming back here again. And I don’t recommend this place either.

So I had a bad service couple months ago very slow service and my friend told me let’s give it another chance we went again this weekend and we had a better service even though they were busy it was a weekend they still need to work on their service its some kinda slow still we are going to go one more time and give it a last time try I really love the place and I wish they work on there service

This place is a great spot to have a great girls night out or throw a little birthday bash. The food is very good. There hasn’t been one thing that I’ve ordered and didn’t love! I’m giving them 3 stars because unfortunately… their service is horrible. I think every time we go in we probably wait about 20 minutes until a server comes over and takes our order, unless we flag one down ourselves. Hookah is great, music is okay.

Great steaks in a cozy steak house with five star service by Mary Jane. Saturday night steak night is a filet or ribeye with potato vegetables and salad and warm sourdough rolls for $ 18.99 great food at a bargain price. Nice comfortable red leather booths and dim lighting. Thanks Charcoal House for another great dinner.

Bad service. Our order never made it to the table after hours of waiting. We complained to the manager who started making excuses and served us a couple of plates on the house. Not a bad move, but that doesn’t negate the fact that we never got our original order. The gal serving us was out of synch and so were most of the employees. we asked for the bill, 30 minutes later we get some one else’s bill, then after complaining, we had to wait another 20 minutes to get ours. This is the big surprise… there were four of us on the table, they added 18% gratuity with out checking with us. We did not check the bill (our fault) but I guess it is planned this way and we added another 15% as a tip that was not deserving at all
Not happy with that place

This is NOT the OLD Charcoal House that has been around for years and years! Now, under new management/​ownership this Charcoal House bar/​restaurant has been transformed into an OASIS! Right in La Mesa?!? Yes! Beautiful interior and exterior patio area with cabanas and fire fountain. the food was fantastic too. Service great– everything beyond positive. You gotta experience it to believe it!

P.O.O.R S.E.R.V.I.C.E
I was there for a birthday party of 15 in the back dining room. The service was so bad. We had empty drinks for 30 minutes or more… it took forever to get service. Its clearly a lack of leadership that is trying to save labor at the cost of service. There were not even that busy mostly small parties smoking outside in the patio were all their focus was, we were like the red headed step child in the back. I do not blame the female servers at all, it’s the management /​ownership that failed.
If I was the manager there I would fire myself for doing such a horrible job. The food at Luna Grill is better. I would rate the food 2 stars, presentation was 3 stars and overall experience was 1 star. I do foresee them going out of business if they don’t make change and hire a manager that knows how to train and schedule staff based on projected sales. I would also reevaluate the menu it needs a lot of help.
It feels like more like a night club with a patio full of smokers, its is not geared to families. The music was way too loud for the inside dinners, maybe close the back patio doors… oh and another thing what is it with the weird side door entrance? It’s confusing we walked in and no one greeted us… again lack of staff, the manager failed again really these are the basics do being a great restaurant …here is a great suggestion staff a host at each door or close one and only receive guests at front entrance.
This place was poorly designed, it’s looks slapped together by a flight by night contractor with little or no plans. I will not be back… there is plenty of restaurants doing the basics well and willing to provide outstanding service and food for my hard earned dollars. I do not recommend this place, well maybe to someone I do not like lol

Christy the bartender rocks! You want a good drink? She’ll whip up anything you can think of! She’s awesome at food service too! Always tells us the best thing to eat and it’s always right on.
You need more karaōke !!

This is an interesting establishment, the building has no windows, you have to park around back, next to the indoor soccer field and la casa blanca mex place. Interesting, as you look at the building, its all sealed up. is this a secret place? And when you park out back, you have to walk back up that alley since the back door has a sign and arrow front entrance’ that way. and you get to the side door, and its ‘entrance’ nothing more. seriously felt like we were entering someone’s house… and we oh so close to jumping across to the mex restaurant, their corn chips smell.ooh.anyhow.
no windows, just arch ways with mirrors. so you get the effect of windows, and its low light conditions. very dark, and lots of table cloths, walking in the side front entrance door, you get bar to your left and tables to right. almost dark and seedy on the bar side. is that leather on the wall? or some type of textile?
in we go, met and greeted by a waitress in a mostly empty place (6pm on a fri?) Go to sit down and well, the prices are medium to high for steak places. $ 24 for thin cut prime rib? what’s that, like 6oz or 8oz? c’mon man. and our waiter, he was good, but damn he was tall, like 6’4″ or something and the tables are short, so it was like a weird fun house mirror effect.‘hey you, way up there, more ice t?’ but he was cool.
so we ordered. I got the prime rib slappers or slammers, basically take a prime rib sandwich and cut it into 6 squares. i got the potato skins as app and Cesar salad (you can have fries or salad with sandwich). Wife got angel hair carbonera, not even close to carbonera. but she was ok with it.
The sandwich was ok, they shaved prime rib down, pan fried it in oil and served it on foccacia bread, since I had no fries, I had one pickle spear surrounded by these 2“x2″ square bites. It was good, but meat had a lot of oil leftover from being fried again. The pasta was covered in creamy, white sauce and filled with lots peas. my understanding of carbonera is there should be a light sauce, barely visible, this was covered, almost soupy like with a ton of peas. The cesar salads were cut from romaine, i got the green leafy part and wife got the lighter, ice bergy type (mix it up fellas!). The potato skins had a weird taste, like they didnt use cheddar, but some other off orange cheese and i think there was about 1 – 3 atoms of bacon mixed in. We asked for ranch, which saves the day anytime on dishes like that.
And I heard crème brûlée, so had to get it. and well, it was good, sugar crusted top, but the custard was still fridge cold. the act of glazing the sugar on top should lukewarm the custard but it didnt happen. luckily the custard was good, but damn $ 9 for that? total bill came to $ 55, and well. it was closer to a $ 40 meal. just saying.
so the fun part was later that night, at home, and well, something wasn’t right. We both suffered gurgling guts and well, not to go into too much detail, wasn’t fun and we didnt not like the rest of our night.blah. Not sure what triggered the gurgles, but definitely was quite queasy and well… NEXT steak house please.
oh and didnt even know about the hookah stuff, i didnt even see it… you think the waiter would of mentioned it. I dont know.anyhow.prob can think of other meat places.

If there was a zero star option, they would have easily got it. I’ve been here for 2 hours asking for my appetizers and I still haven’t got them. Being here on the weekend, there’s a 10 dollar cover charge, and I would assume they would provide better service. Hookah service, on the other hand, is good. Coals are coming in right on time. Waiters are nice, but there’s no benefit in that if I have to keep asking for something several times. Anyway, when we got the appetizers I think they assume we use our hands to eat tabouleh, since no plates or utensils were provided. Manager is a very nice guy but I wish it was worth it. Do not recommend this place to anyone for the weekend whatsoever. This place has lost all of my business including anyone else that asks me about it.

Ate here on a Friday evening about 745pm and found the place fairly busy but nothing crazy really. I was seated quickly and already knew what I was going to be getting from my review of the menu online. I also had a livingsocial deal of $ 40 to use up so this was gonna be a nice big meal!
I got the 6 oz congac fillet with sauteed mushrooms and onions, dinner spinach salad with added chicken, side of seasoned asparagus and then the normal entrée side of baked tater and green beans. A hefty meal indeed but recall folks, I am a competitive eater after all… this is how I dine! Pictures of all of these are in the photos section so do check them out for full effect.
Everything was pretty average or a bit better then average accept the congac fillet… this was AWESOME! The fillet was cooked perfect, for me thats medium rare. The mushrooms and onions with congac sauce come out bubbly hot on a skillet and you can just smell the deep sweetness of the sauce topping! I even used my potato which I like plain myself… to chop up and soak up every last drop of the sauce from the skillet!
My whole meal was $ 46 without a drink but I paid a whopping $ 6 after the livingsocial deal was applied to not a bad price at all! Granted not a price I would pay for in full without a deal like this but I did and so there I was and I was satisfied with everything in this case.
My waitress was helpful, kind and patient with my specific order needs, kept my water full, got my check promptly when asked and kept a close eye on me during my whole dining ordeal. Overall this place was a positive and delicious experience. Again for the price of what I got without the deal I doubt I would come back to pay that much but hey, you be the judge and go try them out yourself!