Went with four other people for the first time. We ordered the crab cakes, fish and chips, and burgers and it all was mediocre at best. To put it into perspective, White Spot is 100% better (and cheaper). We won't be dining her again. The service was great and the restaurant is more than charming. But it all comes down to the food and how it tastes in the final analysis.

Not sure about this place. Dropped by Charlie's about a week ago after a stroll down the White Rock main food drag. It was interesting checking out restaurant prices, some were very expensive while other's were very reasonably priced. We settled on Charlie Don't Surf.

Our server started out real strong. Tons of personality, the chatty man, etc. but it seems like after that first impression he felt that perhaps he had done his job. He pretty much left us after that first drink order, someone else brought our meals, he didn't check on us or actually pay any attention to us afterward. The place was not busy at 5pm, perhaps he was focusing on the dinner rush.

I ordered their burger, at around 10 bucks comes with fries and a pretty good deal. I also ordered a Stanley Park Larger served in what has to be the worlds smallest beer glass. It had the Stanley Park Beer logo on it so not sure who to blame for this, perhaps the beer maker but come on Charlie that is one small beer glass. Perhaps you should do something about it like charge less.

The burger was just fine. It was a fairly large portion with a ton of crispy fries on the verge of being overcooked. The burger patty had little real taste and I suspect was frozen at one time or another. Like I say it was fine, not memorable in any way.

My dining partner ordered the seafood pot with bits of fish, crab, etc. and reported that it was very very salty.
The portion looked just fine for the 12 dollar order.

I gave an outstanding for ambiance as we sat on the patio overlooking the waterfront, very nice on a sunny day. Actually never really checked out the interior of the restaurant but it looked very dark.

Next time in White Rock I believe we'll just stroll right by Charlie's and check out one of the many other options on the strip.

I wish I had read the reviews on Charlie Don't Surf before coming to eat here on the long weekend because if I had known about the service this restaurant offers, I would have definitely reconsidered another restaurant. I came for lunch with the girls on a Saturday afternoon around 2pm. The restaurant was not crazy busy but there were a few tables. Our waiter (who also turned out to be the manager) showed up a few minutes later with a nonchalant attitude and boringly asked us what we would like to drink, and if we had any questions about the menu. There was no enthusiasm in his tone whatsoever, and all of us recognized his poor attitude immediately. He dropped water glasses off for us at the table, and the water tasted horrible! It tasted as if it was dirty, or not filtered. He came back to take our orders and little did we know that it would take over half an hour to make our meal. We waited and waited, and waited some more. After 25 minutes we began questioning where our food was. Being a server myself, I know it does not take half an hour to make four dishes, 3 of them being quesadillas and one sandwich. After 35 minutes, we asked him what was taking so long, and if he forgot our meal. He said he knew it had been awhile and told us he had been yelling at the kitchen staff to hurry it up. I highly doubt that because we had seen him on the floor of the restaurant the whole time, chatting away to the bartender. Our food finally arrived and one of the girls asked for a coke because we had all been starving while waiting for our food, and when he dropped the coke off, he let us know that the coke was "on the house", as if he went over the top for us, and actually WAITED for us to say "thank you". A coke costs $3, it's not much to brag about. You're a manager who's given us terrible service and a terrible attitude. We couldn't care less if the coke was "on the house" because all we wanted was the food we had been waiting so patiently for.

He didn't apologize at all for the slow service, and the food was just mediocre. My friend ordered a quesadilla that had broccoli and snowpeas in it.. which did not say on the menu. Consistency is the key to a successful restaurant and Charlie Don't Surf definitely does not have it. The servers have no manners and are not polite at all. I would recommend everyone who reads the reviews on this restaurant NOT to eat here. There are a dozen other restaurants located on the beach that I'm sure can provide you with better service and better food.

We asked to speak to the manager about the poor quality our server gave us, but it turns out our server was the manager!!! We were all appalled at the attitude of this man, and were disgusted that we even had to give our money to the restaurant for their horrendous service. He rudely walked through us without even saying "excuse me" and attended to his other tables. I wouldn't be surprised if he doesn't earn many tips with his attitude, because I would never give him a single penny.

He definitely needs an attitude check because he did not give a crap about his customers and his attitude towards us was disgusting.

This place provide us with terrible service. Long,long wait for anyone to take our order and then another long, long wait to be served food that was not noteworhty in portion or quality. They are missing out on a great opportunity to take adavantage of a good location for their business.

Our dining experiance here was absolutly horrific! The slow service was a joke, 20 minutes waiting for our drinks to arrive, heaven forbide we would want to order another! Then another 50 minutes for our dinners to arrive, (we ordered an appetizer to only recieve it with our dinners). When the dinners did make it to our table, we couldn't believe the portion sizes! My puny salad for $12 was drowning in the dressing! My husband's cod & fries had only 12 fries, (yes we counted)... I shudder to think of the cleaniness of the staff as the washrooms were so dirty and even after I informed the management, no paper towels when I returned after my meal. To finish our experience, my husband suffered Food Poisoning from his meal, all night long! I called to warn the restaurant of the tainted meal, only to have the management focus on the slow service. I think their priorities are in disarray. Needless to say: WE WILL NEVER RETURN!!!

My friend suggested we have dinner here while we were visiting the beach. It was my first time dining at Charlie's so I was pretty excited. The place is dark. Really, really dark. The booth we had felt like I was sitting at a booth at a night club. Haha, but it was nice! The interior is beautiful, and I loved the restrooms (mirrors-galore).

Service: Food took an extremely long time to come out. Our waitress asked if we wanted our appetizers before our mains, and we said yes. Well...the appetizers arrived at our table 1 minute before our other food came :S We had to ask for our refills for our drinks. Waitress only came back once to check on us and how the food was. And then once more to give us the bill and to collect empty plates. She was friendly though. Hostess was not very helpful when we wanted to pay our bill.

Food: Bruschetta was okay. I could have made that at home. Calamari was good. Spicy Italian Sausage Penne was.....meh. Ate about 1/3 of it. My Coke tasted like...Diet Coke?? :|

Overall, I have no idea what made me tip 15% (probably because I liked the restroom too much)... walked outta there thinking I will not come back. I think my friend liked it though.

I go to Whiterock once a year so I'm not sure which restaurant is good or not. We wanted to try fish and chips so we decided on this place since other restaurants were packed and we didn't wanna wait. There were 6 of us so we sat at the back of the restaurant. We sat beside their "storage corner" which was not pleasant to see. The service was ok, I don't remember being bad, it's not outstanding either. My sibling wanted a drink so under the "virgin drinks", I ordered Pina Colada. To my surprise, they added alcohol in it, my sister is underage! Anyways, the food was average. Fish and chips was good but a lil overpriced. I guess we're paying for the view even though I couldn't see the ocean in back of the restaurant.

I'll try somewhere next time.

When the response to "what's the only restaurant open on New Years day on the beach?" is "Charlie Don't Surf", and the people with you say, "Oh no!!!!", you are probably doing something wrong.

The waiter hardly appeared for the 2 hours we had to endure this restaurant. Not because we wanted to and were enjoying ourselves, but because THAT'S HOW LONG IT TOOK FOR EVERYTHING TO ARRIVE. Every time we had to wave him over for him to refill our drinks, to take our order, to come back when he wasn't finished taking our orders.

When we finally ordered our appetizers 30 minutes into being there, the calimari came soggy, lukewarm, and in a small amount.

I was finished my tea for an hour before I had to flag down the waiter to get some water to drink, to which he sighed loudly, returned with a glass of tap water with no ice, and was like "There you are, a glass of our finest water" in an extremely sarcastic tone.

The food everyone had was mediocre. No one took anything home and there was a LOT left. When I asked our party of 8 what they thought of their food, no one even said "it's good". It was disappointing. The fish was soggy, the chips were cold, the pasta was less than appealing.

Me and 2 others had the Curry Chicken Penne. NEVER have I turned away food at a restaurant. This was the first time. The chicken was fatty and stringy and overcooked, the penne was overcooked, the snowpeas were brown from being steamed for god knows how long, and it's like they dumped an entire block of condensed curry mix into each bowl. It was 100% inedible. I got the manager to take it off the bill, which he didn't fight.

I was right to not want to go to this restaurant. It's always been a let down and every time I ask someone about this place, the response is usually "ewwww".

Probably the worst staff that I've come across while dining out. The waitresses act as if they're doing you a favor by gracing your table with their presence. Have been there twice and both times the service was a huge let down, although the waitress we had the second time was slightly friendlier than the first, which really isn't saying too much. From the minute you walk in it's as if you're a bother to them. Most of the staff is just sitting around and its obvious none of them want to get up to seat you at a table. Our first server ( a blonde girl wearing aviator glasses) was the absolute WORST! I don't think she smiled the entire time we were there. In fact, she had a very condescending attitude that screamed :I'm better than you! well sweetheart you're not. We paid the bill via debit machine and left the tip in cash on the table. While we were paying, we entered a tip amount of $0 on the machine (we had already left it on the table) and she have the NERVE to say... "what, no tip?" After that I felt like grabbing the money we had left on the table, its not like she deserved it anyway. I could probably rant on here for a while longer, but the point is the management and/or owners need to wake up and either train their staff on how to treat customers properly or fire them. The food was decent but I think I'd rather take out and eat it somewhere else.

On New Years day looking for a place to dine we headed into White Rock.

Relatively new to the area I have not tried many local restaurants.

Charlies' looked so inviting and bonus, it was open.

We were greeted warmly, seated promptly and had the cutest table in the place. I was so impressed by the quaint and eclectic decor!

Our server was also prompt and super friendly and helpful.

The menu had a nice variety of items and the prices were totally resonable. I was actually expecting higher prices because of the amazing location over looking the beach!

My boyfriend had a simple hamburger platter. I did not try his burger but he certainly was happy with it. I did try the fries and they were amazing! It was priced around the $10.00 mark.

I myself had one of the best salads I have ever eaten. It was a beet, feta and spinach salad....it was to die for!!! It was wonderful. Also around the $10.00 price range.

It was so good that the next day I went shopping looking for the ingrediants to try to make my own version!

Will I return for more???....Absolutely! It is now one of my favorite restaurants