Chris E.
Yelp
Chuck's used to be the "real deal" back before his original location on the SE corner of 79th & Central was taken by a fire that claimed the business. Chuck then moved his business to the current flagship store in Burbank, and I know he has at least one other location in Darien. He dabbled in some Tex-Mex flavors, Cajun dishes and also various Latin dishes.. sometimes Cuban, sometimes Puerto Rican and sometimes straight-up Mexican fare. The food was exciting and different. Over the years the menu seems to have lost some of that excitement, and IMO the focus now is on his BBQ fare. Don't get me wrong, it's not bad, but it's not really good either?!?! I work close to the Burbank location, so we used to frequent the restaurant almost once a month. Since the pandemic, we've scaled it back to maybe 2-3 times because the food, quite frankly, is just okay. The place is pretty cool, spacious and inviting. The service has always been decent, but the real attraction here was always the eclectic food. Today 6 of us ordered lunch to-go, and all of us where underwhelmed. The highlight of the meal was the Smoked Boudin Balls - which are deep fried balls of pulled pork, andouille sausage and jambalaya served with a Cajun ranch dipping sauce. They are pretty unique and very tasty. 3 of the 6 of us ordered the 2 meat BBQ sampler. The brisket was dry... and the mild sauce had very little flavor. The pulled pork was average, at best. It all seemed to be lacking seasoning.. 2 others had the Chuck's Special Sandwich - which included brisket, Jack cheese, grilled peppers and a side of au jus. Again, the sandwich itself was decent - mainly because of the toppings and au jus give the dry brisket the moisture and flavor it needed. The brisket needs to be the star of that sandwich and it just wasn't. The last order was the Chicken Tenders Dinner. This featured 6 HUGE tenders of breast meat. Unfortunately, they were heavily breaded and over cooked to the point that they were dry. The breading also was very bland?!?! Of the sides that everyone ordered, the fries, of all things, were the best. The mac and cheese was bland. The slaw was
just meh. I had the andouille sausage stuffing that featured no visible andouille sausage and no andouille sausage flavor. On a side note, the chicken tenders were so hot when they were put into the styrofoam container that they melted a hole through one of the sides - making one of them inedible. We appreciate the hot food, but the smell and appearance of melted styrofoam is pretty off-putting. No one took pictures because no one really had anything to say about the food. We were hungry and it filled that void. I normally wouldn't waste my time writing a review after eating a meal such as this, but the place used to be really solid?!?! I guess my memories of really good meals eaten at Chuck's has prompted me to write this and ask what happened? There are plenty of so-so restaurants around. Chuck's needs to do better.