Sherman's Food Adventures: Charley's Grilled Subs

Charley's Grilled Subs

I'm sure everyone south of the border has heard of Charley's Grilled Subs. After all, they have 400 locations! However, we have only one lonely location up here in Vancouver. In fact, it is not even really located in Vancouver itself. Situated in the food court at Surrey Central, Charley's is known for its freshly made grilled sandwiches prepared right in front of the customer. Just think Quizno's with grilled meat. Now, whenever we have limited access to something that is widely available in the states, it seems to be quite popular. Why? For no other reason that it is "different" and "we can't get it here phenomenon".

So here I was at Surrey Central Mall running some errands and frankly getting a bit hungry. Ha! When am I not? So I decided to pay the food court a visit. *Yawn* The same ol' places like every other mall... Aha! Not Charley's. Sure it's common in the US; but not here... and since I had my camera with me, why not? Being the ambitious eater that I am, I ordered the 2 items starting with the Philly Cheesesteak with a side of fries. Prepared right in front of my eyes, the thinly sliced beef was cooked on a flattop with onions. Much like Subway and Quizno's, there is a choice of veggies and condiments. I'm not sure if cucumber and tomato go with a cheesesteak; but I wanted something to make it healthier. At first, I was concerned that the meat would be dry and chewy. Nope, it was actually decently moist and the rest of the items kept it from being too dry. The onions were nicely caramelized and it turned out to be a decent sandwich, although it would've been better with a bit of grease (if you can believe that...). As for Fries (healthy eating?), they served their purpose without being offensive. Slightly crispy while not being memorable.

Lastly, I also got the California Chicken and it was a little less successful than the cheesesteak. This time around, my fears of the thinly sliced chicken being dry came to fruition. It was quite dry and not all that flavourful either. The cheese and fresh condiments did their best to save the sandwich. To a degree it did; but it never fully hid the dry chicken meat. You know what? The sandwiches were nothing really all that special; yet it didn't offend me either. It's a good alternative to Subway or Quizno's if you wanted to try something new.

The Good:
- Everything is freshly made
- Reasonably-priced

The Bad:
- Grilling thin meat may lead to dryness
- It's okay, nothing amazing though

Charley's Grilled Subs on Urbanspoon

2 comments:

Peggy said...

I've never heard of Charley's, but it sounds very similar to a place called Penn Station around here!

Sherman Chan said...

Hi Peggy! I've heard of Penn Station. Never tried it tho!

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