It's in nowhere land at the intersection of Church St. and another little road. It's a bit of a surprise to see the island of commerce smack in the middle of the countryside. Take a nice quiet drive on the very edge of Guilford County and up pops a small shopping center with a Lowes grocery store, a Subway, a hair place, a frozen yogurt shop, Uptown Charlies bar and restaurant, and not much else.
It was my first visit and I didn't know what to expect, but it was time to give the place a chance. I live in an out of the way place that's only about 10 minutes from Uptown Charlie's. My wife refuses to eat in most places in Rockingham County, and we had to go somewhere - why not try Uptown Charlie's.
Uptown Charlie's is a sports bar/restaurant, which means the walls are covered in big screen TVs. It's loud and it's busy. It's like Turk's but much nicer. But that's the end of my criticism.
Now to the good news.
I was greeted by a host who didn't act like an asshole. She didn't get grumpy when I asked for a table rather than a booth. Believe it or not, this sort of request pisses off some hosts in Rockingham County. She didn't speak like her mouth was full of chewing tobacco. She asked whether I wanted to be seated immediately or would I rather wait until my partner joined me. I asked for immediate seating and was given a table near the bar. She was a nice lady who would later stop by and ask if everything was going to suit us. Indeed it was.
Eventually three more servers would check on our well being. I normally get annoyed at being bothered by restaurant staff, but these checks were well timed and seemed genuine.
My water glass was never drained. I thought I would mention that. I don't like an empty water glass. There's something wrong about it.
And here's the ultimate in good service...our waitress noticed my difficulty with reading the menu in the dark. The booths all have overhead lamps, the tables do not. She pulled our her cell phone, took about 30 seconds to download a flashlight app and then gave me her cell phone to use as a light to read the menu. She went off to help her other customers and left me with her cell phone. That's a trusting waitress. She got more than a 15% tip.
We ordered Boom Boom Shrimp for an appetizer to share. Boom Boom Shrimp are crusty shrimp splashed in a buffalo style sauce. The Boom Boom Shrimp were killers, although my wife thought they were a tad spicy. On the next visit I think I will order Boom Boom Shrimp as an entree. I didn't see the Boom Boom Shrimp listed as an entree on Uptown Charlie's web site, but they were listed on the printed menu.
We ordered a couple of different burgers - mine was a Sweet Baby Ray's with onion rings and my wife had a cheeseburger with homemade potato chips. Both burgers and the sides were delicious, especially the homemade potato chips.
Uptown Charlie's is not exactly a secret in Reidsville. We saw several diners from Reidsville and talked to some of them. We saw one guy we had not seen in years, but he knew us. My wife was waving to everybody like she was an Uptown Charlie's regular. Everybody knows and loves my wife, me not so much.
Normally Uptown Charlie's offers live entertainment outside on the patio, but apparently some bees were on a rampage and the entertainment moved inside.
Much to our delight the evening's entertainment was Daniel Love. Daniel Love is a one-man band who is an old friend of our son. He used to spend the night at our house. We had not seen him in years. Our son is 32 years old.
Daniel plays country, rock, pop, blues or whatever you need. Daniel made a point of coming by our table to say hello and then he dedicated an Allman Brothers tune to us - Stateboro Blues.
Uptown Charlie's is worth the drive out of town. No matter what town you live in, you will have to drive out of town to get there. Just don't expect a quiet evening.
Be sure to check out the menu online. You'll see Uptown Charlie's has a lot to offer.
