Charlie’s by Rob Goco, Hidden behind a Car Wash Station

By Anton Diaz
Topics: #Restaurants

Related Blog Post: SOUV! by Cyma with Chef Robby Goco’s Culinary Magic!

Charlie’s Grind & Grill by Chef Rob Goco (of Cyma fame) and partners is probably the Best Burger place, pound for pound, in Manila! It serves the best black angus burger for only P150 and cheese steak for P220 with no service charge at all. The best part is you can have your car washed for P100 while you eat.

Kapitolyo Food Street Series:

 

Milk Shakes and Sides | American Craft and Premium Beers | Burgers, Cheese Steaks, Fish & Chips

To make the operation efficient, you have to order from the counter from a limited menu option. Charlie’s is best known for its burgers and cheese steaks. I’m not sure about the Fish & Chips, have you tried it?

In this car wash/burger place, you can find special American Craft and Premium Beers. Isn’t that wonderful?

The place is small but functional and designed well. It is air-conditioned with nice accent lighting and a flat screen TV on each side.

The use of geometric designs, orange colors and see-through windows (that give a “live painting” effect) makes this one of the best ambiances for a burger place in Manila.

You can also eat al fresco and see your car being washed beside you.

 

Veggie Sticks (P60 net) with Mayo Blue Cheese

Simple but delicious. It was thoughtful of Rob to put vegetable sticks on the menu to make the burger experience a bit healthier.

 

Meatballs Marinara 5pcs on Pasta (P250 net)

 

We liked the meatballs, but the pasta — cooked the Italian way — was too sour for our taste. The 5 huge meat balls were enough to compensate for the overall taste of this pasta.

 

Cheese Steaks – Fili Size/ Hungry Portion (P220 net). Batangas AAA Sirloin with caramelized onions, sauteed peppers, topped with velvety cheese sauce and served with smoky ranchero sauce.

 

The BEST Cheese Steak ever for me. The combination of ranchero sauce with the smoky flavor and the Chiz Wiz cheese was perfect. It comes with a whole jalapeno and spicy hot sauce. It was as if Rob Goco knew what I was really looking for.

 

You can order a bigger Philly Size – Starving Portions for P380 but the Fili-pino size is good enough for us, which can already be shared with two people.

 

Black Angus Burger (P150 net) with Fries (P175 net). Freshly ground and hand-crafted.

 

The Black Angus Burger was perfect. It was a bit smaller than expected but each part of the meat was malinamnam. It is served with tomato and pickles (and fries, if you order that option).

 

For P150, this is the BEST Black Angus Burger in terms of value for your money.

 

Charlie’s Grind and Grill

Address: 16 East Kapitolyo Drive, Pasig City
Telephone: +632 501-0137, +63 939-4504758

Charlie’s can be found along the road where Cafe Juanita is located. You need to drive past Cafe Juanita, Three Sisters and Good Burger. You have to park in front of the car wash or have your car washed. 🙂 I’m always having a hard time scheduling a car wash because I felt it’s a waste of time. But now I have a good reason to do it — to enjoy the best burgers in town.

Kapitolyo Food Street Series:

Live an Awesome Life,

Anton 
Founder, www.OurAwesomePlanet.com
Contact me: anton@diaz.ph iphone

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

46 thoughts on “Charlie’s by Rob Goco, Hidden behind a Car Wash Station”

  3. i love charlie’s! we discovered it last january, finally deciding to give it a try after passing by this place every single day.
    http://regandmitzi.wordpress.com/2009/01/10/a-dieters-reward/
    the angus burger was an instant hit but we didnt get to order the cheese steak until last month and it was another great discovery.
    http://regandmitzi.wordpress.com/2009/02/11/and-the-winner-is/
    ive been wanting to try their fish and chips but on several occasions it was not available, so i have yet to taste it. let me know what you think of it if you get to it first!

    Reply

  4. Friends brought me the burger with fries and their buffalo wings, we definitely had bigger burgers than that photo above, I wonder if they have wing it when sizing up the burger or use weights (which is what they should be doing). Since the customer service there has been slammed a few times online, I’m glad I didn’t have to go through the wait to get a meal. The wings were less spicy than I had hoped but it was tasty even after a day in the refrigerator.

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  7. The fish and chips is fantastic. Crispy batter coating, moist inside – just the way it should be. Service can be rather slow during peak hours (4 friends and I ate there 2 Sundays ago and it took close to 40 minutes for all of our orders to be served).

    Reply

  8. It’s funny how we Filipino like sour stuff (green mango, sinigang, suka as sawsawan)) but not like the real Italian way of cooking pasta sauces. (Would we enjoy it if were in Italy?)
    My folks do not like the Mexican salsa neither. Too sour for their taste ( too tamatoey)
    And I kid you not, I didn’t know that they usually put condensed milk and ketchup with the Filipino spaghetti. No wonder I don’t fancy it too much.

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  11. you know, shove the cholesterol aside and just eat… you live only once, too much great food to eat. life is short, eat WELL!

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  12. hi Anton.. i wanna complain about the size of Robbie’s Angus burger, but whaddaheck, for P150 bucks, i guess i shouldnt anymore, right? next time, ask for the fish and chips – for some reason i still believe that the best fish’n’chips one can get in Manila is the one from Fish & Co. (gads, pamatay their tartare dressing, and its really scrumptious!) but Charlie’s is definitely NOT a bad deal. also, have you tried Dixie Mabanta’s fish and chips in Fishbar in D’Mall in Boracay. humongous portion and also delectable!!

    Reply

  13. Hey Anton, Just an idea- have you thought about “geo tagging” your posts? Just like geo tagged photos maybe you can do the same with your featured places so it’s easy to look for in google maps.

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  15. I’m definitely doing a Fish & Chips food trip just because of this comment.
    Well, I need to fly to bora for Fishbar. Let’s see…
    Anton

    Reply

  17. The key difference is the cheese and the buns used. I think the Charlie’s
    Philly Cheesesteak is more fit to the Filipino taste while the Elbert’s has
    a more authentic feel using a hoagie roll and provolone cheese. Charlie’s
    has a lot of more sauces like ranchero, hot sauce on the side and my
    favorite jalapenos… I love Charlie’s more 🙂

    Reply

  18. been hearing lots of raves about Charlie’s and i so wanna try this too!! the angus burger looks mouthwatering 😀

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  20. weve tried it last night. it was great. I like the burger and the chili wings + the gordon beer. total bill was P500.

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  22. Great! I’ve been wary of Elbert’s cheesesteak because of the price. Whatever may be said about the ingredients being grade-A, I think I’ll try Charlie’s first. Thanks!

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  27. Great fries, burgers were ok (a bit too salty for my taste)but the patties broke off into little bits(?), buffalo wings were insanely spicy (naguukit ang anghang, had to order two cans of soda) and the shakes tasted like melted ice cream. Nice selection of magazines to wait for your food in a call center-studes noisy hang out joint.
    Overall for a meal for two that costing 1100 pesos in a carwash joint isnt exactly hole in the wall.

    Reply

  28. The hubby and I have sampled their wares around 5 times. He says the angus burger is good, but not exceptional. The pulled pork sandwich is adequate in flavor but, in retrospect, tasted like it relied a wee bit too much on Liquid Smoke for flavor – was this pulled pork done with a some corners cut in the process? The fish and chips is okay for the price, but I can think of a couple other places that have better versions (Fish & Co. and Gumbo come to mind). Kudos to them though, for at least having malt vinegar, not just tartar sauce. The chips/French fries are good when freshly done and properly seasoned with salt and pepper; this is not always the case. All in all, I’d say this place is okay, offering good value for money, but I wouldn’t keep going back there the way I do for Cyma. 😉

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  29. Another thing – staff need to be better trained in taking orders. I had to repeat my orders three times because the first two times, the waiter/order taker was just listening to me and not writing down what I was saying! And I was only ordering for two people.

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  30. is Charlie’s really closed on Sundays? i went there last Sunday after reading this post and it was closed! The car wash was open though.

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  31. Thanks for the comment notsolillulu! Yeah, I notice that service could be
    improved a lot. Since they are in a car wash area, I guess service is a bit
    more lax.

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  32. The fish and chips is great in Charlie’s. White cream dory (no fishy taste at all) with a light crunchy batter similar to Fish and Co, but at a much lesser price. It goes with real fries and tartar sauce. I wasnt too impressed with that sauce but you can try the fish with malt vinegar, tasted good with that 🙂

    Reply

  35. I dunno if we came on a bad night but the service was awful and the place was dirty… as in may ipis. The Philly cheesesteak in that makeshift food court along Pearl Drive in front of UA&P was better. Cheaper at that.

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  36. Hi Anton, got Charlie’s number from another foodie: 635-4857
    I wish someone here tried the milkshake and share if it’s good. Been looking for a place to satisfy my milkshake fix 🙂

    Reply

  38. tried their burger before the place was “sikat” it was really so so.. like you said, it was small serving and i think i tasted more of the gulay than the meat.. we went back the 2nd time few days after to try out the burger and other items, the fish n chips was the best among all.
    btw the mouth/lips urinal was a bit gross and wet..
    went back the 3rd time hoping to give the burger one last chance since everyone seems to be raving about it (while am wondering if i ordered the wrong burger twice), but was turn off by the long line.. i dont think am going back there anytime soon and really, cant stand it being call the best burger in town. its not, imho.

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  40. went to charlie’s for the first time last friday. burger was not what i was expecting. maybe i’ll give it another try someday. brother’s angus burger will smoke this out of the water.
    have you tried the elbert’s burger in rockwell? they use the same bread (i think) as the lusso burger. it was yummy. (think old school quarter pounder with cheese but better)

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  41. ate there last saturday. had my first ever cheese steak… and it was ok…
    compared to your picture above though, my sandwich had less meat and it was drowning (as in all i could is was orange) in cheese.

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  44. I’ve been looking for Charlie’s and so far your blog has been the only one to specify where it is, thanks!
    Also, I like your blogging style coz its concise and gets straight to the point-the food! With good pics, too. I was actually looking for a diff resto when I happened on your acct and I’m hooked. Hope you and your family eat out more and tell us all abot it 🙂

    Reply

  45. Charlie’s had arguably the greatest burger in Manila in 2010. But they have changed something in 2011 (I’ve visited only twice in 2011). The single Black Angus burger pattie seems smaller, still cooked nicely with a good pink layer through the middle, but the juices from the burger do not flow out to meld with the other ingredients. All of the right ingredients are still there: fresh lettuce, tomato, onion, [optional bacon], and sesame/poppy seed bun, but the magic is gone. I don’t know if Charlie’s responded to some reviewer blogs that said their burgers were too mushy and juicy, but that was what made their burger great. The mushy-ness meant you couldn’t put that burger down to send a text message – the world stopped for a Charlie’s Black Angus burger. Perhaps they’ve changed cooks/chefs, managers, or beef suppliers, but something is not the same. I’m sure some people like it the new way, but I used to go back to Charlie’s because they had a great burger that I couldn’t make at home. Now my burger tastes better than theirs, so I will not try it again. They have many other items on their menu, which I hope have not suffered any changes in quality. However, everyone should skip the Fish & Chips. The dory itself was nice and creamy in taste, but the batter was too thick and cooked too long in overly used oil.

    Reply

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