The Charles

4.3

10 Reviews

$50 and over

Meat

Make a reservation

2 people

Nov 23, 2024

7:00 PM

Innovative
Neighborhood gem

Our underground restaurant known as The Charles, is located inside the Darien Butcher Shop. This is a reservation only dining experience and is BYOB. We ask guests (with confirmed booking) to arrive at 6:30pm. Please no early arrivals as the team will be diligently setting up.
This 5-course dinner is done with a modern French technique and sure to delight.
$150 per person.
Please review cancellation policy when booking. For any changes, requests, or allergies please email us: info@darienbutchershop.com

Additional information

Dining style
Casual Dining
Price
$50 and over
Cuisines
Meat, Contemporary French / American
Hours of operation
Dinner Thu–Sat 6:30 pm–10:00 pm
Phone number
(203) 202-9664
Website
http://darienbutchershop.com/
Dress code
Business Casual
Executive chef
Chef Peter

Location
13 Grove St, Darien, CT 06820-4511
Neighborhood
Darien
Parking details
None
Additional
BYO Liquor, BYO Wine, Non-Smoking

What 10 people are saying

Overall ratings and reviews

Reviews can only be made by diners who have eaten at this restaurant

4.3

4.3 based on all time ratings

4.5Food
4.2Service
3.7Ambience
3.8Value

Noise • Moderate

10 Reviews

OT
OpenTable Diner
New York City
2 reviews
5.0
2 reviews
Dined on September 9, 2023
1. Overall 5
2. Food 5
3. Service 5
4. Ambience 4
What an absolutely excellent experience. I think it’s important to enter this experience well aware that this is not a restaurant, it is a butcher shop with tables placed to convert it. That being said, we enjoyed the intimacy and uniqueness offered dining here. Especially given the small crowd on a Saturday night. The waiter was lovely and attentive. Very friendly and responsive. I am pregnant and no trouble was given for substitutions of some of the courses. Everything was fresh, flavorful and well thought out. My husband is a chef and was impressed by the food quality. The quantity of food was just right. I was shocked to read any review saying that the food was not good as I feel that is not possible, especially given such a variety of diverse courses. A few minor critiques would be to add some tea lights and offer beverages (non alcoholic) aside from water upon arrival. Additionally, while none of the food was cold, some of the courses were a bit more on the not quite hot enough side. I believe this was a result of it not being an actual restaurant with heat lamps as everything was served quite promptly and they could not have expedited the serving any more. I think the pricing was very fair given the multiple courses. We Will absolutely return in the future.
1 person found this helpful
t
tymelyron
New York City
370 reviews
vip
5.0
370 reviews
Dined on September 9, 2023
1. Overall 5
2. Food 5
3. Service 5
4. Ambience 4
fun evening at The Charles, arrived at 6:30, BYOB, 5 course dinner with beef tartare; tomato, lentil and mozzarella salad; scallop, shrimp, and calamari dish; prime strip steak with spinach and potatoes and dessert; only room for 10 diners; food tasted great, would recommend.
1 person found this helpful
SM
SMH3
New York City
3 reviews
1.0
3 reviews
Dined on June 10, 2023
1. Overall 1
2. Food 1
3. Service 1
4. Ambience 1
I went into this dining experience expecting a top notch dinner and couldn't have come out more disappointed. Upon making the reservation we were told to arrive on time and that there was a 10 minute grace period. We even had to put down a credit card to make the reservation. Despite this, our table was not ready when we arrived on time at 6:30. We had to stand at the door as a table was rolled out and set. Same for 4 additional guests who arrived behind us. Also, the place was filthy. Fingerprints all over the meat display cases and glass doors. No candlelight. No music. No ambiance. Dinner in a dirty butcher shop is what it was. We had to ask for an ice bucket for our bottle of champagne, had to open the bottle ourselves and pour all drinks ourselves. (A corkage fee is included in the bill) The food was disgusting and cold. Awful from beginning to end and it wasn’t cheap. $200/per person prix fixe menu! The fact that a NY strip steak isn’t cooked properly in a butcher shop is absurd. Everything lacked seasoning. Also the chef was taking out the trash in the middle of the dinner course and then left the restaurant as dessert was being served. He was clearly in a rush to get out of there and you could taste it in the food. It’s disrespectful to have this experience and pay a premium. I don’t mind spending this money but I expect a good experience and value in return. Save yourself the money, time and aggravation. It's not even close to being worth it. I'm taking this review public because I initially expressed these concerns in an email to the chef/owner but he didn't even care enough to answer.
1 person found this helpful
A
Acadia
New York City
16 reviews
4.0
16 reviews
Dined on September 10, 2022
1. Overall 4
2. Food 5
3. Service 5
4. Ambience 4
Excellently prepared dishes, definitely meat focused which is to be expected given its a butcher shop. One of the most delicious meals I’ve had in all of Fairfield County. I feel much better the next day when I drink Biodynamic wine so I was actually pleased that it was BYOB. It’s an intimate setting and the chef is informative, very friendly, personable and available to speak to. It’s slightly cramped and you really are almost in the kitchen but that is part of the experience. Could use slightly better ventilation only bc cooking smells got into my clothes a bit.
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OT
OpenTable Diner
Greater Boston
1 review
3.0
1 review
Dined on September 10, 2022
1. Overall 3
2. Food 4
3. Service 4
4. Ambience 3
The chef is skilled and the meal was a fun experience. But it cost roughly $200 a head, including tip, which was more than I’d expected based on the reservation process. I’m mentioning this here as it looks another customer had a similar experience. Once is a mistake… twice is a… it couldn’t hurt to provide customers with an unambiguous invoice beforehand
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CG
CharlesG
New York City
1 review
3.0
1 review
Dined on August 20, 2022
1. Overall 3
2. Food 5
3. Service 3
4. Ambience 1
Excellent food, tho maybe too much. Much too high noise level due to close quarters. Very poor ventilation some in my party had stinging eyes due to cooking fumes. A tad too pricy given the make-shift ambience and lack of liquor license. CW Grinnell
1 person found this helpful
j
jillie
New York City
38 reviews
4.0
38 reviews
Dined on May 27, 2022
1. Overall 4
2. Food 4
3. Service 3
4. Ambience 3
A unique dining experience with very good, creative food and quirky ambiance. Add a table and tablecloth to the butcher shop and at night it becomes “The Charles”. Needs some fine tuning on the ambiance to pull it off for the price (e.g. fresh flatware after each course). With just 4 of us dining it was cozy. It would have been nice if the chef had greeted us after the meal. Our favorites were beef tartare and halibut with seafood. It changes daily and you don’t know what it will be until the day of your reservation. The panna cotta was a good choice after a robust meal. I could not it the last course and took it home. Could not add my photos.
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DM
DebM
Las Vegas
3 reviews
3.0
3 reviews
Dined on May 7, 2022
1. Overall 3
2. Food 3
3. Service 3
4. Ambience 3
Lovely in theory, but not executed as the experience we anticipated and for the price, which was higher than we were initially told, we were hoping to love it and make it an annual outing.
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MM
MaggieM
New York City
1 review
5.0
1 review
Dined on April 2, 2022
1. Overall 5
2. Food 5
3. Service 5
4. Ambience 5
I realize I wrote my comments off my other e-mail address. It was wonderful- but in retrospect should have asked who wouldn’t go for beef tartare… and one other thing that most ate but two didn’t. it was a waste as a result but will know to substitute next time. Checking on the date of June 2nd. I’ll check w/open table as to availability.
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S
Stevel
New York City
4 reviews
3.0
4 reviews
Dined on March 26, 2022
1. Overall 3
2. Food 4
3. Service 3
4. Ambience 2
Food is excellent, restaurant has no ambience. Restaurant was very overcrowded
1 person found this helpful

FAQs

The Charles is rated 4.3 stars by 10 OpenTable diners.

Yes, you can generally book this restaurant by choosing the date, time and party size on OpenTable.

Make a reservation

2 people

Nov 23, 2024

7:00 PM

13 Grove St, Darien, CT 06820-4511

Additional information

Neighborhood
Darien
Hours of operation
Dinner Thu–Sat 6:30 pm–10:00 pm
Price
$50 and over
Cuisines
Meat, Contemporary French / American
Dining style
Casual Dining
Dress code
Business Casual
Parking details
None
Executive chef
Chef Peter
Additional
BYO Liquor, BYO Wine, Non-Smoking

Website
http://darienbutchershop.com/
Phone number
(203) 202-9664

The Charles

Make a reservation

Additional information

Menu

What 10 people are saying

Overall ratings and reviews

FAQs

How is The Charles restaurant rated?

Is The Charles currently accepting reservations?

Make a reservation

Additional information