Food Review - Charley Brown's Tex-Mex Cantina

One thing that I've really missed about living in Texas is the great tasting Tex-Mex food. Whenever the desire hit me, I could always count on some good chips & salsa, refreshing margaritas, and sizzling fajitas. I remember my first experience at a Tex-Mex restaurant outside of Texas. It was in Delaware. It had been 2 months since I moved from Texas and I was craving some margaritas and fajitas. I figured I'd treat myself with a birthday meal paying homage to my Texas roots. I asked my friends and co-workers about a good Tex-Mex place in town, and the overwhelming majority of people recommended one particular establishment, commenting on the great margaritas. Sounds great to me! It's the night of my birthday and my taste buds were waiting in anticipation. I pulled up to the place and it looked just like a typical Pappasito's restaurant back home. The interior had the same with the Tex-Mex decor and they even had Spanish music playing. So far so good. I looked at the menu and saw a nice selection of food and margaritas. I ordered a plain house margarita on the rocks and the chicken fajitas. My drink arrived along with the chips and salsa. The margarita tasted like crap. They've added too much sour mix, the sour mix itself is bad, and I can barely taste any alcohol. I knocked out that weak margarita while finishing the first basket of chips & salsa (which were ok, nothing spectacular) and didn't feel anything. I called the waitress over with the drinks menu and ordered another margarita - a plain margarita with 3 top-shelf tequilas in it. This should have done the trick. Nope. Although I could taste the tequila, it had a dull, flatness to it. It was missing that limey kick. To make matters worse, the food came out and it was awful! The rice tasted like Rice-a-roni, the beans were the wrong type and flavor (I would have accepted refried, charro, pinto, or black beans), and the chicken had no flavor. It was obvious that all they did was cook a chicken breast on the grill with minimal seasoning and cut it into strips. Where was the Tex-Mex flavor? Apparently not here. Half-way through my disappointing meal I mustered up the courage to order another drink. I picked the biggest, baddest, most expensive margarita on the menu dubbed, "The Texas-rita". It had everything, the name, top-shelf tequila, triple sec, and even Cointreau - this is exactly how I make my margaritas at home. Once again I was sadly disappointed. They used some other orange liqueur that dominated the drink to a point that it didn't even resemble a margarita. Deflated and almost defeated, I had one savior to lift me up - dessert! It was my birthday and I'm sure some free dessert would be in order. I asked the waitress for the dessert menu and asked if they had any specials since it was my birthday. This is when the final blow came. She explained to me that they did not serve dessert. What?! No flan or fried ice cream or fruit? Is this some sort of sick dream? I wanted to cry. The only positive I can give for this establishment was the staff. The waitress apparently felt sorry for me and presented me with a bag of M&Ms she had in her purse and had the entire wait staff sing happy birthday to me at my table. It was a nice gesture, kinda pathetic for a birthday dinner. That's what I get for eating Tex-Mex outside of Texas. This place was a joke of a Tex-Mex restaurant. I felt sorry for all the local people eating here thinking this is authentic stuff. A Taco Cabana would put this place in shame. Despite this horrendous experience, I tried in vain to give other Tex-Mex restaurants outside of Texas a chance. Again and again, I was disappointed. To save myself from anymore disappointment, I vowed to never eat Tex-Mex outside of Texas.

When my wife kept insisting to try out this Tex-Mex place in Bangkok, I was highly skeptical. Good Tex-Mex in Thailand? Yeah, right! I was happy to be proven wrong. This gem of a restaurant pleasantly surprised me with their authentic tasting chicken fajitas and margaritas. Charley Brown's now ranks among the best Tex-Mex restaurants that I've ever been to.

Charley Brown's is a small place with a nice open-air front patio located on a side street of Sukhumvit Soi 11.

The decor is a mix of Americana and Cantina where you soon forget that you're in Thailand.

Looking at the bar.

Our table with condiments at the ready and a fresh basket of chips & salsa. I was very impressed with both the chips and salsa. The chips were salted to perfection and had a nice golden, crispiness to them. The salsa had a nice spicy kick to it with a hint of sweetness. It had finely diced tomatoes and was neither to thick or runny.

The margaritas were a perfect complement to the spicy salsa. These puppies were nice and strong and actually tasted like a margarita. It's always disappointing to order a margarita at a bar and get something that tastes like crap. These were the real deal.

The fajitas came out sizzling and smoking and all the fixins were awesome. The tortillas were nice fluffy, the rice was actual Spanish rice, the refried beans were spot on, and the shredded cheese was awesome (apparently imported from Wisconsin). The chicken itself was flavored just right and had that authentic Tex-Mex flavor to it - it wasn't just a chicken breast cooked over onions, cut into strips, and labeled as fajitas like in other places.

To top it all off, they had the most amazing ice cream dessert I've ever had. The B-52 ice cream is a heavenly blend of ice cream with vodka, Kahlua, and Bailey's.

As far as Tex-Mex restaurants go, this place has earned my respect. Great, authentic tasting food and drinks. What more can you ask for? It's a nice change of pace from all the Thai food. I can see myself eating at this place every week and never getting tired of it.