Charlotte’s offers elegant dining and excellent food for over 40 years
Charlotte’s reached its 40 year milestone last year. The Delaware County iconic restaurant continues to have reason to celebrate. Exceptional food at reasonable prices, an elegant atmosphere, friendly service, a rich history and a vibrant connection to the community are just a few of the consistent characteristics that keep customers returning, again and again, during the past four decades.
Owned and operated by Jimmy and Katrina Costalas of Broomall, Charlotte’s has managed to maintain its oldfashioned charm, with always-evolving updates to keep up with the modern dining scene, and that seems like the magic formula to keep customers pleased.
Costalas is a trained chef, who not only grew up in the Costalas family restaurant business, but also graduated from the School of Hotel and Restaurant Management at Widener University in 1991. He began his culinary career working with French Chef Marcel Brosette, one of the first chefs to come to Philadelphia from France. Jim’s father Gus, the founder of Charlotte’s, also gave Jim solid advice that the owner follows to this day. His father told him to skimp on nothing and never to sacrifice quality for price.
Charlotte’s is steeped in a vibrant past, formerly serving as a stop on a stagecoach route between Philadelphia and Valley Forge, and later serving as a small portion of the Underground Railroad. Jim’s grandmother Charlotte grew up on a farm in rural upstate Pennsylvania, left her 12 brothers and sisters and traveled to Philadelphia, family recipes in hand and dreams of owning a fine restaurant in her head. Her recipes were used since the day her son Gus Costalas purchased the landmark restaurant in August of 1981, and named it after his beloved mother. Charlotte’s large portrait still hangs by the hostess desk in the restaurant, reminding passers-by of the woman
who started it all.
These days, Jimmy’s wife of 27 years, Katrina Costalas, the restaurant’s hostess and general manager, carries on the family tradition of greeting customers at Charlotte’s, with a warm, friendly smile and showing them to their table, giving them the welcoming feel to which they’re accustomed to getting at Charlotte’s. She would make Charlotte proud.
Costalas took advantage of the pandemic slow period to not only remodel the bar and deck, but also to install new lighting, update the main dining room and construct a new deck, which seats up to 20 diners.
“We walk a fine line, trying to do it all well,” Costalas shared recently. “We offer our customers the same elegant dining and excellent food on which we built our reputation, but we try to do it with a modern flair, by keeping on top of things, always updating and blending tradition with new concepts. It’s all about pleasing our customers and making them happy.”
The restaurant also serves large groups and accommodates everyone from full bus trips to community organizations, such as Rotary, and business meetings. The restaurant specializes in hosting family “life events,” like wedding rehearsal dinners, engagements, funerals, birthdays, bowling banquets, First Holy Communion parties and graduations.
Charlotte’s Restaurant, 3207 West Chester Pike, 610-356-7100 www. charlottesrestaurant.com/.