Champps Americana – New Brighton

This place is terrible! I ordered chicken… it was fried in the grease they fry fish in! Soooooo disgusting. Also, the bartenders are complete tools with bad attitudes.
What?!! It’s going out of business?! Big surprise.

Champs was at one time a great place to get bar food. Unfortunately the quality of food has gone downhill. Food seems a bit overpriced. This place is packed on a Friday night.

The servers are great, Jena is the best. The hosts never seem that excited to be there. Their French dip is super, but order it with provolone!

Been here many times with my family and always have a good time. Not a lot of vegetarian options on the menu, but it is a good place for your classic sports bar experience.

Considering the Google reviews for this restaurant, I bought a Groupon for this specific location. Big mistake.
First off, when we were taken to our booth, my seat was covered with water from a bussing bucket someone must have laid there. There was also popcorn and napkins on the floor under our table. It looked like some kids were really having some fun before we got there and no one bothered to clean it up. The hostess was very quick to wipe off the seat, but who wants to sit on a wet seat that’s just been wiped off?
It took the waitress FOR EVER to come over, bring stuff out (other staff did this), check on us and refill our waters, and even ask how the food was when we got it. I had my entrée for about 15 – 20 minutes before she even stopped by to see if we had everything. Yes, it was 5:50 PM when we first came in, but it was also a Tuesday, and it just seemed there were too many tables assigned to 1 waiter. We only gave the waiter a tip because we felt sorry for her and her seemingly heavy workload, otherwise she would have gotten nothing. .. she got lucky. I almost always leave tips except for extremely rare circumstances, so this should be indicative of the level of service.
Anyhow, we ordered an entrée salad, some salmon dish, and the kobe burger. The specific salad was chosen because they wanted an insane amount of money for a side salad ($ 5.39 plus $ 1.50 for bacon and cheese on top!!!). When the salad was brought out, it was on a large plate, but the serving size was pathetic for the price of almost $ 11. And it was made out of iceberg lettuce, which I could go to the store and get a whole head for maybe $ 2 something. Wow. I can get a large clamshell box of organic greens at the store for around $ 4. Yeah, it’s a restaurant and they need to make money, but most places use at least romaine, not that iceberg tripe.
My boyfriend’s salmon entrée was kinda small and looked thrown together, like it came out of 2 Lean Cuisine boxes. If you’ve eaten those, you know what I’m talking about. There were vegetables and the salmon in a sauce and it did not look appetizing at all. Very slimy.
In regards to my burger, I was asked how I wanted it done and I said medium. It came out well done. The tomatoes were pathetic, like not even pink, almost white. And I got a tiny amount. I LOVE tomatoes, so this was very disappointing. I also needed mayonnaise for my burger (I had asked for EVERYTHING on it, but maybe that was misconstrued) and I didn’t want the burger to get cold, so I had already eaten half of it before she finally stopped by to check on us. When I did get the mayo, it had a yellowish crust on it, as if it had been sitting in the fridge, unused for a long time. Also, there was only ketchup on the table, no mustard, and I didn’t feel like struggling to get it after waiting so long for everything else, so I didn’t ask. You gotta pick and choose your battles, you know?
Yeah, my Groupon was half off, and I shouldn’t expect THAT much, I guess, but this food was very disappointing. I really hope it’s not like that all the time. It’s way too expensive to be charging for such poor quality ingredients AND service/​food prep. Since it’s a sports bar, I suppose the palate of most patrons doesn’t distinguish between iceberg and romaine. Most people probably don’t even order salads. And if the customer base of this franchise is used to eating fast food 4 times a week like most of America, they’re used to well-​done burgers. But why ask what level of doneness I want when it is gonna come how they want it to come?
I know I probably sound somewhat elitist, but I know what good food is, and this is not it. Maybe if you’re just going to get drunk and watch the game, this stuff would be fine, but I expect more for the prices charged. .. . I can get a much better meal at Perkins for a cheaper price.
Lesson for Champps, if they actually care: Use higher-​quality ingredients, have adequate staff so customers actually get waited on (that’s why they’re called «waiters,» right?), and teach the cooks basic techniques like how long medium beef takes and how to NOT make a veggie/​saucy dish look thrown together just out of a package.

Nacho review # 44
I don’t remember eating their nachos, so I had to give it a try at my last visit. I had the Chicken Mile High Nachos. I was excited to try them just by the name! This was going to be good… and then the plate came out and was disappointed as it wasn’t even close to 2 inches high. Is that false advertising?
Now onto the basics:
Plate full of nachos = not quite
Real cheese = yes
Fake cheese = undetermined
Fresh toppings = yes
Good chips = kind of, the outside ones were good, but the ones under then were
floppy and soggy.
Salsa and Sour cream = yes, salsa was okay, but could have used more.
Unknown sauce = yes, from what I could tell it was a bean/​cheese based sauce,
which could have contributed to the chip flop factor.
My overall nacho review is slightly below average. There was nothing special to these nachos and I can’t stand floppy soaked chips. My overall conclusion is to Pass on the Nachos, they have other food to try.
Service was good and we were at a booth that didn’t have a TV in it, so at least that improved.

I live in the area and Champps has been a staple get together spot for a game and beer for years. This is basically a sports bar so those that were surprised by this should do some research BEFORE going to eat somewhere. The owners have always been kind and caring.

Bland, bland, blah food. The manager even asked how everything tasted. I just curled my lip. She said «oh good.»
Even my 10 yr old said bland.
Don’t waste your money.

Went there with a group of 6. Service was ok, forgot a few things but remembered after we asked for them a 2^nd time. The food was the major issue. I ordered the Asian chicken salad. The chicken was disgusting… It was not seasoned and just looked like it had been boiled (not grilled or baked or fried)!!! The salad had a lot of the crispy won ton things that were very very greasy so the entire salad was coated with grease from them… and there were more of those than actual lettuce! My boyfriend had a burger which was ok but very very greasy. We ordered as a table a side of waffle fries to share for those who got salads. The fries were horrible… the end of the batch so they werent even really fries and we couldnt eat them because they were crumbs. I will not be going back any time soon.

Have visited many times over the past 20 years since we live in the neighborhood. The trend has been downward. Champps is your std. loud sports bar with typical pub food and very few healthy options. I tried one of the weekly specials, the chicken pot pie. Please stay away from this one if you like chicken and are trying to cut down on salt. It had a minor amt of the former and a mega dose of the latter. I should have ordered my usual which is a mushroom cheeseburger with a side of coleslaw [most of the other sides are less healthy]. You can go for a drink and eat the free popcorn which might be the best bet.

I only went here because it was close to my grandparents and they are not that mobile, but still wanted to go out for their anniversary. THis place is exactly what is wrong with American cuisine and waistlines. They serve an entire menu of typical American style food. Everything you can get here, is served down the street at the next chain restaurant. I really struggled to find at least one thing to eat that would leave me at home right after with gut rot. Not much luck.
The service was slow. It took my family member 30 minutes (no lie) to get an appetizer. The atmosphere is dark and loud with the music and televisions running at the same time. I really hope we don’t go here again next year.
I realize this review is a bit harsh, but if you love some fried food and a beer while watching a sports game, then you might rate this place higher.

I was visiting from out of the area. Friday evening, ordered the diced chicken salad (which was very good.) and a bottle of Stella Artois beer The server asked if I wanted a chilled glass (yes) and it arrived with a icy Budweiser pint glass (that’s just WRONG).
The rest of the party ordered a chicken breast and fish. They were quite happy with their selections.
Based on execution of the entrees and very friendly prompt service we’ll give them 4 stars. But work on the beer service, please.

Pretty good place to get lunch for as an office. Plenty of indoor seating and a nice patio with umbrellas. Our server was very attentive and helpful.
I had the Kobe burger and it was an unexpected treat. It was cooked perfectly at Medium (as requested) and was just a superb burger.

Probably a 2.5 star place. Stopped in for lunch. Something was burning in the ventilation system giving the restaurant a burnt odor like a self-​cleaning oven that had been on too long. Probably not the normal scent but it made the lunch unenjoyable. I got a glass of water that had a made vinyl taste to it. Not a good experience overall but it was hard to blame on the staff. The chicken quesadilla was good but I ended up taking it with me.

A Chain sports bar that I might frequent.
The main reason for that, is that that they have so many TVs with baseball being played on them. I recently moved, and for the time being this is the closest place that has beer, bar food and the game.
I came in and decided to just sit at the bar since I was alone that night. I sat down and after a keg changing, I got my New Castle, ordered a burger and commenced watching the Rangers and Angels. There was a boozing regular next to me that wanted to be friends. I was in no mood to tell him about much better bars in downtown or N.E. so I just let him go off on a tangent of different things between his numerous shots of Raspberry Vodka.
My burger came out but it was missing the pulled pork on top so she had to bring it back. I wasn’t angry or demanding anything but the bartender (Dave) said he would buy my second beer. My burger was great. I ordered it medium rare and this place actually knows what that means. Just the right amount of red with great grill marks. The fries there are great waffle fries, but the seasoned sour cream I ordered never showed up.
He bought my beer, I tipped him well and it was all together a pleasant trip to Champps. But it’s still in New Brighton. Not really my favorite area, but there are some pluses.

Only good for free popcorn. Want to take your kid to «Back to the Future»? Take him here for the ‘80s bar experience, as it has not been updated since then except the TVs! The bartender and staff are arrogant for some reason. Beer overpriced as is the food. Other than that, general bar food. A lot of retired people like to go here so be ready for the blue hair crowd…
Go to Grumpy’s in Roseville for a better dinning and drinking experience. It is on Snelling and County Rd. C by the Ford dealer.

My brother and sister in law came into town from Hawaii and for one of our dinners we all went out to Champps.
It’s been a while since I have been here and I guess part of me was really hoping that some of the things that had previous bothered me about this place had changed, but they hadn’t.
The food is somehow glorified beyond the quality of what you really get on your plate. Much like Perkins you will see a really nice picture of something that they put together with care in a test kitchen somewhere in a lab. What you really get is a messy creation from their uninspired chef’s, but I guess they just figure the fun and friendly attitude of the wait staff is going to distract me from the fact that the food was really meh.
The fact that all the waiter had to talk about that we could all agree on was the seasoned sour cream really makes me wonder… do THEY even like the food?
For the price, I shouldn’t have gotten my hopes up as high as I did, but they stole a burger off of a food network show-​down, and somehow found a way to make it as if it was served at your local McDonalds.
Congrats Champps, I’m glad I used a coupon…

2 Hambergers, med-​well. Burnt to a crisp, poor bun. Onion rings right out of a bag.

This is my wifes favorite restaurant and we have been to many in the chain and often. We alway considered the New Brighton location the best and most consistent in both food and service. That is until the last few visits. Now it is slipping and becoming more like the others. We order Buffalo Wings and they came out crispy and lightly brushed with sauce. Some friends joined us so we ordered another batch that came out barely cooked and swimming in sauce. I then ordered the Steak Tips rare with Hollandaise. They came out medium well and the Hollandaise had broken and was a bowl of oil and curds. Our favorite fettuccine has become a guess as to whether it will be too thin, no garlic, lots of garlic, fresh chicken or reheated chicken (or just over cooked). I don’t know what has changed in the organization but there is a definite lack of care being taken. The service always stays friendly even in the. chaos of a busy sports bar /​restaurant. Mondays are ½ price burgers and worth marking your calendar
6÷21÷2011 Another «So, So» meal. Asian Chicken Salad — The chicken tasted like it came from a can and the Buffalo Wings were under cooked and swimming in sauce that was hotter than it has ever been. I wish I could talk my wife out of to this place. I think I will stay with the hamburgers from now on.

Stopped in for lunch. The waitress seemed in tune with the lunch crowd and service was prompt and polite. I had a bacon cheddar burger. They used shredded cheese on the top along with BBQ sauce making the presentation better than average. The burger was tasty and I would order it again. It came with waffle fries as a side. We had a half order of onion rings that were enjoyable. It has all the common sports bar accoutrements like big screen TV’s everywhere. The noise level for lunch was pretty low for a sports bar, which is appreciated by myself.