Charlie's Kabob Grill - Wake Forest, NC

We found Charlie's after a particularly stressful day. I met the kids and the ex at a lake after work. Work for me involves physical labor. I scoop adults up out of beds, stand them on their feet and help them walk. I don't mean I'm holding their hands and cheering them on. I am supporting a good deal of their weight and am sometimes moving one leg for them. I'm tired at the end of the day. Just plain tired. But I met the kids at the lake for swimming with the intent we'd all go out to dinner after. Except the ex forgot to bring dry clothes...

An hour in a car with wet hungry kids? I don't think so. 

We went to Walmart, bought dry clothes and then tried to find a restaurant everyone could agree on. Boy and Ms. Finicky agree on something? What was I thinking? The arguing and the whining started. The ex found Charlie's on Yelp. More whining but I didn't care. My sister tells me all the time you can't negotiate with terrorists and she's right. "We're going to Charlie's, you two don't have to eat! Now shut up and get in the car!"

The kids pile into my car, we're following the ex since he has a GPS. It took us to the back of a strip mall. Are we supposed to knock on one of the doors and give a password to get the kabobs? We continue to follow him around the block...twice. Alex and I are laughing and wondering if maybe we should indeed try a password in the alley. The ex turns right for the third time, I turn left. I found it.
  

At this point, I wasn't expecting much. It's a strip mall, how good can it be? The gentleman behind the counter, who turns out to be Charlie, greeted us right away. Charlie is a delightfully pleasant man. He joked with my kids as he took our order. There's a picture of his new baby on the cash register. We talk about his kids, his wife...very friendly, very personable. As we're eating I notice Charlie greeting everyone else that comes in. He knows details about all of them, asks about their wives, business...This is the kind of place where I like spending my money. A genuinely nice man who loves his job and makes a hell of a falafel. My kids ask what baklava is so I go to the counter and ask for two pieces. Charlie insists I take four and won't hear of me paying for them. I stood and argued with him for a moment but he won. I took the baklava. If you're ever in Wake Forest, give it a try and an fyi, go to the front of the strip mall cause you can't get into Charlie's from the back.