Chaplins

We've lived in Roswell for years but never got around to visiting Chaplins until last Friday. It's been advertised to be a good family restaurant but I would not recommend it for families. It's pretty small and they do NOT have a non-smoking area. So we were sitting right next to a table with a guy smoking and we have our 8 year old son with us. There were at least 4 other smokers within a 10-15 foot area. Also there was a guy at the bar that was drunk and very loud. He was with a few friends, possibly co-workers. Because of the cigarette smoke and loud/drunk people we asked to go outside to eat. No one else was out there and it seemed nice at first until my son started getting bitten by mosquitos all over his legs. We thought he was being dramatic at first but I later counted 12 bites on his legs, 1 on his arm. Honest! Throughout all of this we ate our appetizer, but unable to eat anything else because of the mosquitos. My son (in tears) and I abruptly left to get in the car while my husband boxed up the food and paid the bill. I do have to say that the staff was very friendly. The waitress and the owner/manager wanted to make our visit a pleasant one and were very accomodating. But this just is not a good place for families, especially with young kids. We were there at about 5 or 6:00 so I'm sure it probably gets even less family oriented later in the evening. Perhaps if you don't mind smoke/drunks/mosquitos and you're with just adults it might be "charming." The food was OK. I did enjoy our nachos, but my husband and son thought their sweet tea was watered down. I hear that this is a fun place, maybe because of the karaoke at night, but I don't believe I'll come back to see all of that.

just when my boyfriend was saying that there's nothing special outside the perimeter we find this place. we went there today specifically because they have karaoke on wednesdays and we both love it. what they have is actually "kamikaze karaoke" which, if i understood correctly means, you sing the song you like plus you also have to sing a random song you pick from a hat. every week these random songs have a theme i hear and today it happened to be michael jackson songs. i don't know if this is the reason we had such a great time. it could be, but also the karaoke guy was energetic and encouraging without going overboard; the crowd was friendly, fun and in the mood for dancing and singing; the service of your basic bar pub fare was quick; our waitress was very attentive; the buffalo chicken fingers were tasty; the drinks were good and cheap and the vibe was very good. i substract one star because we smelled like cigarrettes afterwards. this will be our "cheers" neighborhood bar in alpharetta. will be back again, often.