This is a fast food, railroad-themed, johnson county cheesesteak emporium. Thanks to commenter JH for bringing this local chain to my attention. Apparently chartreuse is a particularly obnoxious variety of the color green. I’m happy to report that the large model train featured at the Lenexa location opts for a more understated green than true chartreuse. One also hopes that the misspelling “chartroose” was an intentional gesture to facilitate visual rhyming with “caboose” in that gimmicky, commercial signage kind of way.
The Lenexa Caboose is located in a strip mall west of I-35, a truly uninspiring but typical placement for establishments in this part of the metro. The place was entirely filled with dudes–overgrown frat boys on lunch break, college students, random jobless yahoos. Not sure why, but cheesesteak doesn’t seem to be popular with the ladies.
The food at this place is fine, mostly because i can’t really think of another fast food place that specializes in cheesesteaks. As discussed previously, Grinders has a damn good one, but lots of places just phone it in, resulting in highly perplexing and uninspired varieties of this delicacy. The cheesesteak was good, but not awe-inspiring. Shockingly, it really needed more cheese. I’m thinking Cheez Whiz. I mean, it’s called a cheesesteak for chrissake, what’s the deal here? They have other things on the menu but I wasn;t going to order anything else if they consider this the specialty. The prices are cheap–I got outta there for 6 bucks all said.
The decor of course is pretty terrible–formica tables, too much light, hotel-grade artwork with a locomotive theme. They can’t decide whether this is a fast food joint or or a hangout. There is a small video game room and a train track that runs along the circumference of the wall. One can only imagine that the model train takes periodic trips around the confines but I did not witness this. They also serve beer which, along with these other things indicates to me that the Caboose wants to be a dinner destination for families. My advice, quit trying to hard and be a lunch spot.
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I totally agree about Chartroose. The cheesesteaks do not have anywhere close to enough cheese. wtf??Mine was so dry I actually opened the cheesesteak and examined it for evidence of said cheese…not to be found. Dry, shaved meat on crap bread. Horrible.
Chartroose puts the cheese on the bottom of the bun, which is totally wrong, but they have the closest thing to an authentic Philly cheesesteak in this area.
I recently had one at Grinders and it was fairly tasty, but it was sitting in a pool of juice and fell apart when I tried to pick it up.
gah.
this place sucks ass.
If you guys didn’t like the one on 87th st, you should try the original one on metcalf in front of Hooters. It has been around for more than 20 years, so obviously they are doing something right. Although they may not put alot of cheese, which is the way I like it, the meat, onions, minimal cheese (which is the Zephyr) pickles, and of course their free-flowing bottle of A1 make it great! You should try it again or try a different sandwich! Bon Appetite!