This profile is in active compilation — some details are awaiting a cited source.

Charlie D’s Chicken and Seafood East is the eastern unit of Gary Hill’s Kansas City fish-and-chicken family, in a stand-alone building on Ararat Drive just off I-70 and Blue Ridge Cutoff, across from the stadium complex’s western edge. Hill’s rule is the same at every Charlie D’s — “feed people the way you’d feed your own family,” cooked to order, “never under a lamp” — and the East store is where the Sunday soul-food brunch buffet with fish served hot to the table and a live DJ has drawn its most consistent praise. Once signed “Charlie D’s & Son Catfish,” it is one of four locations, with a downtown store opened for the 2026 World Cup.

Description

The building sits on Ararat Drive, a short commercial spur between Blue Ridge Cutoff and I-70 in the Eastwood Hills area of east Kansas City, which the company’s own location page names as its neighborhood.1 It keeps a dining room — NetWaiter’s profile lists dine-in with takeout and delivery, no reservations — and shorter Monday hours than the rest of the week.21

The menu is company-wide. Fish comes as channel catfish (fillet or whole), basa, cod, tilapia, whiting and orange roughy, breaded to order in one of four styles the founder described in 2018 — hot and spicy, regular, no salt, light salt — with butterfly or “homestyle” shrimp; chicken as tenders, mixed or dark-meat boxes and a chicken-fried chicken; sandwiches as po’ boys, three Phillys and a Charlie D Burger; and a Louisiana strand of gumbo, jambalaya, red beans and rice and a shrimp boil.34 Sides are $3 each from a list of fifteen — collard greens, mac ‘n cheese, hush puppies, fried okra, battered mushrooms, spaghetti with meat sauce among them — and the company’s pitch is that fish “comes in daily,” fries are hand-cut, and nothing sits under a heat lamp.31

The East store’s signature is Sunday. The company advertises a “Sunday Soul Food Brunch” buffet from 11 to 4 — fried chicken, collard greens, cornbread, eggs, waffles, brisket, and hot fish carried to the table — with a live DJ; a November 2024 reviewer of this location described exactly that (“the server brought you out fresh hot fish”).56 Restaurantji aggregates 285 reviews at 3.4 stars, praising freshness and faulting small side portions; EatOkra lists the store as Black-owned.67

Ownership and history

Gary Hill is “born and raised in Kansas City,” and by his own account was a kid teachers wrote off; he now mentors young people through the Boys & Girls Club, Kansas City Public Schools and the East 23rd PAC neighborhood group, and told KSHB in June 2026 that he wants to “teach them that they can grow and be just like me.”8 He opened the first Charlie D’s around 2009 at 3123 Swope Parkway with a longtime school friend; the name honors the friend’s father, Charlie D, who “worked in the kitchen all his life” but was never a businessman. Hill later bought his partner out, and the company today is Charlie and Son LLC.481

The 99th Street store at 600 E 99th, north of Gomer’s Square at 99th & Holmes, opened about 2015 and became the flagship; the Martin City Telegraph profiled it in 2018, when Hill ran two locations and was planning a third in Independence.4 The Independence store on US 40 followed, and on July 1, 2026 Hill opened a fourth at 1124 Oak Street, across from City Hall, timed to the World Cup crowds downtown.18 When the Ararat Drive store opened is not documented: it was listed as “Charlie D’s and son catfish cabin” on NetWaiter and Restaurantji, whose reviews of it begin in May 2022, and the company’s own Menufy page for it is still titled “Charlie D’s & Son Catfish.”269

Two other listings carry the name — “Charlie D’s and Son Catfish Cabin” at 5311 Prospect Ave and “Charlie D’s Catfish Cabin” at 6633 Raytown Rd in Raytown, the latter now trading as Southern Catfish Cabin — neither of which appears on the company’s locations page. Whether they are former Charlie D’s units, a family member’s separate business, or unrelated is unresolved.10111

Last verified: 2026-08-29 · Source: the company’s own online menu at charliedsonline.com/menu (company-wide; the page does not specify a store, and Ararat Drive prices may vary slightly) · Confidence: High for items, moderate for this store’s exact prices.3

  • Sandwiches & burgers ($11 unless noted): Philly Cheesesteak · Chicken Philly · “Philadelphia Philly” · Catfish Po’ Boy · Shrimp Po’ Boy $13 · Charlie’s Chicken Sandwich · Charlie’s Fish Sandwich · Charlie D Burger
  • Chicken: Chicken Tenders from $8 · Mixed Chicken from $12 · Dark Meat Chicken from $16 · Chicken Fried Chicken $12 · pieces $2–3.50
  • Seafood: Channel Catfish from $12 · Whole Catfish $12 · Basa, Cod, Tilapia or Whiting from $9 · Orange Roughy $12 · Butterfly Shrimp $12 · Homestyle Shrimp $14
  • Dinners: Charlie’s Fish Dinner from $15 · Whole Catfish Dinner $15 · Butterflied Shrimp Dinner $15 · Fish & Chicken Combo $15 · Chop Chop Dinner $15 · Fish Tacos $12 · Shrimp Tacos $13 · Kickin Chicken Wing Meal $15 · Charlie’s Gumbo $16 · Jambalaya $16 · Red Beans & Rice $14 · Shrimp Boil from $14
  • Family meals: Family Fish (basa) $44 · Family Chicken Wing Meal $44
  • Healthy options: Chicken Wrap $11 · Shrimp Wrap $13 · Grilled Salmon $15 · Grilled Tilapia $15 · Chicken Salad Bowl $11 · Grilled Chicken Breast $12
  • Sides ($3): sweet corn, green beans, coleslaw, potato salad, seasoned vegetables, fries, collard greens, steamed broccoli, mac ‘n cheese, mashed potatoes, hush puppies, fried okra, battered mushrooms, spaghetti with meat sauce, gourmet onion rings
  • Kids ($6): tenders · fish · mac & cheese · Desserts: NY Cheesecake $5.50 · Strawberry Cheesecake $5.50 · Sweet Potato Maple Cheesecake $6.50 · Peach Cobbler $5 · Cake $5
  • Drinks: canned soda $1.50 · fountain 20 oz $3 · tea $3 · Calypso $2.50 · bottled water $2.50 · Lunch (Mon–Fri 11–2): pork chop or basa special $9

Sources

Footnotes

  1. Charlie D’s Seafood and Chicken — official website: home, locations and Ararat Drive location pages. Retrieved 2026-08-29; charliedsonline.com — Confirms: three listed stores with addresses, phones and hours (Ararat Dr: Sun 12–8, Mon 12–7, Tue–Thu 11–9, Fri–Sat 11–10); “Eastwood Hills West” in the East store’s page title; founder Gary Hill and the “feed people the way you’d feed your own family” line; “cooked to order, never under a lamp”; daily fish, hand-cut fries; Sunday brunch 11–4 with hot fish tableside and live DJ; email; Instagram @charliedsseafood; gift cards; © 2026 “charlie and son llc.” ↩ ↩2 ↩3 ↩4 ↩5 ↩6

  2. NetWaiter — “Charlie D’s and son catfish cabin, Kansas City, MO,” about page. Retrieved 2026-08-29 — Confirms: 5111 Ararat Dr, 64129; (816) 924-3474; hours matching the site; dine-in, takeout, delivery; no reservations; “American (Traditional) and Seafood.” ↩ ↩2

  3. Charlie D’s Seafood and Chicken — official website, online menu. Retrieved 2026-08-29 — Confirms: every item and price in the Menu section. ↩ ↩2 ↩3

  4. Brad Lucht, “Charlie D’s Serves Fish Homestyle,” Martin City Telegraph, 2018-03-01 — Confirms: first location at 3123 Swope Parkway about nine years earlier (c. 2009) with a partner; name from the partner’s father, a lifelong kitchen worker; 99th Street store open about three years (c. 2015) north of Gomer’s Square at 99th & Holmes; two locations in 2018 and a third planned for Independence; four breading options; basa and catfish most popular; 18 sides; quotes. ↩ ↩2 ↩3

  5. Charlie D’s Seafood and Chicken — official website, “Our Story.” Retrieved 2026-08-29 — Confirms: Hill “didn’t set out to build a restaurant empire”; three locations with a fourth planned downtown; brunch buffet contents (fried chicken, collard greens, cornbread, eggs, waffles, brisket, hot fish service, DJ); “One Neighborhood Feel.” ↩

  6. Restaurantji — “Charlie D’s Chicken and Seafood East, 5111 Ararat Dr” (URL slug “charlie-ds-and-son-catfish”). Retrieved 2026-08-29 — Confirms: address, phone, hours; 3.4 stars / 285 reviews; reviews from May 2022 to November 2024; the November 2024 “Soulfood Sunday Brunch Buffet” review with fish brought to the table; small-sides complaint. Aggregate; used for dating and the brunch corroboration. ↩ ↩2 ↩3

  7. EatOkra — “Charlie D’s Chicken and Seafood East — Black-owned Business.” Retrieved 2026-08-29 — Confirms: Black-owned listing; address; phone; hours. ↩

  8. Rae Daniel, “Kansas City restaurant owner opens new location during World Cup, invests in local youth,” KSHB 41, June 2026 — Confirms: Gary Hill, “born and raised in Kansas City”; 15 years owning Charlie D’s; the school friend whose father was Charlie D and the buyout; three existing locations and the fourth at 1124 Oak Street opening July 1 across from City Hall; mentoring partnerships (Boys and Girls Club, KCPS, East 23rd PAC); quotes. ↩ ↩2 ↩3

  9. Charlie D’s & Son Catfish — first-party Menufy ordering page for the Ararat Drive store. Retrieved 2026-08-29 — Confirms: the “Charlie D’s & Son Catfish” name for this unit; “Kansas City, MO 64129”; live ordering (Google Pay, Venmo). Menu did not render without scripts. ↩

  10. Yelp — “Charlie D’s and Son Catfish Cabin — Updated May 2026 — 5311 Prospect Ave, Kansas City, Missouri.” — Confirms: a listing under the ”& Son Catfish Cabin” name at a Prospect Avenue address not on the company’s locations page. ↩

  11. DoorDash — “Southern Catfish Cabin – 6633 Raytown Rd” (URL slug “charlie-d’s-catfish-cabin---6633-raytown-rd”) — Confirms: a Raytown storefront once listed as Charlie D’s Catfish Cabin, now Southern Catfish Cabin (southerncatfishcabinmo.com). Status and relationship unverified. ↩

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On the record — ks.city/registry/charlie-ds-east · record updated 2026-08-29