Harold's Chicken Shack - Chicago

Walking distance for me and was very much in the mood to clog my arteries with some good old fashioned fried chicken. Yes, it was 10 minutes before closing time, only a couple of table left, and when ordered our meals at the counter, we're told its a 20 minute wait due to that fact they cook everything to order. Love that. Always willing to wait to fresh to order food! Not the friendliest customer service, but not awful. I figured they were just ready to get out of there and annoyed with our timing. Little did they know we were on a rampage to get there for an entire hour! lol Running to eat fried chicken. Sometimes you gotta move those chicken legs hahahaha. My order: The chicken plate mixed (dark and white) with BBQ sauce, side of mac cheese bites, comes with coleslaw and fries. I donated my fries to the PIC (partner in crime) PIC order: All white meat chicken pieces. Medium sauce. Bunch of tv's in there to keep us busy watching the football games. Menus all over the walls with specials. Chicken is HOT. Nothing cold here, nothing sitting around here. Sauce tastes mmmmmhmmm good. The chicken skin is perfectly fried and not too chunky. Great dredging. Juicy, not overcooked! Mac and cheese bites were fair. Like they used Kraft mac-n-cheese and chopped it up and fried them into little nuts. Meh. The coleslaw which tasted great was sadly served in the kind of small container they put to go ketchup in. Sad face. Overall, the chicken speaks for itself. The customer service could be a little better, but I bet they weren't thrilled with our late arrival. Next time I'll order a big slaw. BTW, they do NOT skimp on the chicken. It was a huge platter!

One of our uber drivers suggested we try Harold's Chicken Shack, and after some research we found out that it's a popular local chain. I was expecting it to be something like Kennedy Fried Chicken in NYC, but I was mistaken. There are tons of options. Fried fish, chicken, wings, and tons of sides are available. I got fried okra, fried, chicken, and fried chicken livers. All my chicken was dry, but I did like my fried chicken livers and fried okra. But what kind of chicken shack serves dry fried chicken?

They have a sign on their counter that asks for Yelp! reviews. Leave a nice one, get an FREE appetizer (under $5). The irony in this is rich.

Reasons why Harold's Chicken Shack is a 1 star establishment: 1. The staff must hate their lives. The cashier was too busy chewing gum to hear me ask her 3 fucking times what side order she would recommend. Apparently you have to ask for the cole slaw that should automatically come with a dinner plate. And heaven forbid you actually want the mild sauce you initially ordered, because that would require them to actually look up from their cell phone. 2. The food tastes like ****. Seriously, how is Harold's an institution in Chicago? The chicken was bland and needed to be drenched in sauce to have flavor. 3. Speaking of shits, yours the next day will be potent and ensure that your wife/girlfriend will never ever look at you the same way again. Pass on this garbage.

The rating description fits this place perfectly Meh. I 've experienced better . I 'm an avid fried chicken fan but this place 's chicken was just OK, nothing special about the chicken itself or the batter. The restaurant itself has a couple TV 's that plays daytime trash shows like Maury, it could be cleaner (the few tables there were not cleaned), and the service is slow. If you want some fried chicken, you should probably just stick to Popeye 's over Harold 's.