Texas Charcoal Chicken — Restaurant in Sydney

I have been living in Abbotsford for my entire life and have always loved the hot chips and chicken rolls with gravy from Five Dock shops, (Texas Charcoal).

Over the years I have seen the ownership change along with the food menu and quality. Texas Charcoal can cook up a great brisket roll, although it is a hit and miss with the quality of meat, but tasty nevertheless, chicken rolls are great but more often then not, the bones are not removed properly, I avoid the roast pork rolls as they are always chewy and hard on your teeth as the fat is not cooked into crackling.

The chips are not what they used to be, they now sit above the oil semi-cooked before even placing an order, worst of all they are now soft and soaking wet in oil as they don’t let them cook and drain for long enough. I have tried asking for them to please allow them to cook for longer and to be drained properly only to be told it is a different oil and that there is no way to change the end result..

Recently, Texas Charcoal has seen a whole new wave of immigrant employees of one ethnicity. Not only does the store now lack ethnic diversity, the store simply lacks personality with its staff that are to themselves and just there to serve food without any actual care for the overall rapport a good business should maintain with its customers who are essentially reoccurring locals.

Having said, the “just doing their job employees” continuously make rookie errors and nonsensical mistakes with simple orders, and rather then rectify them they place blame on the customer with rude and argumentative responses such as “No, that’s what you said, that’s what you asked for..etc..etc..”.

At the end of the day, ever since I could remember I have always been a free ambassador for Texas Charcoal, however, it saddens me, Texas Charcoal is just not what it used to be.

In my opinion based on recent experiences since Texas Charcoal was renovated, Texas Charcoal has simply become a cash grab shadow of its former self.

All good things must come to an end.

Update As per the response to my review, I did in-fact email all of my contact details. I was not contacted, and I am not surprised, just a quick attempt at saving face. Time...

I came here 3 years ago and fell in love with the charcoal chicken. I ordered the quarter meal and the chips were nice and hot and the chicken was juicy and tasty. Came here again on the 2nd February and ordered the same thing. Was told that the chicken would be ready in 25 minutes and I was happy to wait, as I would prefer chicken straight off the charcoal. 25 minutes went by my order was called out and I collected it to sit in the takeaway, cause I don't do semi-hot chips like a lot of other people and take them home and eat. I started with the chips and they tasted oily and double cooked and started on the chicken and could tell straight away that this was not the freshly cooked chicken. The breast was dry as and the wing fell apart because it was so dry. When someone says they are willing to wait, that means, they don't want a chicken that has been cooked 30 min ago that someone decided they didn't want. Why didn't I complain and take it back. Because I no longer give second chances to these places. If you are going to charge sky rocket prices for your food and service, make sure it matches the quality. Very disappointed and my last time was yesterday. Whenever a business hands over to a nationality that do not specialise in this area of food, it is bound to go down and I see the exact same thing happening to this place. Very sad, cause I literally have no other charcoal chicken...

Overpriced and low quality food. Ordered a chicken burger by itself, and the brisket meal and a drink and it cost $55 dollars! Might have been justified at 25% cheaper but not worth for what the got both quantity and quality. The brisket box was two famished pieces of Cold and Dry brisket… the meat was also a more tough than brisket should be, as if it was left overs from days before and they didn’t even bother reheating properly. All this took over 20 minutes to make and I presume it was because they had to cook the chips fresh and the two chicken tenders in the burger to order. The chips tasted like from fish and chip store with not fresh oil and barely any salt or seasoning. The coleslaw and pickles were standard. The chicken burger was two almost over cooked chicken tenders that didn’t have much flavour on their own, the burger sauce had to do the heavy lifting. Was here on a Saturday midday and it was not busy when we arrived, only one pair waiting. By the time we left there were a couple more people. Overheard one customer not getting chips even though they asked for chips when they ordered, but since the staff did not add it to their meal they did not make any chips for them. I do not recommend going here. Maybe could be redeemed if the charcoal chicken was as good as other reviews...