Chicken Shack — Restaurant in Arcadia

This place is a rarity. A genuine, out on the edge of civilization, throw down, boot scrape, down home, hootenanny chicken joint. It is huge! The inside dining space has three sections. One of which sports a full fledged, fully stocked bar (you can order drinks and beer from anywhere in this huge complex). But wait, there's more! There is an outdoor section that is large enough to be a national park! It also has a bar. Tables are scattered around a more-or-less groomed lawn. Some are under a roof. Some are under shade trees. Others are under the stars. Lighting is provided by string lights. I'm told there is live music 3 nights a week. I'm also told this place is P-A-C-K-E-D 5 nights a week. Don't let that discourage you. In fact let it encourage you. It's the place to be for the sights to see! So that's the physical set up. Huge! I was with a hungry friend. We ordered a whole broasted chicken with cole slaw and sweet potato fries. I also had unsweetened ice tea. For the uninitiated, in the South and West, sweetened iced tea is more common than unsweetened iced tea so be sure to specify. Also "broasting" is a process of taking marinated chicken with some sort of coating and deep frying it under pressure. It cooks faster and comes out moister. Chicken Shack has perfected the process. Food is served on a baking tray, cole slaw in a cup and fries piled high on the tray. No plates. No yours/mine. Just a tray of food so get to eatin'! The chicken is crispy and moist and salty and hot hot hot. So good! That whole chicken was reduced to a pile of bones in no time. The fries were very good. Unusually skinny for sweet potato fries but again, Chicken Shack has perfected the process and they were great (Tho they charge for dipping sauce which had my cheap money grubbing soul grousing. Can't they afford to throw in a little cup of Ranch?). The Cole slaw, something I usually don't comment on, was peppery. Peppery good! If you are traveling out west and wanting to see the Real West, Chicken Shack would be a good start. It's a little drive from OKC. They have other locations but this one is unmatched. PS-Waitstaff is genuinely charming. Our lady was on top of things but, for example, never heard of Pelligrenni sparkling water. When I gave her a 20% tip she was fairly certain I screwed up my math. Lovely. Sweet....

Not such a good experience. We did a family bday lunch for 2 family members. There were 10 of us. The waitress was very attentive up until we ordered. Then, we never once were asked if we needed drink refills. Then 8 at the table got their food. My Husband & I sat there foodless for at least 7-10 minutes after everyone else had their food & were eating. Then my husband started eating his 1st wing & it was cold on the inside. Not room temp, but cold. The only way that was possible could be if they flash fried (broasted) frozen wings then tossed them in sauce. I had to get up & take his plate over to the hostess stand & ask for someone to talk to. By this time, the waitress saw me & I let her know. She almost instantly brought out new order of wings. Generally either the Mgr brings the food out, or they come to speak within a few minutes. No one ever came. Even with this, I was going to let it go. But then my husband & son were discussing what had happened to my son. My son asked the young man that delivered his food for a refill. He just looked at my son & said "I'm not your waiter." What?,.. regardless, he should have said yes or I'll get your waiter for you. Once again. I had to get up to go find someone to get me the Mgr. When she came I told her about the cold wings & that I wasnt going to say anything, but then when I heard what was said to my son, I couldn't let it go. She apologized. Then she asked in a statement kind of way, "I can take off your drinks,..." (1 soda on our tab). "or we can remove the wings off your tab if you like?". She asked me. She shouldn't put a customer in an awkward position to answer that. She should have just removed it & give her regrets or apologies. I told her no, that we weren't trying to get anything removed from the tab, we just felt like she should know what had happened. It was disappointing. However, the chicken chunks & okra were good. We took the 1/2 chicken home for leftovers, it was good. The wings, even 2nd "hot" order, was sub-par. Nothing was great. But it was good. Oh, by the way, I was one of the 2 birthdays being celebrated, along with my mother. If I'm out that way & have a hankering for fried/broasted chicken, I'll will give them another shot. I hope they can do better than...

I didn’t feel that posting a horrible review for the world to see was necessary, however, upon attempting to use the “contact us” feature on the website and being told invalid host-I have no choice. My husband and I drove in from North Edmond tonight and our experience was terrible to say the least! We arrived wandered around looking for a place to sit, since we hadn’t ever been there, being told “sit wherever” didn’t exactly offer warm greetings. We ordered our drinks and waited another 15 minutes, the waitress came to take our order(still no drinks) informing us that they were out of shack mac and mashed potatoes and Dr Pepper. We finally received our drinks, with no ice in them. My husbands food arrived, mine did not and the person that brought our food(clearly a kitchen member)had no idea that there was an entire additional meal missing. So we repeated our order again to him. The waitress came back to check on us, and we again had to repeat our order and tell yet another person what was missing. Half of my food arrives, after another 15 minutes and I’m told that they’re out of gravy and my potato wedges are still not ready. To which I change my order, again, to accommodate the staff and asked for ice for my drink. An additional 10-15 minutes I finally have all of my food, except now the first half is cold from waiting. Then what I can only assume is the manager or shift leader comes over and asks us how she can make the visit better since our waitress was going to cry( never once did my husband or I ever get loud, or angry or give her a reason to cry). I have been the general manager of a pub/bar/golf course for 10+ years and I honestly have never been as disappointed in a staff or restaurant. I understand running low on inventory, as those things happen, but to be out of 60% of the menu items and not informed upon ordering is inexcusable. Our bill came to $63 and some change and we left an $18 tip. Honestly, the most aggravating part of the evening was having to continually repeat our order and lack thereof to various members of the staff. Seems to me, communication between staff members is essential to running a business of your size. Unless vast improvements are made, I can guarantee myself and many many others will...