Lee's Famous Recipe Chicken — Restaurant in Florida

We normally have been visiting one of Lee's competitors (with probably the most name recognition in fried chicken). But since both of that brands restaurants that we have visited in the area basically get worse and worse. We decided to explore other options in fried chicken. As such, we visited this Lee's Famous in June, 2024. This Lee's is actually in a good location since there are no other competitors close by. Yes you could drive a ways up route 200 for other options. But this Lee's is somewhat alone to service the area. Lee's is located on the end of a small strip mall that it shares with other businesses. Lee's has a small outdoor area with a couple of tables if one desires, as well as a drive through window, for folks who prefer this convenience. We chose to visit by eating inside on a warm day in June. The inside is not large or fancy. It is your basic fast food style restaurant. There are tables in two sections on two sides. The center of the restaurant is basically the counter/kitchen area. We found the staff to be very friendly, welcoming us as we arrived. And it wasn't just us. They welcomed every person who walked into the store. We did need a minute to acclimate ourselves to the options. We both went with chicken strips. We chose two different meal sizes and sides. We found the chicken to be juicy and Krispy. We agreed that it was better than we normally would get at the big name competition somewhat near by. (not all that near by) I ordered mashed potatoes and she went with the wedges. We were trying to compare similar staples between Lee's and our benchmark brand. I realized after that one of us should have gotten a breast or something. Oh well. Anyway, I found the mashed potatoes to be about the same as the competition, pretty good. And I tried one of the wedges, that I figured would just be what I consider to be, seasoned steak fries. They were not bad, but nothing all that special to me. Next time I'd try some of the other sides to see how they are. When it was all said and done, we found and verified via the competitions web site, that although not exactly the same dishes, we are sure that Lee's was less expensive than the bench mark we used. Not substantially in our case, but definitely less expensive. I don't know if Lee's hits you with an extra charge for things like all white meat (when you're ordering just two breasts) like the competitor. But so far, I like what we experienced at this first visit to a Lee's Famous. What we found was a somewhat more convenient location for us. Followed by a friendly staff who made us feel welcome the whole time we were there. Food that we found to be of better quality and prices than our regular bench mark competition. We were pleased with our experience. Although it's not five star dining, it's pretty good for what I would consider fast food. They did merit probably a better rating than four stars. But they do have some draw backs to prevent that. So consider it 4.5 stars. Better than the bench mark competitor in our opinion. We no longer will drive farther for the inferior experience we have been getting at the bench mark...

Very disgusting Food literally the worst location I’ve ever been to. I’ve given this place multiple chances. Every time I come here food is cold dried out taste like I’m eating leftovers from the day before went there today spent $22 didn’t eat any of the food just threw it away because it was that disgusting And I was on my way to work so I was already Five minutes down the road and no time to turn back to complain about it just to wait longer then end up with the same quality of food and I’mGot there at 11:30 Potato wedges on my plate was extremely cold. How u get somewhere 30 minutes after they open and the food is already cold. I went here two weeks ago and spent $36 on a family meal. Everything was extremely cold and dried out. Taste like I Was served the chicken from the day before that they just warmed up possibly? Along With I ordered it to go, but we decided to eat in and when I complained about it, I heard one of the employees tell the other Employee who was actually replacing my chicken that they noticed and I took it as that we noticed because we ate in in had we took it to go and noticed 25 minutes later we wouldn’t have complained about it. Very poor customer skills, and very poor management skills it seems in this location or maybe they just don’t care. I don’t know either way. I will never come to this location again it sucks because this is the one closest to my home. You should be able to go to either one and get the same quality of food I’ve had bad Food quality from the one on State Road 40 in Ocala as well but they made it right both times but the one on State Road 200 in Ocala Florida do not go to in total. I spent about $50 in food that I just threw right in the garbage because it was disgusting. I work very hard for money work many hours just to decide to eat at Lee’s and then it be so disgusting that you can’t even eat it so you have to throw it in the garbage so will not be choosing lees anymore Many other chicken options when overpaying for Food in general because The prices on going out to eat is much more Then ever before, but to purchase food that you’re not even going to eat because it’s disgusting is a whole other story when you overpay for food and you’re satisfied when you leave that’s one thing They need to take the management/staff from the 40 location and terminate all the ones in the 200 It seems been to the 200 locations many times not once in the last two years have I had a decent experience you think I would’ve learned by now I get at restaurants/People/employees mess up But to mess up...

Updated review 2/2024: my husband and I went back today because we hadn't been in a while. I was surprised to see that the whole crew were new except for 1 person. Everyone in the dining room could hear I guess it was a team leader or manager talking very loudly to the employees. Discussing things that should have been talked about in the privacy of an office. Every time a customer come in you could hear him saying okay now quality service. I was shocked that the food had changed! The fries were overcooked and under seasoned! They were actually crunchy! I asked for the spicy chicken and was giving I guess the original recipe! I ordered green beans as my side because the greens green beans are always well seasoned. To my surprise the green beans this time did not have any seasoning!!! My husband ordered a chicken sandwich and the bun was very cold! The Ice Tea was still good, and the bathroom was clean. I hope that he will show the same enthusiasm to improve the food!! It was disappointing to see that Lee's food that we knew was no longer there. That is why I am changing my rating from 5 stars to 2.

Older review from 2023: Went there a few minutes before lunch, and we received our food shortly after ordering. I ordered the 3 piece spicy Chicken with wedges, and Green beans. Chicken was juicy and crispy. Potato wedges and Green beans had so much flavor! Iced Tea is made just right. Tried an Apple pie for dessert and was not disappointed! So much flavor in that pie! It started getting crowded, and the line was backed to the door. Employees had it under control, so the line was moving quickly. This was nice to see in a Restaurant. Great food...