Small American Kitchen — Restaurant in Milford

I was really excited to try Small American Kitchen. I love supporting small local businesses and when I saw that they had home made chicken tenders on the menu I knew I had to try them! Really, not many places have truly home made chicken tenders as many just use a pre-breaded frozen product.

The place was clean and had a great selection of drinks (plenty of Foxon Park) as well as some really interesting potato chips. I ordered a 5 piece chicken tenders and French fries to go. The lady behind the counter was very nice and even swapped out my drink for a colder one, once the food was ready.

I headed back to work with the smell of freshly fried chicken in the car. Back at the office, mouth watering and hungry, the first thing I opened up were the fries. Beautifully golden brown, crispy and a delicious seasoning mix on top. The French fries truly were top notch.

But then, I opened the chicken tenders. At first glance they look decently sized and clearly homemade, with the breading a bit on the burnt side. Not exactly appetizing, but you can’t judge a book by its cover, right? I went in for a bite, hoping for a light crisp exterior, with a fresh juicy interior that one might expect from a house made chicken tender.

To my horror, these were the absolute worst chicken tenders I have ever had in my entire life. The chicken was like biting into an eraser. As I applied more pressure and sunk my teeth farther into the tender I was greeted with rubbery, stringy, incomprehensibly dry chicken. It was like eating breaded chicken-jerky. They were completely inedible.

I’m left wondering why, and how these could have gone so wrong? Was it just an “off day”? Are they preparing these in advance and double frying them when you order? Did I happen to get an old batch from days prior that could have been re-fried multiple times? That’s the only explanation I can think of to make chicken that texture.

I really wanted to love Small American Kitchen, but this experience leaves me...

Went Saturday night 02/10/24. As I arrived, owner was walking out. I walked in and said "How's it going?" to the two people behind the counter. One was on the phone taking an order, so not unexpected he did not respond. The second employee (food prep person) looked up at me, said nothing and went back to playing around with his cellphone. When the counter person was done taking the phone order, he greeted me with a friendly smile and took my food order. I noted he was giving directions to the food prep person/cook as if they were new to the business. While the food prep person was cooking, using rubber gloves, he was also handling his cell phone then touching food (at one point he had the cell phone balanced to his ear as he was cooking food on the grill). The owner returned a short time later (I thought it was funny he walked in with bags of takeout food from another restaurant). I observed the owner also giving direction to the food prep person. The food prep person wasn't moving with any urgency, so the wait time was longer than it needed to be. I had the BBQ Cheddar Burger and the Soup Du Jour my wife had the OG Burger and Onion Rings. The flavor of the burgers was good, but they were overcooked, like very well done. While eating the burger, I bit down on something hard, it was a small piece of bone, my wife saw my reaction and asked: Was that a piece of bone?" I said yes, and she said she found two small pieces in her burger. The Soup Du Jour had good flavor but was only lukewarm. The onion rings were tasty. Well, at least we can say we...

Their beverage cooler was poorly stocked with mostly diet colas as opposed to non-diet Coke and Pepsi. First time here. There is a picnic table out front with a view of a residential building with suspicious looking characters hanging about and a neighbor who parks his boat in the front yard. Feels like an Arkansas trailer park vibe.

I live in the neighborhood on a much nicer street. This place may be useful for a future impromptu stop after a forty mile bike hike. Probably won't happen though. There are better places for beverages and dining in the area and better places to buy good quality sandwiches made with Boars Head brand cold cuts.

The lady at the counter was pleasant. Two stars for pleasantries and one star for soda that was chilled.

Atmosphere. I breathe it. Nothing to see here. Service. I selected the soda. Paid. Received change. So exciting! Food. Not yet rated. My kitchen is a five minute walk from here and highly rated.

Stay tuned for more developments. Nah, you have better...