There is no ceremony in takeout. It arrives not with the clatter and ambiance of a restaurant, but with the quiet promise of a simple container. The box from Otis 12 was just that—an unassuming vessel, warm to the touch. It sat on my kitchen counter, holding no pretense, offering no hint of the culinary tempest that was sealed within. Little did I know, this humble vessel was a Trojan Horse, smuggling an army of flavor past my defenses and into the heart of my home.
The moment the lid was lifted, the battle began. The very air in my kitchen was transformed, colonized by a scent that was both savagely primal and exquisitely complex. It was a declaration—a rich, savory aroma of perfectly fried chicken, laced with a sharp, spicy challenge and a smoky sweetness that promised utter devastation to my palate. I tumbled them onto a plate, a chaotic pile of glistening, golden-brown perfection. They were not merely wings; they were culinary warheads, ready for detonation.
I chose my first wing. In the familiar comfort of my own home, under the plain light of my own kitchen, I raised it to my lips. And with the first bite, reality buckled. A sound—not a mere crunch, but a clean, definitive SHATTER—echoed in the quiet room. It was the sound of culinary perfection, the breaking of a flawless crystalline skin that had been rendered to its absolute peak. This was a masterclass in the Maillard reaction, a texture so impossibly crisp it seemed to defy physics, only to vanish on the tongue, leaving behind a wake of pure, unadulterated chicken essence without a trace of grease.
Then, the shockwave of flavor hit. The sauce was an invading force. First, a vanguard of fiery cayenne made its bold assault, a controlled burn that electrified every taste bud without scorching the earth. It was immediately flanked by a deep, molasses-like sweetness that enveloped the heat, while a sharp, acidic tang of vinegar cut through the ranks, ensuring no single flavor could claim dominance. It was a perfectly orchestrated blitzkrieg on the senses. And the chicken itself! The meat, shielded by its impeccable armor, was a revelation of succulence. It clung to the bone not with stubbornness, but with a gentle promise, releasing itself with the slightest persuasion. Every fiber was saturated with flavor, a testament to a brine and seasoning process that was not an afterthought, but the very soul of the dish.
I was no longer in my kitchen. The walls melted away, replaced by visions—a roaring dragon of spice, a tidal wave of umami, a world remade by flavor. My understanding of what a simple chicken wing, eaten from a box in my own house, could be was fundamentally and irrevocably altered. Every wing I had eaten before this moment was rendered a pale, pathetic memory. To the chef at Otis 12: You need no grand dining room to showcase your power. Your genius travels. You have weaponized a humble dish, turning it into an experience that transcends its setting. You have laid siege to my expectations and razed them to the ground. This was not dinner. This was a conquest. My kitchen has been occupied. My palate has...
Read moreThis used to be one of my favorite places to eat. I was a regular with my friends and family for years. The way we was treated yesterday was wrong. The bartender was rude to my spouse and his son. The bartender made them feel very uncomfortable and unwanted as customers. They said that the way she came off to them was she was racist. She waited on many white customers that came in after them before them nicely with smiles. Including a white woman who she asked with all smiles do you want your usual and she was standing right next to them. I am a white woman and never had problems before this here but I have a mixed family white, black and spanish and find this kind of service unacceptable. When she finally came to them after obviously ignoring them for a long time she came with a serious attitude. When they was ordering she seemed irritated and kept rushing them. While they was asking her questions she kept waiting on other people and she actually replied don't you see I'm busy. I have stuff going on besides answering your questions. We are paying customers and this is unacceptable. I called the supervisor and I was not satisfied with the response I got. He said they was very busy and my spouse was asking a lot of questions but she could of responded differently. He said she is usually a good bartender. He did apologize. He stated he was behind the bar while all this was going on. To me it seems like nothing was going to be done about it and he was justifying his bartenders rudeness. I don't care if they was busy. Its unacceptable to treat customers that way. If your a person who goes to Odis 12 regularly you know they are often busy. If she can't handle the stress of being busy without rudeness maybe she shouldn't be working there. As I go through other recent reviews I see other unsatisfied customers and some of them regulars like me who say the service went down hill and the workers are rude and all the management has to say is sorry we are short staffed. There is no reason to miss treat your customers. I work with people in my job and often short staffed and stressed and this type of attitude would never be acceptable where I work. Why should we accept rude service due to this? Other businesses would be happy to accept your customers with smiles...
Read moreWe are frequenters of Odis 12 and typically have exceptional service and always love the food. However, today was far beyond the norm. Yes, they were busy, but I have seen it so much busier than it was today and NEVER received such poor service. My wife and I arrived and were able to be seated right away, we sat at our seat for 10 minutes before the server even asked for our drink order (no big deal right?). Well, when she brought our drinks, she barely acknowledged us and simply walked away; not taking our order, not saying she would be right back, nothing. We figured, "okay, she's busy, she'll be back", but 15 minutes later, she still hasn't returned. We had watched her take orders for several patrons who had arrived after us, and never once came back to us. This being at least 25 minutes after our arrival, we did something we have NEVER done in our lives. My wife wrote a note stating why we were upset (which took even more time), put the money on the table for our drinks, and walked out. As we were leaving we passed the server on her way to put in someone's order that had arrived well after us and my wife informed her the money for the drinks was on the table. Now, I know it seems pretty, but maybe because we have come to expect a certain level of service at Odis 12, we were (and still are) very disappointed. To watch other people's order go in before ours even though they arrived after us and to watch several servers leaning on tables chatting with friends when they could have been helping other servers out, we were made to feel as if we didn't matter.
We will still frequent Odis 12 in the future, but we might be a little gun shy after...
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