Byrd's Hot Chicken — Restaurant in Niles Township

First (and definitely last) time ordering from this place. I got the chicken sandwich combo with fries and a Coke. Sounds simple enough, right? Well, apparently here they like to throw in a bonus ingredient a long strand of hair for that “chef’s personal touch.”

I called immediately. The guy on the phone said, “Come tomorrow, we’ll give you a replacement or a refund.” Cool. Reasonable.

Fast forward to the next day: I show up, explain the situation to the man at the counter. He listens and says, “We can’t do anything.” At least he wasn’t rude, just not helpful.

Then in swoops the guy with glasses he was kind of old. radiating “I’m the boss” energy. Maybe he’s a manager, maybe the owner, or he thinks he owns this place or maybe just someone who likes yelling at customers in his free time . who knows? What I do know is that he delivered some of the worst customer service I’ve ever experienced. No apology, no empathy — just an immediate wall of rudeness. Rude, dismissive, and apparently allergic to both refunds and manners.

And then, unbelievably, he started fighting with me verbally raising his voice, talking over me, and acting like I was the problem. He went from “mildly rude” to “full-on yell mode” in record time. It felt less like I was speaking to a restaurant employee and more like I had wandered into a bad reality TV argument.

Honestly, I don’t know how he got this job. With customer service like his, it’s no wonder people don’t come back.

When I asked his name, he said, “I’m not goin to tell you.” Which, honestly, fits the vibe — why be transparent when you can just be condescending

Customer service: below 0/10 Food quality: 0/10 Cleanliness: 0/10

Would I recommend? Only if you’re craving disappointment with a side of disrespect. save yourself the money and...

NEW UPDATE: 1/5

01/04/2025

I recently revisited due to my great previous experience here, and I was really excited to revisit. However, I was quickly disappointed when I received my sandwich and it had multiple hairs entwined in the breading of the chicken. Thick long black hairs. I was immediately alarmed and lost my appetite then and there. This is a hygiene and cleanliness issue most definitely. We don’t know to what extent the food preparation is being kept up to the proper hygienic conditions. Please always make sure to check what you are eating! Thanks. Hope none of you experience this!

Old review: 4/5 Very impressed my first time going here. It is very clean from the inside and has a nice and open floor plan, with nice decorative touches. The food is just as good. The fried chicken is really good, as well as their other sides. Very nice place to go to if you are craving some good food.

My only complaints from my experience is the extremely long wait time and no parking. I completely understand having to prepare food, but I had to wait over 30 minutes for a sandwich meal when no one else was there. I guess the quality of the meal justified the wait time. But if you are looking to get food from here, be prepared to wait for more than 30 minutes!

There is also no parking on site! Only street parking! Heads up...

The first time I ordered from here, I would have left a 5 star review. I had the chicken sandwich and the chicken was spicy, juicy, large, and just amazing. The cheese fries were crisp despite being crinkle cut and delivered, and covered in wonderful ooey gooey melty cheese. The potato salad was delicious and I'm normally not a huge fan of white potato salad. I was so impressed.

Now from my last 2 orders of the same items, I can tell they're already cutting costs and/or not paying attention. The chicken was delicious but the tender was so small that half of my sandwich was just bread and slaw... Not what you want out of a chicken sandwich experience! I was charged extra for cheese fries but received no cheese (the second or third time this has happened). The fries were good but if I ordered cheese for them, and paid for it, it should have been included. The potato salad was still good.

Hopefully the food returns to the previous super high quality instead of this drop in quality, because I was loving this place and am bummed to be let down after thinking I'd found the ultimate...