Harold's Chicken — Restaurant in Phoenix

To preface, my review is not about the food quality. That was actually on point with the best Harold's I remember from back home which is 87th and the Dan Ryan. The flavors were exactly as I remembered them. The chicken livers were tender and crispy. The chicken wings with mild sauce definitely were right on target with crispiness and taste.

However, the overall experience was way worse than the Harold's at 127th and Halsted. The first issue was how long it took for me to get my order. Many people complained of waiting anywhere from 3-5 hours to get their orders. I was no exception. From being in the line to ordering to walking out with my food took literally 4.5 hours or more. While the owners and employees came through the line with samples to keep the natives from getting restless, that didn't stop the grumbling when it was announced they had run out of staples like gizzards.

Could I have called the order in or contacted an online service like GrubHub? According to management, they were not taking any online or phone orders due to the insane crowds that have hit this place since it opened on 10/9.

The next issue was being unable to order larger quantities of wings than 6. I had to settle for that despite the person wanting 8. However, I saw people leaving the store with buckets upon buckets of chicken earlier in the evening. In discussing this particular issue, I was told the wings they had gotten from the vendor were frozen and they could not thaw them fast enough to meet demand. However, in a situation like this, there should have been some sort of contingency plan to ensure customers were satiated. Sure, they gave out vouchers and candies but that does not account for the fact they ran out of gizzards.

After finally getting in, placing my order, and resting, I was called to the counter to pick up my order. When checking the bag for my order of a 1/2 chicken mild sauce, 6 wings with mild sauce on the side, and one fried okra, I found three orders of okra. Needless to say, I was livid. After that, I was approached by a "manager" who said he got a complaint about me taking monies for another order. Then he proceeded to explain how that was adding time to the wait of other customers. Newsflash: Instead of harassing me about that, how about handling your QA (Quality Assurance) to make sure that orders are correct? Your crew actually spent more time fixing the mistakes made on orders which led to delays in the line. How about making sure you have more than one supplier so you can adequately meet demand? How about ensuring that your POS (Point of Sale) system is giving your cooks the right orders? Those things are what will seriously impact your revenue until they are fixed.

The bright spots included one of the owners who understood my frustrations and many of the folks I was in line with who...

This newly opened chicken drop is good basic fried chicken, seasoned by mild or hot sauce. But the caveats and cons of the experience are far too great to warrant more than a single visit to the eatery with a Chicago cult following.

Before I begin my review in earnest, let me say that no one wants to throw shade on a local legend. It's the kind of thing that gathers the ire of the faithful who frequent long established eateries in iconic food cities like New York, Detroit and Chicago. Lovers of Harold's Chicken will no doubt laud the opening of a local Phoenix branch of their favorite chicken shack. That said, from an outsiders perspective, the chicken stop is far more hype than taste. On to the details...

On my first visit, I arrived at 11am (opening time). The line was so long, I was told it would be 3 hours before getting food. I declined the wait and came back the next day. This time I arrived at 10:15am for an 11am opening. However, the restaurant didn't open for customers until 11:30, due to some maintenance issue with the equipment. Even though I was about 14th in line, I didn't get into the restaurant until 12:45pm. After ordering my food, I was finally served my take out order around 1:15, a full 3 hours after getting in line.

There is no fast food restaurant in Phoenix worth a 3 hour wait, and certainly not this place.

I ordered a chicken bucket (mixed 24 piece), one perch dinner (3 pieces and fries), and a large fries. The chicken was served hot, but the fries were just barely warm. The chicken is boneless mostly, with only a few dark meat pieces being bone in. The white meat was all boneless chicken tenders. Of course it was all fried comfort food, which is great, but the quality definitely does not warrant anything more than a fast food drive through attention.

The perch dinner was 3 pieces of perch fish deep fried into boneless sticks. Ok, but nothing as good as any of fried fish you've had.

The mild sauce is a simple, subtle sweet barbecue sauce. No spice to speak of. Not hot and just gently sweet. The hot sauce is a thin vinegar drip that doesn't taste as good as literally any hot sauce I've ever had.

The prices were not high but the cost to unique flavor ratio has to be off the scale.

Overall, with the enormous wait, the average flavor, lukewarm fries and sadly unsurprising sauces, this grand opening of a supposed Chicago legend was nearly an utter bust. The only real delight of the entire experience was just meeting a lot of wonderful and engaging people who were all lamenting the...

It was decent, for the price. I don't know how they prep their fried chicken. I ordered their quarter chicken dark (thigh and drumstick) and it tasted as of they soaked it in a salt based brine. Which I do not mind, but if you are sensitive to the salt or can't have much; be aware. The catfish was actually pretty good. Nice and flaky crust and the fish was cooked perfectly. The wings were good. The seasoning of lemon pepper was tasty. We had 2 orders and one was very overcooked and the chicken meat was crispy. I am not the biggest fan of slaw so I won't judge it. The wait was horrible so be prepared. When we arrived there were 3 people waiting for food. We ordered and waited. About 45 minutes later they called our ticket to let us know they messed up on our order and it would be another 8 minutes. We ended up leaving there 56 minutes after placing our order. Don't expect a discount or anything or an apology for taking so long. Seems that is just the way it is. I would get it if it was busy, but it was not so I don't get it. If you dont have anything planned (like getting back to work when on a lunch break) give it a try. Not my favorite place in town even though it got a lot of hype. side note for as long as we waited for food it was decent temperature, only a few...