Donahoo's Golden Chicken — Restaurant in Pomona

We've heard a lot about Donahoo's fried chicken since living in the Inland Empire and decided to give it a try on March 26, 2025. We were out on business and stopped at the location in Pomona (on Garey Ave) to grab dinner. Upon entering, I can't say that we were greeted, or felt overly welcomed. There were several employees at the counter and they just looked at us without a greeting (no words were uttered). They have a decent sized meno, so we were unsure of what to order. I made an order but it came with chicken strips and we wanted the chicken parts, not strips. So I had to change the order. The worker sort of opened up (he spoke) after I had to change my order, but he wasn't overly friendly or helpful. After my wife ordered, we paid and then we were told it would be 15 minutes as they didn't have any chicken ready. So we exited the restaurant and waited in our vehicle. We saw several people parked, sitting in their vehicle in the parking lot, apparently waiting on the food (so we weren't the only ones waiting). We also saw cars pull in, people exited their vehicles and went inside the restaurant. But they returned a short time later empty handed. Apparently they didn't want to wait for their order. After 15 minutes we went back in and got our food. There is no dine-in option, so we took it home.

The food was definitely freshly cooked. Unfortunately, the chicken was cooked much too hard. Some pieces were overly salty and some pieces had no seasoning. So it was haphazardly seasoned. The exterior was super hard and the inside was decent. But this was definitely not home cooked fried chicken or chicken I would recommend to someone. It was only decent. The sides on the other hand were pretty good. The biscuits could almost be mistaken for homemade yeast biscuits. They were piping hot and steaming with good flavor. And the jumbo steak cut style french fries were cooked soft but were delicious (with seasoning salt). They were not overly salted but the fried chicken was.

So overall, I would give this Donahoo's on Garey Ave a solid 3 stars. The 15 minute wait, the lukewarm customer service, the salty chicken being essentially inedible with very little flavor. The only thing I tasted was salt. The sides were good, however this is a fried chicken restaurant where the chicken should be the star of the show. I can't recommend this location and most certainly would pass on trying it again. There is another location in Ontario that we will try in the...

I'm 60 years old and I grew up in Pomona (although I don't live there now) and this place was a fixture in my childhood. It's changed hands over the last fifty years but the food has ALMOST always remained the same in both taste and quality. I try to come here whenever I come to Pomona to visit family.

Their fried chicken isn't anything particularly special, unlike KFC's or Popeye's: just deep fried floured chicken. But there I think there is something in the oil they use that gives the chicken the very pleasant flavor it has because I have always liked it, even more than my grandfather's excellent chicken fried in lard. While chicken livers are not something I want to eat, my mom loves them and she's particularly fond of the livers served by Donahoos. They don't seem to offer, however, chicken gizzards, which is a shame for I would willingly pay a premium to buy some tasty chicken nuggets the way God intended them to be fried up the way they would do them.

The reason why I'm giving this place and the food a 4 instead of a 5 is because the french fries should be avoided. There is just something wrong with them. It hasn't always been that way but it's that way now. The last time I had them I needed to put ketchup on them to eat them and even then most ended up in the trash anyway. When eating good french fries, the ketchup only enhances the flavor. In Donahoo's case, ketchup is needed to make them remotely palatable.

The buttered rolls are quite good but I'm pretty sure they've always been baked off-site somewhere and that it's just always been that way. They're usually fresh enough but don't expect them to be just-out-of-the-oven fresh.

Donahoo's has for most of its history been only a cash-only business. It took the COVID pandemic to make them accept credit and debit cards so that's now a plus.

The food is a bit pricey in my opinion, certainly somewhat higher than what I expected to pay. But the food is worth it so long as you only order the chicken, livers, and the rolls.

The decor of the place really hasn't changed much. They seem to have installed a new counter over the last few years but the rest of the place is just as it's always been: looking rather dingy and run down. But since customers have never been allowed to eat in there it really...

I came across this place by a stroke of Good Fortune doing a Google search for fried chicken on my way back from USC. You can smell the chicken in the parking lot and my gosh it smelled so good there were people standing outside waiting people inside waiting everybody talking about how great the chicken was how much they love the place and how the one guy said he lives the hour and a half away and he still comes there to get the Fried Chicken so I knew it was going to be great and was not disappointed. It is a bit on the expensive side as it is more expensive than KFC and Popeyes but I'll tell you what it was definitely worth it it's very very good fried chicken. The only thing I can say is that the potato salad was very sweet so not really my favorite. They have the big steak fries and if you don't eat them right when you get them they do get kind of soggy so if you're going to drive a distance be prepared to throw them in the oven or put them in a skillet with a little bit of oil to crisp them up. The biscuits are huge and everybody was ranting and raving about them I honestly didn't have any room to eat one because the chicken was so good I filled up on the chicken but don't worry I'm going to get on those biscuits here in a little bit LOL they smell amazing and they look even better than that. This place is definitely going to become a regular stop every time I have to go to USC for my doctor appointments. I got the combo with the chicken strips and the fried chicken it came with french fries one side dish and four biscuits and I'm telling you the biscuits are big enough for two people to share one they're huge. It's an extremely large portion of fries definitely enough for four people or more. The side dish is probably enough for two people to share if they want a decent serving so if it's four people you may want to add one side in addition to what's there unless everybody just wants to fill up on the french fries. I did give a four-star for atmosphere because there really is no atmosphere you just walk in and it's a giant kitchen with everybody making the bomb Fried Chicken so there's no fancy decorations or anything it's just a chicken making factory...