Guthrie's — Restaurant in Tallahassee

Four stars in class.

Normally, I like going to a place a couple of times before texting out my august platitudes in Yelp - but I'm making an exception here.

The chicken is perfectly seasoned and fried. It delivers a moist mouthful. I'm not a certified fried-chicken snob so I can't go on and on about the nuances here.

The crinkled-cut fries are really good, and I customarily do not like crinkle fries.

The accompanying sesame-topped bread is buttered and toasted PERFECTLY. I assume it's popped on the griddle, which would explain the flavor.

The FIRST comparison that comes to mind is to Barnaby's. If Barnaby's were open past last-call, I suspect it would have a rivalrous nocturnal following. This is truly the Barnaby's of the Chicken Finger (please - I insist - check out my review of the (locally) Legendary Barnaby's on Apalachee Parkway.)

Met a new client today, at their request, in this iconic anchor of West Tennessee St. The menu doesn't mince words and, unlike my lofty reviews, is an Aristotelian example in brevity.

I opted for "The Box" and ice water so as not to confound the palate.

As I looked around, the five other seated tables were all middle-aged like me. I concluded that they'd all been coming here since childhood too. The very patrons that - with impulses for pizza - would have been going to Barnaby's.

During grad school in the early 90's, I lived in Spanish Oaks (now "The Social") on high road. I drove past Guthrie's hundreds of times then - and thousands of times since then.

The REAL magic of this place is likely invisible during sober daylight hours and the social night-time aspects must play a huge part in its nostalgia. That magic is captured eloquently within the other reviews. ...

This location needs to be shut down immediately. It has went down so much within the past year. The prices are sky high for no reason. The food is trash. The service is terrible. I ordered a kids meal today when I got to the window she already had the bag ready. Immediately that lets a customer know that the food is not fresh. They literally took two burnt chicken strips and cut them up almost in nugget shapes with some soggy nasty fries. The chicken was so dry!! I was chewing it forever. When I tell you, I am pissed.Even the bread was burnt. And had the nerve to charge $9.25. If I didn’t make it back to work already, I would have went back and threw that entire play through the window. I will never support them again. If you read this review, do not eat from this location. With Chick-fil-A temporarily closed across the street, their line should have been wrapped around the corner, but now I see why it wasn’t. Waste of money & time and they have increased the prices for no good reason at all.. the food actually went down with higher prices. Whoever runs that location...

Review Date: February 29th, 2012

One Gut Box, please!

At the beginning of my Spring Break vacation in 2012, my friend told me about the legendary Gut Box at Guthrie’s. So what did we do? We went and we rejoiced in the deliciousness.

Now, I will warn you that we were drinking all night before we went here. So my rating is based on my drunken taste buds. But I will say that I regret getting the Junior size Gut Box.

From what I remember, it was amazing. I think with a normal sized Gut Box, you get coleslaw on top of the chicken, fries and texas toast.

I don’t have much else to say as my memory is pretty fuzzy about this place. Guthrie’s is a small chain, so they only have 26 locations at the moment. But if you are hungry, do your taste buds a favor and grab a Gut Box. You and your gut...