Harold's Chicken of Homewood — Restaurant in Thornton Township

**Update: Everything in my review below from 2 years ago still applies. However, based on my last 3 visits in 2019, I’m changing my review to one star.

Visit #1: Called in my order and was told 15-20 minutes. Went in 25 minutes later and still waited in the restaurant for 35 more minutes. No apology or explanation.

Visit #2: Called in my order. First when I called, they asked to put me on hold, but they hung up on me instead. I called back and was put on hold, again, after 6 minutes I thought they forgot about me. I was on hold but they just put the phone down, so I could hear them talking in the background. So I hung up and called back again. Finally placed my order and was told 15-20 minutes (again). This time I went in after 30 minutes. Still ended up waiting 20 more minutes. No apology or anything. Get to the car and open the bags, there’s no coleslaw (I had 3 orders so I should have had 3 cole slaws. ) So I went back in and told them they forgot the cole slaw. One girl just stared at me, the other girl very dryly said “we outta cole slaw”. So I just left, but really?!?!? Okay, so you’re just cheating every customer out of coleslaw and don’t even have the courtesy to let people know?

Visit #3: This was my last and final visit in July 2019, this was the last straw. They will not get another penny of my money ever. Called and placed an order, was told 15-20 minutes. Went in after 30 minutes, my order was not ready yet. This time, I waited almost AN HOUR for my order. An hour for less than $10 worth of food???? Absolutely ridiculous. Nobody ever apologized or told me what was taking so long. AND the cashiers they have now aren’t even friendly. There used to be really nice girls working here. There used to be an older light skinned woman who was super sweet, and a young shorter girl who was always smiling and super friendly. STOP telling everyone their order will be ready in 15-20 minutes, when 99.9% of the time, it takes SIGNIFICANTLY longer than that. Nobody minds waiting 3-5 minutes extra. But 35 extra minutes???? An hour?????? It’s absolutely ridiculous and it’s not a one time thing. I tell all my family and friends to stay away from this place, and will continue to do so.*

I really wanted to give 2 stars but because the chicken is good I bumped it up to 3.

The main problem is the time. I've waited on hold for more than five minutes several times to place an order. Sometimes it's longer than that, and I just hang up and order from somewhere else. When I actually do get to order, they always say 10-15 minutes (sometimes 20) on the phone, and rarely is my order ready when I go to pick it up. I've waited in excess of 40 minutes beyond the 20 minutes I was told on several occasions. I would never order from here if I was on lunch break from work or anything else where time was important, and it's a shame I have to think that way.

Then last time, when I asked for one extra mild sauce I was made to pay. You would think they would just give it to you after you had to stand there and wait for 40 minutes smh. And why is it that whether I get a 4 wing dinner or a 10 wing dinner, I only get one little container of mild sauce when I order it on the side? Wouldn't you need more sauce if you order more wings???

Then after waiting forever for the order, more often than not they forget to include the cole slaw. I really don't understand that. How can you forget something that's supposed to come with every dinner? That's like forgetting the fries.....and about the fries....Half the time, the fries taste like they're not fully cooked or something, maybe they should switch to some different fries. And I've noticed it seems like the amount of fries you get doesn't increase in proportion to the amount of wings you order. Last time I got a 10 wing dinner to split with someone, and there definitely wasn't enough fries for both of us.

They could easily get 4 or 5 stars if it wasn't for the issues mentioned above. But because of those issues, my family and I don't go here nearly as much as...

Just left there. I order Pizza Hut and my girlfriend order chicken from Harold’s Chicken next door. My pizza was ready in about 20 minutes. The chicken 1/2 had passed and the order was still not ready. So my girlfriend was told 10 minutes. So now it’s been 40 minutes and the food was not ready. So my girlfriend asked for a refund. The cashier stated there was no manager there to provide a refund. So she asked the cashier for a number to make a complaint. She was told there is no number. The conversation became very unprofessional. Meanwhile it’s past and hour now and still no food no refund. A manager does come in from the back and he resolve instead of giving a refund he calls the police because of my girlfriend getting loud. So I sent my girlfriend to the car while we waited for the police to come. After speaking to the police I asked now what would be the reason for now providing a refund now. He told me to stop speaking to him. I was very polite and asked why escalate this how about just refunding my money so we can leave. The cashier eventually gave the refund after being in the store about a hour and 20 minutes. I asked the manager was this a franchise store or corporate store. He asked me why am I talking to him. The police responded he thinks it’s a corporate store. I will be spending my experience to the corporate office. Can’t understand what was not reasonable of asking for a refund for not receiving food paid for.

I’m editing my review because of the owners reply. The manager on shift should be fired immediately. Your response is based on his account which is not accurate and also which was escalated by him. When he arrived he stated he was the the phone the entire time my girlfriend was requesting the refund. The cashier did not go in the back as you stated was a concern for you staff safety. Also my girlfriend requested to speak to someone in management. She was denied and told they didn’t have a number for her to speak to anyone. Buy more important since a manager was on the phone he should have simple instructed the cashier to provide a refund to remove the customer out the store. Instead he came in the back of the store and was just as aggressive. I spoke to the manager myself after asking my girlfriend to go to the store. He was very unprofessionally in how he spoke to me. Even than I stayed respectful and polite. I asked a perform leaving if this was a cooperate store his response was what do it matter and why I’m I talking to him. You have invested a lot of money to be in business don’t allow someone to ruin your investment. Obviously you have service issues because of the similar repeated reviews. You need to address them. It’s only going to get worse and people do read and make decisions to patronize an establishment based on reviews. Even if you restaurant was extremely busy a wait time of 1 for a chicken dinner is unacceptable. You need to figure out how to provide better interaction service and cut down the wait on food time. May the 4th of this year will make 20 years of me being in business and my employees when at work are a reflection of my vision. I don’t allow them to be big apples at work and still work for me. Bad employees makes the business bad. I would love to meet you and speak in person. Had your manger been more respectful I wouldn't left a review. But we must hold each other accountable for our action. I’m sure if you pulled the other employees aside and cashier she will tell you spoke to the manger...

Food is always fresh and cooked to order! Never have a problem. Update 10.28.22 Decided tonight we would get takeout from this Harold's in Homewood, hadn't been here in a while.... Let me start by saying My mom wanted some gizzards SOOOOO bad tonight! After standing in line, upon trying to place our order we were told they didn't have any gizzards, so mom decided she didn't want anything, so as I but then we returned since it was getting late and drove all the way there, so I got back in line, ordered a catfish and white combo and a catfish and dark combo, both with bread on top and Cole slaw, I asked the cashier when will you have gizzards, she says" let me double check because we might have them He probably don't want to make anymore tonight" she walks away return with a guy and he says" oh yea the gizzards we out" I then ask when will you have some he says " tomorrow" SOOOOO pay for our order, time estimate was 20-30 minutes, I go back in the cashier asked for my name, she couldn't find it then I suggested my number still couldn't find it, but then she found it and and said two minutes, repeats the order, instead of WHITE it was WINGS, I stated no it's WHITE not WINGS, she goes to let the cook know, he comes back and say oh she charged you for wings, so you have to pay the difference, I look at the menu and the wings were actually more than the WHITE, so I stated you actually owe me, he says oh I gotcha I'll take care of it, and walks away, the cashier comes back out and I say so now what, she says it'll be another 10 minutes, sorry and he'll give you a extra wing for the wait, I said ok please make sure the bread on top, she says awe shoot I forget let me tell him, so just making small talk while waiting she says she's new ( explaining why the register didn't print my receipt) and I congratulate her on the job... Any how get the food, get home and neither one has the Cole slaws, the extra wing wasn't in the order and the fries were not done all the way, the store was closed by the time we got home and settled so couldn't call... needless to say mom didn't enjoy her food because she wanted what she ordered, two things she loves is Cole slaw and gizzards... So her appetite was lost after not receiving the Cole slaw... It wasn't the worst thing that could happen but it wasn't a great experience tonight. Going forward I hope that this establishment is not saying they're out of items so they won't have to cook it, thaw it, season or whatever... ALL CUSTOMERS ARE NOT OUT TO GIVE BAD REVIEWS, WE JUST WANT WHAT WE...