The Chicken Koop — Restaurant in Whittier

Unfortunately I had a bad experience here. I had high hopes. The place was packed which one would guess is a good sign. We were greeted and quickly seated. Waitress just seemed to forget about us after that. Understandably it was busy. However a family that was seated after us - right next to us at that - was helped before us. Did we enter a magical portal rendering us invincible? Hard to imagine as we had a fussy hungry baby. We finally waived down another waitress to take our order. I asked the waitress about the size of the fries. She went on to compare the small fries to a small paper cup and suggested the larger size. I thought that seemed odd for the price. None the less I decided to go with a small fries since I'd be ordered a mac and cheese as well - good thing I did because the small was no where near as small as she suggested. I also decied to go with the weekend special fried chicken and a czech pilsner they had on tap. The beer was great and the atmosphere was happy. There was sports on televisions throught out the restaurant and people all seemed to be enjoying themselves - good vibes for sure. The food took quite long. Finally our original waitress returns with my food but asks if I'd like my fried chicken well done. Wait a minute, wouldn't you ask that before putting my order in? She went on to say that most customer preferred their chicken preppared well done. *Yea, Okay... * The chicken looked burnt, but heck if she says so. Well the chicken breading was just that, burnt breading. Also the inside was not cooked through. If you're going to have a special you'd figure it be something thats...well, special. Anyhow, fries were not bad and the mac and cheese was runny and lacking flavor. We asked for an extra plate for the little one and she said she'd be right back with one. But again waitress just seemed to forget about us and we needed to flag another waitress down. I was disappointed. I mean I'm no Gordon Ramsey but with simple menu items like these, how can you mess it up? My girlfriend had the half chicken and found it to be ok. You could probably guess that I dare not...

My wife and I went here for dinner 3/24/2017. The server was somewhat experienced. He's experienced in describing what the restaurant offers. He has yet to master how to deal with many needy tables at once. Their business operates (servers) on a team approach. They all look like they're still in high school. They're eager, and polite, which was nice. More emphasis should be placed on attending to all guests. It was sparsely filled when we arrived but quickly filled up with patrons. I know a few of the guests needed things and weren't getting them. Though one of the times I was asked if I needed something at that time I didn't, but soon after I did need help, but had to wait because they were busy. The server had mentioned that the Nachos were great. So because I love Nachos, I ordered them. I received a generous portion very promptly. They were made with wonton style chips which were light, and sweet. I'm not a fan of this style of chip but I do give them props on originality. The entire dish was cold. My wife's Poutine took a while to arrive, but at least it arrived hot. It wasn't authentic "Canadian Poutine" which is made with cheese curds, but we still found it enjoyable. It was simple, salty. I'm more of a Chili Cheese Fries type of guy. I gave feedback to the server. He was attentive, and concerned. He comped us free desert (Deep Fried Oreo Cookie with Ice Cream) which took 20-25minutes to receive, but was pretty tasty. I will give this place one more try. We went here because people raved on how "great" this place is/was. Note they have only one restroom per gender. I'd raise prices, but make sure to execute the taste, quality of ingredients, and their promptness of service for this...

I had been eyeing The Chicken Co-Op on Instagram for a while—bookmarked it months ago after seeing a ton of glowing reviews from food bloggers and influencers. Finally made it out there with my sister and brother-in-law on a hot Saturday afternoon around 2:30. The place is clean, well-kept, and tucked away in a nice part of Whittier with plenty of street parking. Shoutout to the staff—friendly and attentive, which made for a good first impression.

The menu looked fantastic at first glance, with a lot of great-sounding options. I decided on the 3-slider combo so I could try different flavors of their chicken. My sister went with the original chicken sandwich and fries, while my brother-in-law ordered the shawarma plate.

Unfortunately, the food didn't live up to the hype. The sliders were much smaller than I expected and didn’t have much flavor. Put together, they barely added up to a single chicken sandwich in size. My sister’s sandwich didn’t look bad, but it honestly didn’t even compare to something like Dave’s Hot Chicken—not visually or in taste. Just kind of average.

The biggest letdown was the jalapeño mac and cheese. For $4–$5 extra, I expected something special, but it tasted like Velveeta with a few chopped jalapeños thrown in. Definitely not worth the upcharge.

We didn’t try the drinks, but they did have a nice-looking selection of alcoholic beverages.

Overall, I’d give the food about 2 stars, but bump it up to 2.5 because of the clean space, great service, and convenient parking. Not a total disaster, but nowhere near what the social media buzz led me to expect. I might come back to try the half-chicken with sides, but I won’t be rushing back...