Krankies — Restaurant in Winston-Salem

This place used to be so good, but how the mighty have fallen.

I don't have enough room to post how disappointed I am in what this place has become. The nature of Krankies has been completely snuffed out in favor of higher margins and bigger bottom lines.

Let's start with the service: it's order-at-counter, which is fine, but there's two separate pick ups, one for coffee and one for your food. Today, after ordering, I stood near the coffee counter and watched an employee cleaning while he waited for another employee to come back so she could pump my lukewarm coffee from a carafe into my cup. It was unclear which coffee was mine of the 4 that were sitting up there and no care from behind the counter to make sure the right coffee went to the right person.

While I was waiting for my coffee, my name was called to pick up my food. My fried chicken biscuit with gravy was ready before my coffee (that was already made) was poured into a cup for me. Not that my coffee took a long time, but I thought by going to a highly ranked restaurant, my food would be made fresh to order. I'm not sure Jimmy John's could assemble a sandwich this quickly. The quality reflected precooked chicken that's been sitting awhile, the flavors were good though.

Service issues aside, this place made some operational changes during COVID like making everything to-go which is completely understandable but now that we're on the other side of the pandemic and my hard-to-eat biscuit ordered "for here" is still put in a disposable container and brown paper sack, it makes me wonder. Nothing comes on a plate, and they only have cheap, low quality plastic utensils available. With the image Krankies tries to portray, I would at least expect some bamboo or more thought about the environmental impact of all this garbage they're now producing.

The atmosphere, though, is the biggest bone I've got to pick with Krankies ATM. What made this place what it was, was the atmosphere - the intimate relationship with local art; visual, musical and otherwise. They were connected to the pulse of the community, and now they want that part gone. They've run out all of the artists, all of the music, all of the community. They even spent the time and money to remove outlets so people wouldn't come here to work on their laptops. I would've given it 1 star for atmosphere, but it's a cool old building and they've at least stayed true to that.

I used to love this place. I used to get breakfast here 3+ times a week but I would be surprised if I eat here 3 times a year now. It's an apparent money grab at this point, unfortunately. Riding the coattails of the folks that made this place...

We moved back to Winston a year ago and I've been wanting to try Krankies again, mostly because I don't have the patience to stand in a 30+ person-line on a weekend. But we finally made it over there on a weekday and it was a breeze to order food and a drink. You order at the counter and then they call your name when it's ready, so very casual but lots of space to sit and eat inside and out. I got the Bluebird (fried chicken, blueberry jam, and cheese on a biscuit) and my husband ordered the Nashville Hot (fried chicken, hot pepper oil, and pickles) and they were amazing! The Bluebird not only had bluebird jam, but also had blueberries in the biscuits! Though the biscuits themselves didn't look that large, the fried chicken was sizeable and so moist and tasty. We also each ordered potato wedges with the green sauce (similar to what you might get at an Indian restaurant, with cilantro) and they were so good! We could have easily shared, because the potato wedges were at least a whole potato's worth per person. I purchased a pumpkin cinnamon roll to go and WOW that was the best cinnamon roll I've quite possibly ever had. It wasn't super pumpkin-y, but so moist and flavorful. And somehow the frosting was sweet but not sickly sweet? In my book, Krankies just won "Best Cinnamon Roll" in Winston! It's probably good that we don't live closer to downtown, because I am very excited to eat those rolls again!

Original review in 2020 (for transparency): I really want to give Krankies a higher rating than three stars. I had heard really great reviews about these breakfast biscuits and wanted to give it a try! I placed an online order for fries and two biscuits: a sausage, egg, and cheese biscuit and a bacon, egg, and cheese biscuit. The order said it would be ready 30 minutes after placing the order, but the order wasn't ready until 50 minutes later. I was surprised, because there were only a handful of people waiting and no obvious reason for the delay. The biscuit sandwich was excellent, but not worth the wait. I do appreciate that masks were required inside, but the food pickup could be improved. It would be super helpful if you added a large Pickup sign to make it obvious for people popping in to pick up food. Maybe you could even consider moving it toward the front entrance or have a tent outside for easy, safe...

I put off visiting Krankies for years in part because it seemed to bear the marks of being a victim of its own success: a local favorite whose popularity invites expectations that it cannot hope to meet. When I finally did get around to giving Krankies a try, I expected to deem it overrated and go back to avoiding it. Fortunately, my skepticism proved to be misplaced.

Krankies is housed in a good-sized space that has both an industrial mien (overhead ducts and brick walls) and enough artwork to offer a contrast to it. Those who treat coffee shops as offices away from home may find Krankies distractingly boisterous, but for most other patrons, it's not too loud.

My first visit was on a Saturday morning, which gave me a chance to try the brunch menu. From egg dishes (huevos rancheros and benedicts) to sweet breads (French toast) to biscuits to lunch sandwiches (a cheesy western burger and a BLT), nearly everything looked good. I ultimately settled on a chicken biscuit with gravy while my wife went with the weekend BLT on sourdough.

Though Krankies was moderately busy, our food came relatively quickly, and we were not let down. The chicken was generously sized, thickly battered, and tender, and while the biscuit wasn't quite to Rise levels, it was still satisfyingly buttery. The BLT's bacon was just crisp enough, and the avocado and egg gave the sandwich some nice textural variety. The coffee was a hit as well: my vanilla latte was smooth without any bitterness.

At first glance, Krankies' prices may seem a bit high: $7 for the chicken biscuit and $8 for the BLT, neither of which came with a side. However, both sandwiches were quite filling, and the pricing is fair for the quality of the food. Service was also on-point, as our server, an affable future costume designer, provided helpful recommendations.

Before I checked it out firsthand, I expected Krankies to be a mediocre, hipster infested, and grossly overpriced. Instead, I found myself surprised by how much I liked it, and I would not hesitate to return.

NOTE: The narrow parking lot can be a pain, but there is plenty of additional parking in...