Home of Chicken & Waffles

Reviews 5

ER

Eric Andal

1 star would usually denote something that I feel is without redemption and/otherwise horrible. 3 stars, ill like go back to for something or another.4 and 5 are guaranteed returns. 2 stars? Hard to say. I MIGHT go back, quite possibly due to peer pressure from friends or something. Anyhoo, thats the explanation of how I feel about my ratings, since I know you were dying to know. Just wanted to be able to explain why I rate this place 2 stars. I love the combination of chicken and waffles. I first became privy (as in, in the know, not a toilet) to them when friends of mine told me about it in Harlem. I was about 12 and boy did that pair ever sound confusing and unappetizing. But fast forward a few years and I was in Long Beach. There, I was able to try the famous Roscoes chicken and waffles. I was hooked. What a great combo! Why hadnt I thought of though of this before! Loved it. But also hated it because there was nothing like it in NorCal. That is, until a few years ago. Home of Chicken Waffles opened up in Oakland, so I headed there with the quickness. Portions? Great portions, not going to complain about that. Taste? Not even close to Roscoes. Sorry, I hate to have had another place set the bar, but it was nowhere as near as good. Chicken was way to salty, as was the gravy that came with it. The waffles themselves were plain in comparison to what I had in Long Beach. Syrup didnt help it out too much either. Mac n cheese was okay, ill admit that it was tasty. Sadly, I left the place with an immense headache, so you can only imagine that was less that pleasurable. Service was good, ill say that. Very hospitable and very timely. Other than that, I might come back here if im with a group of friends that want to eat here. But out of choice it wanting to eating something that I feel it really good? No, I cant see myself doing that.

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TO

Tony S

Went here last night hoping it would be as good as Roscoes Chicken n Waffles in LA/Hollywood. HA! The broad strokes review: mediocre food and horrendous service. The details: I probably wont be back in spite of the fact that its so close. Wait time was horrendous. I sat for 20 minutes looking at the empty table where knew I would finally be seated. After I asked about the table (after the host asked if I wanted to sit at the bar) they hemmed, hawed and finally said ok. I saw a lot of other open tables at that point as well. The table top was dirty and sticky... I should have left at that point but it turned into morbid curiosity to see how bad it was going to be. Then, finally, the wait for dinner started. Waiter showed up after about 15 minutes to take my order. More than 1/2 hour later I finally got my dinner. The chicken was nothing to write home about (I dont really cook but I could have done better) with little to no taste, at least it wasnt bloody and underdone as has happened to some of the other reviewers. The waffles and syrup had a strange funky taste to them. The syrup wasnt maple... not sure what it was supposed to be. Oh, and I didnt have any silverware till I finally snagged a random waiter. The best part: after I finished they collected my dishes about 10 minutes later (no further sign of my original waiter) and I asked for the cheque. NO CHEQUE for another 15 minutes (fortunately I brought a book and wasnt in a particular hurry). I could have simply walked out for all the attention they were paying. The cheque finally showed up.. after I got up and snagged the host. And I finally just got up and paid at the register rather than wait another god-knows-how-long. I was tempted to leave no tip at all... I dont know why I left even 10%... Id have been better off to just get snacks out of the hotel vending machines.

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BL

Blake Ourso

Oh man oh man. I should have reviewed this place a long time ago. I stopped here at 10pm one night after a late flight. Man, im so glad i did. Holy cow, let me tell you, when its your first time in Oakland and you have no idea what to expect...this is where you go to people watch. Exhibit A: 2 girls sit to my left, drunk, talking about the guys they should have taken home that night. They laugh and joke with very graphic stories of what they should be doing at that moment, instead of chicken and waffles. Exhibit B: 2 guys sit to my right, drunk, talking about the girls they should have taken home that night. They kind of sulk and scoff at how they should have approached some girls. They enjoy their chicken and waffles in a woeful moment. I sit there listening to both parties chit chat (they were loud) while I wait for my order of chicken and waffles. BAM! KAPOW! SLAP!! I just hit every person in this place after I took a bite of this food. It was pretty dang good stuff. They even have some unmarked hot sauce that seems home-made (didnt ask) but the syrup was amazing, chicken was amazing...it was just some good ol fashion soul food and I splurged. The bad part was how big of a dump the place was. Its pretty much never been renovated if you ask me. Which is cool, but the floors seemed stained, the tables seemed stained, and everything was sticky from Syrup. Now granted it was late at night...maybe they had a lot of people earlier in the day that...THEY DIDNT CLEAN UP AFTER!! AHHH!! Haha I kid. I can deal with some sticky tables. The food was great. END!

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BE

Ben Reyes

Despite having been here over a year ago and having a great experience, I was close to leaving this place a 1 star review. The initial service and wait was abysmal, but when I finally called the young looking waiter over did I felt looked after. He apologized for the wait and gave me a drink on the house. I initially wasnt sure if it was some sort of racism or the way I looked and dressed, or something I said - it did feel like it. But after a while it occurred to me that everyone was being made to wait despite the open tables. Maybe its their way of keeping tables full and the place looking busy like a line at an empty night club, or maybe its to cover for the short staff at the back of house in the kitchen. Otherwise this place is great, and the food was good! Who cant love chicken and waffle. I dont know what happened but maybe it was my body language and the fact that I was shivering, the waiter came over followed by what seemed like the manager and the meal was offered on the house and they were apologetic, mentioning that theyre rushing the order and it was next. If it wasnt for that I would be leaving a 1 star review. I still left cash on the table and some more, I wanted to make sure the waiter got something out of it at the end of the night. I would still recommend this place but expect for a wait and some bumps in the service.

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CH

Chuck Ward

Great place just stick to the chickwn amd waffles though. Ordered biscuits and gravy with a scrambled egg side. To start the biscuits were like thick doe balls not layered or flaky at all more like a bread or a thick cake. The gravy served on it was brown mashed potato gravy with onions and peppers in it instead of your normal white pepper gravy. I ate it anyways cause i was starving, wasnt that bad i guess just not i was expecting and the waitress could have mentioned it was not normal and probably would have if she spoke english. The eggs i recieved that were to be scrambled were fried eggs that had been chopped up obviously previously cooked or incorrectly requested drom the waitress. Either way i had never seen that one before, at that point it was amusing to me and i had to laugh.. The only thing that is saving this score was i had been there before, had qhat they were knpwn for(chixken and waffles) and was extremely pleased. Open super late amd has a full bar. Place is poppin on the super late night, roll in there after 2 am youd think it was lunch or dinner rush. Oh and dont worry if your the only person in there not black, everyone is hella nice and everyone is treated like family. Might be distant family but family non the less.

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