Chicago's Home of Chicken and Waffles

3947 S King Dr
Chicago, IL 60653
(773) 536-3300

Mmm hmm. This is not the contented "Mmm hmm" of a full belly and happy thoughts. This is the "Mmm hmm" of an "I see you & your triflin' self" side-eye. To be fair, this place was already on my "Mmm hmm" radar after its shady RosScoe's beginnings. While it's sorta humorous that the CHoC&W ptb tried to pull such a sorry fast one, it should give the public a glimpse of the kind of business tptb are trying to run. I've eaten at Roscoe's. I've eaten at Sylvia's. Depending on whom you ask, I am from the South. I am pretty well acquainted with fried chicken & waffles. The sides were slammin'. The chicken was pretty good. The waffles were pitiful, verging on "sorry."

I ordered the white chicken dinner with mac & cheese, greens and red beans & rice (complimentary cornbread). The dinner came out really quickly. I was impressed - and a little suspicious - by how quickly it came out, but I wasn't going to complain. I was here to eat. The mac & cheese was delicious. It was buttery, firm & starchy-cheesy. It was definitely reminiscent of post-baptism dinners in the church basement. I added hot sauce to the red beans. I didn't do so out of disrespect. It's how I grew accustomed to eating them in NOLA. They were great. The bean to rice ratio was a *little* dry, but nothing to complain about. The greens were well seasoned, slightly bitter and served with meat hocks in the bowl. Just right.

The chicken was pretty good. I ordered the white pieces, so I was prepared for them to be slightly dry. It was nothing a little hot sauce couldn't handle. The skin was the same consistency as KFC Original Recipe, but didn't have the flavor. Thumbs down for that. I was expecting the crunchy fried chicken that comes as a result of a hot skillet, flour, seasoning and several grease pop/splatters that taught me not to go by the stove when my grandma was making chicken. I was confused by the 'smooth' skin. The cornbread portion was healthy, but the cornbread was dry. I could take or leave it.

The waffle. Hmph. This wasn't a waffle. This was a tortilla with Sharpie-drawn squares. It cost $4.95! That's more than a waffle at Roscoe's! That's a five dollah foot-a-looonguh. For $4.95, I was expecting a waffle steak. Or, a waffle sheet cake. This pitiful thing came out cold, flat, small and soggy with a couple of pats of hard butter. Pitiful. I tried spreading the butter on the waffle. It looked at me as if to say, "I don't know what you're trying to do, but while you do it, I'm just gonna sit here and not move. Oohh-kayyy?!" Yes, the butter had an attitude problem. I wound up dousing the waffle with syrup and throwing my cut up chicken on top of it in order to wolf it down. This was *not* the C&W experience of my west coast, east coast and southern lives. In fact, it singularly dampened my experience here.

Yeah, the chicken & sides are good but this is not Chicago's Home of Chicken & Sides. When you only deliver on half of your namesake, either change the name or improve the quality of your product. That being said, I was considering a complimentary recap. Then, the waiter hovered over us and, repeatedly, asked us for "[our] money so [he could] go home." So so place. Then, after being shaken down for our cash, my friend was told that her credit card was denied three times and she needed to pay with cash. Fine. She got home to discover her card had been charged twice. The third time, the credit card took it upon itself to deny the charge. Pitiful, trifling, sorry-ass place. Shady.

Mmm hmm.