We first spotted this place a few night ago when heading to Hyde Park Produce for a few grocery items. I saw the sign advertising fried chicken, fish & tacos. I was intrigued and thought it was a joke - until I read the Yelp! reviews on this place and decided that we *must* try this place while we were in town.
I am from Louisiana - the land of "Popeye's Famous Fried Chicken" and no one has ever been able to beat Popeye's when it comes to fried chicken. It was a tradition every Friday night in our house to have fried chicken from Popeyes for dinner.
That being said, I found Harold's chicken to be very close to Popeye's in quality and taste. It was freshly fried and delicious! It would've surpassed Popeye's if they were to spice up the batter and/or chicken a bit before frying it. Instead, they offer their "hot sauce" to notch up the flavor a bit.
Their fries were typical frozen fries, the sponge white bread that accompanies the chicken and fries is your typical spongy white sandwich bread - nothing to call home about. We also splurged and ordered onion rings, which were yummy, but definitely pre-frozen from a bag and nothing special.
I found the whole ordering/chicken procuring experience to be memorable. The bullet proof glass is hilarious as is the little enclosed lazy susan that they distribute the food to you through. It also humors me that there are soda machines instead of having fountain drinks available. The whole place is just full of personality and unique "charm" (for lack of a better term). If you're in the area, give it a try! I don't think you'll be disappointed.
Oh, and if you see "Cat bucket" on the menu, don't freak out and think it's fried feline, it's really just a bucket of fried catfish. I was mildly horrified when I first saw it on the menu and then I came to my senses and realized what their abbreviation meant :)
I'm sorry the rating for this shit ball Harolds is crazy as hell. this refried chicken is bogus and they dont even have the right sauce not the same as any other Harolds. Man all you people just need to take a drive to the Harolds on 35th that Harolds is good this one is a piece of shit.
Review Source:Harold's fried chicken has elevated my status as reluctant vegetarian to that of repentant vegetarian.
I did it.
I ate the chicken.
And it was good.
The others in our group were wary of trying Harold's chicken but it was recommended to me by a coworker (a recent Chicago transplant) so we thought we'd give it a try. And the fact that two police officers appeared to be standing guard in front of Harold's Chicken did nothing to assuage their trepidation.
But, lo, one bite of that delicious, (dare I say) moist chicken and their doubts melted away. The crunchy, delicious breading, the juicy chicken breast and the tang of the hot sauce linger in my mind and make me crave it fortnightly. So tasty! And the coleslaw is some tasty business, too (never mind the fact that they put a little dixie cup of the stuff in with the chicken, thus turning it into hot slaw which we promptly put in the fridge).
The fries are whatever, but I'm guessing that's why they didn't name the place "Harold's Fries." Put those soggy little bastards in the white bread with some chicken and hot sauce and you're good.
Harold's Chicken is just one more reason to love Chicago.
This is one of the best Harold's that I have been too in the city!!!
It's like they didn't forget how things use to be when Harold's first started...I didn't expect much and to be honest I wasn't going to order when my friend came here because I didn't feel like chicken but they had a great deal on a 8 pc chicken bucket and I'm so glad I got it because the chicken was good and fresh!!!
I will be back!!!
Piece of soggy white bread, fried chicken [two pieces] (you must order hot as the hot isn't even that hot but adds a lot to the experience...), and even soggier fries ... For 6$. I've only ordered simple items here, and it is my utmost sincere opinion that the UofC should do orientation catering at Harold's.
There's nothing like getting your "spicy" fried chicken from behind rotating bulletproof glass. Welcome to Chicago.
This is the best Harold's in the city.... I say that having been to at least 20 of them. The one on 87th and Western is a close second tho.
If you dont like Harold's, you are stupid. Are you seriously trying to compare this to Southern fried chicken cooked by a toothless racist in Alabama?
This is Chicago.... and along with deep dish, vienna hot dogs, italian beef, and maxwell streets, HAROLD'S IS CHICAGO.
The absolute best fried chicken in chicago. Â I can't even stress this enough. Â Nothing's better than paying for a half dark and then being charged less because the have a mid-week half-dark special for nearly half the price.
Customer service is terrible. Â Waits are long.....very long
If you're looking for southern fried chicken get in your car and drive back. I'm from Virginia and I know what good home cooked chicken tastes like. But this is Chicago. And Harold's has the best fried chicken in Chicago. It's great chicken and I enjoy eating it every time. I'd suggest the a 1/4 dark with mild sauce. best prepared meal I've ever bought for under $4.
Review Source:Delicious fried chicken! Boyfriend went to school right around the corner and is obsessive about this place. I knew we had to stop by to not only relive his memories but also to see whether or not his professions about the chicken were true. They were.
He warned me that it wasn't the most glamorous of places. Hood but whatever, I'm not a princess as long as the food is good. Got the half chicken with the mild and bbq sauces. The fried chicken was crispy, flavorful, well seasoned, with the right amount of grease and the meat inside was surprisingly very juicy. I probably should have requested the mild sauce on the side, made the parts it covered soggy. Not sure why there were fries and slices of white bread. The fries were mediocre, some soggy and the white bread was your standard Wonderbread variety. Definitely did not have enough napkins so we were resourceful and used the bread to help wipe our hands clean (ghetto is as ghetto does).
Fried chicken? Phenomenal. Wouldn't recommend it as a date spot unless you're trying to get rid of a chick but definitely if you're looking for your greasy fix.
The key to Harold's is knowing what to order. Â This secret can take a decent chicken meal and make it delectable. Â
If you've had Harold's before and don't get what the fuss is about, try ordering a half mild and/or hot with salt and pepper. Â Then get back to me about how wrong you were. Â
And it's super cheap. Â And hot. Â And greasy. Â And did I say cheap? Â Harold's is the perfect drunk food. Â
And don't complain if you let the chicken sit around and then be all like oh it's soggy and not that good. No shit.
This Harolds has improved a lot since I last went years ago. Â I saw new faces in the kitchen and it showed up in the food.
For those of you new to Harolds - there's a tradition for consuming Harolds called the fry sandwich:
-- take one piece of the white bread and put some fries in it like a taco
-- pour some hot sauce on top of the fries
-- one can also add a few pieces of chicken, though some skin will do the trick
This is the old school method of eating Harolds, and you'll never give it up once you try it.
Another essential at Harolds is to get the hot sauce on the side if you are getting it to go. Â Everything gets too soggy trapped in the bag - so keeping liquid off the chicken and fries will help keep your fowl crispy until you get home.
I was pretty excited to finally try some Harold's Chicken when I stumbled in here after making a stop at Kimbark Liquors with a friend.
First of all I love the hoodrat feel. Bulletproof glass, a revolving counter to make sure no one can get through, and cashiers with some serious attitude. I felt right at home.
I decided to order the 2 catfish, 2 wing, 2 perch plate which came with fries and cold slaw and dusted with hot sauce. Now that's my kind of place! For $9 something I can't beat that for seafood.
When I got back to his place to eat it, I decided the catfish just wasn't going to go down. Way too fishy and the skin still attached wasn't helping. The chicken was delicious though, really really juicy and yummy. And finally the perch was the best. It even served me for lunch the following day. The fries weren't the best, but the cold slaw was pretty decent (I wish they gave me more- its the only veggie/semi healthy piece of the meal).
Now, I could never eat Harold's consistently. And to be honest this was my first and only time here. I probably will return in a few month in fear if I eat it any more frequently I might die of a heart attack.
Note: The security guard is MEAN, super mean too. Stay away from him. Oh, and they don't let customers use the restrooms.
Sure, there's bulletproof glass, and sure, you have to buy your drinks for a vending machine, and sure, anything on the menu that's not chicken is iffy at best, but you didn't come to Harold's for the atmosphere or the varied menu. You go to Harold's because they do fried chicken and they do it damn well. The chicken is typically pretty fresh, and maybe the fries are soggy, and so is that piece of wonder bread, and why the hell do they include that tiny ketchup container full of coleslaw in all of the orders, but once you take a bite out of that fried chicken all the rest is forgotten.
I always get my order with salt and pepper and hot sauce, with an extra container of hot sauce on the side. Always go for the hot sauce - I've heard mixed reviews on the mild sauce and the hot spice is hardly spicy at all; it's more tangy/vinegar-y.
The king and still champion. You order from behind bulletproof glass. You pay in cash. You wait for the food to be spun out to you from behind the protective wall. Then you eat the best fried chicken in the city.
Admittedly that's not saying a whole lot; Chicago is a bit of a fried chicken desert, but Harold's is the goods. They have more things on the menu than necessary, but you aren't really going to Harold's for the nuggets, are you? Word of advice: get the hot sauce, which really isn't very hot but has a fantastic flavor (the mild is more of a traditional sweet KC barbecue sauce). Greasy, fattening, and oh so delicious.
Our fowl that art from heaven,
 Harold's be thy name.
 Thy chicken crumbed,
 Thy fries be done,
 On earth as it is in heaven,
 Give us this day our wonderbread,
 And forgive us our diets,
 As we have forgotten to be dieters.
 And let us not dismiss the sauce,
 But deliver us from grease.
 For thine is the bullet-proof glass window of the chicken kingdom,
 The Chi-Town shack of unmatched fame and glory,
 For ever and ever.
 Amen.
I've experienced better 25-29 years ago at the original 53rd Street Harold's Chicken Shack down the street. My experience tonight only made me realize that over time, change will occur - or maybe not. I saw a couple U of C students. One could have been me in a time warp. I saw neighborhood regulars. I saw the same bullet proof plastic wall and carousel separating the cash and the kitchen staff from the neighborhood fans - Harold's could probably just take down that crazy contraption - there's probably not much money and who would harm the venerable Harold's crew anyway? They make good cheap food.
Anyway, I ordered the same quarter white with hot sauce that I ordered on at least a bi-weekly basis between 1982 and 1986. At some point in 1985, I discovered that Louisiana Hot Sauce had about the same flavor and was a safer bet for my digestive tract than whatever combination of peppers they were dousing on top of their fried chicken.
Today, I didn't get the same large paper plate with a heaping serving of fries on top of fried chicken on top of wonder bread doused with hot sauce until you told the lady to stop shaking that container of liquid kick. Instead, I got something less. Not just in quantity, but possibly in quality. Maybe it was a bad night, who knows? I do know that as I drove back to my hotel, that same uniquely powerful odor of Harold's hot sauce came wafting out of that bag like some powerful elixir stirring my memories of days of yore - good times, bad times, or just time? Â
The chicken was good, but not great. The fries were just as I remembered. The hot sauce was also just as I remembered. Probably not nearly as much hot sauce, though, because today, no one bothered to ask me how much I wanted, or when to say stop. I seem to remember a lot of yelling "More!" through the bullet-proof glass. Oh well.
Except for the the nostalgia factor which is impossible to re-create outside of Hyde Park, anyway - I can find a similar taste treat by dousing Louisiana Hot Sauce on Popeye's Spicy Fried Chicken. Â Louisiana Hot Sauce is the condiment of choice at Popeye's. Apparently, they agree with my 1985 discovery. Louisiana Hot Sauce is the key to this chain-reaction affectionately called Harold's Chicken and transferable to any Fried Chicken or any other fried food, anywhere, any millennium.
I visited on 7-19-11. I last visited in 1986.
I dont know where all the ravings are coming from. Perhaps it's because I lived in a southern state for four years that I was totally not impressed by their fried chicken. In fact, I think I have experienced way better fried chicken in Chicago too, so perhaps, it is just the lack of good food option in Hyde Park that people are acting like Harold's is where they first found fried chicken.
The problem is that, if the food is great, we all will tolerate little things, like poor customer service, rude staff, weird window where you get your food, cash only when they are a chain restaurant, ... But unfortunately, when the food is terrible, you start to get bugged more by those little things.
Their wings and drumsticks are alright. But their chicken breast are really bad. I think I've had better fried chicken from Treasure Island. Yes, it's a grocery store with poor service. But honestly, they have really good and inexpensive fried chicken that everybody should try.
Back to Harold, I don't suggest anyone trying it. People I know in Hyde Park kept telling me to come here. It was the only place on 53rd that I had never gone to. Now I know better that Hyde Park people might not know their food best ... You should only talk to them about libraries, or bookstores, or museums... etc.
I LOVE Harold's. However, those who are from Chicago, know that some Harold's are better than others.
This one is one of the best in the city.
My order is always 5 wings, salt, pepper & mild sauce. Gotta have the mild sauce!
For any out of towners.. you MUST add mild sauce to your chicken, it makes it taste THAT much better!
I'm making myself hungry...might stop by and get some tonight!
Harold's is a South Side institution, and this location is especially popular with the University of Chicago students (the ones that aren't scared to go north of 55th St anyway). Â Sure they weren't the first to throw hot sauce on chicken (Prince's Hot Chicken Shack in Nashville gets credit for that one), but Harold's has put a unique Chicago twist on a classic American food.,
My BF, a U of C alumnus, swore by the stuff and had many old college stories that revolved around Harold's and a six pack of Schlitz from Kimbark Liquors next door. Â I was initially scared off by the looks of the place and by the accounts of a less-than-perfect health inspection record, but he eventually talked me into giving it a try. Â I'm so glad I did.
No matter when we go, there always seems to be a line to order. Â It's a good idea to know what you want by the time you get to the front of the line as the cashier behind the bulletproof glass may not be in the mood to wait around on you. Â They're not mean, but they mean business. Â
We usually order the wing dinners with mild sauce. Â Wing dinners come with your choice of 3, 4, 5, or 6 wings with fries, coleslaw, and two pieces of white bread. Â You have the option of having them add any combination of salt & pepper, hot sauce, and mild sauce. Â Hot sauce is your typical pepper sauce (like Tabasco) while mild is more like a sweet, tomato-based BBQ sauce. Â You can also get hot and/or mild sauce on the side for an extra fee. Â Some of the more badass regulars will order their chicken fried "hard." Â I've never had the balls to ask for it "hard."
I used to work with some nurses that got Harold's on Fridays. Â They swore by the chicken livers--that's what they got every time. Â I, however, am not a fan. Â Haven't tried the gizzards either.
You can order soda or Mystic at the counter. Â There are also a number of vending machines in the dining area that offer a good variety of sugary drinks. Â We usually go with a fruit-flavored soda.
In my mind two things make Harold's special. Â For one, they do not keep their chicken under heat lamps like your KFC, Church's, Popeye's, etc. Â The chicken is thrown back in the fryer after you order so you know that it will be fresh and hot when you get it. Â Fried chicken from under a heat lamp just doesn't do it for me anymore. Â Secondly they still use tallow in their frying oil. Â Maybe not the healthiest choice, but damn it tastes good.
Remember to keep your receipt. Â When your chicken is done frying (usually around 7 minutes but can be much longer on busy days), they'll call your number. Â Take your receipt to the bullet-proof Lazy Susan and trade it for your meal.
There is a dining area with Formica table booths, chicken wallpaper, and not much else. Â If the weather is nice, take your crispy, juicy, saucy chicken on a picnic. Â Nichol's Park is a block away. Â Promontory Point, Washington Park, and the University of Chicago campus are much nicer settings just a little further away.
My fried chicken bender continues. Next up, Harold's in Hyde Park.
Until this weekend I had never had Harold's before. This greatly disappointed some of my friends. "Dallas, how can you have not had Harold's in the five years you've lived here?!" was the question I'd hear incredulously. Well, now I have. My life is no better for it.
I found the chicken at Harold's to be incredibly lackluster. The skin, while very crispy, had no flavor. Maybe its my own fault for ordering incorrectly, but being a Harold's virgin how was I suppose to know I was supposed to request certain things on the chicken like salt and pepper?! The menu didn't tell me of my options so I ordered a half chicken, white. The lady behind the counter said okay and about 7 minutes later I got my food. There were definitely positives - the meat was moist and juicy, there was a lots of it and the service was prompt and friendly. I just cant get over how the chicken lacked any flavor whatsoever.
What I learned while at Harold's was next time ask for the chicken with EVERYTHING otherwise I'll be sad.
I finally got around to trying Harold's Famous Chicken and it was pretty good. Alas, I am not in the camp that this is God's gift to the world in terms of fried chicken. It's consistently tasty and very greasy but I've had better (unfortunately the best fried chicken I've ever had is in the country of Colombia).
Their hot sauce btw is the way to go if you like spicy things! And their fries are tasty too! And don't forget about the grease-soaked bread... a great neutralizer for whatever sauce you have on your chicken.
It's a definite must-try in HP and don't let the sparse interior fool you! Be brave, order up, and you will be satisfied :)
Gawd, I wish I had a Harold near me where ever I live from now on.
Crispy skin, juicy meat, cheap prices, bad service, and greasy fingers, bring it on! My mouth is still watering thinking of the chicken experience that changed my life.
Indulge away peeps! ..(gtg wipe the drool off my mouth).
I still have dreams about you Harold's Chicken. Â
That sweet sweet grease dribbling down my chin, coating my arteries, clogging some obscure vessel. Â The wonderbread catching all the grease that tries escaping, oh gravity, nice try! Â SO GOOD. Â
Get the sauce. Â I'm a fan of the mild, but spicy is good as well. Â Shoot, now I'm starting to drool.
OM NOM *CRUNCH* NOM NOM!!
I'm surprised this place hasn't been reviewed more. Â 3rd/4th yr of college I lived a block from this place, and I believe it is the reason for my currently disastrous cholesterol levels. Â I had to limit myself to twice a week, not because as a skinny asian girl I was worried about the weight, but because I thought it was psychologically detrimental for me to become that addicted to this place. Â like previous reviewers have said, get the sauce. Â spicy or mild doesn't matter, it's good, its juicy. Â My personal preference was for the sweet tangy fusion of the mild sauce. Â The breading on the chicken here is also superior to the limp whatever that you find on KFC chicken.
Yes it looks ghetto. Â Harold's is a south side chain (ignore the wicker park hipster-wannabe outpost). Â But it's not unsafe, it's in a little gentrified academic neighborhood. Â If you don't find the odd juxtaposition of the ghetto and the fancy charming then you won't much like the rest of Hyde Park either.
I came back here last night, after being "clean" from this particular Harold's for over three months, and saw this:
<a href="http://www.yelp.com/biz_photos/cexclggtFDUfHzg2y9b8RQ?select=xd7Kxp8F3625_tebGTYCXw">http://www.yelp.com/biz_…</a>
What the hell are you going to return for a refund at a Harold's Fried Chicken within a week?!?
Oh- and how does one pay for a bag with 0.05 CENTS? Â I am pretty sure they mean $0.05 or just plain old 5 cents. Â It is my pleasure to clear that one up!
Chicken was piping hot and delicious once again- by far the most important thing to me. Â Unfortunately the place was filthy as ever, and the moron calling out tickets still can't keep orders straight.
But refunds on fried chicken within a week? Â I might just try this out. Â I plan on ordering a wing or two, letting it fester in the warmth of let's say a tied tight plastic grocery bag sitting out in the sun for a few days and then bringing it back for my full refund. Â You know- just to see what they have to say about this well thought out policy of theirs.
If it is anything like their normal "service" then I am sure comedy will ensue.
I think I will stick to my Cottage Grove Harold's.
"Hi, I'd like two chicken strips with hot sauce."
"Okay. Â You don't want nothing on it?"
"Just hot sauce."
"You sure? Â It won't taste good with nothing on it sweetie."
"Well, I want hot sauce on it."
"Mild sauce, salt and pepper, hot sauce, something."
"Yes. I will have the hot sauce."
"Oh, okay sweetheart. Â Yeah, I think you'll like that better than having nothing on it. Â Two chicken strips with hot sauce!"
And so progresses a typical conversation at Harold's on 53rd. Harold's is really the only place in this area to serve seriously good junk fast food, and the lack of competition keeps them in business, despite the following cons:
- they always say your order will be ten minutes.  Regardless of what's going on.  If it's completely deserted it really will be ten minutes.  But when it's crowded it will be forty, and they'll still say ten.  Go do  your errands at Hyde Park Produce and CVS.  Do NOT believe what they say.  You've been warned.
- they allow peddlers in Harolds. Â They don't care if the peddlers annoy or creep out their patrons. Â They even allow peddlers to bother you while you're right at the window trying to order. Â The cashiers just tune them out.
- If you order on the phone, sometimes they put the order in right away, and sometimes they will wait for you to get there and pay before putting in the order. Â So ordering on the phone thirty minutes before you get there will still leave you with a forty minute wait once you get there. Â But maybe not. Â It's a matter of luck. Â Every cashier has his or her own policy, and they won't reveal that to you until you get there.
- As evidenced in the conversation above, they can't hear. Â I don't get it. Â I've been to other places with bulletproof glass, and they don't have a problem hearing me. Â I don't know why the entire staff is collectively hard of hearing at this location. Â
- They mess up simple orders. Â Almost always.
Pros
- They get complicated orders and special requests and substitutions down pat. Â Every time. Â Maybe they respect picky customers more? Â Order something straight off the menu and it will get lost or screwed up. Â But try ordering a modified version of something on the menu. Â
Add an extra strip of chicken, half the fries, hold the bread, salt but half the salt you usually put on, four shakes of black pepper, mild sauce on the chicken and hot sauce on the side, wait, make that hot sauce on the chicken and mild sauce on the side, substitute onion rings for fries and charge me a bit more, but not too much. Â Please divide my order into two bags, with two strips of perch in one bag and one strip of perch and two strips of chicken in the other bag, and be sure to put both forks in the second bag.
HAROLD'S WILL GET THIS ORDER RIGHT.
And this is only a part of what makes the corporate culture (that's right) at Harold's odd. Â
If you walk in there sweet and complacent, they will fuck up your order.
If you walk in there bitchy and aggressive (I haven't tried it but I've seen others) they will fuck it up even more.
But walk in sweet and polite but persistent and slightly sarcastic. Â Be demanding, but also friendly. Â Act like you expect them to carry out your order and have no doubts. Â They will call you "honey" and the food will be good.
Now, I'm one of those freaks that doesn't like fried chicken. Â I don't get it at all. Â I love fried things, and I love chicken. Â I think fried chicken smells like something I would enjoy eating. Â When I see other people eating fried chicken, it looks really good. Â But for some reason I don't like it. Â Maybe I have just never had good fried chicken. Â I know, I know. Â Don't hate me. Â
So I get chicken strips (which is fried chicken, practically, anyway) and sometimes fried perch, which is really good and satisfying. Â And I continue to come here and only here when I'm in the mood for spicy tangy fried food that will hit my entire palate and clear my sinuses. Â Both items are always drained well and crisp, and always hit the spot.
First disclaimer, I'm one of the bougie half black people you may have heard of. Â We enjoy our fried chicken with a generous portion of irony and take our coleslaw with a mild sneer of satisfaction.
On that note, Harold's delivers.
You know it's going to be a different (read: magical) experience when you enter the minimall on 53rd and enter Harold's, whereupon you find one or two neglected seats, a tiny ministore (I think it was selling DVDs), and the joy that is Harold's, where the clerks are separated from you by at least two inches of bulletproof glass and are often more interested in chatting with each other (or on the phone) than taking your order.
But who cares! Â The food is pretty damn good.
I tried the fried chicken adn the perch. Â The chicken managed to be both crispy and moist, and the hot bbq sauce was excellent. Â It made for a very, very good end to the day.
And that is why I love you, Harold's. Â Even with the b-proof glass.
Well, the Hyde Park Harold's is pretty much a dump inside- but the food is good. Â I've only ever gone in to do a food pick-up. Â Your appetite probably won't be what it was if you decide to eat-in.
The chicken is so crispy and saucy but not too spicy. Â The fries are the soft potato-y kind that gets bits of the sauce on them, and topped off with a slice of white bread. Uuuuuuh-- yum!
My favorite part of Harold's is their kooky logo with the chef chasing the chicken- meat cleaver up in the air. Tee hee.
Came back here last night after a serious craving of the sauce! I was in the area and after getting a haircut (not @ Obama's barber) I got a hunger rumble. I started thinking, "What would be the perfect food right now" (In a Harold & Kumar moment). The name Harold's started ringing!
Looked in and the line was ridiculous, so I started thinking what the fuck! I walked next door to Kimbark Liquors in hope of finding a 12 pack of Stella Artois to cheer me up. Found the Stella and as I looked back in Harold's the line had become rather short. Ran to the car and dropped my Stella off and ran back in. Ordered a 5 piece with mild sauce and was outta there in 7 mins!
I made it home 20 mins later and enjoyed my chicken and fries with THE SAUCE, along with a nice cold Stella. I was a happy man
Harold's, I promise to sway fellow yelpers that has never had you to come on over during our Office Hours visit next month!
I'm dismayed that this location has wandered downhill in the past year. Â They've been skimping on the sauce and now all of a sudden the white bread is on top of my order, not on the bottom?! Â Since they can't apply the sauce right and can't ever remember an order of sauce on the side, I've given up on that and switched to the old reliable "fried hard, salt & pepper" routine. Â And that's still damn good.
I think they're slipping, but they've still got (dirty) tables so I don't have to eat on my car, the chicken still brings a smile to my stomach, and they still fill me up for $3.50. Â So they still get 4 stars.
Holy crap, the fried chicken! It's possible I was just really really hungry, and smelling the fried chicken in the car all the way home made me even more hungry, but oh my gosh. I ate it so fast, it was disgusting. If the boy and I hadn't been together a year and a half, he probably would have dumped me right then and there. That's how fast I ate it.
We got the sauce on the side and the chicken survived the ride home just fine, FYI. YUM! Greasy goodness.
Anyone livin' in Hyde Park who knows shit about shit knows that this is one of the most segregated "integrated" neighborhoods in the nation. You got all the restos and stores catering to the university-affiliated masses, and then you got everything else. Don't even get me started on this topic b/c my lil shitlet of understanding cannot even begin to scratch the surface.
N'WAYS!! Onto Harold's Chicken Shack, one of the few places our worlds collide. A grandma in a hairnet serving you the BEST white-meat chicken and hot bbq-sauce slathered fries thru a bullet-proof window at midnight is where it's at!! Â I never knew a piece of chicken could have this much meat on it, be this moist, this tasty. And that hot sauce?! HOT DAMN. Now I'm not gonna lie to you, the skin on that meat was probably triple-fried and those fries were a tad freezer-burnt, but that hot bbq sauce was so good I just sucked the shit right off those bad-boys and called it a night. It was like someone was Indian-burning my tongue - it hurt so good!!
My husband is a native Hyde Parker. When we started dating, he told me that I *had* to try Harold's if I liked fried chicken.
The first time I had it, I was not impressed. I mean - wonderbread and fried chicken on a bed of crinkle cut fries? I had it dry which, in retrospect, was the problem - you have to get the hot sauce with it.
I made several more attempts to like Harold's and each time I was "eh"...and then it hit me. I started to CRAVE it. What the hell? I didn't even like the shit and now I wanted to mainline that hotsauce and snort the chicken coating.
It's safe to say that I am a convert. I guess it's one of those things that you have to try multple times before your eyes are opened to the taste-heaven that is Harold's.
And remember - don't even THINK about ordering it without the sauce.
Ordering at Harold's is always a unique experience, from the bulletproof glass to the pop vending machines in the main room. Whatever you think of the restaurant's quirks, you owe it to yourself to try some of their chicken.
I used to think my grandma made the best fried chicken in the world. Harold's beats her. It's crisp but moist, not grease-soaked, nicely seasoned, and comes with a choice of mild or hot sauce (the hot sauce is awesome). Along with your chicken, you'll get some french fries and a slice of white bread or two. The fries are fine. I don't bother with the bread (more room for chicken).
Some of the other Harold's locations have a bigger menu, and offer things like catfish and even fried okra.
Twenty years ago, when I was an insecure, acne-laden University of Chicago GSB student trudging through the six-foot snow drifts of the worse winter I ever experienced as a California native, I thought the fried chicken at Harold's was like manna from heaven. I would face the strongest headwinds off Lake Michigan and the most blustery snowstorm just to get there from my brownstone apartment a good ten blocks away. I would lick my icicle-fringed lips at the very thought of a dark half smothered in the extra hot sauce over a slice of Wonder bread and a greasy pile of French fries. And since Harold's at that time had no seating, I would walk those lonely ten blocks back to my apartment and risk a house fire by putting the paper plate of chicken and fries into the rickety gas oven.
Flash forward to last month, and I came back for a visit to the University of Chicago campus. Despite the nostalgia of my academic semi-glory all those years ago, my one wish was to go to Harold's. To my surprise, it was no longer in the corner location easily identified by the bright neon sign with the blinking picture of the chef cutting the head off the chicken. Certainly a warmly remembered sight. It looks like it took the place of the infamous Chinese food and pizza restaurant in Kimbark Plaza, where lo and behold, there are now booths, plastic plants and even a restroom. What remains the same is the bulletproof, painted glass with the tiny hole through which you need to make your order.
There is a technique you must follow in order to have a chance at a completely successful order. Do not bother with etiquette or even complete sentences...only shriek-like commands are understood. So instead of asking "Could you be so kind as to provide me with three pieces of the dark half of the chicken with the extra hot sauce?", you must look steely and shout, "DARK HALF! THREE PIECES! (using sign language helps) EXTRA HOT!" I should clarify that the three pieces would actually be two thighs and a drumstick. In due time, you will get the very same type of paper plate from twenty years ago with the exact same fried chicken with the same soft Wonder bread slice and the same greasy fries. Trust me...you will be perfectly sated after that meal. It's still the best fried chicken I've ever had. I was in heaven. Forget Thomas Wolfe...you can go home again.
P.S....I happen to love the chicken gizzards plate with extra hot sauce, but I expect only true connoisseurs can appreciate that.
FOOD - Â 5 stars
AMBIANCE - 1.5 Â stars
SERVICE - 1.5 stars
OVERALL - 5 stars...the chicken is simply that good.
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