NYC Chicken and Burgers
806 Riverview Drive, Suite BSome days I find new restaurants by Facebook posts. Some days I find new restaurants by driving by and going, “wait, what was that?”
I had one of the latter days last week when I was heading out towards Beacon Hospital. I saw new signage at familiar place. I didn’t have time to stop that day but I made a note of it headed back the first chance I got.
NYC Chicken and Burgers is on Riverview Drive at the intersection with Bridge Street. It’s in that same shopping plaza as the 13 1/2 liquor store. The space has been so many things over the last seven years. First it was TNT – Lil’ Bros BBQ, then it was Burger Bros. After that, it became Burger Boss. When Burger Boss closed, it became Greg’s Gourmet. That lasted until the end of last year when Greg announced he was moving to the mall in Portage. Just over a month ago, the next restaurant moved in. NYC Chicken and Burgers.
Nothing has really changed about the layout of this place despite the changes in ownership. There is a large counter right as you walk in the door. The wallpaper has never really changed either which has always been kind of funny to me. It’s a faux brick and while it was red at one time, ha changed colors over time. A lot of the wallpaper was taken off the walls and they were painted yellow but there is still some of the grayish wallpaper from when Greg’s was there. There were some monitors added to the ceiling with the menu but only have of it was working. I had planned on using their online ordering but it kept saying they weren’t accepting online orders. To be fair, I was trying to do all this right as they opened at noon so they may not have had it turned on yet.
There is no seating at all in the restaurant. That’s pretty much been that way since Burger Bros left. They didn’t have much either but they had a chair rail with a few stools. Now it’s just a big open space. There’s not even chairs to sit an wait. It’s really just kind of wasted space but the restuarants that have gone in here have all been pretty strictly carry-out businesses.
I like both burgers and chicken but I was in the mood for chicken. I ordered the six piece mix chicken combo which came with fries and a drink. The cost was just under $13 which seemed insanely cheap to me but that was what it cost.
The food was boxed up in a fried chicken to-go container. I asked for a can of Coke to drink then headed back to the office to eat.
I noticed right away when I opened up the box that the chicken looked a little on the small side but with the price being only $13, I still thought it was a really good deal. The six pieces of chicken include two each of leg, thigh, and breast. No breasts. I assume you get the breasts with the 8 piece but I didn’t need that much chicken. I don’t know what makes “NY Fried Chicken” but this chicken was really crispy and really juicy. Like I mentioned, it’s not very big. Each piece of chicken is two or three bites but it is chicken with a good, crispy, flavorful breading so it packs some flavor despite the small size of the pieces.
The fries were underneath the chicken so I had to eat them last. They were nothing special. Simple frozen battered fries but there was a lot of them. Again, a lot of food for less than $13.
The big advantage to NYC Chicken and Burgers is the value. You can get a pretty good meal for a really good price. It’s hard to get fried chicken for this price but they’re in between Lee’s Famous Recipe and Fish Express so they have to do something to stand out along what is apparently Kalamazoo’s Fried Chicken District on Riverview Drive.
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