The Chicken Coop

Last Tuesday, my family and I decided to eat dinner at The Chicken Coop in downtown Grand Island.  My step-mom had been there once or twice before but my three siblings and myself had not.  I had heard advertisements for this restaurant on the radio, but I rarely venture to downtown Grand Island so I took this blog assignment as an opportunity to go check it out.

Before I arrived, I made a list of the qualities I thought most important for a good customer experience: service time, friendliness, cleanliness, quality of food, and price.  As I approached the restaurant, and throughout my entire visit, I took notes and pictures to record the things I found to illustrate my experience at The Chicken Coop.

Signature logo hanging above the entrance 

We got to the restaurant around 5:45 pm and, not surprisingly for a Tuesday, it was not busy at all.  The entrance of the building looked original and conveyed the style of the restaurant.  As we walked in, the restaurant was cool and tidy. We seated ourselves and were politely greeted within the minute by a waitress. She promptly took our drink orders and brought them back in under 5 minutes to take our meal orders.  The menu had a decent amount of variety--what you would expect at a Sports Bar & Grill. The prices were pretty reasonable with an average of around $10/meal.

The menu

While we were waiting for our food to be done, I decided to take a look around the place.  The overall atmosphere was pretty laid back and the decor was simple yet appropriate.  There were many TVs hung with numerous different sports programs being broadcast.  My favorite part of the restaurant were the brick archways that separated the bar area from the other seating areas because the architecture of it was uncommon in other restaurants.

The arches

When I was done taking a tour of the dining area, I ventured into the women's restroom.  They say that the cleanliness of the bathroom is an indicator of how clean the kitchen is.  The rest of the restaurant was very well-kept and the bathroom turned out to be no exception.  The toilet paper, paper towels, and soap were all stocked.  All the surfaces were clear of grime and the trash can was not in need of taking out.  It didn't even smell "bathroomy".  I was very pleased with the way their restrooms were maintained.

After my snooping, I returned to our table.  Within ten minutes, all of our meals were served.  Although the presentation was nothing fancy, it was still "put-together" and it all looked and smelled tasty! Once we made sure our meals were just as we had ordered them, we dug in. Thankfully our taste buds agreed with our other senses; everything was delicious, as well as hot and fresh.  During our chow-down, our server happily came around to our table 3 times (I counted) to make sure everything tasted to our liking, to see if we needed refills, and to ask if we needed anything else.  When she saw that we were slowing down due to full bellies, she brought us our check and a to-go box for our leftovers. 

I tried the wings

My brother got a burger and fries

Based on the criteria I judged my experience on (service time, friendliness, cleanliness, quality of food, and price), The Chicken Coop in Grand Island is an excellent restaurant. I believe this venue to be appropriate for various occasions, whether you are just going to the bar with your buddies or taking your whole family out to dinner.  The service time is excellent and the staff is very professional, pleasant, and helpful. As far as I could tell, nothing was dirty or in need of maintenance.  I felt confident in the safety of the food I was eating; its quality matched the not-cheap-but-not-expensive price. It was served up hot and fresh, the presentation was appealing to the eye, and it tasted good, too! Overall, my experience was above my expectations and I would definitely recommend this restaurant to others.  I look forward to going there again soon!