Find five favorite fried chicken places in Tallahassee

Martha Gruender, Tallahassee Democrat
·4 min read
The Hot Birdie chicken sandwich is a featured dish offered at Hot Birdie's Chicken, a new quick service restaurant owned by Kevin Stout, who also owns Food Glorious Food.
The Hot Birdie chicken sandwich is a featured dish offered at Hot Birdie's Chicken, a new quick service restaurant owned by Kevin Stout, who also owns Food Glorious Food.

Tallahassee loves its chain chicken places, including Chick-fil-A, Popeye's, Slim Chickens, Bojangles, Guthrie’s and more.

But homegrown chicken restaurants have their own special charms. Don't be a chicken. There's no better way to celebrate National Fried Chicken Day on July 6, than visiting a true local tradition for character and great fried chicken.

Get your crunch on. Here are five local favorites.

Fried Chicken FInder: Fried chicken in Florida: Where to find some of the best from Fort Myers to Fort Pierce

Quasi Roque, an employee at Olean's Cafe, serves food during the lunch rush Wednesday, July 3, 2019.
Quasi Roque, an employee at Olean's Cafe, serves food during the lunch rush Wednesday, July 3, 2019.

Olean's Cafe

1605 S Adams St.; Tallahassee 850-521-0259; facebook.com

Order the crispy fried chicken and get a side of soul food history when you eat at Olean's. For more than 20 years, Olean and Johnny McCaskill have run the cozy restaurant, decorated with photos of Florida A&M University athletic stars and friends, and a poster of Martin Luther King Jr. and President Barack Obama. A breakfast dish is named after Obama, as is a lunch for then-Vice President Joe Biden. It was made for him when he dropped in during a campaign stop. “It’s a lunch special,” Olean told Tallahassee Table's Rochelle Koff in 2016. “It’s fried chicken, black-eyed peas, mac and cheese – just what he got.”

Lindy's Fried Chicken on South Monroe Street as seen on Friday, June 17, 2022.
Lindy's Fried Chicken on South Monroe Street as seen on Friday, June 17, 2022.

Lindy's Fried Chicken

1231 E. Lafayette St.; 850-877-5698

In its heyday, Lindy's, which opened in 1968, had five restaurants sprinkled around Tallahassee, serving its famous filet sandwiches and fried-chicken boxes featuring light or dark fried, mashed potatoes with gravy, biscuits and coleslaw as well as wings and desserts. Where else can you still get a liver and gizzard box? After 55 years, like a snapshot to simpler time, one unassuming down-home location is carrying on the crispy tradition.

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Snakebird Cafe at Waterworks

1133 Thomasville Road; 850-224-1887; or visit facebook.com.

It's all Tiki Bar in front and kitchen in the back at Waterworks, where the Snakebird Cafe dishes sandwiches and fried chicken. The deal of the week is Fried Chicken Thursdays. Two legs, a thigh, and your choice of two sides (mashed potatoes, potato salad, green beans, slaw and more) for $13. The fried chicken is also available daily on the new summer menu for $17.

A plate of fried chicken at a FAMU dining hall on Wednesday, July 27, 2022 in Tallahassee, Fla.
A plate of fried chicken at a FAMU dining hall on Wednesday, July 27, 2022 in Tallahassee, Fla.

FAMU's Fried Chicken Wednesdays

The Top Café, 1510 Wahnish Way and The Hub, 467 Osceola St. (next to FAMU Towers)

Students, faculty, staff and alumni weekly partake in what has been dubbed “Fried Chicken Wednesday.”  The day’s menu is simple: fried chicken, macaroni and cheese, collard greens, black-eyed peas and cornbread. The meal is served only during lunch hours at three locations on campus: Top Cafe, The Hub and the President’s Dining Room. The popularity of "Fried Chicken Wednesday" as well as the uptick in visitors choosing the campus cafes as a lunch destination has led FAMU to explore marketing its dining locales to attract the public to on-campus dining.

Campus life: FAMU’s ‘Fried Chicken Wednesday’ turns campus dining into a lunch option for outsiders

The Hot Birdie chicken sandwich is a featured dish offered at Hot Birdie's Chicken, a new quick service restaurant owned by Tallahassee's Kevin Stout, who also owns Food Glorious Food.
The Hot Birdie chicken sandwich is a featured dish offered at Hot Birdie's Chicken, a new quick service restaurant owned by Tallahassee's Kevin Stout, who also owns Food Glorious Food.

Hot Birdie's

1870 Thomasville Road, in the Capital Plaza; hotbirdieschicken.com

Hot Birdie's signature sandwich originated at Food Glorious Food, where the crispy, and sometimes messy, chicken sandwich was a spicy staple before spinning off as a stand-alone restaurant. Chicken sandwiches begin with juicy 5 oz. cuts of chicken, battered in buttermilk and drenched in secret breading, then fried golden brown and served on a toasty brioche bun. The Hot Birdie is topped with spicy Nashville Hot Butter. The sandwiches also come in Buffalo, Ranch, Korean and Naked. Fried chicken tenders come in a 4-pack or by the bucket. There's limited space inside to eat. Most orders are made in-house to go.

Tom DiTanna, left, and Terry DiTanna talk with Michael Robinson, co-owner of Ma's Diner about their menu and the first day of the restaurant being open for business Thursday, Sept. 5, 2019.
Tom DiTanna, left, and Terry DiTanna talk with Michael Robinson, co-owner of Ma's Diner about their menu and the first day of the restaurant being open for business Thursday, Sept. 5, 2019.

Ma's Diner

Bannerman Crossings Shopping Center, 6668-9 Thomasville Road; 850-765-1910; facebook.com

If you're out on the northeast side, Ma's Diner is the place for you for breakfast or lunch. Get fried chicken and waffles, a fried chicken basket or the dirty bird - country fried chicken covered with gravy on a biscuit. Served from 7 a.m. to 1:30 p.m., it's stick-to-your-ribs food. The dine-in restaurant's co-owner Michael Robinson wants customer service to be at the forefront, not just counter service. “I want them to have an experience. That’s more important to me than anything else,” Robinson said when the restaurant opened in 2019.

Bannerman gem: 'Keeping it simple': Ma's Diner opens as latest breakfast getaway in Bannerman Crossing

This article originally appeared on Tallahassee Democrat: Five favorite restaurants for fried chicken in Tallahassee