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Category: Restaurants [Edit]
Neighborhood: Excelsior
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I think this Chick N Coop has been in existence longer than I've been alive. It's as if the place has stood still in time (maybe the 70's)- a time when that kind of decor was in, a time before people were vegetarians or warned against eating too much meat. They serve up the old school stuff that your grandparents would have loved but I think their cheap, filling fare transcends generations.
I remember eating here as a rebellious pre-teen who wore maroon lipstick and baggy jeans (not my finest hour) with my parents & sister. I'd always get the same thing: a turkey sandwich on a roll with mayo. I'd eat half & take the other half for my school lunch the next day.
This week, a container of thick cut turkey slices found its way onto my kitchen table ($10.99 a pound.) The food from my childhood is as comforting to eat today as it was 15 years ago.
When I was in the 3rd grade, I would walk straight home from school every day. Straight home. Those were the rules. One day, my cousin invited me to come with him and his friend (who I had a huge crush on) to eat at Chick N Coop.
Without thinking about my straight home policy, I went. We had the best stuffed baked potatos and rotisserie chicken ever! Now, back then, there were no cell phones. So, two hours later when I got home, I was in big trubbo.
My parents thought I ran away, and I told them I went to Chick N Coop.
"Chicken-what?!", my mom screamed. "CHICK N COOP!", I screamed back. "Don't give me attitude Abbigail! We thought you were kidnapped already. From now on you'd better get your butt straight home after school. Understand?!!"
I never went back because they got me in trouble. But they do have some damn good baked potatos and chicken.
In my never-ending quest to find the city's best rotisserie I made my roommate and another friend trek out with me to the Excelsior to try Chick n Coop. It's a cute family run place with a great selection of meats and other homely dishes not too unlike Tommy's Joynt.
I came for the chicken though and ordered the half chicken dinner. The chicken was just average to be honest and tasted pretty similar to the ones you get at Safeway. The mashed potatoes were good though and the gravy delicious! They also give you a choice of side (I chose salad which was OK) and some bread. Very reasonably priced for the large portions and the service was quick and efficient (it wasn't very busy).
My roommate got the turkey leg which was actually better than the chicken. They had roast beef and a large selection of other roasted meats too.
Aside from perhaps price and maybe more selection, I don't see Chick n Coop as being much better than Tommy's Joynt and hence not worth the trek out to the Excelsior. Plus, you can have a drink at Tommy's Joynt and hang out with the dodgy characters that seem to frequent the bar area there :)
One of the rare gems of the Excelsior and a dying breed. Fresh rotisserie chicken, homemade mashed potatoes, various vegetable sides, huge portions, reasonable prices, and nice people serving you. This is my ace in the hole for to-go healthy, comfort food in my hood. (although they have nice booths to eat on the premises, too).
There is another Chick N Coop closer to my house in Daly City, but I like this restaurant better. The family that runs this restaurant is really, really nice, and their food servings are gigantic.
Recently I had the rotisserie chicken dinner plate. I didn't realize I was ordering half a chicken though! It came with several sides for which I had spaghetti in a runny tomato sauce (average but huge portion) and a dinner salad that was pretty big too. They give you bread and butter too, and I'm talking an eight inch long chunk of french bread here. I didn't like that the bread was pre-buttered though because they spread on a thick layer of butter that I had to scrape off. That one chicken dinner gave me enough food to last for three meals. The chicken was very juicy.
Unselfconscious, honest restaurants catering to working folk are becoming increasingly rare in our fair City. That's why I enjoyed my meal here. It will win no awards for decor, but it's rather charming, in its own way. It certainly has character.
Ordered the lunch special with a Turkey sandwich and a side of macaroni salad. It came with a cup of coffee, all for $6.99. The sandwich was large and quite good. Turkey was moist and delicious, not a common occurrence elsewhere. Macaroni salad reminded me of my grandmother's, which is a very good thing indeed. I can recommend this place without hesitation.
I'm the son of the couple that owns this restaurant.
I just want to give a backround story of the Chick N Coop and my parents. I saw a couple of negative reviews from people on here but they are probably just bitter people.
My dad and mom both came from Greece around the late 1970's. My dad first started working for Angelo (who owned the restaurant, which opened around 1980) My dad worked for him for about 4-5 years and saved enough money to buy this restaurant when i was born (1984). My dad, being an immigrant from Greece (who barely spoke English), with a high school education didn't have much of a choice in what he did, but he knew that he was in America and that in America if you worked hard you would succeed.
Anyways, my dad has been in this store for almost 20 years literally working 12 hours a day 7 days a week after a major head surgery and a minor heart attack. After my mother finished raising my sister and me she eventually would work these impossible hours as well.
I grew up in the Chick N Coop. I would eat this food all the time (which actually made me quite a "plump" child) I grew up in the Excelsior, I wandered around the neighboorhood from the paint lady next door (Anita, SHE IS 100 years old!!!), to the Woolthworths, to the Bay Area Cyclerly that use to be across the street, my sister and me were known in this little neighborhood.
My parents are just humble immigrants trying to make a nice life for their children, they embelish the American Dream to the fullest. They have no social life outside this restaurant, however they don't mind it. They work hard but they appreciate what they have in life. My parents know customers by their first name, my parents treat and are best friends with these customers. They know their names, their families, their activities and most importantly they love these people.
If they need a ride home because they don't drive they will find someone to do it, if one of their customers gets sick and doesn't show up they will call them. Most of these people don't have anyone that cares about them or are simply by themselves in life but my parents treat these people as not only friends but family.
I've seen nearly every business in this area close down (Woolworth, McDonalds, Movie Magic, Banks, Produce, etc.) But my parents have always poored their heart, their faith in god, and their hard work into this place. This is really a landmark in the excelsior with a whole generation growing up on this food.
They get their 6-7am in the morning and LITERALLY MAKE EVERYTHING. The only thing they dont make is the bread and the desserts. All my friends always BEG me to come here and eat this REAL FOOD. You don't find this food anywhere because people don't want to work hard to make REAL food, not frozen, pre packaged food. The prices are cheap (IMO) you go to subway you pay 12 bucks for a sandwich (half the size) bag of chips and a soda.
My personal favorite is a RARE roast beef sandwhich, double dipped, with mayo on both sized and tomatoes. A bowl of Mashed potatoes and gravy (which I dip the sandwich into). THE BEST!!!
I hope this gave people a nice background on the Chick N Coop.
Sometimes my parents don't feel well and might be tired, hence some of the bad "Customer Service" responses. But I hope this background clears up why that happens. They LOVE the people; they LOVE the excelsior, they LOVE their customers; they LOVE their restaurant.
As long as i can remember this place has been open for years! At least for over 10 years.
They seem to carter more to the elderly but there's young faces in there too that eats. Sometimes you see usual customers that would go there for lunch. The portions are decent that would leave you feeling full.
The few times ive been there I tried:
- Rotisserie chicken wasnt bad can be dry sometimes, i like it without the bbq sauce.
- Spaghetti has very runny sauce.
- Potato salad which is pretty yummy.
- Corn is good.
- Mash Potatoes are alright.
- Bread is just french bread with butter.
- Chicken soup was good.
- Salad wasnt anything special.
- Lastly the season rice is pretty good.
I go to this place a few time for lunch during work when trying to grab a quick bite.
no frills diner type self service restaurant.
this place has probably looked the same since the day they opened.
their chicken dinners are tasty.... there's a few different choices of sides like green beans, mashed potatoes, macaroni salad etc...
the chicken is tender and good....
take it to go, or eat inside the dining room... the portions are pretty big
This place is old-school. An Excelsior fixture for 27 years, Chick'n Coop is a classic diner serving an assortment of meats, sides (slaw, rice, potatoes, beet salad, etc.), and sandwiches. Their clientele is mostly older (they seem to close fairly early- not sure why someone checked "Good for Late Night") but there is much to recommend here to people of all ages. Their sandwiches are scrumptious, served on fresh baked french rolls, fresh cooked meat sliced to order (the turkey and corned beef are both AWESOME), and all the fixings. The sandwiches are huge and cheap- $5.99 and more than enough for lunch. Two people could easily split a lunch special, which is a sandwich, a side, and a drink.
I've never tried the dinner plates, which run about $10, but the meat is the same so I can't imagine they are anything but awesome. The salsbury steak even looks good. Definitely a great place for no-frills comfort food.
Yo, Adrian!!
Finally a San Francisco hofbrau worthy of a Bronx cheer. It's like an East Coast eatery you'd fine near a big retirement home...but hey, I'm not picky about decor when it comes to good eats.
Good thing since it is a complete throwback to post-WWII cafeterias where you see all the food they serve in front of you - lots of highly buffed, timeworn sea green naugahyde booths, bouquets of plastic flowers on each table, carpeting that looks like it hasn't been replaced since the Kennedy administration, and overhead menu signs that look to be of the same vintage.
A Greek couple runs the place, but only the wife speaks English. The husband carves the meat when he is not snapping at his wife in Greek. No worries...she snaps right back. I had a $5.99 Roast Beef Sandwich on a French Roll. The slices were hot, juicy and thick with lots of au jus. The bread was nice and chewy, and long with the fresh tomato and lettuce and a glob of mayo, it was a carnivore's delight.
I wanted to get the soup of the day but they were already out by 2PM, so I went for their house salad - definitely fresh though a bit drowned in oil and vinegar. Lots of sides including mac-n-cheese, mixed veggies and even jello. They have lots of hot plates and a $6.99 lunch special that comes with soup or salad and coffee or iced tea. You can even get two whole rotisserie chickens for $12.99.
So get in line to get a tray and park yourself in a booth. But not the big one in the middle. It's reserved for bigger parties...or maybe they're saving it for the Godfather.
FOOD - 4 stars...lots and lots of hot meat...and it isn't even a nightclub
AMBIANCE - 3 stars...are we in Brooklyn?
SERVICE - 4 stars...made to order
TOTAL - 4 stars...hofbrau choices are so sparse in health-friendly SF that you know you have to come here...it's ok, I won't tell
The House of Meat!!!!
We eat here regularly. Actually, we make the rounds, eating at the one at the Top of the Hill (Daly City) and buying roasted chickens at the Chick-N-Deli on 5392 Mission Street.
My husband loves the great eats and so do his frugal depression-era 85+ year old parents visiting from Joplin, Missouri. They know a great deal or should I say exceptional deal.
My husband loves their pastrami, and I am a big fan of their gigantic sandwiches. They kick the asses of the sandwiches served at Max's when you consider the price and all.
The Greek couple are great... the husband is hard of hearing so you have to shout at him sometimes, but he's very nice. Sometimes you think he won't stop carving more meat for you... I was so floored the first time I ordered a sandwich and he kept slicing me more roast beef until I had enough for myself and another mini sandwich for home.
Out of all the Chick and Coops, this one serves the better tossed salad. She has peeled sliced cucumbers in the salad in addition to the tomatoes!
As I have said in my review of the other Chick and Coop (Top of the Hill, Daly City), I've been getting their 1/4 or 1/2 chicken dinners, although they offer lots o meat, sliced by hand (turkey, roast beef, ham, pastrami, corn beef) and other meats (fish, hamburger steak, ribs, turkey legs and wings). There's a lot of food considering you get the meat, a starch (baked potato, mashed potato, rice, or macaroni and cheese), bread with butter, and a vegetable (corn or green beans) or salad (tossed green, potato, macaroni, three-bean, or three bean salad or...the rice pudding [which isn't really a salad but you could have that instead of a salad]).
I usually eat everything and about half my chicken and bring home the left over part for my cat Zoe, who has a thyroid problem and needs to maintain her weight. She loves the chicken. If they're serving real rare roast beef, I'll have that, and feed the other half to Zoe.
It's good if you bring your own container for leftovers since the "green" containers in the San Francisco Chick and Coops tend to decompose (sometimes before you make it home). The seniors bring their own containers, and some of them transfer their food into their own containers once they get home.
The wife is wonderful. She really takes care of the seniors that come in and goes over and talks to them. She'll bring the food over to them sometimes because she doesn't want them to be on their feet too long. A couple of days ago, she even fixed a cup of special tea for a customer who looked a bit dreary... she had brought this tea for herself...
The two chicken deal is a great deal by the way. You can always flip through "Rotisserie Chicken to the Rescue" if you're tired of having the chicken plain for a third day. (I think their chicken is great without BBQ sauce).
Because of all this, I give it every star I can.
Ol school food love their chicken dinner and turkey sandwiches the owners are always nice and pleasant I'm a native San Franciscan and live in Noe Valley I wish they would open a chick n coop in my neighborhood.
My family has been coming here since I was knee-high. And since I live 4 blocks down, I come here 1-2 times a week to get my grub on. This is truly a San Francisco landmark because most restaurants just don't "throw down" and cook homemade meals like this anymore. This city has become too "gourmet", too SOMA, too damn yuppie. Chick N' Coop is the real deal: if you make homemade food from scratch, the people will come. If you treat them like family, they'll stay for life. The macaroni n' cheese is my weakness! And for the price, you are getting a *BUNCH* of food and you will *NOT* leave hungry. I love these people, and the only way I'll stop eating here is if the doors close or I kick the damn bucket!
...first of all this place is called Chik N Coop, it says so on the sign.
...secondly this place is a delicious morsel of roasted meats and history.
Seriously delicious roast chicken and mashed potatoes and you can even get the gloriously gooey turkey noodle (mac n cheese with turkey in it) as a side order. One of my favorite things is simply just the bread they give you with your meal. The atmosphere is a bit sketchy, ranging from leering old folks who seem to be thinking "what are these young whipper snappers doin in my nice family restaurant" and large hispanic families.
It was started by the current owner's grandfather who after the 1906 quake moved back to Greece and fought in Balkan war and then moved back to SF in 1915 to start 'the Coop" (there's a little plaque with said information next to the register). The owners are very nice if not a bit awkward, but now that they know me on a first name basis it's much more relaxed.
Anyone looking for some good home style hauf-brau or the best roast chicken in the city needs to stop by The Coop
Sandwiches are awesome...they give you PLENTY of meat, and the couple behind the counter are awesome....but man, I really just cant get over how much meat they put on those sandwiches and they even give you plenty of juice ontop of the beef.
Only reason I gave this a four isntead of 5, is I wish their drink selection was alot better...but that's a very minor thing.
My realtor brought me here when we were looking at homes in the neighborhood eight years ago ... we got princess parking right across the street (not the norm--it's a busy street) and we had tasty lunch sandwiches. It is unique for the neighborhood (which is well-served by taquerias and which also features some fast food). I'd definitely go again ... I ended up buying a home some blocks north of there, so it's convenient for weekend shopping and the like.
This place is awesome! Food is delicious, portions are huge and prices are low. What more can you ask for? The decor just adds to the atmosphere of the place, together with the regulars who look like they've been coming there for the last 30 years (and they probably did).
Perhaps when I retire I'll mosy on into the Chick N Coop every few days or so and become a regular customer myself. Whenever I eat here I can't help but notice all of the seniors who are obviously regular patrons.
They serve large portions of food here at inexpensive prices and they even offer a senior discount to boot. I won't get too excited about that yet because I have some growing up to do before I qualify.
I hadn't dined here in several months and decided to pay a visit over the weekend. During previous visits I've ordered the turkey dinner (very good) and the roast beef dinner (beef was a bit chewy but gigantic portioned). I've often walked by and observed their rotisserie chickens going round and round on the spit. They've always looked pretty good so that's what I ordered this weekend, the 1/2 chicken dinner.
The chickens are pretty big in size here. By comparison, half a chicken at Boston Market is roughly equivalent to a quarter chicken at Chick N Coop; I'm not exaggerating. You have the option of having sauce dumped on your chicken but I declined because I wanted to see how well the chickens are seasoned. You get a choice of a starch to go with your meat. The starch options were rice pilaf, macaroni and cheese, spaghetti or mashed potatoes which was what I chose. A mountain of potatoes is scooped onto your plate with or without brown gravy. You also get a hot vegetable or salad choice with your dinner. As other reviewers have mentioned there are quite a few choices you can select from and they all look good. Don't ask me why, but I chose the bright red Jello which was just wiggling in its metal pan begging for me to choose it. You also get bread and butter; that's not a slice of bread or a dinner roll but it is nearly an entire sandwich roll with a massive chunk of softened butter stuffed inside. Take a look at the photo I posted. All that food plus a fountain drink for ten bucks and change.
"A lot of food is great Wilhelm, but how did it taste?" I'm so glad I chose not to drown the chicken in sauce because it was perfectly seasoned. Dark meat is usually pretty moist so I like to judge roasted chickens based on how moist the white meat is, and if you eat the chicken while it is still hot these are very good. I would have preferred a lumpier potato; the mashed potatoes were whipped a bit too smooth for my preference, but the gravy was well seasoned and not too salty. The soft sandwich roll is fresh and chewy, but do consider taking some of that butter out because there is way too much in there. Ah the Jello ... it was bit overdone with gelatin, super firm and super sweet. I loved gelatin desserts as a child, and I'm certain I would have loved this back in my youth. I finished it though so I really shouldn't complain.
The family that runs this restaurant are some of the nicest people you will ever meet.
I can't complain. For the quality, portion, and price what you get is pretty good and a quick fix to getting dinner on the table. I'd recommend the rotisserie chicken.
my husband and i came here a little over a year ago after we moved into our apartment across the street.
first thing they said - "hey we saw you guys move in today. what's your story?"
i love how neighborhoodey this place is - i always say hi to the owners when i see them. the food is good - i ate a lot of mashed potatoes when i had my wisdom teeth out and their soup is yummy. the sandwiches are HUGE and I can never finish.
rice pudding!!!!!!!!
the only one star i took off is for the decor, some are fans, i am not. still yummy=)
Cafeteria style. Grab a tray, and order up fresh roasted meat, like ham, turkey, roast beef, or chicken. They have specials every day, like spaghetti, which tastes suspiciously like Franco American, macaroni and cheese, .. but the best thing on the menu is the Hamburger Steak. Think Swanson Salisbury Steak. They will pile on the butter soaked onions and gravy. The mashed potato sould substitute as pothole filler on the pothole laden Mission Street. The green salad tastes like it was dressed yesterday, so stick with the veggies, like green beans .... I scream, you scream, we all scream for GREEN BEANS! ... or corn and you should be safe. For some reason this place attracts a lot of seniors. So grab a tray, order, and sit next to Grandpa and maybe listen to stories about the Excelsior District ... one ot the oldest and largest Italian neighborhoods in San Francisco. A few movies were filed in this district ... some Ted Danson movie at Royal Bakery on Russia, and the Princess Bride (at least some name like that) was filmed at a firehouse in the area to.
Noteworthy -- This is at the corner of Harrington Street, where Jerry Garcia of the Dead was either born, or rasied.
*** MAC AND CHEESE RATING: 1 1/2 stars. Just don't.
By far the best sandwiches in the Excelsior district. I always go there for their pastrami sandwiches which are the best pastrami sandwiches man has ever tasted. Seriously! They also have roast beef, turkey breast, and ham. BBQ ribs, which is served with mashed potatoes-gravy and your choice of salad, is also one of their strong too. The place is typical 60s Italian cushioned seats and a large table near the entrance, which is almost always hacked by old people (regulars). Make sure that you are loud and clear when you order your sandwich because the man has problems hearing with his left ear. I hope he never reads this or else I'll be banned from the restaurant like George was from the soup place in Seinfeld. I think I'll take my pictures off of here.
This place is great. It really is like eating in your grandparent's basement, with all the dated wood paneling and decor. Even better were the two old ladies talking about how they come and get the same sandwiches every Saturday!
The food itself was delicious (no frills turkey sandwich, with lettuce and tomato). What was really surprising was how fresh it was. The guy sliced the turkey, bread and tomato all in front of me when I ordered.
Not that I don't like the variety of foods SF has to offer, but just coming from the Midwest makes me feel a little at home eating somewhere like this.
There are definitely a lot of old people here - hell, my grandparents used to love this place (good prices? they knew the staff? who knows why) and we would come here anytime we were shopping on Mission St. (we lived up the hill in the Excelsior). The roasted meats are good, but you need to cut the fat out (ex: I always get a ham sandwich, take the ham out, and cut off the fat before I eat it). Speaking of the sandwiches, I think all they really consisted of was a kind of hard roll, some mustard, and a few slabs of ham. I loved them though, I would never eat anything else there. The best item they have there is the rice pudding - it's not really mashed well (I couldn't eat it after I had my wisdom teeth pulled because the grains were too hard for my poor little mouth to handle), but it tastes really good, so get it when you have all your teeth to eat it.
Ah yes, greasy, waterty food which comes from cans sitting in a steam table tray for 6 hours is really really yummy. Ugh.
My aunt brought me here about 2 months ago and I enjoyed their spareribs plate with mashed potato and coleslaw. It was tasty and filling, and reasonably priced. It has a homey feeling that immediately made me comfortable.
i haven't been here for YEARS. but i remember i used to love this place as a kid. this place is a little old-fashioned but don't let that fool you. my parents brought back two seperate halves of a sandwich because they each couldn't finish it. they, of course, gave it to me and i swallowed that sandwich down within seconds. there's plenty of meat for the size of the sandwich and although made very traditionally, it was delicious!
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