I've been on a search for the best fried chicken in the Atlanta area since I arrived here in 2015. I've eaten at some restaurants with excellent fried chicken. Unfortunately, this is not one of them.
C. Ellet's is a nice restaurant at the Battery next to Truist Park. I came here for lunch yesterday after I noticed a sign in front of the restaurant stating that it had all you can eat fried chicken. Hmmm ... I assumed that the chicken must be good if they're offering it as AYCE, right? So I went in.
I was seated at the bar by the hostess and was immediately asked by the bartender what she could get for me. I ordered a glass of water and the AYCE fried chicken. During the approximately 15 minutes that I waited for my food, I looked around in the open dining area. The tall stools were comfortable at the bar, and more comfy looking seats were at the long tables and booths. One side of the restaurant facing the baseball stadium is mostly just clear glass that allows a lot of natural sunlight in, contributing to the nice open feel in the restaurant.
My food was delivered and everything looked perfect! One piece each of a wing, leg, thigh and breast were on a shiny, gold metal serving dish. That was the highlight of my meal because my dining experience went downhill from there. I started eating the fried chicken, but the food was still too hot to eat.
I tried a little taste of the cole slaw. I didn't like the taste. It had a strong vinegary taste, had too much mayonnaise, and it was not thoroughly mixed, which accented the vinegar even more. Later, toward the end of the meal, I looked closely at the bits of cabbage and many parts were blackened - definitely not pepper because the black parts were all on the edges of the cabbage. Did they serve me old cole slaw that should have been thrown away a while ago? Needless to say, I didn't ask for more cole slaw at all during the meal.
The biscuit looked delicious! However, when I tried to break apart the top half from the bottom half, I ended up just tearing part of the top half off. I took a bite, and it was flavorless ... and almost room temperature. I then felt the rest of the biscuit - COLD (as in refrigerated) IN THE MIDDLE! Wth??? How did that happen? One of the servers (manager?) came by and asked how everything was going, and I told him that the biscuit was cold. He apologized and told me that they were baking more biscuits and that he would bring one to me as soon as it came out.
The chicken leg, wing and thigh were crispy crunchy, but they had retained a lot of the grease. I ate them anyway. I had turned the breast over so that I could cut through the meat, and was disappointed by the looks of the breast and the skin. Not only was the skin greasy, but much of the breast meat was also greasy and overcooked. It was easy to tell which parts were overcooked meat; they were dark brown, hard and difficult to cut through with a butter knife. Since this meal was AYCE, I decided to cut around all the greasy parts and ended up eating dry white meat. It was so dry that I was tempted on asking for some gravy, but decided against asking because who knows what their gravy would've looked and tasted like.
I tried the mashed potatoes, and they were very delicious just the way they were! The potatoes had enough moisture that I was able to swallow down the dry breast meat as long as I ate the potatoes and meat together.
Why didn't I complain? Because I thought the food couldn't possibly get worse. Boy, was I wrong.
One of the servers asked if I wanted more chicken, and I told him that I'd like two legs and a thigh. While I waited for the chicken, he brought me the biscuit that I was waiting for. Ahhhhh! This one was hot and it looked perfect! However (you knew there was going to be a 'however,' right?) the outside of the biscuit was hard (think chewy and inedible), and the inside was doughy, so I put that aside.
Within ten minutes, I was served two legs and a thigh, all of which, consistently this time, were overcooked, hard and fully moist-free. After tearing these pieces apart using my fork and knife, I threw in the towel and asked for the check. I'd be surprised if someone working there told me that they make the chicken fresh, and wouldn't be surprised if the chicken came to them previously prepared and frozen.
Don't get the AYCE chicken meal anytime soon. Except for the good service, for which I gave a star, and the mashed potatoes, my meal was a disaster! read more