Chicken was juicy, crispy, and well seasoned. Great treat on my way home from work last Friday.

Was able to visit this place again recently before a concert at the fox. Love the location and accessibility to get there. Although after my last visit a year ago I was surprised in the quality of my sandwich. Everything was tasty except for the chicken itself. I found it to be more on the dryer side this time. It helped knowing it was paired with an apple cider vinegar sauce. Except the dryness really changed my perspective. I still do enjoy this place but plan to order the hot fish sandwich if I were to come back. I remember that was a 10/10 last time I had it.

Family, this place delivers a KILLER fried chicken sandwich! Really solid crunch to the batter, moist chicken meat, tangy slaw topping, I mean it's all there. Comeback sauce adds a touch of sweetness and some aroma (and it's a good dip for fries, too). I ordered Hot spice level and it induced just a hint of perspiration without overwhelming all the other flavors. Service was prompt and courteous. Sandwich took a few minutes, presumably because they cook to order. Dining room is set up a little sparingly, but we got a table. If it had been a little more crowded, we would have gotten stools at a counter- anyway, there was plenty of room, and it was all clean. I will be back, and intend to get a beer with the sandwich next trip - good looking draft lineup.

Best chicken sandwich in the Bay Area. Definitely coming back whenever I can. The collard greens is awesome!

Awwwwsome lunch place. The space is clean, light and bright with four top tables, bar seating, and some single spaces off to the side that would work for setting up your laptop if you needed to work. Really great menu with chicken and seafood offerings, sides that are large enough to share and beer on tap. Love that they have self serve water with the condiments. Since it was my first visit I had to go for the fried chicken sandwich. The regular spice is none, but they customize from light all the way up to super spicy. Medium was fine for a nice level of spice that fell short of making your lips tingle. The food must be made to order because when I was served the sandwich was smoking hot, and so crunchy, and they slather on the slaw and pickles and the bun was the right size to keep it all contained. The fries were crispy and hot. I can't wait to come back and try more - and I might even belly up to the bar for a brew!

Really good stuff! I had the tenders the first time. Good flavor. The tenders are quite generous in size. Don't be deceived by the red powder all over the chicken or fish. If you order mild...it's mild. The red powder makes it look spicy, but it's not if you order mild. The second time coming, I got the fish sandwich. That was really good as well. The one thing I don't like about this place is that the SANDWICHES are around $17 BY ITSELF. However, if you don't get a sandwich and you get the tenders or fish with fries, you get a lot for the price. I think they should lower the price for the sandwiches or include a side order with it, like salad or fries. I think they cook it fresh as it took a while to get my order, but not too long. Good size dinning room, but it seems like most people order take out during week days.

The location is great. It's right in the heart of Downtown Oakland with so many other restaurants and attractions nearby. There are a couple parking structures close and there is also street parking available. The inside of the restaurant is a bit on the smaller side but it has tables to sit at. The service is quick. The bathrooms are clean. Not much to complain about service wise. I like how they have a hotness-level of their spices. The food was great. The chicken was extra crispy and packed full of flavor. I got the most un-spicy flavor since I do not like spiciness and it was great. Virtually not spicy at all! The fries were also very crunchy and covered in a spice. My only grit with my meal was the oil, the fries and chicken were a bit greasy. I had to wash my hands after eating and even then the smell still kind of lingered on my fingers. The prices are also a bit high. For a meal for two, expect to walk out of here for around $35 making this a ($$$) for me. The flavor of the chicken almost makes up for the hefty price tag. Bottom line/TLDR: great chicken but expensive and oily.

This is my second time at Hotbird. The first time, I forgot to post my review, and by the time I remembered, well... I was walking through the door. So, I won't make that mistake again. Also, writing this review provides excellent cover as I let my tastebuds rest for a minute or five. Located in downtown Oakland, this is a handy spot with decent parking available on the streets. It's metered, but they can't control that. Like last time, I got the fried chicken sandwich. Shooting again right in the middle of their spice levels with hot. Extra and burning are the two remaining above this. I also got the 3 piece tender plate, but without fries this time, because I'm watching my weight. Okay, seriously, it was more than I was able to eat last time, and I don't like wasting food. I stayed with hot, just like before as well. I will say that hot is great, but you're likely to be able to handle a higher level of spice on the sandwich due to the coleslaw and pickle. But without those, you're on your own, and the spice level will sit in your mouth with the naked rawness of whatever you chose. For me, I felt that hot was as high on the spice tree as I wanted to go for three tenders. They're a good size, and while I could manage a higher spiciness for just one, three seems like it would end up melting porcelain, and I don't need to be in the middle of that. The spice is a dry rub, so technically, you could brush a lot of it off. But why do that, ya poser. Just stick with what you like. There's no prizes for the crispiest asshole unless you get one for yourself. Just bear in mind that you'll probably be on a liquid diet while you recover. And speaking of liquids, I washed all of this down with a Drink Beer Slay Dragon IPA. Ok, two. I'm just about to order another. Given that I still had a couple of tenders left, I ordered the coleslaw and pickles along with the beer, and damn if they don't add a delicious contrast to the spice. I ended up ordering dessert as well. Which was a banana cream pudding. And a t-shirt, but that's not for eating unless you ordered a spice level well above your tolerance. I really liked the design, and it was $25, which I didn't think was bad considering I'd finished that first beer on an empty stomach. They only had large, which I likely was, after all that food. So it worked out perfectly. And that dessert? I had to walk out after eating it, so I didn't spend the rest of the day working on a diabetes diagnosis. So, definitely not a one-off experience, and I'll be back for more of this. 5/5 fo sho!

The food was well put together and fish sandwich sizable. I was surprised that the sandwiches didn't come with anything. But we'd ordered a side of Mac n cheese with was noodles and liquid cheese. It took a long time for someone to come to the counter to take our order. Seemed like just one person working. There were plenty of seats and a good amount of people dining in.

If you're a fan of Nashville hot chicken, you no doubt are wetting your pants over the presence of this Oakland cafe. And why not? They do a pretty good job of replicating the spicy down home style of a Hattie B's (review: https://yelp.to/7VXLRu1VQw), but they were sorely lacking the Southern hospitality I was hoping for with this type of operation. Glum is the best description of the service here. Because of its proximity to the Fox Oakland, Jamie W. and I have been here a couple of times for pre-concert bites. On our first visit, I tried to be good by ordering The Salad with Fried Chicken. It consisted of shredded cabbage, peanuts, carrots, cucumber, tomato, red onion, dill pickle, crispy shallots, various herbs, and green goddess dressing (photo: https://yelp.to/m9ii5JdLwF). With the chicken, it came to $17. It was quite a generous serving and packed with flavor. As with every dish, you have the choice of six different levels of heat. I went with Mild because I'm a wimp. Jamie had the $14.50 Fried Fish Sandwich, a beer battered filet in a buttered bun stuffed with slaw, dill pickle, and their comeback sauce (photo: https://yelp.to/L6zgweS0aD). He went Mild, too, and the sandwich was a hefty delight. We came back several months later and tried a couple of other favorites. Still the same glum service, too. This time Jamie was smart and had the $8.50 Hotbird Jr., just a smaller version of the fish sandwich (photo: https://yelp.to/pVKxP_1sgh). I went in the other direction and had the heavy $21 Nashville Fish & Chips, whole beer battered and fried catfish with apple slaw, dill pickles, and a pile of fries (photo: https://yelp.to/fD82Y0xJRb). That was definitely for the seriously committed. FOOD - 4 stars...hefty portions of fish and chicken that manage to satisfy AMBIANCE - 3.5 stars...not enough tables when we come but we made do SERVICE - 2.5 stars...turn that frown upside down TOTAL - 4 stars...Nashville-to-Oakland, get on board RELATED - Exploring Oakland? Here's a collection of places I've patronized and reviewed: https://bit.ly/2ObVcpQ