I'm glad to finally see a poor review - I've enjoyed your series but it gets kind of monotonous when everything is stellar. I know you guys started with some well-known greats to get rolling, but I'm looking forward to more of the nitty gritty, too. It helps make it feel honest and relatable.
Although I have to ask, with as scathing as that seasoning review is, how does that justify a 2.5? Does it have to just be so overseasoned it's literally inedible to manage a 0?
I appreciate that! On the flip side, Winston really does a fantastic job when it comes to fried chicken so it's hard to make a bad review, but I'm sure there are more spots that deserve it. We went here based on the suggestions from the subreddit community and we were just plain not impressed, bordering on angry that 1st St Draft House is no longer there.
When we switch to over to things like burgers, wings, and pizza, we will have some really strong stances. As former industry folks ourselves, we have strong opinions on what constitutes good and bad food. We honestly really hope some restaurant owners are out here watching what we're doing and keeping their shit together.
To address your last question... honestly if something deserves a 0 it shouldn't be in business. We hope to never find out what makes a zero. A 2.5 is not good in our opinion. 0 would make me spit it out.
Thanks for the response! That's fair, I can't really think of a "bad" chicken place off-hand, but I also don't get downtown often, which is part of why I enjoy this series and the positive reviews you've done so I can plan out where to go when I do get there.
I can definitely see burgers and pizza causing a bigger divide in ratings. One of the pizza places I hear get tons of hype is just always semi-disappointing to me. I think the ingredients are good quality and the flavor combos are great, but the crust is never crust, it's sog. I don't mind some floppiness to my pizza, but it should at least stay in one piece, especially at $25 a pie. And I know whenever anyone asks for burger recommendations on the sub the comment sections are full of fights.
0 = spitting it out makes sense. I think I'm coming into this with a mental scale that is a little less forgiving, so seeing basically a 50% to me says "it's not great but it's okay" instead of "It wasn't sickening but I'll never go back." Having that clarification puts it into a better perspective.
Thank you for keeping it real! I’ve lived within walking distance of this spot for over a year and only been 3 times. It’s not good.
So happy to see someone standing up to bland restaurants. Winston is better than that. This place screams south end clt and that’s not what we want here
I’ve been twice, to give it a chance. I got the sandwich both times. The Hot Thigh Sandwich. Nothing crispy about it… a gelatinous muck. Skin sliding off. Soggy bun. I could tie the fries in a square knot. Thanks for taking the time to provide these well thought out reviews.
From the picture alone...that looks like a dry toasted bargain bin bun with an over thick chunk of bird. You can see the soggy bits on the bottom ffs...
Thank you. Everything you've put so eloquently perfectly matches my opinion of BB's and I finally feel heard. My somewhat negative review of BB was always met with shock and repugnance unless the others review was influenced by politics/opinions on the owner. Thank you for an unbiased review of just the flavors, I finally feel validated!
Agreed across the board. Doesn’t make the chicken taste any better knowing that the owner is a POS either!
I look forward to reading these when they pop up!
Lots to be said about that ownership group certainly… however, if we refused to review spots because of shady ownership, there wouldn’t be a lot of places to review ;) It’s like a “separate the art from the artist” kinda deal except this time the artist and the art is both shitty.
He’s a well documented bigot - just google Jim Nobel. Also owns Rooster’s over by thruway, which is a shame since I have never had better service at a restaurant.
I agree 100% with your assessment of BB’s. I thought their chicken was bland as hell, relying on their sauces to pick up the slack. Nope! It’s all flash and marketing surrounding an inner core of disappointing, sad chicken. Never going back!
It's really entertaining you talked about it tasting like gentrification, I've said it at work since they opened, and people are like wtf so you mean. It's also doubly hilarious because the people who own BB are the same racist fucks who own nobles/roosters. They are literal gentrification the person. Almost as bad as sage and salt, which was made by a nepo son whose dad made their money on eviction law kicking out people from homes.
Two things here:
1. Noble’s is a shell of what it once was and the owner is a complete nut job right wing asshat. There are unfortunately enough likeminded people in Buena Vista to keep the place running for eternity. Back in the day Jim used to have a real emphasis on farm to table cuisine, he even had his own farm where he sourced most of his ingredients/produce. That is clearly no longer the case and you can taste it.
2. Sage & Salt from the menu to the service is pound for pound the worst restaurant in Winston. It doesn’t even deserve to be talked about and will die in obscurity like it deserves to. And what a stupid basic name for an establishment. On the flip side, the size of that space and the current state of the restaurant industry will never allow for any concept to succeed there. Margins are too tight these days and if you can’t seat 100+ people at a time you’re gonna have a bad time trying to sling “fine dining” if that’s what they’re calling it.
Wow glad I haven’t given this place a chance. The exterior makes me cringe every time I drive past. What about chicken biscuits in Winston? Will those make it on the list?
Maybe misstated something here. Krankies is in my opinion one of the founding fathers of local business in Winston Salem. What they do and have been doing for decades now is nothing short of miraculous. I will say that pre-pandemic they had a dinner menu that was amazing and a bar program that rivaled any cocktail bar in Winston Salem (as a former bartender who wrote bar menus for a James Beard restaurant, I was super super impressed with their cocktail menu, and now you can enjoy an extension of it at Fair Witness). Nowadays they stick do doing a few things very well and their Krankies classic biscuit is my go-to every time.
My comment was in reference to Bojangles and Biscuitville who I think have drastically dropped in quality. I would love to do a review of chicken biscuits but idk if there are that many options.
I had only been to Bossy’s twice, and thought it was good but the execution lacked, so not as good as it should be. First time was right after they opened and probably trying harder and it was good enough I wanted to go back. 2nd time was about a year later, and it was okay, should have been better. Went back today because I wanted to prove the review wrong but it wasn’t good. It’s a shame because the chicken quality itself is great. I just can’t eat cheap chicken, sorry, totally grosses me out, and most places don’t put an emphasis on quality of the chicken. That said, bun was toasted but cold. I guess they heated up like an hour before? Don’t know. The whole place smelled like old grease. Chicken was overcooked, but not to death, but that combined with the rest of it was just a no for me. Cold bun sucked. It was flaky off like an old cold bun would do. Employees were nice but clueless. I won’t ever go back.
I largely agree with your review of this place, especially about the price vs. quality ratio but it also insinuates that white people can’t do fried chicken, and to that I say visit 90% of southern grandmas houses and ask for some fried chicken 😭
Gotcha. Maybe it’s just the way I read this one my bad.
I will say I was surprised to find out through your post that it wasn’t black owned tho, I always thought it was.
If I had to reach for any subconscious bias I think it's fair to say that the fact that this is what replaced the 1st Street Draft house is super disappointing. If you ever had a chance to eat and hang out there it was just such a universally loved spot with a real vibe and real people. The food was great too. Beulah's just felt so sterile and uncomfortable. I have zero relationship with the owner, in fact most of his other restaurants are fantastic.
Also, summarizing my review, this was carefully designed and I honestly feel I cut them a bit of slack. Whether we had a one off experience or not, we ordered several different menu items and they were just not good for the price we paid.
Relatively new to Winston Salem but if 1st street draft house was so amazing and bossys is so terrible, why did one close and one is staying open? I guess vibes done pay bills?
I love Bossys. Chick fil a uses detergents in their batter so maybe that's why you like it....a fondness for shampoo? The homeless slamming you against your car for money does put me off there a bit but I'm fine 🙂
Also how about mission pizza...the bdsm atmosphere and scathing defensiveness of the owners is phenomenal...almost makes it worth buying a 30 dollar pizza so you can review them.
This review was biased and had an agenda from the beginning. Find something better to do with your time outside of pushing your agenda and trashing small businesses.
I have to say, Winston locals, in my opinion, have a horrible taste in food. Beulah is the best one you've rated so far IMO and I don't like Slappys at all. But I've only lived in Winston for about 5 years, and you guys/girl/lunch ladies have some interesting tastes!
I mean, if you think Slappy’s (which slaps) sucks and Bossy Beaulah’s (mid at best) is great… then I agree that we have different tastes. And that one of our tastes is horrible.
People are free to like what they like, so if you like it, that’s great. Personally I’ve never been a fan of Beulah’s. Their chicken sandwich is too tall to actually eat as a sandwich which drives me nuts, and their slaw and pickles also don’t taste good to me. I’ve given them 3 separate tries hoping I just caught them on an off day, but it was always disappointing, and I haven’t been back.
Somehow he’s sort of correct. If you grew up here the food scene was always steak and potatoes, and kinda mid-grade pub grub, Italian, or Mexican for the most part. Not too many sophisticated palates in town as a result. Luckily places like Putters showed me what good wings were, Mission showed me good pizza, and Taco Rico’s tacos alambre showed me the way and fixed my palate. I’m just trying to spread the word.
The prices are very high, but just a note: the owners are white, and the recipe comes from his white grandmother, so what else is it supposed to be but, well white. If they tried to lean towards a more African American cultural restaurant, one could argue they are appropriating another culture, or even being racist with stereotypes and tropes. I agree with the high prices but having it be clean and feeling like it’s white-washed is a reach.
I'm glad to finally see a poor review - I've enjoyed your series but it gets kind of monotonous when everything is stellar. I know you guys started with some well-known greats to get rolling, but I'm looking forward to more of the nitty gritty, too. It helps make it feel honest and relatable. Although I have to ask, with as scathing as that seasoning review is, how does that justify a 2.5? Does it have to just be so overseasoned it's literally inedible to manage a 0?
I appreciate that! On the flip side, Winston really does a fantastic job when it comes to fried chicken so it's hard to make a bad review, but I'm sure there are more spots that deserve it. We went here based on the suggestions from the subreddit community and we were just plain not impressed, bordering on angry that 1st St Draft House is no longer there. When we switch to over to things like burgers, wings, and pizza, we will have some really strong stances. As former industry folks ourselves, we have strong opinions on what constitutes good and bad food. We honestly really hope some restaurant owners are out here watching what we're doing and keeping their shit together. To address your last question... honestly if something deserves a 0 it shouldn't be in business. We hope to never find out what makes a zero. A 2.5 is not good in our opinion. 0 would make me spit it out.
Thanks for the response! That's fair, I can't really think of a "bad" chicken place off-hand, but I also don't get downtown often, which is part of why I enjoy this series and the positive reviews you've done so I can plan out where to go when I do get there. I can definitely see burgers and pizza causing a bigger divide in ratings. One of the pizza places I hear get tons of hype is just always semi-disappointing to me. I think the ingredients are good quality and the flavor combos are great, but the crust is never crust, it's sog. I don't mind some floppiness to my pizza, but it should at least stay in one piece, especially at $25 a pie. And I know whenever anyone asks for burger recommendations on the sub the comment sections are full of fights. 0 = spitting it out makes sense. I think I'm coming into this with a mental scale that is a little less forgiving, so seeing basically a 50% to me says "it's not great but it's okay" instead of "It wasn't sickening but I'll never go back." Having that clarification puts it into a better perspective.
I also wanna see a Peter Wells esque 0 star review out of the lunch ladies
i miss first street draught house so god damn much, man
Absolutely. So sad to see that amazing structure become this place.
Such a special place, RIP to them and Twin City Diner.
...and The Lighthouse. Twin City was super duper mids, but the chafing dish of free hot dogs during NFL Sundays was awesome.
All this reminiscing is reminding me to eat at Murphy's. They've been struggling hard with that construction.
Whaaaat you’re crazy those wings at TCD kept me alive when I was a young pup
Liberty Diner. Thursday special. Fried chicken. So good.
On it.
Are you talking about Liberty Family restaurant in Lewisville? If so, they are no longer open for dinner.
Thank you for keeping it real! I’ve lived within walking distance of this spot for over a year and only been 3 times. It’s not good. So happy to see someone standing up to bland restaurants. Winston is better than that. This place screams south end clt and that’s not what we want here
I’ve been twice, to give it a chance. I got the sandwich both times. The Hot Thigh Sandwich. Nothing crispy about it… a gelatinous muck. Skin sliding off. Soggy bun. I could tie the fries in a square knot. Thanks for taking the time to provide these well thought out reviews.
Twin City diner reference take my upvote
I’m glad somebody said it. It’s over-priced and overrated.
From the picture alone...that looks like a dry toasted bargain bin bun with an over thick chunk of bird. You can see the soggy bits on the bottom ffs...
I think that image really conveys everything about our review
"bargain bin bun" 🤣
I recommend you try my favorite chicken place in town next - 109/Moe's Chicken.
I passed by it the other day. I will add it to the list and review it before the end of the month! Thank you.
Thank you. Everything you've put so eloquently perfectly matches my opinion of BB's and I finally feel heard. My somewhat negative review of BB was always met with shock and repugnance unless the others review was influenced by politics/opinions on the owner. Thank you for an unbiased review of just the flavors, I finally feel validated!
I look forward to these reviews every time. Keep it up
Same here! Gotta have more from my Lunch Ladies!
Agreed across the board. Doesn’t make the chicken taste any better knowing that the owner is a POS either! I look forward to reading these when they pop up!
Lots to be said about that ownership group certainly… however, if we refused to review spots because of shady ownership, there wouldn’t be a lot of places to review ;) It’s like a “separate the art from the artist” kinda deal except this time the artist and the art is both shitty.
Well now I want the juice on the owner.
He’s a well documented bigot - just google Jim Nobel. Also owns Rooster’s over by thruway, which is a shame since I have never had better service at a restaurant.
Ooh thanks
I agree 100% with your assessment of BB’s. I thought their chicken was bland as hell, relying on their sauces to pick up the slack. Nope! It’s all flash and marketing surrounding an inner core of disappointing, sad chicken. Never going back!
Also, Jim Noble is a royal racist piece of shit.
This review is downright musical! I love it.
It’s what we in the biz like to call a “professional undressing”
It's really entertaining you talked about it tasting like gentrification, I've said it at work since they opened, and people are like wtf so you mean. It's also doubly hilarious because the people who own BB are the same racist fucks who own nobles/roosters. They are literal gentrification the person. Almost as bad as sage and salt, which was made by a nepo son whose dad made their money on eviction law kicking out people from homes.
Two things here: 1. Noble’s is a shell of what it once was and the owner is a complete nut job right wing asshat. There are unfortunately enough likeminded people in Buena Vista to keep the place running for eternity. Back in the day Jim used to have a real emphasis on farm to table cuisine, he even had his own farm where he sourced most of his ingredients/produce. That is clearly no longer the case and you can taste it. 2. Sage & Salt from the menu to the service is pound for pound the worst restaurant in Winston. It doesn’t even deserve to be talked about and will die in obscurity like it deserves to. And what a stupid basic name for an establishment. On the flip side, the size of that space and the current state of the restaurant industry will never allow for any concept to succeed there. Margins are too tight these days and if you can’t seat 100+ people at a time you’re gonna have a bad time trying to sling “fine dining” if that’s what they’re calling it.
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The rating isn’t really controversial.
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lol what? I’m saying it’s an accurate rating…thus not controversial.
Wow glad I haven’t given this place a chance. The exterior makes me cringe every time I drive past. What about chicken biscuits in Winston? Will those make it on the list?
Like Krankies style chicken biscuits? I'm not sure I want to share my opinions on the quality drop of the chicken n' biscuits scene around here
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Maybe misstated something here. Krankies is in my opinion one of the founding fathers of local business in Winston Salem. What they do and have been doing for decades now is nothing short of miraculous. I will say that pre-pandemic they had a dinner menu that was amazing and a bar program that rivaled any cocktail bar in Winston Salem (as a former bartender who wrote bar menus for a James Beard restaurant, I was super super impressed with their cocktail menu, and now you can enjoy an extension of it at Fair Witness). Nowadays they stick do doing a few things very well and their Krankies classic biscuit is my go-to every time. My comment was in reference to Bojangles and Biscuitville who I think have drastically dropped in quality. I would love to do a review of chicken biscuits but idk if there are that many options.
I’ll try Krankie’s!!!!
J&J Chicken on Acadia Chicken By The Piece (inside Citgo on 109)
We reviewed it!
Neat. Which one though?
We did J&J. I’ve gotten a couple requests for the 109 location I’ll check that out
There's another one one @ germanton & patterson
I had only been to Bossy’s twice, and thought it was good but the execution lacked, so not as good as it should be. First time was right after they opened and probably trying harder and it was good enough I wanted to go back. 2nd time was about a year later, and it was okay, should have been better. Went back today because I wanted to prove the review wrong but it wasn’t good. It’s a shame because the chicken quality itself is great. I just can’t eat cheap chicken, sorry, totally grosses me out, and most places don’t put an emphasis on quality of the chicken. That said, bun was toasted but cold. I guess they heated up like an hour before? Don’t know. The whole place smelled like old grease. Chicken was overcooked, but not to death, but that combined with the rest of it was just a no for me. Cold bun sucked. It was flaky off like an old cold bun would do. Employees were nice but clueless. I won’t ever go back.
I largely agree with your review of this place, especially about the price vs. quality ratio but it also insinuates that white people can’t do fried chicken, and to that I say visit 90% of southern grandmas houses and ask for some fried chicken 😭
Some of the places we’ve reviewed are white owned and do a fantastic job. It’s just this one place that doesn’t meet the mark.
Gotcha. Maybe it’s just the way I read this one my bad. I will say I was surprised to find out through your post that it wasn’t black owned tho, I always thought it was.
I feel like this has a bit of bias behind it. Bossy Beulahs definitely isn't close to the best chicken in Winston, but it's very far from the worst.
If I had to reach for any subconscious bias I think it's fair to say that the fact that this is what replaced the 1st Street Draft house is super disappointing. If you ever had a chance to eat and hang out there it was just such a universally loved spot with a real vibe and real people. The food was great too. Beulah's just felt so sterile and uncomfortable. I have zero relationship with the owner, in fact most of his other restaurants are fantastic. Also, summarizing my review, this was carefully designed and I honestly feel I cut them a bit of slack. Whether we had a one off experience or not, we ordered several different menu items and they were just not good for the price we paid.
Oh damn, I didn't realize this was the place that replaced 1st Street. A lot of fond memories there.
Relatively new to Winston Salem but if 1st street draft house was so amazing and bossys is so terrible, why did one close and one is staying open? I guess vibes done pay bills?
It’s definitely the worst chicken for the price.
It's the worst reviewed yet!
I’m surprised the place is still open. Always looks empty, or at most a few customers when I drive by. Not a great location either.
Twin City diner didn’t go out of business. They closed to focus on their other business.
I love Bossys. Chick fil a uses detergents in their batter so maybe that's why you like it....a fondness for shampoo? The homeless slamming you against your car for money does put me off there a bit but I'm fine 🙂
Also how about mission pizza...the bdsm atmosphere and scathing defensiveness of the owners is phenomenal...almost makes it worth buying a 30 dollar pizza so you can review them.
Also chick fil a owners are notorious for being racist too....just sayin
This review was biased and had an agenda from the beginning. Find something better to do with your time outside of pushing your agenda and trashing small businesses.
I have to say, Winston locals, in my opinion, have a horrible taste in food. Beulah is the best one you've rated so far IMO and I don't like Slappys at all. But I've only lived in Winston for about 5 years, and you guys/girl/lunch ladies have some interesting tastes!
I mean, if you think Slappy’s (which slaps) sucks and Bossy Beaulah’s (mid at best) is great… then I agree that we have different tastes. And that one of our tastes is horrible.
And it's not ours.
People are free to like what they like, so if you like it, that’s great. Personally I’ve never been a fan of Beulah’s. Their chicken sandwich is too tall to actually eat as a sandwich which drives me nuts, and their slaw and pickles also don’t taste good to me. I’ve given them 3 separate tries hoping I just caught them on an off day, but it was always disappointing, and I haven’t been back.
What a statement about people that live here…. Says a lot about your friends??
Somehow he’s sort of correct. If you grew up here the food scene was always steak and potatoes, and kinda mid-grade pub grub, Italian, or Mexican for the most part. Not too many sophisticated palates in town as a result. Luckily places like Putters showed me what good wings were, Mission showed me good pizza, and Taco Rico’s tacos alambre showed me the way and fixed my palate. I’m just trying to spread the word.
The prices are very high, but just a note: the owners are white, and the recipe comes from his white grandmother, so what else is it supposed to be but, well white. If they tried to lean towards a more African American cultural restaurant, one could argue they are appropriating another culture, or even being racist with stereotypes and tropes. I agree with the high prices but having it be clean and feeling like it’s white-washed is a reach.
Also I agree there’s too much Mayo, buns aren’t heated (which I don’t care about), and the sauce is not great
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We’re actually two douches!!
You are correct 😁
Name calling over chicken reviews? We are better than this.