Since trying the very delicious and very expensive burger from Wayfare Tavern in The Great Burger Hunt, I have been eager to come back to give the fried chicken a try as it is a foodie talking point about San Francisco. People automatically segue into talking about Wayfare Tavern if the subject of fried chicken comes up. I had a friend visiting from London who is obsessed with the stuff, but sadly, we ended up having to cancel the booking last minute. However, after a day of wine tasting in the central valley (and in the city), I managed to get a last minute booking for a Saturday night, so I was really excited about finally digging into the chicken I had heard so much about.
We arrived promptly at 8:15 for our reservation and had to wait at the bar for about thirty minutes until it was actually ready. Slightly annoying, but it gave us the chance to try a couple of cocktails. I opted for the The Bently Reserve: a mix of rye, benedictine, sweet vermouth and bitters. Someone also tried the El Dorado which is much like a margarita with the addition of Ancho Reyes Chile Verde liqueur and mezcal instead of tequila (minus the agave, because who wants a sweet margarita anyway?). Both were really tasty, although the Bently Reserve was slightly on the sweet side, but still a hefty boozy drink. After we were shown to our tables, we went for a nice bottle of Amarone as it was older and cheaper (but Amarone is never cheap) than the usual Amarones you can find in the bay area. (And it was definitely a delicious one at that.)
We did end up with a bit of an ordering pit as all three of us decided we wanted to have the fried chicken. The waiter tried to steer us toward possibly sharing, and eventually two of us decided to share the burger (because I remember it being so delicious) and the chicken. The third member of the group still decided he wanted the chicken all to himself however. We were told we could get it done with all white or all dark meat, so smartly we all decided that dark meat was the way to go. We ordered the burger with the addition of a fried egg, and we also decided to order a selection of sides to share around the table: Baked macaroni and cheese, Truffled Parmesan polenta fries and Forest mushrooms.
Of course, it may be time to mention one of the reasons people love Wayfare Tavern seems to be the bread service. Instead of your normal dinner roll/sourdough bread, they serve popovers. Two people at the table have never had one before, except they were British, so they came to the conclusion that it’s basically a Yorkshire pudding. And it definitely felt that way to me. I never really put the connection together, but mostly because I haven’t had a popover in years. They were really tasty, and I think we all wanted to try to steal another one when the server walked by with them, but we restrained ourselves (for once) given the amount of food we ordered.
When the food arrived, it did look fantastic. And somehow they managed to serve the burger cut in half with a whole fried egg balanced on top. It didn’t make it very easy to eat, but I’m glad we split it as it was just as tasty as I remembered it being. The fries on the side were a bit undercooked and not very crispy though so nothing really special. The fried chicken, well, it was more on the disappointing side. On a positive note, it was definitely moist and not over cooked. But the coating was soggy and kind of bland. They served it with fried herbs on the top, so that added a bit of flavor, but it could have been added to the batter to infuse the entire chicken with it. It is a half a chicken for $26 dollars, so you are getting a good amount of bird, but it doesn’t come with any sides.
Of the sides, the mushroom were definitely the best. They were cooked well and packed full of flavor. The Truffle Parmesan fries were not really at all truffley, and they were kinda bland and a bit grainy. The sauce helped a bit, but there were four pieces, and none of us went back for seconds after having one each. The macaroni and cheese was nice, but not amazing, and the other half was annoyed because even HE makes a better macaroni and cheese than that (the fact of which he likes to sometimes hold over my head as he beat me during our macaroni and cheese contest).
While Wayfare Tavern definitely had a lot of really good things going for it (great wine, delicious popovers, an amazing burger and a superb mushroom side dish), it also was fairly average on things that felt like they should have been better (that means you fried chicken). It is a great venue, and I think it has great atmosphere, but it’s hard to recommend when so many things we ordered were hit or miss.
Score: 3.5/5
Recommendation: Popovers and mushrooms and burgers, oh my!
Wayfare Tavern
558 Sacramento St
San Francisco, CA 94111
