The Soul In Scottsdale

The Dish: “all you can eat” fried chicken
The Place: Soul Cafe (North Scottsdale)
The Location: 7615 E Pinnacle Peak Rd, Scottsdale, AZ 85255 (480) 515-6254

By: Glen Davis

“All you can eat fried chicken”. Not exactly the words you’d expect to be reading in a fine dining review. Stay with me though. It’ll be worth it.

We love the Soul Cafe in Scottsdale. For the past few years, it’s become a regular breakfast haunt for us. It’s always good and we’ve never been disappointed. Over the years, we’ve had a few dinners there as well. Always great, always accompanied by the recommendation to “stop in on Wednesday nights for our fried chicken special.”

Tonight we did it. It was a last minute decision. I tell you this because I don’t want you to make the mistake we did. Call for a reservation! Wednesday nights are packed. Our waiter told us that the $9.99 chicken plate is usually on the menu for $22. The customers know good food and a great value. You’ll not find very many 20-somethings here. These are experienced diners.

For ten bucks ($9.99), you get “all you can eat” fried chicken, a nice corn medley, buttery mashed potatoes and hearty white country gravy. The plate arrived and I was pleased to see that it was three large white breast portions, lightly coated in a delectable coating, sitting atop the mashed and gravy. There is an additional items menu that accompanies this special. From it, I also ordered a biscuit. What’s chicken without biscuit?

The chicken was super moist and tasty. It paired exceptionally well with the gravy and the potatoes. The corn medley has a nice southwestern flavor and the biscuit was fine., but make no mistake…this is about the bird! I enjoyed every bite of that chicken. That is, “all I could eat”. In my case, this meant 2 of the 3 large, thick pieces. I’m guessing that there are a few people that take advantage of the free additional chicken slabs, but one plate did it for me. (BTW, the “all you can eat part is only for the chicken. Additional sides are….well, additional).

A quick walk around the restaurant revealed that about 80% of the patrons were enjoying the fried chicken special. Those that weren’t seemed happy with their choices. My wife (gluten-free) loved her Grilled Salmon Tostadas. Patrons were being very well attended to by the very competent and friendly servers. The young man that served us was especially attentive and friendly without crossing that dangerous line of “hovering.”

Soul Cafe’s Wednesday night fried chicken special will have a place of honor on our monthly restaurant tour, but we’ll take our own advice and call in for a reservation next time. This food is just too darn good to expect to walk in and find it anything by slammed on Wednesday nights.