RBS Chicken Shack - Closed

Don't let the name fool you, RBS Chicken Shack doesn't serve just chicken and it's not a shack.  It's an establishment dedicating to serving fine dining quality food at a price everyone can afford, according to the website.  I am all about eating great quality food at affordable prices.  I don't know if it was intentional but after checking out RBS's website, the bar was set pretty high. I had high hopes RBS will impress me.

cornbread with maple butter

I went on a weekday for lunch with a friend. Once we got settled at our table, our waitress brought out these little cornbread muffins.  I actually got a taste of them before and was excited to see if they were as good I remember.  I loved it.  The muffins are served with a maple butter which was delicious.  My friend didn't care for it as much.  She actually thought the muffin was kinda of dry.  I can only assume her muffin and my muffins didn't come from the same pan.  

Jambalaya Pasta $12

I have been eyeing a particular dish on the menu for a good couple of weeks.  The Jambalaya pasta consists of grill chicken, andouille sausage and crawfish tossed in an Asiago cream sauce with rotini pasta. I like the chicken and crawfish components.  Both were tender and actually have flavor.  However, I found the andouille sausage to be dry and the huge chunks were odd to me.  I had to add a little salt to fit my taste but then, I sure do love sodium. The pasta was around $12, so it was a little high for lunch.

Special: Grilled Chicken & Asparagus Wrap $12

My friend ordered the special of the day, which was a wrap with grilled chicken, grilled asparagus, mixed greens and a balsamic vinaigrette.  It comes with sweet potato waffle friends but my friend exchanged it for regular fries.   The wrap was huge!  I mean just colossal.  My friend, knowing I write a blog, suggest we share our entrees so I snagged half of the wrap.  I liked it.  The chicken was still very juicy and had a slight smoky flavor.  The asparagus added a bit of a crunch and the vinaigrette a little sourness.  I could have done without the olive oil drizzle around the plate though.  It was decorative but made the sandwich a little messy to pick up and eat.

My brother was at school this day but he made me promise to grab him something.  He decided on the Country Chicken Sandwich.  The description is as follows buttermilk fried chicken, coleslaw, chicken gravy and cheddar cheese served on a sesame bun along with sweet potato waffle fries.  I didn't take a picture because I didn't think it was be a great representation of the dish itself. I did make him give me a review of the blog. 

• T says: I hated it.  It was terrible.  The chicken was burnt and the coleslaw taste like sauerkraut or maybe it was just bad.  I took a few bites and just couldn't stomach anymore. 

Well then,  apparently the sandwich wasn't all that great.  I was really disappointed especially since I paid $11 for that sucker.  He did tell me he enjoyed the sweet potato waffle fries.  I am hoping it was fluke and the 10 minute drive it took to deliver it to campus diminished the quality.

The building that houses RBS has been a number of Asian restaurants in the past and from the looks of the outside, you wouldn't think much has changed on the inside.   But it has.   I find that it's much more open.  Gone are the booths and it's place are four tops.  A lot of them.  There's still two dining rooms.  The first has just a few tables and a bar the other side is much more open.  You can actually see the pick up window from the dining room too.  Since I went for lunch, it was nice and bright.  The service is something I'm sure will improve with time.  I could definitely tell my server was new at the job.  She looked specifically at me when she talked about the special that my friend ended up ordering.  She was nervous coming and going from our table and got a little flustered when the dining room started filling up.  

I was expecting to blown out of the water by RBS and left with a pleasant experience.  I will give brunch a try next because there's a few items there that looks interesting.  To check out RBS Chicken Shack's website, click here.





IN OTHER NEWS..

• Am pretty excited about the upcoming Bayfest.  Why?  Street food! Hey everyone has their vices.
• Just found out Bamboo Bistro in Mobile has "after hours" specials every Wednesday and Thursday.  I haven't been but it's the same people who owns Bamboo Steakhouse.  Click here for more info.
• Little House Bistro in the Semmes area is moving to Midtown Mobile.  There's two new chefs there aside from the owner.  From what I heard, the menu is still farm fresh but mixed with a little California style.