My boy was referred to this little place on El Cajon Blvd. by three different folks who all claimed that the chicken was tasty and good. It’s very close to his apartment, so we decided to stop on in and see what the fuss was all about.

Crispy Fried Chicken is a little joint that’s smack dab in the middle of a few taco shops and stands out on its own with the windows plastered with all of their menu offerings. Have no doubt – they do indeed serve up fried chicken! This low-key restaurant serves up a few dishes in addition to the fried chicken (dark, white, or mixed options – prices vary on the # of pieces but start at $1.89 for 2 pieces of dark meat with no sides), seafood (shrimp, catfish, snapper fillets, oysters, chicken strips) and side dishes. The prices are fairly cheap – a 2 piece dark meat chicken dinner is $3.49. Seafood combos start at $5.39 and none of them are over $10.

After mulling over the menu and options, we opted on trying the fried chicken (all dark meat, please) – we got the dinner with 2 sides (mashed potatoes and onion rings – $5.99) and two extra sides of cornbread ($0.75 each). The dinners seem to come with small side orders, so if you’re going to order for your family, you might want to see if you can upgrade those to the large size. Other sides they offer: french fries, hush puppies, steamed rice, cole slaw, potato salad, corn, okra, biscuits and apple pie.

Our food was served fairly quickly and we heartily dug into our meal. The fried chicken was very good – crispy, no doubt, juicy and full of flavor. Definitely a winner and worth a return trip. The mashed potatoes tasted pretty much like your pasty, instant-from-a-box style mashed potatoes which I did not really care for and would not order again. The onion rings were just so-so as well, nothing to get excited about there, but they were edible. And then we get to the cornbread.

Let’s zoom in on the cornbread for a minute here:

This picture isn’t as beautiful as it should be, since I had to take it with my phone’s camera (damn me for leaving the memory card at home!), but you should be getting the feeling right about now that I loved this cornbread. Loved. So much so that I got a second order of it for the both of us so we could pleasure our mouths a second time. The cornbread was fresh and warm, sweet and moist, and had a little slather of melted butter on its rich, golden top. It was heavenly. I might dream about this cornbread tonight.

If you dream of chicken that’s not from a chain and the best cornbread you’ve ever had, you should visit this place, stat! Bring some cash though – they don’t take credit cards. Only your hard earned cash, which you will gladly hand over for some delicious food.

Crispy Fried Chicken
4919 El Cajon Blvd.
San Diego, CA 92115
(619) 582-3938