Palms Krystal Bar

Ranch Burger is the bomb!!! Excellent service. Clean, friendly environment. Great place to take the family. Been here multiple times and NEVER disappointed!

Definitely better than KFC for chicken. It’s quick, consistent, and consistently hiring, which leaves me thinking that the Palms must be a horrible place to work.

Stopped for a quick lunch on the way to Toronto for a business meeting and was very pleasantly surprised. This is s nice little, clean, friendly bar with a great menu. Had the Chicken Nutter sandwich, essentially chicken & waffles, and it was excellent.

The chicken IS tasty, but incredibly greasy. Prices are competitive, atmosphere is kinda weird, and service is ok. Not bad, but not good either…

I bought 100 pieces of chicken here for my kids grad party. This is the best fried chicken in the world! I wish we had something like this in California.

Every year, the hubby and I spend at least part of Memorial Day weekend traipsing along the shores of the St Clair River. This place caught our eye and, after checking the Unilocal reviews, we decided to stop by for dinner. So glad we did!
The featured item is «Chicken in the Rough,» which, as far as I can tell, is simply fried chicken. Because the menu specifically states that chicken takes 15 – 20 minutes, the hubby and I decided to order soup. He ordered chicken noodle and I ordered cream of mushroom. Both were heavenly. His had big chunks of chicken and vegetables and lots of wide egg noodles. The cream of mushroom soup was rich and creamy and utterly decadent. They charge more for the cream of mushroom than the chicken noodle, but it’s absolutely WORTH IT if you enjoy a good cream of mushroom soup.
And then the chicken. Sigh. It was so damned good. The spices were perfect. The breading was perfect. And, because it came out fresh from the fryer, it was hot and juicy and everything awesome awesome fried chicken should be. The coleslaw was excellent as well, The fries were disappointing, but not a reason to avoid the place. They were shoestring potatoes that simultaneously managed to be under fried and overly greasy. Not a great combo. I’ll order them «well done» next time and see if that helps any. And you also get a roll with butter and honey, which was tasty.
While Palms Krystal Bar will certainly be rolled into our annual Memorial Day festivities, I can’t wait another year to go back!

Was disappointed tonight, can’t believe how expensive the food has become. We just had chicken 2 piece dinner, ordered soup I read on menu $ 2.00 extra with dinner, get bill $ 3.75 for soup, a cup, crazy!!! Cream of mushroom, wasn’t even that good!!! I did ask waitress, she just said no!!! I’m sure we won’t be back!

We aren’t from PH, but decided on a whim to visit and do what we do best. This place reminded us both of a diner that sells booze! Nothing wrong with that except that its a diner that comes up #1 when we Unilocal search bars in the area. Beer prices were good and the service at the bar was the same. It was a different feeling telling lies and spilling suds while there are senior citizens sitting at the table behind having a chicken dinner!
The food, well of course we didn’t even play around with the fried chicken. I like my ticker. The burgers… If I were a normal person Id be lost for words, but here I go. The Smokin Burger rocked the casba! This thing was cooked right and was days worth of sloppy. I was wound like an eight day clock once I sank into this thing! The pulled pork, genius! The chips had a weird but great taste t go with it!
The Kid had the Sweet Onion Burger. He had nothing but good reviews of it. Apparently when you take ground meat and make it sloppy with tasty goodness it makes for a dashing good meal!
Im not sure we will go back, not because we don’t like the place, but because this bronc is already saddle broke. Moving on…

Been coming here for «Chicken in the rough» since I was a kid over 45 years. It’s still the best. I never miss a chance to stop in and eat when ever I am in the area. Great service and atmosphere.

Just go in and have something to see the 50’s décor! They did a wonderful job keeping those bar stools in great shape — wish I had sat at the counter instead of a booth but then I couldn’t have admired the condition, lighting and colors.
Friend had the chicken wings; was very torn on deciding which chicken parts to order — livers, wings or the two in a basket. Meanwhile I had the beer battered cod (icelandic of course since they depleted the stocks in US and Canada waters). Fries looked like potato parts, not refashioned to fit corporate needs. Friend much enjoyed the tasty wings and had enough to take home and relive the memory.
So nice to have décor that is well preserved and not a theme. That is really a nice counter… and good staff. There is a ‘Happy Days’ feel to it all, probably better than the 50’s were in acuality.

Never a bad meal, from the delicious fried chicken and fresh cut french fries to the lightly breaded, scrumptious pickerel and the Traverse City Cherry chicken salad. Service is always good and the décor is a unique step back in time. A must visit when you are in Port Huron!

Never had a bad meal here (Chicken in the Rough). I recommend everyone eats here at least once.

One of my favorite places to eat, period. It’s classic 1940’s décor with great food to boot. From the neon to the etched glass to cream and red vinyl booths, you half expect Bogie and Bacall to be downing cocktails in he corner.

Love the chicken in the rough… I remember it from my childhood. It’s a sin that there are not more restaurants that still have it.

The atmosphere is truly like going back in time. The Fried Chicken dinner is the chance to try one of America’s first restaurant systems, Chicken in the Rough. It shows you a chain that peaked at about 300 restaurants, and predates KFC. The best food items were the Chicken Noodle Soup and the Seafood Bisque which were some of the best I’ve ever had. The Chicken dinner was good and well prepared. I would have preferred a spicier presentation of the chicken, but that would not be the authentic Chicken in the Rough experience. My daughter did not like the roll being cold, but I told her that is how Fried Chicken places have traditionally served them (including Church’s and KFC when I was a kid and they were not selling biscuits yet).
Look forward to exploring more of the menu.
There was a small line on Friday at dinner. I believe the hostess was telling another party you can call in ahead of time to get put on the list (or you can start out at the bar, but many waiting in line did not want to do so), but wanted to wait for a table.

A step back into the sixties, but with better food. Good home cooking, the prices here are reasonable & the food was fabulous.

Wow! We’ve traveled through Port Huron countless times and never found a good place to eat. Checked out Unilocal and found Palm’s. My wife said she wasn’t hungry but she’d go in with me.
Fun and funky (retro) décor; clean and inviting. Friendly service and free WiFi (we were on a long working trip). A substantial menu from which we had trouble choosing. Decided to share a house-​made corned beef sandwich and (their famous) fried chicken dinner.
The chicken was juicy and crisp. The seasoning was delicious (as advertised). Fries were not as hot as we would have liked but we shouldn’t eat them anyway!?! Coleslaw was creamy and had a little bite (was that a hint of garlic I tasted?).
The corned beef was very tasty-​not lean but great flavor. On rye with a little mustard it was a good Eastern deli sandwich. Only drawback was yellow mustard instead of a good, grainy deli mustard.
For someone not hungry, my wife enjoyed as much as I did.
Our bill was $ 21.00 and well worth it.
A really pleasant road food find. We will definitely be back.

The chicken soup is only acceptable. The fried pickles were the best part. The sliders definitely will not slide.
Cannot take a place that charges $ 0.60 for ice ! ! !

+ great soup
— poor service
On my way home from a weekend in Detroit with my oldest son, we stopped in this place for their famous fried chicken. It’s located just down the road from the I69/​Blue Water Bridge.
As soon as you walk into the establishment, you swear you are taken back 30 years. This place is old school décor, from the mirror behind the bar, to the pinkish tones everywhere. The restaurant is actually split up into two different areas. The bar/​booths when you walk in, then to your right another dining area. Again, lots of booths.
As we sat down (ourselves) we noticed the patented «Chicken in the Rough» paper place-​mats that outlined why their chicken is so special. It was actually created many years ago by a couple and a few places still use the same recipe and cooking process. Needless to say we were eager to try it.
When the waitress came up to us, I made a point to say we were a first time customer. That didn’t seem to thrill her, nor were we welcomed with open arms. Oh well, cest la vie. We both ordered the chicken dinner and the chicken soup.
I found the pricing on the menu mediocre. I believe the two piece chicken dinner was around $ 8 for the chicken plate.
The chicken soup came right away. And boy was it good! Just take a look at picture of that bowl. Filled with delicious chicken and sooo tasty.
We had to wait quite awhile for the chicken, perhaps 40 minutes. And what ticked me off was that people who arrived «after» us, got served their chicken well before us. No fair. At least that had their state’s version of electronic Keno and we played a couple of games during the long wait. When we finally did get our chicken, I must say, I was a little disappointed. Part of the skin/​breading was missing and it just didn’t seem to taste that fantastic. I was hoping for some unique spices, but all I noticed was salty breading. It was good, just not out of this world – if you know what I mean. The fries were the fresh cut type but too soft, inside and out. I prefer my fries crispy on the outside, soft on the inside.
Other than the dropping off of the soup and dinner plates, our waitress was nowhere to be found. She disappeared for long periods of times and never checked in on us. Not sure what that was all about. I even had to ask another waitress for a fork. But of course when it came for us to pay, she gave us a «thank you». Too little to late honey.
With the prices not a bargain, and the food nothing to write home about (except the chicken soup), I can’t see going out of my way to come back here. Just down the road is the Chicken Shack, which is more of a take out place, but I found their chicken to be much more flavorful and cheaper. And with much better fries!

I cannot believe that I have not reviewed this place DOH!
I have had a taste or a Hankering for this place ever since my very first visit in 2006
When the mood strikes me I will, drive to Port Huron for their Chicken
It is always ‘Super Moist” but do not confuse that with being Greasy
+
The Chicken is always served ‘Piping Hot’
The Fries appear to be fresh cut shoe strings & plenty of them in that cute little basket.
{note: do not be in a hurry b/​c the Kitchen runs slow at times, but that will NOT get me to take away a star }
also if your in a hurry, call ahead order your chicken and drive 2 – 3 blocks and sit & enjoy it as you look out onto Lake Huron
and the interior of this place is timeless, surprised no one has shot a movie here yet…
and while you wait for your food they have a little bar, TV’s and Keno