Urban Chicken

hella hood, but damn good! Our caterer owns this restaurant as she told us about it. It is in «golden hill» but still in a neighborhood that will hopefully make its stake.
It is by Turf Supper club. We bought
certificates but bummed that unfortunately they no longer accepted them. I guess people will being sketchy.
Anyways great food. We get the picnic basket with excellent rotisserie chicken, the sides and sauces are great. worth the drive if you’re not from the area!
they have specials, but their rice, the lentils, and chipotle sauce highly recommend!

Hmm… my sister and I tried this place a couple months ago because she got an online deal to eat here. We were excited to try it out because we had heard some great things.
We made the mistake of taking the food with us to the theater which meant that we couldn’t see the food we were eating. Seeing, smelling, tasting are all part of enjoying it! While we were enjoying the chicken there was something that tasted weird (still don’t know what it was haha).
Either way, we will revisit at some point to experience it correctly!

I am a regular and have eatin here more than a couple dozen times and have never had a bad meal…
Great healthy and organic food: chicken, sides, and salds… but the Chicken Sandwich with the spicy peanut butter chili oil is one of the best meals under $ 10 you can get anywhere!

So, after telling a couple of friends about the yummy chicken sandwiches at Urban Chicken, I decided to give them a taste. Since one of my friends is on a gluten-​free diet, I called a few days ahead to see if I could order a sandwich with gluten-​free bread. ‘Yes,’ I was told. ‘Great!,’ I thought.
A few days later, I made my way to Urban Chicken and place an order for 3 chicken sandwiches to go, with one on gluten-​free bread, please. ‘All of our bread is gluten-​free,’ said the young lady behind the counter. «Really? All of it?,’ I said. ‘Yes, it’s ciabatta from Bread & Cie and it’s all gluten-​free,’ replied the young lady. I was impressed.
Long story short, after taking three bites, my friend developed a stomach ache and said ‘There is no way this is gluten-​free bread.’ So I called Bread & Cie Wholesale (I found the phone # on Unilocal!) and was told that they don’t make gluten-​free ciabatta. Imagine that! (Owner of Urban Chicken, if you read this and you’re curious, this all occurred on Thursday, August 16^th at lunch-​time.)
I certainly don’t think that the people at Urban Chicken are malicious. I just think that they don’t know what they are talking about and this story could be a cautionary tale. Hormone-​free, gluten-​free? Who knows?

Updating for the 3^rd (and final) time:
All I can say is that I’m impressed. I received an email from one of the managers offering me 2 free sandwiches to make up for the previous times bad experience. The sandwiches were good this time, but even if they weren’t I’d be giving them a positive review for the effort they put in to make up for the unpleasant experience. Way to go Urban Chicken, I’ll be recommending you from here on out. Thanks again.

Dined 7−31−12
LOOK NO PRESERVATIVES, HORMONES, CHEMICALS OR OTHER CRAP YOUR BODY HATES!
If you’d consider paying $ 8 plus for a COMBO at KFC, McDonald’s, Jack’s, Carl’s or any other number of «fast» food — the $ 8.75 for this sandwich and salad is a DEAL! They have a passion for your health and our environments health. Small, better quality food is always the best way to go!
After a meeting downtown I headed over to Golden Hill before heading back down to Chula Vista. It was tough finding parking but alas a spot opened up. Street parking is all you have, so circle around a couple times if you have to.
I had the chicken sandwich with salad and rice for my little one. The flavors on the sandwich were SO good. Roasted bell pepper, pesto, chipotle aoli, and some ‘clean” chicken on foccacia bread was very tasty.
They offer soups, family meals and great salads. I’ll be back for a family meal to take to a park picnic sometime soon I hope.

Blink and you may just miss it. Perched on the corner of 25^th and Market, Urban Chicken has an unassuming exterior in Sherman Heights. As one of SD’s less traveled neighborhoods I am so glad they opened their doors in this part of town.
On my first visit I was lucky enough to sit and chat with the owner and she gave me the story of Urban Chicken and how it came to be… I’ll share.
Urban Chicken is the brainchild of the owners daughter who at the time of opening was a very accomplished high school student. She approached her mother with the concept of an organic and healthy food option to be planted in the middle of a neighborhood full fattening Mexican and fast food. She did just that! Within a 5 block radius there are at least 4 taco shops and 2 fast food restaurants.
Connecting with local suppliers of free range chickens and farmers for organic vegetables they have created a menu that not only covered the healthy card but also knocked it out of the park when it comes to flavor. The chicken and veggies are all grilled and can be combined with a bun from con pane for one of the best chicken sandwiches that you will ever bite into. They always have a soup of the day that I believe they announce on their Facebook page so be sure to check that before heading over. I have also had the lentil and cream of mushroom soup which have both been delicious.
Thank you Urban Chicken for coming correct with a great moral and healthy food concept for the people of San Diego. Props.

So cool that there is a healthy place like this in a lower-​income neighborhood. The concept just makes me happy! Spreading the love to all parts of the world.
Lentil soup is so nutritious and filling. Comfort food!
Had a side of the grilled vegetables which I ended up mixing in with the soup. Soooooo good that way.
Have also had the house spring mix salad. The lemon-​lime mint vinaigrette grew on me. It’s more lighter and kind of floral then I’m used to… but hey, that’s a vinaigrette for you… it’s no creamy ranch dressing. Either way, it’s healthy and organic so I ate the salad.

Finally made it to this place after purchasing a
deal for $ 2 to get $ 25 worth of food. We lucked out (my sister, my friend and I) because they didn’t make us pay the 18% gratuity that is listed on the certificate! Between the 3 of us, we ordered $ 49 worth of food, subtract the $ 25 and we paid about $ 10 each… sweet!
I will be heading back soon for some of those amazing chicken turnovers! The mashed potatoes, chicken and garlic rice —
!!! The flavor was all the way down to the bone in the chicken. I didn’t care for the lentil soup but my sister loved it. The different salsas they had are amazing though I can’t name them right now.
Super small place but we snagged a table and made ourselves beyond comfortable!
I was just talking about this place in Trader Joe’s yesterday so I’ve gotta go back soon!

Stopped in Urban Chicken last night while running some errands. I never looked twice at this place, a definite hole-​in-​the-​wall that’s easy to pass up. It was dead on Saturday around 6:30. The service was fine, not necessarily friendly or helpful.
I ordered the Rice Nest and my husband got the Sandwich. He got his with grilled vegetables and I got the soup of the day, Tortilla. Complete with two Mexican sodas, our meals arrived at the table. I didn’t care for my Rice Nest with my choice of Cilantro Pesto. This was more of a curry or strew dish than what I pictured being a «rice nest.» It was drowned in a sauce that didn’t compliment the cilantro pesto on top. Luckily, my husband is the sweetest, and gave me his sandwich and ate the rice nest. The sandwich was very, very good. The bread was perfectly toasty, the chicken was tender, and the cilantro pesto and chipotle aoili went perfectly, complete with zucchini and roasted peppers. So good and highly recommended.
The tortilla soup was not good, at all. They also forgot to give it to me, so I had to ask if it was coming out after I finished my sandwich. The tortillas in it tasted like cardboard (literally — I had to pick them out of the soup because they were inedible.) The rice in the soup was also way undercooked.
I would definitely recommend the sandwich — delicious and worth the price with your choice of side.

Another hole in the wall restaurant. Small place, so not good for large parties of 10+. Casual.
I enjoyed the meal, especially the chicken turnovers (!!) but the other dishes didn’t stand out =/​The chicken was fresh and tender, but wasn’t too special, and the sides were pretty typical. A good restaurant, but probably somewhere I’d order take out rather than dine-​in in the future.
— — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — -
What we ordered:
–Three chicken turnovers w/​sauce ($ 7)
–Whole chicken w/​3 sides ($ 22), comes with corn tortillas:
1) Seasonal Grilled Veggies (large sticks of carrots and zucchini)
2) Garlic Sesame Brown Rice
3) Red Mashed Potatoes
Filling enough for 3 girls and had leftovers.

Being a resident of the lovely city of San Francisco, I oftentimes take our basal food rules for granted. For the most part, you can expect that every morsel of food sliding past your esophagus is:
+ Organic
+ From a local ranch, farm, or garden
+ Devoid of weird chemicals that will make your insides rotten
+ Environmentally and fundamentally friendly
But when you travel outside of the Bay Area, however, that outlook on responsible eating is often non-​existant… which is why I was so jazzed with my recent discovery of Urban Chicken.
Urban Chicken lies right on the border of Golden Hill and Sherman Heights, and if you know anything about this neck of the woods, it’s not necessarily known for it’s dedication to healthy, organic fare. On the contrary, it’s damn near a food desert with nothing but convenience stores and Mexican fast food eateries as options for neighbors occupying the community. The crew at Urban Chicken took notice, and decided to give residents at least one healthy alternative for lunch and dinner, and it’s certainly a noble experiment to see if it resonates with folks living in the surrounding areas.
As the name suggests, they specialize in chicken. But not the kinds of chickens that made cameos in Earthlings (
), are cramped in tiny cages, or fed boat loads of hormones and sustenance unnatural to their bodies… they’re using Mary’s free range, air chilled chickens to deliver a truly humane, healthy product so you can enjoy eating with a good conscious. On the farm, Mary’s chickens have access to outdoors which include ample water and shade, their natural behaviors are enriched with bales of straw (used for pecking) and eucalyptus tree branches (used for playing and hiding). This means the chickens live their entire healthy lives having fun on the pastured farm… and that’s good news for you, amigo!
Now that we know how these chickens lived their lives on Mary’s property, how about the end game once their souls have ascended to the pearly gates and their fleshy remains have been sent to the kitchen of Urban Chicken? Well, that affluent upbringing results in a tender, juicy, and delicious tasting product that you’ll crave even before you’ve finished your meal. Whether you’re chowing down on the ¼, ½, or full chicken plate, the much-​talked-​about chicken sandwich using bread from Bread & Cie, or any of their other poultry-​based delicacies, you can taste the difference between their chickens, and chickens hailing from nasty factory farms somewhere in the middle of the United States. And considering it’s far more expensive to opt for meat raised humanely, the price point is pretty remarkable as well.
Bravo to Urban Chicken for doing it’s part to make this style of eating the new status quo. I, for one, can’t wait to support their efforts any time I find myself within spitting distance of their quaint little street-​side eatery, and hopefully you can support the cause as well!

The night held such promise.
I ordered the quarter chicken with two sides. The chicken was very moist but not good enough for me to come back for roasted poultry. The sides were not memorable at all — in fact, I can’t remember what I ordered. I tried a chicken turnover, which was probably one of the best things on the menu. The sandwiches looked good. The pesto dipping sauce tasted bland.
An uninvited guest joined our meal: a poor little furry fellow. As someone who has no qualms about eating food off the floor, I am usually unfazed by this sort of situation. However, I thought the employees handled it very poorly.
Overrated.

I have to wholeheartedly agree with the fellow Unilocalers who gave this place two stars. Paying $ 14 for half a chicken and two sides with a small container of their homemade, lackluster dipping sauce bummed me out after I tried their food for the first time last month. Fourteen dollars is a bit steep when you can get more chicken bang for your buck elsewhere, so that I’ll do after I gave Urban Chicken a try.
I ordered the half chicken meal to go and was sadly disappointed at how dry it was when I ate it as soon as I got home. The butter with a hint of mashed potatoes was too rich, but I actually liked the grilled veggies the most of all the options I failed at liking (unlike the four-​star reviews Urban Chicken received on the more positive side).
They might want to consider having better specials where a half chicken meal in the hood doesn’t cost fourteen bucks. Add more seasonings to your chicken, don’t serve dry chicken and add more pizazz to your sauces and side dishes. If your sauce is where you take your pride in, was that in comparison to… ketchup?
I had more chicken leftover to have for lunch the next day at work, but I didn’t bother packing it. Urban Chicken can’t hold a candle to the inexpensive, tasty baked chicken I love buying at the hot deli at Jimbo’s (where things are normally priced a lot higher than your average grocery store), but I wish UC well… bawk bawk!

An average of 4.5 stars??! I hate to say it but for the first time, I feel like my fellow Unilocalers have lied to me! AND I was shocked to find this place totally deserted on a Saturday afternoon
The dipping sauces were so bland and flavorless. The lemon/​lime vinaigrette was bland and oily. The hot salsa was just that: REALLY HOT but with particular taste to it. The chicken and the mashed potatoes were okay, but not good enough to warrant a return visit. I ended up drenching the whole meal (even the salad) with salt and pepper as everything was severely under seasoned. We ordered a side of veggies; the carrots were undercooked.
The prices are kinda high. I think there should be another dollar sign added the Unilocal profile.
The guy that took our order was really nice and helpful. Its a shame that the food was so bad.

Dry and bland. $ 14 (four pieces and two sides). The breast piece wasn’t fully cooked. The grilled vegetables and tortillas were tasty. The beans were boring. The dipping sauces were also overrated and at a dollar for each additional sauce, definitely not worth it.
Hipster place (non-​Yuppie neighborhood, «organic» name-​throwing, new age divey atmosphere, flavored water).
Urban Chicken’s, «No hormones added», statement is a misnomer. The use of hormones in chickens has been illegal in the US since 1952 so don’t buy into Urban’s marketing. Also, their chickens aren’t raised «naturally» (in a field); the only thing natural is that the birds are fed a vegetarian diet. Ironic since chickens eat bugs. Even more ironic is the fact that vegetarian-​fed birds are eaten by meat-​eating people. Oh hipsters…

This chicken ain’t from the suburbs. It’s straight gangsta and after 5 months of them in the San Diego poultry scene I had to bring home dinner to see if they lived up to their increasingly strong Unilocal street cred.
They’re certainly from the tastier side of the tracks and almost everything on the menu is geared towards a healthy diet. The birds are roasted perfectly tender with a finger lickin’ good glaze and 3 unique sauces to throw it up for. The sides tasty too and all from local and sustainable farms. Mashed red potatoes specifically were the truth, and I almost had to pop a cap in my roommate for hogging them.
The only rub was that we ended up with a tortilla fatality on account of them being packaged a little too moistly. In the chicken ghetto it’s hard not to lose something or someone you love so I was just thankful it wasn’t part of the main course.
Great prices. Bomb ass food. I hope they’re in the game as long as Snoop Dogg.

WOW WOW WOOOW! I have now been to Urban Chicken three times in 5 days. Ya.
First impression by driving by was curiosity. Honestly, I didn’t know what to expect since it had bars on the windows! My buddy and I walked in and were so surprised. It was well decorated, kind of hip, and just felt healthy.
The prices are amazingly fair — especially considering ALL of the chicken is NATURAL chicken (IE no preservatives, hormones, etc). The owner said they are working on getting everything to free-​range and all natural if they can get the costs right.
I first had the Rice Nest. It has jasmine garlic rice, chicken, veggies and a bunch of spices. Amazing. Seriously. Next visit was the Three Turnover Chicken which is marinated in all their homemade sauces, then put in a puff pastry and baked. Third visit was… drum-roll.the chicken sandwich. This wasn’t any normal chicken sandwich. This was heaven. HEAVEN!!! Others have already written about it — but the pesto sauce, fancy lettuce, sauces, veggies, etc were amazing. The taste was nothing short of orgasmic. For $ 8 you get this and a side.
They have some amazing drinks. Hibiscus Tizane. Caffeine free and amazingly natural.
This place needs to be written up and talked about on TV shows. Amazing. I’ll be making this a staple place on my lunch list and it will definitely make the list of places to bring friends from out of town

My first impressions of Urban Chicken was that it’s really cute. Although the food is great, I have some mixed feelings about the service.
When we first got there the girl at the front had an unenthusiastic look on her face. She seemed half awake and didn’t really care to be there. So… then we were told that our chicken was going to take 20 minutes to cook. So we waited.
A few minutes later, what looks like the girls friends come strolling in and the girl started bringing out their food. Even if it was salad, watching other people get their food while we silently starved on the other side was really annoying. We ended up waiting over thirty minutes to get our food while I watched the guy in charge stock up the drink refrigerator.
The thing is, when you open up a restaurant, and you see your customers waiting without smiles on their faces, it’s time to bring out some free food!
Thankfully, the food was fantastic. The chicken was grilled to perfection, no easy feat. The pesto marinade was good, the jasmine rice was textured and just garlicky enough, and the veggies were juicy. I wasn’t a big fan of the mashed potatoes but my bf liked them.
At the end of our meal, the owner of the shop gave us a small free lentil soup to try, which is something that I would’ve done during the 35 minute wait instead.
This is the type of restaurant that I want to succeed but I think may not in the long run because of their lack of communication within the shop and poor customer service from the front desk girl. At the end of the day, no matter how good your food is, if you have your customers waiting over 30 minutes while you senselessly serve other people in front of them, it’s going to kill your business.
Despite the wait, I would still come back again because the food was really tasty.

Urban Chicken… did me right!
I really wanted to give the U C a fair chance, and my disappointment from attempt #1 had worn off to the point that i was ready to go see whats really goin on over there at 25^th & Market.
Pleasantly surprised! Actually, it exceeded my (slightly lowered) expectations by far! It seemed like i saw the «open» sign glowing from miles away coming down 25^th street at 6ish onna Friday. Slid right into one of the many open street parking spaces and made moves inside.
Took a look up at the chalkboard menu trying to gameplan the best way to tackle a whole chicken…$ 10 deal that comes with no sides and just get one or two sides for $ 3 each? orrrrr $ 19 deal which comes with/​includes three sides? After talking with the very friendly/​helpful guy working there, a decision was finally made! 3 different sides please. It makes sense ifya get the $ 10 deal and want to only grab 2 or less sides… to save a few bucks.
Tomato cinnamon sauce on the chicken please… and lets go with red mashed potatoes, garlic-​sesame rice, and grilled veggies. It also comes with corn tortillas or bread rolls as well.
Within minutes, the boxes, yes boxes, arrive at the table and the plastic utensil, paper plate, feast begins! Quality. Quality everything, across the board! With a cup of cold peppermint tisane to go with… a damn good meal, a hearty meal, a healthy meal, and price to portion ratio that keeps the pockets happy — meal!
I gotta go 4.5 leaning towards 5 stars on this one! It reminds me of Rancho’s on 30^th; how they did me wrong one time and won me back the next — Urban, won me back, bigtime!
Id say other than the great food and fair prices, the dude workin there gave me enough reason to surely return soon. He brought a small sample each of a curry soup and a lentil soup as well as the other 2 sauces they offer, just to try! He took the time to verbalize a brief mission statement and really seemed to care about what U C was doing both culinarily and for the neighborhood as a whole. Im not sure if he was an owner, but a great asset to the business nonetheless!
Bottom line: yea, my first review may have been a bit… blunt, but like i did then, im doing now, straight telling it like it is.