Lucy’s Fried Chicken

This place was delicious. Frozen watermelon margs and delicious food paired with good service. I really enjoyed my meal here!

Went for brunch, had to try fried chicken & waffles. Was not disappointed! The waffles were light & crispy. The chicken outstanding. The flavored butter over the top! My husband had this chicken spaghetti dish that was also outstanding. Good price, great Austin service, yummy food, got to try it!

I am not sure why Lucy’s is so lowly rated. I have driven by Lucy’s three locations multiple times while living in Austin, and always thought it was just a fried chicken spot. We learned one day that they have a dog friendly patio, so we thought we would check it out, if even for a drink one evening before grabbing dinner somewhere else. However, when I saw their diverse menu of comfort food options, that are far beyond just fried chicken, we decided to stay and eat. This is now one of my guilty pleasures. I have never had a bad meal here, and the service is spot on. The crafted cocktails are decently priced and well made. They have a decent beer selection that keeps my husband happy.
Some of my favorite menu options are first the addictive hand cut fries tossed in a secret spice. The spice provides a lovely kick to these crispy, yet soft on the inside morsels of yum. Second, I love the woodfired grilled gulf oysters (also available raw if you prefer). There are so many different flavor options for the oysters, and all are fresh and cooked to perfection (nothing fishy or gritty here). Surprisingly, I actually like their collard greens. I don’t usually like collard greens, and typically avoid them. However, here they are delicious, and don’t make me grimace. The best side is the smoked potato salad. The smoky flavor just really sets them apart, some of the best I have had. I also love the nekked wings. They are smoked and fried and wheat-​free! They fry them ever so briefly, that they lack the oil that wings most often have.
Of course, what abou the fried chicken? It’s nice that you don’t have to get a bucket, you can just order by the piece. I took a bite of my husband’s chicken, and it tastes far better than anything you would find at Kentucky fried chicken. They also have salad on the menu, but I haven’t had a chance to try that yet.
I also still need to check out the brunch that they have here on the weekends! I love Lucy’s on Burnet, for an affordable, comfort food dining option. They also try to source local and fresh ingredients when possible.

Oh wow, that was nothing like what I’d hoped for. They get two stars instead of one on ambiance and bar menu only.
I don’t know if this review will make me sound old or just crotchety… maybe I should follow it with «get off my lawn!», who knows. Waiter comes up and mumbles a welcome. Then we begin the dance of what drink to order. I finally decided nothing better with fried than beer. With that said the following happens:
Me: what do you have on tap
Waiter: Texas beers
Me: just a Lonestar will be fine
Waiter: we don’t have Lonestar on tap
Me: okay, well, what do you have
Waiter: most Texas beers
Me: why don’t you give me a run down
Waiter: shiner premium, ipa blah blah blah, a list of 5 or so…
Me: shiner
Waiter: we don’t have shiner on tap
Me: you said you had shiner?!
Waiter: no I didn’t
Me: shiner premium, you said…
Waiter: oh, well yeah, but that’s shiner premium
Me: OMG! Yes, shiner premium!
Sweet God!
Proceeded to split several different things on the menu: basket of chicken, Mexican Coke sweet potatoes, fried deviled eggs, and collard greens… and a Shiner PREMIUM. SMH
Completely underwhelmed by all things on the menu. The sweet potatoes were what made it tolerable.
Interaction number two with the boy-​wonder that was our waiter:
Me: more Coke please
Waiter: okay (brings back a pitcher of soda-​weird)
Me: hold on just a sec, can I get it in a to go cup
Waiter: yeah (as he pours 20 oz. into my glass… WTF?!)
Me: do you understand what I’m saying
Waiter: yeah, I’ll bring you a to go cup.
So the smart kid brings out an additional 20 oz drink in a to go cup. Since I have plans to sleep before next week, I had to be wasteful… dang it.
There was also a gal helping him and never once did she crack a smile or say you’re welcome when we thanked her.
Geez. Needless to say, we’re not going back. Plus, this Meemaw couldn’t hear over the loud music.
GET OFF MY LAWN! Buncha Morons ;-)

Awesome fried deviled eggs. We had a cuc enbach at the bar hubby had the Texas whiskey revival. Great place for different drinks.

Lively, retro diner-​type place that’s part of a local chain of upwardsly casual fried chicken restaurants. Great atmosphere and reasonably friendly (if somewhat absent) service too. While the chicken is generally delicious, the way in which it’s fried can vary greatly — sometimes lightly so and sometimes overbearingly so. The portion sizes are fairly decent given the prices, nevertheless. Not bad, but not necessarily a place I’d go out of my way for. Best combined with an outing at the dive bar next door.

Lucy’s has a great vibe. As soon as you walk in, you can see eclectic decorations, a tree in the middle of the space that they didn’t cut down but went around, and outdoor seating. My friend and I sat at a picnic bench in the patio area and got beers from their local brews menu. We decided to split the fried chicken basket (4 pieces) and the fried chicken nachos. We ordered collard greens but that never came out. It wasn’t charged on the bill, so we didn’t bother.
I was a little let down by the chicken. As a fried chicken joint, it didn’t pass my standards. Yes, the outside is crispy and the inside is juicy. But the seasoning was not there. Some pieces were more seasoned than the other and it was just OK chicken. The nachos were pretty good, the portion can feed 4 people! Eat it quickly though, because the cheese dries up and the chips get soggy. I liked the finishing touch of guacomole and the fried chicken on the mound of nachos= my version of cherry on top!
My friend who was visiting seemed to like the chicken more. Living in the south has definitely changed my views on fried chicken. This joint was worth checking out and it seems like a local favorite.

I was excited to try this place after reading reviews and hearing about it from friends. On the first visit the chicken was good, just good. It wasnt this spectacular chicken I had heard about. So we came back for a second vist to see if I had been overly critical before. Once again, the chicken was good, but not great. It is also very pricey, which would be OK, if the chicken was top notch.
If we go back we’ve decided to try something else on the menu. That shouldn’t happen at a chicken joint. I’m a fried chicken nut. I’m the guy that gets fried chicken at a burger joint. If you’re a chicken restaurant and I want to order something else, that’s a big red flag.
The service was good both times, and the fries are tasty. I like the vibe of the place.

Lucy’s is like that long anticipated date with that one person you and everyone else thinks is totally hot…
But then the date turns out to be a bust because he/​she is totally bland and did nothing but brag about how great he/​she is. needless to say you leave unsatisfied and regret spending all that dough for a date that went nowhere.
— — —
I brought my sister and bro-​in-​law here along with my wife for what we thought would be an epic meal for an Austin feel. The menu makes everything sound delicious. We decided to share a few dishes so that we could sample:
Mac and Cheese: Basic mac and cheese with nothing special… they throw some bread crumbs to try and fool you into thinking it has spunk. it did not.
Green Curry Habanero Mussels: Chalkboard special… did someone forget to erase the chalkboard for this item? Because they came out tasting like leftover mussels from last week… gross. I understand oysters having that hint of water from whence they came. And to a certain extent I like that in mussels… but not when the menu highlights several really flavorful ingredients which should elevate the taste of the mussels… NOT leave you wondering if the cook fell asleep in the middle of preparing the dish and it got sent out naked and unwilling.
The Bucket of chicken: Four flavorful but lukewarm and undercooked pieces of chicken. But there are enough posts by others that management should already be aware of the repeat issues that do this establishments namesake severe injustice. Really nothing else to say about that.
the Diablo oysters: Easily rated the most edible and decent dish of the night. The flavors were there along with layers of texture and the spicy kick the description promised.
Sorry Lucy… I wanted so bad for you to be my girl…

I decided to give this place a try after hearing all the hype. The options are clunky and they won’t modify entrée items. You have to order a huge 4 piece basket or buying each piece a la carte. A breast is $ 4 a wing $ 1.50. The chicken was just ok. The staff very knowledgable and friendly. Potato salad not very tasty. The fried okra was hot fresh and well seasoned. All the sides are a la carte too, so it is pretty pricy. Next time I’ll skip the hipster vibe (which is what you’re paying for) head down the street to Bill Millers instead.

I heard lots of good things about Lucy’s from my neighbors. They told me how good is Fried Chicken… It took me 40 minutes to drive here.
I like to have hot tea in a cold day. No hot tea, it is not a big deal, I know lots of restaurants did not serve hot tea around Austin.
Ok… Lucy’s Fried Chicken, I came here with 3 friends, we ordered a bucket of fried chicken ($ 24.99 for 12 pieces). Fried chicken were lukewarm, and one piece was still little bit bloody. Waitress came over to ask «you do not want it?» Of course… Then she took that piece away then do NOTHING! What the service!!!

The Good: Lucy’s is one of the best fried chicken stops in Austin. Fried chicken has consistently been good. Service is fast and easy.
The Bad: I was not a fan of their salad and if you do order the salad be prepared to share or take some to go. Feels as heavy as ordering the fried chicken bucket!

I was here for a work meeting and had chicken livers and fried green tomatoes for my appetizer. I especially loved the livers. They were great with their die islet dipping sauce. Tomatoes were good too but I enjoyed the livers more.
I had a wedge salad. I like that you can add their fried chicken to the salad. I opted to go without the chicken. The salad was nice. Pieces weren’t too big unlike my friends salad who had the most giant pieces of cheese and ham. She had to cut them into several pieces in order to eat.
Our waitress was nice. She was training but did a fine job of helping us and even stepped away to ask the manager a quick question so she could get our order right. Nice place and a good option for a work meeting. Diner style but not too loud. I recommend checking it out.

So I’ve been to Lucy’s four times now and have to say I don’t think I’ll be going back again.
The chicken is good, to be sure. Possibly the best I’ve had in Austin. But at the end of the day it’s fried chicken. Fried chicken should not cost $ 10 for one order with NO SIDES included. Last time I went was with a coworker, just the two of us, we ordered food only (no beers/​cocktails) and the bill was almost $ 50 (granted, including normal tip). Still. $ 50 for fried chicken for two people? That’s just ridiculous.
Moving on to the ‘sides’. I’ve tried most of them on the menu and am just not impressed with any of them. The fried deviled eggs are really good. Enough so that we’ve started making them at home so thanks for that Lucy’s.
I’ve had fried chicken at Willie Mae’s Scotch House in New Orleans, often considered the best in the country by many food shows and most customers. Lucy’s is more expensive than, and not as good as, the best in the country. To me that doesn’t add up. I just don’t think I can swallow that, literally & figuratively.

Went to Lucy’s on a Fun Fun Fun trip to Austin. Did you notice that every other place in Austin is a «Burger Joint?» Things like «Jim’s Bar and Burger Joint,» «Marle’s Speakeasy and Burger Joint,» «Austin Pilates and Burger Joint,» «Sparkles Nail Salon and Burger Joint?»
This is not a burger joint.
Lucy’s is very laid back (though perhaps that the general vibe of Austin overall), with extremely friendly service. They seem to specialize in Chicken and Oysters, but not Chicken Oysters. This needs to be remedied.
Fried Chicken — Juicy and a good flaky crust. Not as full of knobbly bits as I’d like, but well seasoned and worth the order. I mean… honestly…what else would you expect to get here?
Oysters — served raw, but they have about 5 types of broiled options, one of which I got, with chorizo. Broiled EXTREMELY hot and served on a bed of salt. As much as I like salt, do NOT pick up the oyster immediately, for you run the risk of dropping it upside down and having a salt oyster special. Take caution. A bit too much chorizo, as I think oysters should only be mildly supplemented by other flavors. Oysters that taste more like sausage seems like they’re covering up for something…
Mac and Cheese — actually, quite superlative mac and cheese. Very sharp cheese flavor, right amount of salt. One of the better mac and cheeses I’ve had in a restaurant.
Jalapeño Biscuits — these were pushed by the staff, and I’m not quite sure why. The biscuits were somewhat hard, and lacking in either sweetness or flakiness (they are cornbread, not buttermilk); additionally, the jalapeño seems like raw jalapeño, barely cooked by the baking process, and as a result, you get hard chunks of jalapeño in each bite, which is… not the best.
Mashed Potatoes — These tasted somewhat like institutional mashed potatoes (like you’d find in a school, or KFC), but to be honest, I kind of like that flavor of reconstituted potatoes. The problem is, they need GRAVY. Add gravy, Lucy’s!
The cocktails were fair to middling (they do an OK version of an Aviation, though they give it some down-​home nickname, which I don’t get… is an Aviation too cosmopolitan for Texas? It’s not a Cosmopolitan!), but the beer program is on point.
Would I go back here the next time I’m in Austin? Probably not. Would I be ordering takeout fried chicken and mac and cheese from there if I were a local? Absolutely.

So Ive had it again tonite… tried to give it another chance.
Boo.
What is it with warm chicken being served? I like the fresh out the grease, so hot I gotta let it get warm (to my liking) temp before eating it… This is the 2^nd time… and a different location in where I got that dang warm chicken… I’d rather WAIT for cooked to order than spend the cash on some warm fried chicken.
The slaw was bland and was basically jicama w/​mayo…
The best advise I got was to mix honey with my sriracha… hmm never thought of that and it made the chicken bearable. I can get hot chicken at popeyes. cheaper too.
Bartender was nice tho.

This place only gets 4 stars for the fried chicken and waffles they serve on Sunday mornings. The rest of the food would probably be 3 stars in my opinion.
we tried the Mac and cheese which was average. The best part of the meal for me was the fried tomatoes with dipping sauce. Never had something like that before so it was fun to try!
we also tried the chicken and waffles with the cinnamon butter and bacon remulade. So so good!!! If you go here I would only order this!!!

Called from another restaurant to see if there was a wait because it was 1 pm on sunday and the restaurant we picked had a 45 minute wait.
They said no so we drive right over.
Had to circle the building twice to find parking and it was a gravel road in the back but at least they had parking!
Saw on Facebook that my friend had just come here so was excited to try the food.
Very nice hostess sat us and they came fairly quickly to take our drink orders. 2 bloody marys please! Another gentlemen came to take our order. I had the corned beef hash and eggs (think it was called lumberjack hash and eggs?) $ 12.
My girlfriend ordered the sausage eggs benedict. $ 11.
Bloody marys were spicy and good but came out in plain glasses with one olive each and no other garnish except 2 sprigs of what looked like grass haha. I’m used to garnished beautiful bloody marys.
Food came out super fast. The eggs benedict was a really small plate. I felt bad for my friend and wanted her to order more.
My eggs were over done. I did ask for over medium cause I didn’t want super runny but I should have stuck with over easy. Never had hash like this. Bigg potato cubes and beets cubes? Corned beef was like pot roast. Very dry and it comes with mustard. I asked for ketchup cause it was dry and had to ask again. They were a bit busy but everyone was nice.
I ordered the mason jar banana pudding and my friend had a pie. She didn’t say much about hers. Mine was good for 5 $.
Food was meh. Atmosphere casual and cute.
Wanted to like it more.

Eh, don’t bother with Lucy’s. It’s just so inconsistent!
Tonight, I ordered the frozen watermelon margarita, which is the permanently-​featured drink on the menu, but I was brought a watery, overly sweet/​sour drink with a few tiny ice cubes melting away quickly at the top. Not frozen at all. I sent it back immediately and ordered a more expensive, handmade drink which, admittedly, was better.
The sides are pretty pathetic and remind me of Black Eyed Pea, but worse. Your mashed potatoes need butter.
The chicken is sometimes decently cooked, though often greasy — one of the pieces was dripping oil everywhere, quickly making the crust soggy — but really, my biggest problem is that the crust has ZERO flavor (other than salt). It’s just trendy and overpriced fried chicken.

There are few things that tug on my heart strings like fried chicken, We had been to Gus’ on a few occasions and really have come to like it, so it was going to take a great meal from Lucy’s for it to supplant the former as our favorite fried chicken in town (note we are still getting around to other fried chicken establishments in Austin).
We ordered a 4 piece basket, fries, and a side salad (gotta watch that figure you know). For the chicken, as mentioned it was going to take something herculean to usurp Gus’ and unfortunately that was not the case. The basket is nice because it is plenty for the wife and I to share and have a piece leftover but it is also sort of the only way you can buy it (no two piece combo meal type thing). The flavor is fine but nothing really separates it apart from other places. Decent crisp but by no means the crispiest chicken either of us have had.
The fries were the saving grace. For less than 5 bucks you get a BIG basket, like enough for 4 people big, and they taste really good. The fries seem to actually have more flavor (and spice) than the chicken. We were also left with plenty to come home to accompany our last piece of chicken.
Overall we loved the look and feel of Lucy’s; great atmosphere and awesome service. However it was just over 20 bucks for our meal without any drinks (granted we had another whole meal left over) and we didn’t leave amazed. Really glad we tried Lucy’s but would steer people towards Gus’ for a crispier, better tasting fried chicken.