Gussie’s Chicken & Waffles

Closed?! It was ok… not great and not that bad…

This place has really gone down hill. Since my last review I’ve had dinner here twice. The wait staff was slow, ungracious & unprofessional. Could here the 2 male waiters having a personal conversation in the kitchen while we waited to be acknowledged. Tables & floors looked like they could use a good scrubbing. Food wasn’t hot & the smothered potatoes were pretty salty the last time. Needs new management. Won’t be returning anytime soon.

As of 11/​29/​2014, this place is closed and they are dismantling the kitchen. They had not been answering their phones but heck this was Thanksgiving week, so we walked down to the business and sadly found it CLOSED. They say they closed because of continued flooding probs and plan to reopen in Oakland. Alas not an option for us. Too bad. I loved their taste of the south.
I must say that I was irritated that they neither updated their website nor their answering machine message with the change of events. Furthermore I saw that before Thanksgiving someone had posted a review. If I knew they were even considering closing I would have gotten one last Taste of the South in.

With genuinely warm service inside a homey, comfortable restaurant that uses 70’s serenades commonly sampled by hip-​hop as its snug soundtrack, this place breathes soul food and Southern comfort.
Snuggled down and tucked in, I had to regain posture when routinely checked in by service that was so nice you had to think twice (like why are you so nice) because my face had the most genuine maple syrup I’ve ever tasted in my life, with waffles that were the smoothest, most buttery, and such moist texture — I seriously could not stop eating, and unique fried chicken tasting authentic that finished off my thoughts that this place is truly exceptional. Given such the Southern comfort factor, I felt such at home.
It’s not just about the food.
You just feel so damn comfy after their savory, chow-​down food, their warm, genuine service, and their intimate, dim-​lit restaurant and atmosphere that you’ll come back for more. My only complaint is I’ve had dry chicken before.

Oh man! A 7 minute ride away from the Metreon :) Being that we came on the night of Halloween and the World Series Giant’s parade, I’m glad we made it!
Upon arrival, it’s a bit dim outside, we were afraid that it was closed out of it’s ordinary schedule, luckily it was open!
There were a few items we’d love to have tried if there’s another opportunity that we’re in the area again.
I had the Uptown, with my choice of either thigh or legs for my dark meat. With an upgrade $ 2 for red velvet pancakes. Now I’ve never been here before, we when I got my plate, I thought the cream piled on my waffle was butter, I had to ask for maple syrup. Our waiter looked at us, and asked with bulging eyes, ‘you want syrup too?!” BEWARE! That pile of cream, is actually frosting. LOL we spread it on, and then poured syrup on top of it. Thankfully I went light on the syrup, or else it would’ve just been dessert. The chicken was juicy and flavorful. Whooo! Not just your regular buttermilk milk chicken tossed in some flour and fried.
I also order the Mac & Cheese. Totally recommended! It goes well with the chicken!
No room for dessert, next time, I’m saving room for some :)

Very good fried chicken…
serving size is excellent, price is very affordable for a resto in San Francisco, and if you are craving for waffle and chicken I suggest to come visit Gussie’s they are awesome, love their waffle, syrup is served hot, chicken wings are so crispy and juicy, no red blood inside when you cut it open.
Ambience is good, it’s also good for dinner.

My friend had never experienced the chicken and waffle kinship. I booked a reservation and told her that she was needed for dinner reservations in SF at 7pm. It was a last minute adventure due to my job that offers the benefits of a no work/​life balance. That’s another story, for another time.
We parked across the street in the Fillmore garage and walk over. The atmosphere was inviting and the wait staff… AWESOME! We ordered the fried cheese grits and biscuit with bacon gravy, which was HECKA GOOD!!! Our waiter was very friendly and full of smiles.
After setting aside our menus, my friend ordered the chicken and waffles and so did I. I got the southern plate. The waffles had a good brown color and tasted really good. The chicken was well seasoned and very crunchy. The scrambled cheese eggs that came with the meal, was a bit runny for my taste. If fully cooked, they would have been BOMB!
For dessert, we got the red velvet cake. I’ve never had red velvet cake with pecans in the icing. I liked it. The icing on the cake was a bit odd. It was lighter than cream cheese icing and had a whip cream consistency. The cake itself was stiff and dry. My friend said that parts of the cake was under cooked. The main dish was excellent, but the sides and dessert was lack luster.
Three out of five Trans fats.

Food was really good. It was kinda a a step up from other chicken&waffle places I’ve been to. Love that they have their own twist on the butter and syrup.
The service was mediocre. I felt like my fries and I kept being brushed off by the waitress because we were young and – no racial – were not African American. But the guy working with her was great!

Came here two weekends ago with a friend because I’d purchased a Groupon deal. We came in the afternoon when it was mostly empty, so there was no wait. The inside is a nice, clean, sit-​down restaurant.
They were out of catfish, but the waiter said the chicken was better anyway, so we both got the Uptown Special — 1 breast + 1 waffle ($ 9.29). Our food arrived really quickly, which was great because we were starving. The waffle was fine. The outside of the chicken was crispy, but the inside was lukewarm and super dry — so it seems like it’d been sitting out for a while, which explains why it came out so fast. It probably would’ve been fresher if we came when it was crowded. The breast also had the giant piece of bone in it, which was surprising, and made it really hard to eat.
The service was really good, and there was definitely a lot of chicken, but overall the quality was just lacking. I kind of want to try the catfish, and see if the chicken gets any better, but only if a friend really wants to come. 900 Grayson really needs to come across the Bay to San Francisco.

Gussies, I really wanted to like you because I am a huge fan of Southern and Soul food but you really just missed the mark.
I ordered the Chicken & Waffles, which should be the standard by which any southern soul food restaurant is judged by. The chicken was pretty dry unfortunately, I had to doctor it up with a great deal of hot sauce. The waffles weren’t bad though!
Actually, the best dish me and my friend ordered was the fried catfish — it was awesome. Mac n cheese is good.
But was it enough? Not really. Most of the Roscoe’s I been down south in SoCal do better. House of Chicken n’ Waffles in Jack London Square does a better job. There’s another newer «hipster» joint that does the chicken and waffles that does a great 4 star job too.
The value just isn’t here. I’d eat here more often it were a bit cheaper because it ain’t bad — just out of the way and pricey for what you get.
Guess the thirst for awesome chicken n’ waffles continues.

I was staying nearby and stopped in for breakfast. Having just come back from the South a month prior, it’s really hard to compare their food.
I have gone to Roscoes several times in LA, so it’s probably the closest measuring stick.
The waffle was light and fluffy and the syrup was so good. The fried chicken is similar to Roscoes. I ordered a breast piece, just to see how skilled the chef was in his cooking skills. He failed my test, unfortunately. The outer crust was fantastic. However, when you cut into the center of the chicken, it’s dry. I guess I can only have the best prepared fried chicken in the south.
I do want to return to try their side dishes, and I’m looking forward to my next visit.

I lived in LA for years, and loved Roscoe’s. I mean, LOVED Roscoe’s. So this seemed like a legit local option.
But it was just so-​so in every area. The food was okay, I enjoyed it, but it didn’t knock my socks off. The music playing was bizarre, Top 40 music in a soul food restaurant just seems, somehow off.
And I’m not sure what I was expecting, but considering the type of food, it was weird that too-​cool-​for-​school mustacheoed twentysomething white hipsters were the only employees here. But then again, it IS San Francisco.

It’s all good, but I really enjoyed the fried chicken and okra! I happend to be in the area for the Fillmore Farmers’ market and Juneteenth festival. It was lunchtime so perfect, let’s stop at Gussie’s for some chicken and waffles as I’ve been wanting to try it. I also ordered fried okra as I just couldn’t resist, and it was yumm. I got the fried chicken leg with my waffle (loved the chicken, the waffle was freshly made but it was not as crispy crunchy as I’d like). And I also had some sweet tea — love sweet tea! Service was friendly and smiling.

Mmm… baby. I love me some chicken & waffles! I usually enjoy eating my fried chicken with a bit of honey, so naturally, I easily got down and dirty with my fried chicken and brown sugar syrup… ’twas a finger-​lickin’ good all the way!
FOOD & TASTE: [I ordered the Two’s Company, which came with two massive chicken wings, two eggs, grits, and cornbread. The chicken came with crispy skin and not overdone. I got my eggs poached, which were cooked to perfection. My grits were plain, so I just mixed in my eggs and it was tasty! Cornbread was good too. To my surprise, I finished the whole plate! Also, I got a taste of their waffles, a bit thinner and softer than I expected, but still good.]
DRINKS: [Coffee & Iced Tea was bottomless.]
CONVENIENCE: **** [Located on Fillmore & Eddy St. Came on a Saturday morning when parking is an easy find.]
AMBIANCE: **** [Spacious resto, but booth seating is weird. I sat down and the booth seats dip down lower than my knees can bend… and I’m already short, so that’s pretty short!]
SERVICE: ***** [OMG… service was UHHMAZING!!! Pia was our server and we watched her take care at least 8+ tables, serving everyone with a smile! My coffee was topped off before I even asked. Now that’s efficient! Everyone was clearly enjoying their time during our visit.]
PRICE: $$ [With a $ 12 Groupon deal for $ 20 worth of food, our bill came out to $ 10. We tipped Pia $ 10 for her stellar service!]
OVERALL: **** [4-​stars… for large portions, decent prices, and excellent service!]
Come early to avoid busy times. We came in when the resto was empty, and left when the resto was packed. Whew!
Nuff said.

It’s very hard to find a real authentic soul food restaurant in the heart of San Francisco but gussies chicken and waffles at one point was that location to go to, and still has a potential to be that once again.
Nestled in the heart of the ever-​changing Fillmore District gussies has been a cornerstone of that Community for authentic & classic soul food cuisines. Everything that you would love about soul food is here. From chicken waffles, (which happens to be a very popular item on the menu), too collard greens, catfish, red beans and rice, and even some of the best desserts. here’s another wonderful surprise, if you went during the lunchtime hour, which was from 12 PM to 2 PM, you were fortunate to take part in the all-​you-​can-​eat soul food buffet. There wasn’t any restaurants in San Francisco that had an all-​you-​can-​eat Soul food buffet. In my mind that’s what put Gussies over the top and made it one of the best. But unfortunately ever since the mid part of the year 2013, the food and the quality of that food has gone down tremendously.
The first thing that stands out is the fact that they no longer offer the all-​you-​can-​eat buffet for the lunchtime crowd. The catfish was way too salty, the red beans and rice tasted like mush flavored with beans. My favorite and most popular dish was the mac & cheese and unfortunately it’s now dry and not as fresh & cheesy as it once was. Even catching deals off of the popular app Groupon, hasn’t helped it to recover and go back to its once popular and glorious status.
I could’ve just gone in on an off day but in my head this place isn’t what it used to be. Don’t get me wrong the service is still great the atmosphere is still pleasant but if you’re going to a soul food restaurant you want the food to stand out. And unfortunately it no longer does at gussies chicken & waffles.

Since the only time I can get some home cooked soul food is during holidays, I usually get random cravings during the month. Today just happened to be the day… I was craving all the usual items — fried chicken, mac n cheese, greens, sweet potatoes, corn bread and peach cobbler.
My friend decided to accompany me and we ended up at Gussies. Real southern looking spot and something about it just made me feel like I was with family (one half of it anyways).
Ordered the Taste of the South (~$ 14) which had EVERYTHING I was craving on one plate (without the peach cobbler). One huge chicken breast, one wing, mac n cheese, greens, sweet potatoes, and corn bread.
Fries chicken — not greasy at all which was a big plus, but the skin wasn’t very crispy. Flavor was there, with the addition of some hot sauce, but what’s chicken without it
Mac n cheese — my standards are so high when it comes to this. Baked mac n cheese gave it a good rating in my book, but it wasn’t my fave. Nobody can beat my grandma’s
Greens — heaven in my mouth. No pieces of bacon that I saw, but the flavor was definitely reminiscent of last Thanksgiving
Sweet potatoes — perfect! Soft and buttery and sweet, just how they should be
Corn bread — moist, but nothing to brag about, but much better than the one at Hard Knox though.
I did want to get the peach cobbler, but again, my standards would be raised so high that it’d be unfair. Plus I didn’t want to spend $ 6 but maybe next time!

Meh. Food was average, but nothing wowed us sadly. Some of the dishes even came out lukewarm. It’s understandable if they were quick, but food came out soooooo slow, was it just sitting out before it got to our table?!?
Service was cool though, they let us substitute a few things in our Southern Comfort and Taste of the South dishes. We were able to switch out a waffle from our fried chicken dish for the red velvet waffle which allowed us to try both waffle batters.
Thank goodness for my friend’s groupon, I can’t see myself paying full price for the meal.

Wow some folks have been exceedingly harsh on Gussies but I’ve always had a good experience from the food to the service. This long overdue review highlights my faves at Gussie’s.
First off, I don’t really like chicken and waffles so in full disclosure, I’ve never had the waffles here. That doesn’t stop me from coming here despite the namesake because I think the fried chicken is pretty tasty. Sunday’s Best combines perfectly fried chicken smothered in gravy (lots of gravy) with comfort sides like collards and red beans and rice. Top this with some cornbread that is the right amount of sweet and savory. You also get breakfast all day — there are few places in SF serving country fried steak and this caloric monster (worth the occasional indulgence) always nostalgically brings me back to the south. Gussies ups theirs with a bacon gravy + eggs, home fries and a biscuit. Big portions here so the prices come down when you consider your to go box.
The weekday lunch buffet is pretty decent and is a good choice if you like variety. You get the fried chicken + comfort side like mac and cheese and candied yams but you also get to sample other items like fried catfish nuggets or the herb roasted chicken. Decent selection especially if it’s your first visit but for $ 12, I would prefer to order off the menu and get some fresh fried chicken instead. Happy hour is another good time to try Gussies out. Afore-​mentioned catfish nuggets and all other apps are half off and pints go for $ 2.75. They set you up nicely for some fried chicken action after.
Lastly, Gussies is one of those places where this deep-​fried chicken loving fella can satisfy those cravings while having lunch with a vegan friend. That’s right. Gussies does a vegetarian plate that can also be made vegan upon request and it’s a nice plate of vegetarian comfort food. In a city where Southern comfort food is often hard to find, I’m glad at least we have Gussies.

I heard about Gussies from a friend and finally got to go this past week and use a $ 10 for $ 20 groupon before it expired. My boyfriend and I came in on Wednesday night at about 6pm. We circled a few times for parking and luckily found a spot just 2 blocks away. The restaurant was pretty much empty so we got to seat ourselves once we walked in. Note: careful when you sit down at a booth, that bench is pretty hard lol.
We ended up sharing the Southern Comfort with a side of gravy and mac and cheese. I especially enjoyed the crispy skin of the fried chicken. When the check came we just had to pay a total of $.66 plus tip. Not bad!
I’m so glad we have a chicken and waffles spot in the city. I would recommend coming on a weeknight for dinner to avoid the weekend crowd.

If you come here, you cannot leave without trying their Red Velvet Waffles, and their Sweet Potato Waffles. You will thank me later. Both are to die for!
Service here is always excellent. Waitresses are really helpful when you need some help with ordering or giving suggestions.
The reason why I decided to give them 4 stars instead of 5 was because they don’t really have a lot of Chicken Breast options. (If you decide you wanted to swap out the dark meat for white meat, it’s $ 2 extra).
They have Buffet Brunch from Mondays thru Thursdays!