Mother Cluckers - Palatine, IL

My wife, nephew and niece and I went to Mother Cluckers restaurant in Palatine, IL for dinner tonight.

We had to order the chicken because it makes no sense to me to go to a chicken place and not order chicken!  But the restaurant does offer other items besides chicken if you want... catfish, shrimp, sandwiches, etc.

We ordered the 16 piece chicken with biscuits and four sides.  We got corn on the cob, mashed potatoes, Mac and Cheese, and broasted potatoes.  We also ordered a side of fried zucchinis.

After ordering our food at the counter, we were given our cups for drinks and we got a number tent that we placed on our table.  We decided to get just water and not soft drinks.  After settling in at our table, our food was brought to us really fast (like within a couple of minutes), which tells me that our food was pre-cooked before we even ordered it.  We also noticed that more people who came in to order were getting their chicken to go rather than eating at the restaurant.

The atmosphere of the restaurant was fine, but it was rather small.  The building is located in an oddly shaped peninsula and so the building can't really hold lots of people and also have a kitchen and an ordering counter.  Still, it was comfortable and nicely decorated.  I will say that I like their company's name and logo!  Very creative if you are smart enough to figure out the play on words.

How was the food?  To me, the chicken was just a typical fried chicken that was fried in lard.  I did not find it anything special, other than it was rather expensive.  It was not greasy though, but it had a really heavy lard taste to it.  The biscuits were typical like Popeye's Fried Chicken biscuits.  The broasted potatoes had the same heavy lard taste to it like the chicken, but again, it really wasn't greasy.  The mashed potatoes were a bit thick (it needed something to water it down really) but it did taste ok.  The corn was frozen corn that was boiled in water too long, like many restaurants do.  The fried zucchini was cut thick, but didn't seem fully cooked, but again, it was ok.  The Mac and Cheese was very creamy and good.

Overall, I felt that while the meal was decent, it wasn't anything really that different than at any other place.  It was rather expensive at just under $50 with tax for 16 pieces of chicken, biscuits, four medium sides and a side order of fried zucchinis.  Would I go again?  Probably not, but overall, the food was decent... just not anything really that special that would make me want to go again.