WhereShouldWeGoMSP: Revival with apps at The Lowbrow

Friday, November 13, 2015

Revival with apps at The Lowbrow

Stephanie and I decided to follow the crowds and try to get into Revival for the fried chicken everyone has been raving about. We arrived at about 5pm on a Saturday night, hoping it was early enough to keep the wait time to a minimum. No such luck. We were quoted an hour. Be prepared to wait. I could look at the wait list after the fact and some people were waiting upwards of 2 hours. Crazy.

The waiting process is not too bad though, you out in your name and they send you a text message when they are ready for you. So, since the restaurant is VERY small and the waiting area very limited, you can go to other nearby establishments. We went over to The Lowbrow across the street. There is a coffee house across the street as well that would work well for waiting.

We got lucky and scored a spot at the bar at The Lowbrow. We ordered a couple of beers and checked out the menu. We went with the half order of nachos as we were starving. The chips tasted house made and the cheese was very oozy and melty in a good way. The salsa and guacamole were very delicious. Excellent bar food.

Here is the belle of the ball, the 2 piece Southern fried chicken. This stuff really was worth the wait. It was very crisp on the exterior and juicy on the interior. Simplicity at its finest. If you want to know what good friend chicken tastes like, try this, because really good fried chicken is hard to come by around here for some reason.

We also ordered the shrimp and grits with mushrooms and scallions. I kind of have a thing for shrimp and grits. This was good, but not dazzling like the chicken. I felt the grits were a bit on the watery side and not rich and creamy and cheesy enough. The shrimp were plentiful and cooked perfectly though. There were bits of bacon or pork belly in the bowl and that helped add some much needed sodium to each bite.

We also added the hush puppies. This was a lot of hush puppies for $4.50. We did not even come close to finishing these. Too much food. They had a nice hint of honey flavor and the sauce added a bit of spice if you wanted it. They exterior was crisp and the interior soft with a bot of crunch form the cornmeal. Very good hush puppies.

The service was quite good and very friendly. He made sure to check on us as needed and was very efficient, but not so much we felt rushed. Even though there were tons of people waiting. The room is cozy, but I found it to be pretty loud as there is not much to absorb sound.

I know I have been slacking on my deals and discounts section and I hope to bring it back soon. There were no deals to be had here, as they don't need to discount a thing. Revival is mobbed and for good reason, The chicken is fantastic. I can't wait to go back and try the Tennessee hot chicken on my next visit.