Mrs. Knotts’ chicken dinners

No, but the food is good. We use to go a few times per year, but the prices have swelled to the point that we no longer think it's worth it. They do a Sunday Holiday Brunch buffet between Thanksgiving and New Year's Day that we make a habit of attending, to get our fixing.
 
Honestly, for my money Knott's has the most overrated fried chicken on the planet.

I will say that you get quite a lot for what you pay, more overall than you do at Disneyland. And I do enjoy the experience and atmosphere of eating at the restaurant. But when I first tried Knott's chicken in 2013 I was underwhelmed with the chicken itself, although I thought the sides were much better. Then in 2018 my friend and I both had the chicken dinners at Knott's and Disneyland within a few days of each other. The chicken was just as underwhelming as I remembered it; the sides, unfortunately, were worse. Both of us far preferred the chicken and overall meal from Plaza Inn.

I've wondered at times if Knott's chicken dinners were so popular because fried chicken was hard to come by in 1940s Southern California, and so the locals didn't know any better. Maybe I've been lucky, because I've had a lot of excellent fried chicken in my local area and the South isn't that far away. But in my experience it's not hard to find better chicken than Knott's.
 
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Actually, from what I have read, the issue that when Cedar Fair bought Knott's Berry Farm, they didn't get the rights to use Mrs. Knott's original recipe for the fried chicken nor did they get the rights for the recipe for Boysenberry Jam. My understanding is both issues were corrected last year though and now the original Boysenberry Jam is available in some of the shops and the fried chicken has made a come back. But admittedly, I haven't tried the fried chicken since if I go, I use my all season meal plan in the parks and that doesn't work for the fried chicken.

But Plaza Chicken is still by all accounts better.
 
Honestly, for my money Knott's has the most overrated fried chicken on the planet.

I will say that you get quite a lot for what you pay, more overall than you do at Disneyland. And I do enjoy the experience and atmosphere of eating at the restaurant. But when I first tried Knott's chicken in 2013 I was underwhelmed with the chicken itself, although I thought the sides were much better. Then in 2018 my friend and I both had the chicken dinners at Knott's and Disneyland within a few days of each other. The chicken was just as underwhelming as I remembered it; the sides, unfortunately, were worse. Both of us far preferred the chicken and overall meal from Plaza Inn.

I've wondered at times if Knott's chicken dinners were so popular because fried chicken was hard to come by in 1940s Southern California, and so the locals didn't know any better. Maybe I've been lucky, because I've had a lot of excellent fried chicken in my local area and the South isn't that far away. But in my experience it's not hard to find better chicken than Knott's.

Mrs. Knott's gets deserving solid reviews -- it's good food served in huge portions at a fair price. I wouldn't consider it to be overrated at all because the only people who rave about it are bloggers who may have received compensation from Cedar Fair in exchange for a fair and unbiased review ;). Beyond that, few people or publications will encourage you to stop by unless you're going to KBF, anyway.

There are oodles of similar family style chicken dinners offered around the country. These types of dinners were popular in the 1920s and 1930s, and most of these restaurants have been continually servicing these meals. I imagine nostalgia plays a huge role in their popularity -- it's where you went as a kid, it's where your parents went as kids, it's where their grandparents went as kids, etc. Unsurprisingly, most of these restaurants maintain a rustic look.

Mrs. Knotts likely rose to prominence because their mission was to offer a quality meal at a low price. Those low prices continued until recently -- the adult price was $6.50 in 1988, $7.99 in 1991, $15.99 in 2012 and $22.99 today; children and seniors received deep discounts but in recent years they've become more modest. In the late 1990s/early 2000s, free meal vouchers were often included with one-day admission tickets; if you ate at their Holiday buffet during that same time period, you received either free admission for that day, or a voucher to purchase a future ticket at a low price (IIRC, circa 2000, the buffet was around $20 per adult, gate admission was in the mid-$30s but the voucher allowed admission for around $10).

Mrs. Knotts also opened up several satellite restaurants in the early 1990s. I recall locations in Irvine and Rancho Santa Margarita, but there were others. We ate at the Irvine location several times -- my parents, myself and my brother (both under 12) could eat for less than $20, including tip, with a coupon. The Irvine location is now a California Pizza Kitchen, but still maintains its "farmhouse" look from its Mrs. Knott's days.

$23 is a fair price, but we don't eat dark meat, which increases the price to $27. There are oodles of places in Orange County I would rather eat at for that price, but as I mentioned earlier, we do stop by during one of their Holiday buffets toward the end of the year.

Actually, from what I have read, the issue that when Cedar Fair bought Knott's Berry Farm, they didn't get the rights to use Mrs. Knott's original recipe for the fried chicken nor did they get the rights for the recipe for Boysenberry Jam. My understanding is both issues were corrected last year though and now the original Boysenberry Jam is available in some of the shops and the fried chicken has made a come back. But admittedly, I haven't tried the fried chicken since if I go, I use my all season meal plan in the parks and that doesn't work for the fried chicken.

But Plaza Chicken is still by all accounts better.

Knott's has long maintained that their fried chicken recipe hasn't changed since 1934. They did sell their food specialty business in 1995. Most products have been discontinued, but the jams and short bread cookies (ironically, the first time I ever had the short bread cookies was from a vending machine at the Caribbean Beach Resort shortly after it opened, when I was a little kid) are still available. Knott's recently re-introduced new products, but they cannot use the Knott's brand name; the press release indicated they'd be available for purchase at Vons and elsewhere but I've never seen them outside of the park. Then again, I don't normally eat that stuff, so maybe I just haven't looked hard enough for them.
 
Mrs. Knott's gets deserving solid reviews -- it's good food served in huge portions at a fair price. I wouldn't consider it to be overrated at all because the only people who rave about it are bloggers who may have received compensation from Cedar Fair in exchange for a fair and unbiased review ;). Beyond that, few people or publications will encourage you to stop by unless you're going to KBF, anyway.

There are oodles of similar family style chicken dinners offered around the country. These types of dinners were popular in the 1920s and 1930s, and most of these restaurants have been continually servicing these meals. I imagine nostalgia plays a huge role in their popularity -- it's where you went as a kid, it's where your parents went as kids, it's where their grandparents went as kids, etc. Unsurprisingly, most of these restaurants maintain a rustic look.

Mrs. Knotts likely rose to prominence because their mission was to offer a quality meal at a low price. Those low prices continued until recently -- the adult price was $6.50 in 1988, $7.99 in 1991, $15.99 in 2012 and $22.99 today; children and seniors received deep discounts but in recent years they've become more modest. In the late 1990s/early 2000s, free meal vouchers were often included with one-day admission tickets; if you ate at their Holiday buffet during that same time period, you received either free admission for that day, or a voucher to purchase a future ticket at a low price (IIRC, circa 2000, the buffet was around $20 per adult, gate admission was in the mid-$30s but the voucher allowed admission for around $10).

Mrs. Knotts also opened up several satellite restaurants in the early 1990s. I recall locations in Irvine and Rancho Santa Margarita, but there were others. We ate at the Irvine location several times -- my parents, myself and my brother (both under 12) could eat for less than $20, including tip, with a coupon. The Irvine location is now a California Pizza Kitchen, but still maintains its "farmhouse" look from its Mrs. Knott's days.

$23 is a fair price, but we don't eat dark meat, which increases the price to $27. There are oodles of places in Orange County I would rather eat at for that price, but as I mentioned earlier, we do stop by during one of their Holiday buffets toward the end of the year.



Knott's has long maintained that their fried chicken recipe hasn't changed since 1934. They did sell their food specialty business in 1995. Most products have been discontinued, but the jams and short bread cookies (ironically, the first time I ever had the short bread cookies was from a vending machine at the Caribbean Beach Resort shortly after it opened, when I was a little kid) are still available. Knott's recently re-introduced new products, but they cannot use the Knott's brand name; the press release indicated they'd be available for purchase at Vons and elsewhere but I've never seen them outside of the park. Then again, I don't normally eat that stuff, so maybe I just haven't looked hard enough for them.

If everyone who everyone who mentions a park says you should go and have their delicious fried chicken and it fails to deliver, I'd absolutely say that qualifies as overrated. If every single person who brought up Disneyland mentioned that you simply HAD to try the chicken at Plaza Inn, it would undoubtedly be superbly overrated too.

I've been to lots of those family diner sorts of places, and almost all of them have had better chicken than Knott's.

But then, that's just my opinion. Clearly you and many other disagree. As I said, I think the value for the money is still mostly pretty good, and I love the experience of eating in the actual restaurant. I just will probably never order the actual famous fried chicken again, and that's fine.
 


If everyone who everyone who mentions a park says you should go and have their delicious fried chicken and it fails to deliver, I'd absolutely say that qualifies as overrated. If every single person who brought up Disneyland mentioned that you simply HAD to try the chicken at Plaza Inn, it would undoubtedly be superbly overrated too.

I've been to lots of those family diner sorts of places, and almost all of them have had better chicken than Knott's.

But then, that's just my opinion. Clearly you and many other disagree. As I said, I think the value for the money is still mostly pretty good, and I love the experience of eating in the actual restaurant. I just will probably never order the actual famous fried chicken again, and that's fine.

What I'm disagreeing with.... is that for Mrs. Knott's to be overrated, it'd have to be highly rated to begin with. Its Yelp rating has been mostly 2.5* in recent years (it's currently 3*, but has sent more time at 2* than 3*). Searching the OC Register archive, I don't see any mention of it being listed as a top restaurant; same with the LA Times, although it was listed among the top 10 best values way back in 1999. And as an OC restaurant, I don't think I've ever heard anybody say 'we're going to KBF just to eat at Mrs. Knotts.' Heck, when we tell people we had one of their Holiday buffets, we get just the opposite -- "you went to KFB just to eat at Mrs. Knotts?" Yes, but not because I think the food's spectacular, but rather because I find it to be a good value. 3* is very appropriate IMO.
 

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