The Birds at Hall’s Honey Fried Chicken Are Juicy, Crispy and Worth Your Attention

John Hall was 7 when he began his lifelong pursuit of perfecting the art of fried chicken. Hall learned the craft under his grandfather, Herman Henderson, who founded Henderson’s Chicken Shack in South Dallas in 1948.

Over 70 years of juicy fried bird experience later, Hall is still at it.

Hall owns Hall’s Honey Fried Chicken, which has locations on Camp Wisdom Road in the shadows of Southwest Center Mall (forever Red Bird in our hearts) and another in the Medical District (1407 Medical District Drive), run by his daughter Mackenzie.

The original Henderson’s honey fried chicken recipe, inherited by Hall some 20 years ago, is the foundation upon which Hall’s Honey Fried Chicken is built. Hall has put his personal touch on the recipe since — a touch acquired only through decades of experience.

We visited the Camp Wisdom location to try for ourselves.
The Hall’s on Camp Wisdom is a bright red-and-white brick, pick-up-only storefront (you can dine in at the Medical District location). Chicken orders range from a two-piece to 10-piece family basket, with tenders, Cajun-sauced fried wings and “crispettes” (battered and fried flats and drums) in between. There’s also a hot link basket with a trio of hot links drizzled in bbq sauce. All except the crispettes and Cajun wings come with fries, whole jalapeño peppers, pickles and slices of white bread.

The Medical District location has chicken and waffles, which we’ll no doubt have to try next time we’re in the neighborhood.
We decided on a four-piece mixed basket and a basket of fried wings. With a bag full of piping hot chicken and the aroma wafting through the car’s interior, our patience getting home was tested. We briefly (but strongly) considered pulling over into the parking lot of a CVS and eating right there.

Home, finally, we made quick work of several pieces approximately 2.3 seconds after walking through the door. Bones picked clean and all.

This chicken was crispy. Juicy. Pulled from the fryer with optimal precision.

Nothing is worse than an overcooked (or undercooked, for that matter) chicken, and here, Hall’s achieves the perfect medium.

Before going to Hall’s, we read a few pages of Yelp reviews. One of the chief complaints among the negative customer reviews was the seasoning. Or lack thereof.

We’d be lying if we told you this didn’t give us pause before making the trip. And it’s true. The birds at Hall’s are minimally seasoned. But that’s by design. Hall wants the chicken to speak for itself.

In our experience, it did.

Hall’s Honey Fried Chicken, 4105 W. Camp Wisdom Rd. Monday – Thursday, 11 a.m. – 11 p.m.; Friday – Saturday, 11 a.m. – midnight; Sunday, noon – 8 p.m.