The Coop Chicken & Waffles Review – From Food Truck to Restaurant

Published by Jeremy. Last Updated on July 5, 2023.

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Coop Chicken & Waffles seemingly closed in 2023. The food truck seems to be still operating at this time.

In recent years it seems like a number of our favorite Pittsburgh food trucks are adding brick and mortar locations into their portfolio so hungry patrons can get their favorites without having to track their location on any given day.

The Coop Chicken & Waffles was one such food truck, and they opened their dedicated storefront on East Ohio Street in the North Side in the summer of 2020. Naturally, as fans of this one we rushed out to get an order on opening weekend and were not disappointed. If you liked the food truck, this one offers everything you remember and then some.

Build-Your-Own Combos at The Coop

The Coop Chicken and Waffles order

The Coop is our kind of fast-casual restaurant. Everything is priced a la carte such that you can put together your own combination of chicken, waffles, and sides for the perfect meal. If you want just chicken, you can do that. If you want only a waffle, you can do that too. You're really not limited here!

On the chicken end, your choices include whole wings, boneless, plus thigh and drumstick in varying quantities, and the waffle side includes choices like plain, cheddar cornbread, as well as several dessert styles as well. Toss on a mix of the restaurant's savory and sweet sauces, and you have a near-endless amount of flavor combinations to choose from.

Drumsticks and Thighs from The Coop

For our first visit, we opted for an order of three pieces of thighs and drumsticks (two drumsticks, one thigh) as well as a plain and cheddar cornbread waffle (saved the dessert ones for a return visit). The first thing you'll likely notice with the waffles is that they are on the light and fluffy side as opposed to being crispy, and offered a really nice texture overall. We instantly fell in love with the cheesy cornbread waffle as it had all the texture of a great waffle, but flavors of delicious cornbread.

The chicken here is all about the crust. It has a solid bite, is a bit crumbly, and is perfectly seasoned. Like most fried chicken, it wouldn't be the best leftover so we naturally had to devour all of ours right away and had zero regrets. Three pieces and one waffle (plus sides) was more than enough for a lunch for the two of us.

The Coop's fried pickles

For sides, we picked up an order of mac and cheese and fried pickles. The mac and cheese was loaded up rather solidly with cheese (making for some fairly creamy bites), but the star was the fried pickles. These beauties were crispy, tangy, and are the kind of side we will order every single visit.

Meal laid out from The Coop restaurant

But perhaps one of the best things about this restaurant is the price. When The Coop Chicken & Waffles opened in 2020 we walked away with the meal described above for just over $20 plus tip, and I had to do a double-take at my receipt after paying as for a moment I thought an item was missing. Compare that to our more regular shock of seeing bills that are on the high side and this was most certainly a refreshing scenario.

We look forward to returning to this one for more very, very soon!

The Coop Chicken and Waffles was located at 401 E Ohio Street in the North Side and closed in 2023.  

For more restaurants in the North Side, check out our neighborhood guide at the previous link!

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