Mr. Wonderfuls Chicken & Waffles

Mr. Wonder? Full! I’ve had several people give rave reviews about this place so I decided to give it a try one day while in the area.
— Location: (Poor)
Your GPS will ask for directions to find the joint. This place is in strip mall, around the corner from a flea market, in the back of a used car lot, LOL! Just kidding but it is hard to find.
— Restaurant: (Ok)
Nothing fancy, just your average down south (in the hood) spot. Said in a positive way because some of the best places come straight out the hood.
— Service: (Good)
Nice & friendly although not well knowledgeable with menu items.
— Food: (Good)
I had Wings, Mac&Cheese, Garlic Cheddar Mashed Potatoes, and Collards. Mac&Cheese tasted gritty so I send them back, Garlic Cheddar Mashed Potatoes were okay but I’m not sure if they were thinned out OR straight out the box. Now the Collards and Wings stole the show. Both were seasoned to perfection, just like Grandma used to make.
Overall, I would say my experience which started with a lot of WONDER ended with a FULL belly. And because of their vast soul food menu items, I’ll be back to check out more!

I am giving Mr. Wonderfuls one star because I tried calling them multiple times to ask a question and no one picked up all 7 times I called. In my opinion in order to be wonderful I feel customer service should be number one priority! Not answering a phone is no wonderful…

Well, the name of the restaurant says it all. This place is WONDERFUL! It is a diamond in the rough-​but PLEASE go inside and eat the food! If you are not in the mood for a wonderfully sweet waitress to take care of you, then get your order to-​go and go home, change into your sweat pants, sit on your couch and indulge in this epitome of comfort food. (You will also be ready for the nap that will ensue).
I ordered the chicken tenders and waffle with a side of Mac-​n-​cheese. (I ate veggies for lunch, don’t judge…)
The waffle was light and fluffy, the perfect cushion to help absorb the sweet and savory sauces that you could top your chicken with.
Our waitress brought out all 3 of the Sweet Jesus sauces for us to try. Each one was distinct but delicious.
I am full but already looking forward to my next visit and trying a different menu item!
Ps-​as we were leaving, we were informed that on Sundays they have an all you can eat buffet with all their main menu items and sides for $ 13.99 (from 12 – 5).
Check it out!

This place is amazing, this is real soul food … We ate a little bit of everything, soooooooooooooo good. The staff is by far the friendliest ever they make this place great … Every time I’m in town I’ll be sure to come here … Boom

This place is… interesting. I was in the area and decided to give this place a try because I was in the mood for «soul food». This is a no-​frills fried chicken restaurant with a steam table at the front counter where you can order takeout and a cooler with canned sodas. However, if you’re dining in you have to sit down and wait for the steam table person (aka the server) to bring the food across the room to you.
Menu includes fried chicken, waffles, and various Southern sides like cabbage, mac and cheese, rice & gravy, collards, etc. I ordered a Chicken & Waffle meal which was reasonably priced around $ 12 and included a side. My daughter ordered a kids meal. I also added two extra sides so I could try some of their other offerings. The server was friendly although he didn’t know what they offered to drink. He said «I think we have Fuego red and orange» which turned out to be Faygo canned soda.
So here’s the deal on the food:
Waffle-​SOGGY, greasy from the fried chicken draining on top. The powdered sugar on top of the waffle combined with the grease from the greasy chicken created a strange goo on the food. Yuck
Cabbage-​good
Macaroni and cheese-​ok but nothing extraordinary, kinda greasy
Sweet potatoes– my daughter loves sweet potatoes but wouldn’t eat these, me eith
It’s called «Chicken and Waffles» so they should at least have good waffles :-(

Truly soul food with a little bit of a wait. We’ll I guess the chicken was fried to order so I won’t complain. The fried chicken gets 5 stars.

First visit, food was amazing and affordable. You get your money’s worth! I ordered the sweet potato waffle with wings and it comes with two sides. The greens and Mac n cheese is home cooked made from scratch. The wings were nice whole wings cooked to perfection. I will definitely be going back. I had a groupon but the prices are affordable and I had leftovers.

Omg the chicken here is amazing you can taste the honey. The fries are awesome. My daughter loved it. They need more space though. Felt a bit crowded.

Chicken and waffle joints are admittedly a bit of an acquired taste, but after you develop a palate for the killer savory and sweet combo that is a nice fluffy Belgian with some homemade chicken? Accept no substitute. Unfortunately, my home of Chicago has exactly one decent C&W joint (
), and it is a bit of a hike from my home in the burbs, so upon traveling down South on buiz where (surprise, surprise) Southern cooking takes on God-​like proportions, I was excited to check out some local flavor. My trusty Unilocal app and my nose lead me to Mr Wonderful, and as per usual, it did not fail me. The place is a little hard to find by GPS, as it is contained within a huge strip mall, so I had to drive around in circles for a bit to find it when my iPhone went haywire.
While this place naturally highlights their signature dish, their menu is vast, covering most facets of traditional Southern cooking like chicken, fish, ribs, po’boys, 4-​ways, etc. Even people that are not into soul food or southern cooking can likely find something to get into here.
I started with fried green tomato appetizer, which is a traditional southern fav. I have not had it in quite awhile and I had forgotten how awesome it is! Use a light ranch dressing mixed with some hot sauce and you have yourself the ultimate in appetizer bliss. Warning, they come out scalding hot right from the fryer, so let them cool a bit before digging in.
Chicken and waffle combos offered here are all over the map, with a variety of waffles types and to choose from, and naturally different types of chicken. Since I had not had C&W in awhile, I decided to keep things simple with a regular Belgian with powdered sugar (though some of their signature waffles like «bacon stuffed» and «sweet potato» sounded awesome). I also admittedly wimped out and went for boneless wings, often considered a hell worthy trespass in some parts of the South. In my defense, I was in a business suit and had meetings to go to afterwards, and tearing through a C&W plate with buffalo wings is a tad messy to put it mildly. Trust me, if I was in sweat pants and a t-​shirt, I would of needed a bib.
My waffle came out extra thick style with pads of butter melting over the top and dusted with powered sugar with my wings. After a little fresh maple syrup over the top, I dug in ravenously. You get 2 sides with combos, and I went with the greens and Mac and Cheese. Both were well prepared and served piping hot. Greens are not to every taste, especially among us Northern white folk, but if you are a fan, I can report that this place does it right. Twas all quite delicious! I am actually quite glad I do not live down here as the food is so awesome I would probably weigh about 800 pounds, but all things in moderation, right?
Like most all other places of it’s type in the South, the staff is super friendly, and genuinely concerned that you enjoy your food. The owner was also in the building who I got to chat with briefly. Really nice dude that has a passion for food that has been in his family for generations.
Chances of me coming back here on my next trip into Raleigh are 100%.

absolutely horrible!
This is the complete opposite of home cooked soul food
Glory canned greens, orange colored mac & cheese. We were totally disappointed

This was my fiirst visit to MWCW. The service was outstanding! This was my first time having fried green tomatoes. They were good. I’m going to have to try them again.
My friend had the shrimp and grits. He put some of the billionaire sauce on it and loved it.
I had the tenders and waffles and collards. I would have been good without the side of collards. That was a LOT of food. My compliments to the chef. The Billionaire sauce could be bottled and sold.
A future repeat customer.

Mr. Wonderful’s definitely lives up to its name! The service was excellent, and the food was incredible. The fried turkey chops are AMAZEBALLS!!! We live 2 hours away and might have to make a day trip just to come back to Mr. Wonderful’s!

Worst service I have ever experienced. Couldn’t hear a word the waitress said and she did not know the menu. When an entrée came to my table wrong, I asked about it and she says «I don’t know, I just put it in the computer and it comes out that way.» Really??? Food wasn’t bad, but it came to the table one piece at a time. The first plate of chicken & waffles sat on the counter for a good 10 minutes before making it to my table. Needless to say, it was cold and a steak knife was necessary to cut through the rock hard waffle. The chicken tenders, fried pickles and fried green tomatoes were over fried, looked one minute away from being burnt. I would not recommend or be returning.

Reviewing Mr. Wonderfuls (I will follow their style and leave out the possessive apostrophe) Chicken & Waffles after just one visit is unfair. We went on a Sunday. We’ve been only once. We got there by accident, absolutely starved and in that state waffles and fried chicken together seemed like a good idea, which it was. But as a former resident of Harlem, and someone who feels sometimes that the Triangle is being taken over by northerners (like me), most of whom insist on their own ideas of what food should look like (healthy), we were glad to find a real soul food joint with bona fides.
The initial approach was tricky. The place is stuck in an unwelcoming, aesthetically off-​putting mall. On a Sunday afternoon, a garbage can outside was overflowing with garbage that no one had considered bagging and taking away. Inside, the aesthetic is pure, church basement cafeteria. As in many true soul food joints, you have a choice of a la carte or steam trays, the latter set upon folding tables covered in the ubiquitous red, plastic table «cloths» that one finds at the post-​service coffee gathering at many a Baptist church. This is an African American place, patronized by, owned by, staffed by and decorated with the African American southern aesthetic. The vast room is red. Just red. The tables and chairs cheap. The front counter exposing the kitchen is nearly the width of the place, and the place is wide. You have a feeling of being in an airport concourse that’s been taken over by soul food fanatics.
And yet there’s a peace there, a quiet that speaks to how seriously people take their soul food. Our waitress, China, was so eager to please that she sat right down at the table, gazing into our eyes sincerely while we ordered. When I asked what sides came with my waffles and fried chicken, she looked shy for a minute and then said «Well, that depends how you feel about soul food.» No lie. But one woman can only eat so much, so I just stuck with mac and cheese, 3 pieces of chicken and a waffle.
The waffle is Belgian style and huge. As has been mentioned elsewhere in this space, it’s flavored heavily (and pleasantly) with nutmeg and is made from whole wheat flour, so it has good body and taste. It fills the plate and is sprinkled with powdered sugar and is, in fact, the base upon which our chicken, fresh from the fryer and piping hot, arrived. Holy moly! Now I’ve reviewed Jay’s Chicken here — and it’s mighty, mighty good. THIS chicken, however, was somewhat otherwordly: juicy, with a light, crispy batter and tasting only of good old salt and pepper with maybe a dash of cayenne. My dining partner and I looked at each other and said simultaneously «Candidate», meaning candidate for best fried chicken in the Triangle. The secret? China admitted there was a secret recipe about which she was forbidden to speak but she did allow this: Dipped in butter before frying. Sweet Jesus, as the sign remarks.
The mac and cheese was baked, cheesy and yummy. I could feel the arteries plugging up, however, so we asked for a take-​out box and left with at least half of our meal which kept well and made for a nice lunch the next day. We did not try the Sweet Jesus Glaze. Not that day.
We’ll go back to Mr. Wonderfuls one day, though it’s definitely not a diet that, because I want to live a long life, I can sustain regularly. We said goodbye to China, waved at the waitress who looks like Whitney Houston in a pink wig, gave one last glance to the walls full of amateur art representing luminaries from the African American community (James Brown and MLK share a wall). Then we burped and went on our way. Yes, it takes a certain ability to handle the more than casual, almost unprofessional lack of care given to cleaning and ambience at Mr. Wonderfuls… but, Sweet Jesus! with chicken like that, who’s complaining?
Wish I could give them 3.5 stars, but Unilocal doesn’t allow half stars yet. No four stars for Mr. Wonderful until they figure out how to clean the place up a bit and enhance the curb appeal.

My wife and I started comming here since 2013 and loved the place. What kept us comming back was the atmosphere. A gent that embodied a Mr. Wonderful, wearing a bow tie, greeted us at the door. He may have well been the son of the Oracle in The Matrix with his calm demeanor. It was a «make yourself at home» type of deal. A seat yourself, we will come and help you, type of deal.
Why the 3 stars? It use to be 5. The sides are good. Mac and Cheese could use some «real cheese» today. It wasn’t like it use to be. Nice and thick creamy melted cheese. Now the waffle — this slug of a waffle oozed onto my plate. I tried to cut through it like it was a piece of rubber. I ended up picking it by its side and flopped it over trying to find a cooked section. Something changed recently. The cook? The recipe? Let me have another try. I asked the waitress about it and she saw how soggy it was and brought another one out. It was the same as the last. Too much flour and cinnamon? Not sure. The owner came by and asked how everything was. I told him about it and he said, «…were going to make this waffle right.»
Well then, go for it! I love to give people a chance. A few minutes later and it came back a little better this time. But it was still a bit off. Must be the mix.
Anyhow, no bow ties or happy people this time. Could it be they changed owners?
It’s unfortunate. I hate writing bad reviews. But this last experience wasn’t what it use to be. We won’t be comming back. It’s kind of sad, really. At least they tried to make the waffle right.
Best of luck!

Wonderful Waffles, Wonderful Staff, Wonderful Menu and Wonderful Atmosphere. Unfortunately the Chicken was not as Wonderful; a bit overcooked! So FOUR STARS for this WONDERFUL PLACE!

The food was excellent and they took good care of us and the other patrons.
The chicken was lightly breaded and crispy, just they way it should be. And oops, I ‘accidentally’ got some maple syrup on it.
The waffles are made with nutmeg and have a great flavor.
Good stuff!

This place is on fire. Exquisitely crafted soul food prepared like you want to at home but better and without the mess. Ribs at the buffet are coated with a delicious tangy sweet red sauce could that be the sweet Jesus Glaze? It deserves the name if it is. Everything that is fried has a great tasting batter and the sides are delicious. Potato salad is kind of a deviled egg base and is smooth and happy. My first pass through brunch made me want to dance. I can’t say enough good things. These people are doing it right.

I visited this location after a Groupon/​Living Social deal. The staff here is very nice, and want to make sure that you are completely satisfied. They are going for that Southern hospitality feel. I was pleasantly shocked with the flavor of the waffles. I liked how they added a Cinnamon spice to them. It makes them not so bland and they stand out with flavor. They are a must visit at least once.

Based on Unilocal reviews I decided to check out this new local business at lunchtime.
As another reviewer mentioned, it is a little confusing when you enter if you are to be seated or go to the counter. The server behind the counter did see I was a little unsure and asked if I was eating in or takeout. Once I mentioned I was dining there she said I could be seated and she would take my order.
Since the name of the place is «chicken and waffles» I decided to try one of those choices and went with the chicken tenders and waffle with a side of macaroni and cheese.
I was very impressed with the chicken tenders. All four tenders were meaty, juicy and had a nice crisp coating. Not as impressed with the waffle which was served warm at best. Was also not impressed with the sweet tea, which had to have been made from a concentrate and not brewed — a very bad thing to serve to Southerners. Mac & cheese was good with a nice topping of melted cheese.
The restaurant has brightly colored walls with two TVs set on sports, photos and artwork for sale, and urban music playing.
Menu has a large variety of food options, including burgers (including one named You Big Dummy!) dinner entrees and many sides.
Thought the meal was a bit pricey.