Robb W.
Yelp
What an amazing surprise to see Half Bird in Henderson! Located in the Target center where Green Valley meets Sunridge Heights (ok, well...technically, Carnegie), their original celebrated Chinatown location has been open for a while now, but this is their first expansion. Living in Anthem, I couldn't be happier to find they're now only a few minutes away from home.
Previously, my go-to for tender moist chicken in the area has been Houstons Hot Chicken. However, in my opinion, Half Bird does Houstons one better with a gallery of different menu options, different sauces, and a varied selection of sides, all of which are impressive.
My family tried and shared a number of different items...
We ordered the regular fried chicken sandwich (they also have a "hot" option), got a basket of 20 chicken nuggets (you get two sauces so we got Sweet Miso BBQ, Yuzu Hot Honey and added a third optional sauce of Sriracha Mayo - there were still roughly four other choices as well!) and ordered sides such as their Japanese Milk Bread rolls, and Mac and Cheese with Spam and Furikake.
When you get a combo, you also get a side of their smashed rotisserie potatoes, which are kind of like large chunks of potato that are fried so you get a crispy crust, but are creamy and mashed consistency inside. Then, they "poutine" it up with a tasty gravy, scallions and sesame seeds. Wow was that good!
While we're on the sides, you're going to start thinking I've been paid by the business (I wish haha!) but that Mac N Cheese side - it's a MUST have! SO good. The sauce is creamy and on point, but they use these thick chewy radiator shaped large pasta shapes that soak up the sauce and are delicious! You can ask for no spam (my daughter was a bit scared of it) but it was a delicious add to the Mac. Small chunks mixed in, nothing crazy but it added flavor and the seaweed seasoning (furikake) just brought it all home with some color and flavor. Delicious!
As for the rolls, if you haven't had Japanese milk bread, you'll dig it. Imagine super light fluffy rolls. Super good.
Finally, as to the main course, we loved that the chicken sando used Japanese Kewpie mayo which was a nice touch but while we enjoyed the sandwich, the nuggets were the standout to us.
These are big boys- you will not be disappointed at the size of these nuggets. If you order 20, you are going to want to split these unless you have a HUGE appetite. Nice crispiness and seasoning on them - they really didn't need a sauce but SO juicy and tender. We were blown away. We ended up bringing them home and I'd offer that they may have been even better cold.
They also have other menu items and I'd be remiss if I didn't call out that they highlight their rotisserie chicken but we haven't tried that yet so I'll leave that to other reviews. I did see someone else with it and it looked great so no reason to think it wasn't spectacular given our experience with what we had.
One last shout out to the management- not sure if it was the owner or manager but we were visited while we were eating to see if everything was good and the gentleman was just so thoughful and kind. I just wish the best for these guys. It's rare to have such a great experience during the first week of a new opening but if they're THIS good now, I can't imagine how they can be any better. Just a 5 star experience. Try it and enjoy!!
Thanks Half Bird and welcome to Henderson!!