Nick J.
Yelp
Once someone has decided they like Honeybird, it's going to be really hard to get them to hear its faults. And it sort of seems that's by design. The space is remarkable, a one-time service station now thoroughly transformed into a somewhat minimalist southern kitchen. It's meant to surprise and delight diners, and it works. Everyone who walked inside on the night we visited seemed to pause at the door and look around as if to say "this was a gas station?" Such an audacious space would be the perfect place to hide mediocre food. Honeybird's food is not mediocre, exactly, and some of it is actually good.
On our visit we had chicken tenders in two different sauces--Nashville Hot and Cholula Honey--and a few different sides. We also ordered some fried oysters (even though it's not the season, and we felt like it was tempting fate.) We also had the creamed corn, the collards, and the corn bread. All the sides save the corn bread were pretty good. The collards were flavorful and well cooked. The creamed corn was also really tasty, even though it seemed like more of a take on the original. Other members of our party passed us hushpuppies (average, could have been crunchier on the exterior), potato salad (maybe one of the best bites of the night, wildly delicious) and an onion ring (very underwhelming.)
The corn bread was cake. "Real" corn bread doesn't have sugar in it, and isn't made with fine ground cornmeal. This had the texture of a Twinkie and was very sweet. Again I understand some of this is a take, not meant to be the genuine article. I also don't want to gate keep southern food. But this was basically dessert, and could not have done the job corn bread is meant for--which is to sop up sauces and pot liquor.
About those oysters. Even though they had been fried they were served on the half shell. We tried to figure out if this was meant to be whimsical, like some sort of amuse bouche? In any case, the oysters were incredibly small and did not have a lot of flavor on their own and were dominated by an aggressively seasoned breading. And while I've said in other reviews that if you're complaining about food prices at sit-down dining you're missing the point, these five (not six, not four) tiny oysters were $14.
The chicken--remember, this place's namesake--is overwhelmingly average. On our tenders, the breading pulled away on the very first bite in a tenderloin-shaped shell of fried batter. I'd also be hard pressed to tell the difference between the two sauces we ordered, and the Nashville Hot barely registered any heat for me. The meat itself was ok, but nothing to write home about. The let down is in the overwhelming, thick breading. It's just not like any southern fried chicken I've ever had. I guess it "reads" as more authentic here in New England so that's why they do it.
The bar is maybe the highlight of this place. Our bartender was incredibly friendly and conversational, and kept things rolling along smoothly all evening. She made us several very tasty drinks in very high-end, hip barware. Generally, service is where the place shines. From the front door to the check, everyone here obviously understands front of house. Of all the staff we encountered, it was no one's first day on the job. When all was said and done the chicken was meh, the sides were good if a little uninspired, and the bar and service were excellent.
There really is no "southern food." I get what people mean when they say it, but southern food is not a bloc. It isn't all fried in thick breading, and it varies wildly from state to state. Chicken fried like it is at Honeybird is a construct, a simulacrum of the fried chicken folks make at home--skin on, tossed in white flour, salt, and pepper. It has more in common with the Colonel than the Kopper Kettle.
If you have nothing to compare it to you will probably love it here. I don't fault these folks for trying. They seem to have a lot of respect for food in general, and the menu here is focused and tight. The prep was good and presentation was great. They also seem to try and get local stuff whenever possible, and their ingredients are very high quality. It's also really great to see East Providence trying to give itself some nicer, more upscale places to have dinner, even if it's just the same guy doing it each time. (I mean, this dude is carrying the entire EP fine-ish dining scene on his back.) Ultimately I'd go back and sit at the bar and have a snack, but won't be in any great hurry to come back for dinner.
