Wagner's Village Inn

Let's start with the service. The lady taking my order was the sweetest. The young man that brought me my food was also very friendly and had a nice smile.The ambience is definitely nothing spectacular. The place could use a little sprucing up. I so wanted to like the chicken better than I did. At first taste pepper is what I tasted. I do feel the crust was done to perfection. I will likely give it one more try. But if this pepper taste is the main ingredient on their chicken it will be my last time trying it.My green beans were exceptionally good. The mashed potatoes and gravy. We are just mediocre.

I would definitely recommend this place again! We stopped here, because they have a James Beard award for the fried chicken! I just had to try it, and the pan fried hog fat chicken delivered! Honestly, so crispy, crunchy, seasoned very well! I ordered a whole chicken with sides! I ordered mashed potatoes with gravy, green beans, and coleslaw. The mashed potatoes were average but the gravy was super tasty!The coleslaw was refreshing and added a great cool element! The service was lovely, very helpful and attentive! She told us the story of how they received the James Beard award and it was wonderful to hear! The decor was definitely an ode to the town of Oldenburg. It was a lovely small town! The best part of the meal other than that delicious chicken was the price! It was so affordable which was refreshing! A whole family could eat good food for a reasonable price! You can't get better than that!

Not my favorite place for chicken. Don't prefer it pan fried in lard. Place feels small and cramped. Have not found it a welcoming environment.

Wagner's Village Inn is the recipient of a James Beard award. Wow! Once I heard that, of course I had to visit. How neat is it that a small Indiana restaurant receives such a prestigious food award?The fried chicken at Wagner's is possibly the best fried chicken I've eaten in Indiana. Them Jimmy Beard people know what they're talking about! The chicken is highly seasoned (lots and lots of pepper) and fried in hog fat. If you like crispy chicken skin like I do, you will like this chicken because there are lots of crackly bits to savor.The chicken is piled high on a plate if you get the family-style chicken meal. The family meals are 1/2 of a chicken per person, with mashed potatoes and gravy, green beans and coleslaw. The sides are all-you-can-eat, but for what it's worth, I felt like they gave me a lot with my first serving, so I never asked for a second. The coleslaw comes out first by itself, almost like an appetizer, and then the other sides are served with the chicken. The green beans tasted like they came from a can, so they were not my favorite. Kind of squishy and mealy. I did enjoy the mashed potatoes and gravy, though, and that side dish went really well with the slightly greasy fried chicken.They have a kids' menu, which my children insisted on ordering from. Kids' meals all come with apple sauce, inexplicably. My kids got fried mac-and-cheese bites, and chicken nuggets with wedge fries, and they were both just "meh" about their kids' meals. I really feel like Wagner's shines with one thing: fried chicken. Everything else just can't compare and is just fine.We visited on a weekend, late in the morning before the crowds. There weren't many people in the restaurant, but the service was incredibly slow, considering! I hope they pick up the pace when they are more busy. Wagner's definitely feels like an institution in Oldenburg -- lots of local-looking people pulled up to the booths, and many more walking in as we were exiting.

Restaurant is quaint with a full service bar. They serve your fried chicken meal family style. You get coleslaw to start with crackers. Then they bring out chicken, mashed potatoes, gravy, green beans and rolls. Chicken is floured and fried upon ordering so it takes a little bit to get your food. Chicken was very good. Such good flavor and juicy. Mashed potatoes are homemade with peels in it. They are very good. Gravy is also homemade with bits of chicken in it. Gravy is a bit salty for my liking, but the rest of my family liked it. Green beans are very good. They have a garlic hint to them. We really liked them. All your sides are unlimited so if you leave hungry it's your own fault.

The fried chicken is second to none I am told it's the cast iron skillet but it has to be the love that goes into the chicken. A small, unassuming restaurant in downtown Oldenburg IN - but super clean and friendly. This is a consummate family restaurant that will be serving chicken for years to come - just don't change anything!

We always come with a large party so I'm hoping that's why service is bad. I've been there about 3-4 times total. Each time it's like the servers are new or have 50+ other tables to worry about. Food is subpar and the wait time once seated is horrendous. Mozzarella sticks were fine but the pretzel bites/cheese were cold. Expect to spend 2 hours here or longer. They don't do quick service.

Honestly, hubby and I were not impressed. We appreciated the old time charm and legacy of the restaurant, but I guess with them being an award winner and all, we thought the food would be really good or even amazing. I think our expectations were set too high. My husband ordered the unbreaded chicken thighs. I ordered the Wagner salad, which my served said contained their famous chicken. Hubby said his thighs were good, but the green beans were canned, the slaw unremarkable. My salad was all bagged iceberg with some diced pink "grocery store" tomatoes, unappetizing chunks of strong white onion, a sprinkle of orange cheese, a little bit of bacon, and a half handful of fried chicken skin, cartilage, and breading. I didn't have more than one or two bites of actual chicken meat. The Lance Crackers brought to the table were stale and the small plastic pot of ranch dressing was warm. Looking around the room, we did see some people sharing big platters of fried chicken, but with the same green beans plus mashed potatoes. Couldn't tell if the potatoes were instant or not, but the people seemed to be enjoying the chicken...at least the quantity of it. The restaurant itself was definitely dated and kind of run down. We liked seeing some of the vintage items, but my husband noticed water stains on the ceiling, and general lack of attention and updating. Service Was fine. Our server did as expected and was pleasant.I'm not sure that we would have the desire to dine here again. Maybe we would consider takeout chicken only, but we wouldn't order sides, or any other menu item, other than the fried chicken. We have been to some pretty shabby hole in the wall places with outstanding food, but we just didn't find that here. We feel sad about that. Seems they held on to the fried chicken legacy but let everything else go.

Worst chicken i ever had kfc is better the chicken was so dry i had a hard time swallowing the food the potatoes had no tastexat allService was great very nice servers clean place drove 4 hours to eat there what a waste of time

I will not go here again. We called ahead to make an order and told it would be an hour wait, which was fine. The lady sounded annoyed that we'd wait but then said they might be out of food. Then she said they did have food so it'd be okay. Awesome.When we went in to pick up our order the lady behind the bar was less than helpful (guessing she's the one on the phone as well). We paid $60...got a small thing of cold potatoes, separated gravy that looked gross, and a small tub of green beans that were probably from a can. Chicken was tiny and burned. We had eaten here a few times within the last two years and something has happened to this place. Yikes.