The Licking Chicago

Recently, a friend had sent a text to me with a listing of restaurants to try in the Austin neighborhood of Chicago. The Licking was one of the restaurants on the list. I had no idea that DJ Khalid had opened a spot on the Chicago landscape, as The Licking is one of his restaurants. Not bad and a nice addition to Austin since it's not the usual fish hut, rib joint, or chicken shack.I arrived early enough to have the restaurant to myself. For an appetizer, I ordered the chicken roll that came with a sweet chili sauce. High marks. They didn't try to go gourmet or spectacular, just sent rolls to the table that tasted delicious. For my main meal, I ordered fried red snapper with collards and sweet potatoes. I appreciate the red snapper being meaty and having only a light crust. I used some more of the sweet chili sauce or dipping, which was a good option. The greens were flavorful and without any salt meat, ham hock, or smoked turkey. Often restaurants serve bland greens if they don't use hock or turkey. That was not the case here. The sweet potatoes were a nice add-on that they didn't mess up. Having eaten too much, I had a slice of caramel cake for takeaway. It was from someone who baked the desserts of premises. I can't ding the restaurant for the cake needing to be warmed up to moisten it, but I will pass on it next time around.The woman working the front of the house was cool. Made good recommendations and also spoke at length about some other good restaurants in the Austin area. Like many restaurants I've gone to lately, I will have to go back later to try a few other items on the menu.

I came to the licking to try something new, the location isnt somewhere I expected but the waiters and waitresses were nice. I tried the chicken wings and waffles, the chicken had a weird taste and the waffles were good. Later on when I got home I threw up and had a headache.

The food is bomb, but service is not so great. Only one person working so can't blame her for the slowness. Definitely need more employees

I don't know if this can really be considered seafood rice. There was 1 overcooked crab claw on top of the rice and 3 shrimp in the rice. The rice itself is tasty, but it's definitely lacking on the seafood.

Our server was very nice and overall the food is pretty good. Not sure how it is usually, but it took quite a while for our orders to be taken. There was only one server. Luckily my friends and I weren't on a time frame, if we were, our entire day would have been thrown off. It took a long time to get the check as well. The music and TVs were incredibly loud, but when we asked the staff If they'd turn them down they were really sweet and accommodating. All of the sides were delicious. I ordered the chicken wing dinner with plain chicken wings and they were good but really salty. Overall, food was really good. Service was almost perfect. Just took way too long for us to be helped and I think that affected the experience a bit.

Horrible horrible horrible! I hate I have to give it any stars! The TOP WORSE customer service! The only time we see the server is when she's bringing the food out. It's as if she's in the back avoiding taking care of the customers. The server kept asking us to repeat ourselves due to "her having a lot to do" The food is very mediocre and not hot. I would never recommend the licking...

DJ Khalid come and check on your name sake. I know it's not named after you but it's your restaurant. Franchised or not! Why would there be one menu for all locations when all locations DO NOT serve the same food? Please change that! OWNER, please do better. Why have people to continue to ask for stuff you know you don't serve? Ask Khalid if you can adjust the menu to fit your target area. Needless to say, I'm disappointed! Also the vegetable rice should be called rice with diced green peppers. Why? Because that's LITERALLY the only vegetable in the rice. Which for me is terrible because bell peppers and my digestive system aren't cool at all. I picked around it as much as possible. I'm paying for it now though. No one's fault but mine. I was hungry lol Plus side, the rice did have a good flavor. It's 90+ degrees and there's no a/c in the place! Thank God that I was the only person in the dining area because the worker put the fan directly on me. I'm not going to talk about how I got there and had to go around looking for a worker because one person worked the dining area and the fast food side, and she was on the fast food side. The music was blasting and no one could hear me yelling "hello".

Never does it take 20min + to get change back , never got our drinks (they charged us our drinks when she said she was going to take it off never did ) , food was stale (fries) , pasta was like it was sitting around . Ended up going home with a stomachache something was wrong with the pasta .As a server I wouldn't have left a tip from how awful was the service . Cashed us out and never came back . Horrible horrible avoid at all cost and go to the one in Florida !!! Close this location down

I couldn't even try the food!!!!! Was in the area and decided to stop in and check them out. I seen a group of 4 exit without anything and decided to ask why they were leaving. They replied they're out of a lot of stuff and unprofessional. We proceeded into the restaurant and began looking over the menu. Another couple enters the restaurant and we let them know it's our first time so they can go ahead. As I'm looking over the menu and conversing with my wife I can see that the lady is rolling her eyes and head as the customer turns away. I kept it cool and started to order and asked a few clarifying questions about price and actual availability. Then she started with me rolling her eyes and shifting her body before she walks away without saying anything. At this point my wife has left the restaurant. I waited for her to come back just to check her energy and get some clarity cause I'm still hungry. She proceeds to say that my wife raised her voice, well ma'am you stated that you could not hear us so we simply spoke up. Then she says it's just when certain customers raise their voice it irritates me. (My wife is white) and she never raised her voice simply said the question louder so that she could hear us. They have a tv going and music playing. I decided to asked for someone else to assist me and she said that there isn't anyone there but her and the cook. I asked for the owners information no help there either. So if you are the owner of this establishment please get orphan Annie away from the front assisting customers. Excuse any errors I'm mad and hungry!!

So I ordered a chicken fettuccine Alfredo and it's nothing like the original. It's spicy and it taste like Cajun style and they don't tell you that either. On top of that you have to wait really long. It's not good at all. I was expecting fettuccine Alfredo. If it's any different than that, then it shouldn't be named chicken fettuccine Alfredo because this is not how it's made.