The Red Hen Review

The Red Hen
1303 Kings Hwy
Swedesboro, NJ 08085

My husband was the one to mention this place to me.  After finding out that this place is 9 minutes from us, reading their overall great reviews and seeing photos of their insane looking milkshakes on their Facebook page like this one, we had to check it out.  I have a thing for good customer service- i'm a stickler for employees who actually care about their customers and whom are also very helpful as well as professional.  This is probably because I worked in the customer service industry for over 17 years. As soon as my family and I walked in, we were greeted by not one 'hello' and a smile, but two!  I immediately was a fan of the place.  Our server was the same, though I do not recall her name unfortunately.  From the moment we sat down until the moment we left, nothing but helpful and kind service was provided. With a casual, not too big and not too small atmosphere, serving American -fare food with a twist on  a lot of great classics, such as their REAL Crab Fries- served with cheese sauce, and REAL jumbo lump crab meat on top that still had the flavor of Old Bay spice in them.  DELICIOUS!

I wish I had taken photos of all the food but I was a mixture of tired and hungry and I just wanted to enjoy myself.  I've taken a break from social media for the past three weeks and haven't taken photos of food in a while either, but it's been a refreshing break from it all.  That will change the next time we visit there.

So we devoured most of the REAL crab fries, but it's a huge portion for an appetizer!  We started with a couple of drinks from the bar- my husband ordered a Vodka Mule and I had a glass of white wine.  we had two drinks each and it felt wonderful after a long week on a Friday night! I decided to order their Salmon burger which comes with regular french fries or you can upgrade to sweet potato fries which of course, I went for.  You can add cheese to the burger but it comes with a tarter sauce on top and so I just added tomatoes and onions.  The roll is a soft, kaiser bun.  The burger was a good size and I did not finish it all.  My only complaint is that it's not served with enough sauce on top ( if you're a sauce person like me) so next time I would just ask for extra on the side.  The salmon itself was good but I think it could have used more flavor and the dish should be served with two lemon wedges because, well, it's a fish dish.  That's just my opinion though but it's nice to have available if you like like squeezing lemon your fish like me.  Overall, I give my dish a 7!

My husband ordered their buttermilk fried chicken sandwich.   Now it comes with pickles and ranch dressing which, looooooove all of that and holy yum!  However,  he's picky, so he ordered no ranch and no pickles.  Party pooper.  He had BBQ sauce put on their instead which is still yummy, and lettuce, tomato, onion and cheese.  I forget  what kind of cheese.  It looked huge and totally drool worthy. I may have to try that next time OR we could totally split it.  I think overall, he gave his dish a 7 as well!  Our daughter ordered the kids hot dog ( no bun because I couldn't tell you why, but is she crazy?!)  and french fries.  She devoured her entire hot dog and ate a good amount of fries!  We always tell her she can have a special dessert ( which is typically ice cream) if she eats really well at dinner time.  This place gets another gold star in my book because they actually had mint chip ice cream which is he favorite!  They also have vanilla, chocolate, strawberry, and probably even more flavors since they make intense milkshakes with all the crazy toppings! She asked for whipped cream and rainbow sprinkles , too.

When the waitress brought the ice cream out, it all looked homemade/fresh to me. That's never not a good thing. Maybe not the ice cream,but the whipped cream for sure!  The reason I know this?  My daughter loves whipped cream but she' used to Reddi Whip in the can- I mean, that stuff is amazing too!  She took one bite and instantly had disdain across he face.  It gets better, she is used to classic rainbow"jimmies", long rods.  These rainbow sprinkles were the pearls or round ones.  She wasn't a fan of those either.  So I thought she wouldn't like the ice cream , too.  She ate most of that which was a relief. ha!  Still, I know her favorite brand is Turkey Hill Mint Chip.  Turkey Hill is THE BEST ice cream in my opinion.  My husband would disagree.


Anyway, I'd say overall our experience at The Red Hen was a great one and we WILL be back soon!  My husband and I decided next time we go, we'll split the chicken and waffles appetizer ( yes, appetizer- which I hear is huge)!  and then split a crazy milkshake for fun.  Eek!  I see tummy troubles in my future but on the same token, YOLO.