The first Bay Area outpost of celebrity chef Guy Fieri’s Chicken Guy! restaurants will open Thursday, Dec. 12, in American Canyon in Napa County.
The 2,800-square-foot, 43-seat fast-casual restaurant is part of an exclusive 10-restaurant deal with Santa Rosa-based Chandi Hospitality Group to open the popular chicken tender restaurants across the San Francisco Bay Area and in Sacramento.
“We are immensely proud to open our first Chicken Guy! location, marking the beginning of our 10-unit partnership with this exciting, growing brand,” said Sonu Chandi, owner of Chandi Hospitality Group. “Chicken Guy! offers a flavor-packed dining experience that we know will resonate with Napa County locals and visitors alike, and we are confident it will quickly become a community staple as we expand the brand throughout Northern California.”
The chicken-centric menu — created by founders Fieri and Robert Earl, the CEO of Planet Hollywood — centers around battered and brined fried chicken tenders that are pressure-cooked and served with a selection of 10 sauces, including Fieri’s famous Donkey Sauce as well as bourbon brown sugar barbecue, buttermilk ranch, garlic Parmesan and Nashville hot honey sauce.
Sandwiches will include the Bourbon Brown Sugar BBQ with grilled or fried chicken tenders, pepper jack cheese, special sauce, slaw, pickles and barbecue kettle chips all stuffed under a bun; the Buffalo Mac ‘N’ Cheese with tenders, smoked bacon, buffalo mac and cheese and garlic Parmesan sauce; and the Pepperoni Chicken Parm.
The restaurant also features hand-spun shakes, loaded fries, pickle chips and fried chicken dumplings with smoked bacon drizzled with Donkey Sauce.
Chandi Hospitality Group currently owns seven Mountain Mike’s Pizza restaurants and oversees an additional 12 locations throughout Northern California. The group also owns Beer Baron Bar & Kitchen in downtown Santa Rosa, where it previously operated several additional restaurants, including Bollywood Bar & Clay Oven, which closed in 2020.
The first Chicken Guy! opened in 2018 at Walt Disney World Resort in Orlando, Florida. The chain now has additional locations in Florida, as well as in New York City, Atlantic City and at Caesar’s Palace in Las Vegas. There is also a Chicken Guy! at Levi’s Stadium in Santa Clara, but that location is not considered a full restaurant since it has a limited menu and no kitchen.
The new Chicken Guy! restaurant at 200 American Canyon Road will be open 11 a.m. to 10 p.m. Sunday through Thursday and 11 a.m. to 11 p.m. Friday and Saturday. chickenguy.com
Stay tuned for more details on additional Chicken Guy! locations in the Bay Area.
You can reach Dining Editor Heather Irwin at heather.irwin@pressdemocrat.com. Follow Heather on Instagram @biteclubeats.