Brining Chicken to Dizzying Heights at a Mall?

 Dizzy Bird

555 The Shops at Mission Viejo

Mission Viejo, CA 92691

This is a first. In my 14 years of writing about restaurants, I am trying to remember writing about a restaurant in a mall food court. In the early days of this blog, I might have written a review about Hot Dog on a Stick, Mrs. Field's, or Cinnabon, but I didn't. Now, there's not one of those places within 15 miles of where I live, and there is no longer any Hot Dog on a Stick in OC. It's not surprising because malls are being bulldozed at an alarming rate. 

I thought my days of mall food were over, except for the occasional visit to redeem a gift certificate at either Island's or the Cheesecake Factory that my mom and dad get me every year. What has brought me to the mall food court? I've seen the glowing reviews for Dizzy Bird, a Mediterranean-inspired chicken rotisserie that opened at the Shops at Mission Viejo almost a year ago. They possess a very impressive 4.8 rating on Yelp and have had some prominent social media influencers visit to try their food.

That was enough to get me moving and plan out the seven-minute drive from my house to give them a try. They are located in between Island's and Blaze Pizza. Park near Dick's Sporting Goods for the closest parking to Dizzy Bird. Predictably, ordering is done at the counter, and they call out your name when your order is ready. I visited here two times, and each time, they seemed to be one of the busier tenants at the food court, with their only competition for the title of most foot traffic at the food court being Paradise Bakery. People really love those cookies. 

It's no surprise that chicken dominates the menu at Dizzy Bird. If you are not a fan of poultry, it would be best for you to move along to another stall nearby. They feature chicken in various forms: a wrap, bowl, salad, plate, or, for larger groups, even a platter. Six sides and nine house-made sauces close out the menu. Plates go anywhere from $14 to $18, while wraps will set you back $12. Let's see how our two trips here went. 

Katie was getting a wrap, which I'd typically get, but I selected the Half Chicken Plate ($18.99) for the sake of diversity.  This comes with a leg, breast, thigh, wing, two sides, pita bread, and garlic sauce. It was a good sized plate of food, but I'm professional, so I finished the whole thing. Truth be told, I'm not the world's biggest fan of chicken because, most of the time, it's as dry as the Sahara Desert. This was one of the juiciest versions I have ever had. Even the breast was juicy, which is very rare. The skin had a crispy texture and was very flavorful. For my two sides, I got lemon garlic potatoes and Mediterranean rice. The rice was bland, but the potatoes were bursting with goodness. A tinge of lemon hung out in the background of each bite while the garlic was front and center. Very tender potatoes also. The pita bread was good, and the garlic sauce was very strong, just as I like it. It might be one of the better garlic sauces we've had in OC. I'd get more next time to help wake up the rice. 

On our first visit to Dizzy Bird, Katie got the Silly Bird ($11.99), one of four wraps available. I also got this one on my second visit several months later. This one contains rotisserie chicken, potatoes, pickled cucumber, garlic sauce, and Dizzy Bird sauce for dipping. As you can see from the pictures above, Katie's wrap was left on the grill a little bit too long, but she enjoyed it. The wrap was filling and satisfied my hunger. The chicken and tender potatoes worked well together. I'd ask for extra garlic sauce the next time I get this, as it was less noticeable than I would have liked. The dizzy bird sauce had a nice tanginess to it, and I found myself using it more and more while I was eating my wraps. 

I also tried the Hot Bird Wrap ($11.99). For this one, they tossed their chicken in a hot sauce mixture and added garlic sauce and pickled jalapenos to the wrap. This woke up my taste buds, but not in an overly violent way. The heat was a slow burn but never really got too intense. I used the provided dizzy bird sauce liberally, which helped mitigate the heat index of my wrap. My wraps were both excellent, but I'd opt for the hot bird the next time I visited. 

Dizzy Bird is a step in the right direction for the food court at the Shops at Mission Viejo. It is an independent concept that offers good-quality food to the six people who still visit malls instead of buying things online. Dizzy Bird is an excellent alternative to this venue's fellow chain tenants: Chipotle, Charley's Cheesesteaks, Panda Express, Smash Burger, and others. This is not my favorite lineup of places to grab a bite. Besides Dizzy Bird, there might be another reason to visit the food court soon, as Shaya Grill will soon open in the old Rubio's spot. They are a lamb restaurant, which might be a tough sell because lamb is not on many people's radar, but I'm a fan. So, there may be another mall review soon. 

Out of five trumpets (in honor of jazz great Dizzy Gillespie, who famously played the trumpet), five being best to zero being worst, Dizzy Bird gets 3 trumpets.  

For more information about Dizzy Bird, head to their website by clicking here: https://www.dizzybird.com/