Yafa Deli and Grocery

Fried chicken good especially for the price. They make good tailored sandwiches for about $ 5, but will usually forget an ingredient or two. The Hispanic man who works there is super nice and helpful. My only discomfort is the way the other guys talk to female customers. There’s one guy who’s super nice but always makes me feel uncomfortable when he calls me «baby» among other cringy remarks from other workers there. Were it not for this, it’d be an A-​OK place.

Awesome and cheap fried chicken. Seriously, some of the best fried chicken I have EVER had.

Two words: FRIED CHICKEN.
Close your eyes and think about what perfect, simple fried chicken should be like. Now get your butt down to Yafa because that’s where you’ll find it.
I had never ordered a meal from a bodega in my life before Yafa, and now I am there at least once a week with a kind of manic tunnel vision for chicken + their tiny packets of non-​descript hot sauce (ask for it).
I do not let anything get in my way. Once, there was an unconscious man laying face down at the entrance and the cashier was trying to talk to him, I just stepped right over that man and walked up to the chicken. Once, they only had 1 piece left, so I just squatted there with dull eyes while the cook fried a new batch.
The secret may be out though, prices were just raised by a quarter across the board. Still very much a bargain!
P. S. The man was apparently napping, woke up a minute later to share his thoughts on gummi candies, then exited seemingly fine. I held the door open for him with my left hand while carrying my precious chicken in my right. Precioussss.

It wasn’t the best fried chicken I’ve ever eaten, but seriously, it’s 3 am, and you’re telling me I can walk in here and get a fresh, decent fried chicken breast and drumstick plus a bottle of Teas’ Tea (best bottled iced tea brand out there) for under $ 5?!? I wouldn’t believe it unless I had done it myself. In fact, I did it and I’m still not sure I believe it.

I had a very bad experience at Yafa recently. I have been coming to the deli more than ten years and the workers have been very friendly to me and others. Today one of the workers, who I have never seen before, inadvertently gave my sandwich to another customer. She went to the back of the store opened the sandwich realized it wasn’t hers wrapped it back up and gave it to the worker who made the sandwich. He then tried to give the sandwich back to me. When I told him I didn’t want it because she had opened it he became indignant and told me to leave the store.
The disrespectful treatment of myself and others who patronize this deli is unacceptable. I must again emphasize that this lack of decorum and hygiene is new and not indicative of past experiences there. The owners need to revaluate their personnel decisions.

I heard about the fried chicken at Yafa Deli and I had to try it. I must say it’s pretty good. It reminds me of original recipe KFC but not as salty and a little crunchier. The guys behind the counter are very nice and get you in and out quick. If you’re looking for 10 pieces, you might have to call in advance. I went in at about 1p and they only had about 6 pieces in there. A leg and a thigh cost about $ 2.25. Will definitely come back when I need something fried… but not too often!

On summer afternoons, I play soccer at the Brooklyn Tech field down the street. As I’m sure you can imagine, running around in 95 degree heat with the sun at its peak is an excellent idea for an pathetically out-​of-​shape, depressingly unhealthy «man» who’s just realizing how old he really is.
After particularly brutal games where I’ve gone through both water bottles I brought with me, I stumble into nearby bodegas to get cold, life-​saving bottles of Poland Spring. I recently discovered that Yafa not only carries said bottles, but they also have the crispiest, saltiest, most heart-​stoppingly delicious fried chicken at criminally low prices that actually vary depending on who you talk to.
It’s somewhere between $ 1 and $ 1.50 per piece, and when you’re half dead, two pieces might actually save your life.

Please don’t blow up this spot.
I mean that to people both reading this and intent on destroying fried chicken bastions.

You get what you expect ~ a friendly Brooklyn deli. Well, for the most part, friendly deli.
Yafa is a corner store with cheap food. I’m a huge fan of their $ 2.50 bacon, egg & pepper jack cheese on a roll and the roast beef & provolone for $ 3.50. That’s suuuper cheap to anything you’d find in the city, and cheaper than neighboring Lafayette or Dekalb neighborhoods.
For the most part, service is great — fast & friendly. But occasionally, usually on the weeknights, you’ll be served by this douche bag that I think must be the son or nephew of the owner and just doesn’t give two shits that he actually has a job to do. He thinks he’s hot shit and tends to overcharge on the sandwiches. We have a habit of walking out if we see him working. There’s another deli riight across the street who isn’t a shitbag, buddy. We’re quite fine going there too.
There’s also the occasional sketchy clientele. The other day, a racist guy yelling about something awful to the super friendly owner that works the day shift on the weekends (great weekend staff), pulled off his shirt and showed us his stab wound. GREAT.
Just don’t come in wearing a hot pink mini-​skirt and you should fare just fine.

This place is grim. Dirty, terrible, rude service — I’ve been living in the neighborhood for years, and every three months or so I forget how much I hate it and pop in for something. The worst part is that, while waiting on line to pay for something, I have to wait while at least three people pop in from the the street and muscle their way to the counter. Then, by the time I get to the front, the counterman wonders why I’m annoyed and is rude to me about it. This has happened more than once. And I wouldn’t eat anything out of that kitchen — I’d rather go to a Kennedy Fried Chicken. To be avoided at all costs.

Yafa has one simple way of setting itself apart as a convenience store, and that’s with fried chicken. It is an otherwise unremarkable grocery store and deli, providing common goods at steep markups and lunch meat sandwiches when necessary.
They have a two pieces with rice special for $ 3.75, but there is really no reason to stray from the chicken itself, priced at $ 1.50/piece. They let you select which ones you want, so take a long pause gazing into the heating case and pick the freshest and largest.
This is the real stuff, crispy on the outside and very moist and tender within, perfectly seasoned. Sure, it would be wonderful if it were fresh out of the deep fryer, but that’s not possible, unless maybe you work at a place with one and bring it yourself. This is only takeout, after all.
The best thing about this chicken is that it always seems to be nice and fresh, at any time of day.

Read about the fried chicken in The Voice’s Cheap Eats article, thought I’d give it a try. I got two pieces with a bunch of yellow rice for 3.50 or maybe 3.75 — a terrific deal — brought it home and dug in. Not impressed. Maybe it was just a bad batch, but I’m not that hard to please. The skin was seasoned very nicely, but the chicken itself was stringy and tough — probably overcooked. Not sure what people make a big deal about, but maybe I’ll try again and see if I just got unlucky.
Also, I walked around the bodega (on the dirty side, but not unusually so) and looked at the price tags on the grocery merchandise… seemed a little overpriced.

SO CHEAP!!!
I bought a banana, a PB & J, lemonade, a large Gatorade and a hefty chicken sandwich and it was less than 8 dollars.
Was it terribly good? No…
BUT IT WAS SO CHEAP!!!
a poor college students dream.
I hear the fried chicken is great.

For what it is, there is no better.
Yafa is your classic bodega; Snacks, drinks, plastic-​ware, cheap beer and cigarettes in abundance. Yet there is a secret Yafa has. The secret is their fried chicken.
So crispy. So tasty. So cheap. Sometimes I get it for lunch, for dinner, for a late-​night snack, a pre-​breakfast snack, a post-​breakfast snack, an afternoon treat, a pre-​bunch morsel, an elevensies feast or just whenever I feel like it. It’s just that good.
They also sport an incredible cheap sandwich deli, while though not spectacular, certainly above standards with a great price tag attached (usually between 3 and 5 dollars for a sandwich).
Combined with an awesome staff of neighborhood folk, Yafa makes itself a daily destination.