Chick Fil-A
June 30th, 2009 by larryThis past Friday I went to the mecca of chicken sandwiches, Chick Fil-A. This Christian food chain is often praised, but I personally have never been until now.
The closest one is in Racine, WI which is actually only about 30 mins from my house. On a visit to UIUC, I learned that there is now one in the student union. I guess they’re getting more common.
Their flagship product is the chicken sandwich. It is popular enough that McDonald’s decided to take a swing at them with the Southern Chicken Sandwich thing they introduced awhile back.
The sandwich I got was pretty good, especially for fast food. The chicken was well seasoned and quite moist for what appeared to be white meat. Quite tasty and possibly the best chicken I’ve had in fast food.
However there were some problems with the thing. First, the fixins are slim, I think there were only pickles on mine. And they were not robust pickle slices, but rather pretty anemic ones that didn’t give me pickle action with every bite. Secondly, the chicken patty is not bun shaped. It is chicken breast shaped (ish), leaving dead spots in the bun when you eat it. I hate this because bun tends to be unspectacular.
Other things I tried were their waffle fries (ours were soggy), lemonade (good, real lemon flavor), sweet tea (good), peach milkshake, and chicken nuggets (more of the same great chicken).
For the restaurant as a whole, I was fairly unimpressed. They do not seem to be current with the fast food method where things are made to order. Instead it appeared that pretty much everything was already premade, like McDonald’s used to do maybe 15 years ago, and it kinda sits there until someone buys it. Also I found the menu limited; there are maybe 5 different main course items: breaded chicken, grilled chicken, nuggets, wraps, and chicken salad. If you don’t like chicken, there’s no real reason to go here.
Price was a shade over 5 bucks for a value meal (more if you get a shake). Suitable for lunch but probably not enough food for a dinner. I think I will be happy going once or twice a year for that great chicken, but it’s certainly not destination dining. I would maybe bring a platter of the nuggets to a party because that’d be pimp. But that’s about it.