What's All the Fuss About? (Fast Food Related)

[ford family]

I am not in love with their sandwiches (burgers to us Aussies) however I really enjoy their kale salad.

Thanks for the translation!
I couldn't understand all this talk about sandwiches from a fast food place! Don't think we have CFA in the UK but not sure.

ford family

 

[unrequited23]

Chick-fil-a used to be something we could only get while driving to our vacation destinations. It became a tradition to stop for lunch and had all of the good vacation memories associated with it. Then, one opened up 30 minutes from our house. My kids were toddlers. They had a small indoor play area and would bring the food to your table plus offer to get you drink refills or bring you more napkins. We were there every other month. Now, we have a Chick-fil-a 15 minutes from home and never go.

I'm surprised the OP didn't try the original chicken sandwich in their taste test. If you decide to try again, I'd suggest the original chicken sandwich, Mac & cheese and a Sunjoy (half tea/half lemonade.)

 

[jalapeno_pretzel]

My go to when I ate meat was always the grilled chicken sandwich. It came with some kind of BBQ sauce packet, and often I would add the Polynesian sauce to that too. I think all their chicken must be pretty high in salt content, I was always super thirsty all day long after eating there. Of course a lot of fast food has that issue.

 

[Kathryn Merteuil]

I love some Chic Fil A. I don't add any sauce to my sandwich. If I get nuggets, I'll just use ranch. I don't know why I haven't tried the Chic Fil A sauce... I need to remember to try that sometime.

 

[lovin'fl]

I like the nuggets with chick fil a sauce or Polynesian sauce. I even keep a big bottle of chick fil a sauce in my fridge. Not a big fan of the waffle fries. And service is top notch. And typically very quick even with a line.

They used to offer coleslaw instead of the fries and I liked that. My girls (are 25) and all their peeps always LOVED chick fil a. They like the wraps and nuggets. They also like the chicken minis for breakfast. They like the waffle fries too. In fact, niece was married in Feb and my girls were bridesmaids so I sent platters for them to eat while getting ready.

Now, Raising Canes...I don't get. That just opened near me. Very meh.

 

[Moliphino]

I don't think I've eaten Chick Fil A since I was in college in Atlanta. There was one in the student center, so it was convenient. There are a few in my area now, but if I'm getting a chicken sandwich I'd rather go to Popeyes.

 

[Christine]

If I go there, I usually get the 3 piece chicken tenders (not the nuggets). They are very high quality. Sometimes I think Chick Fil A doesn't fry things "hard" enough, if that makes sense so sometimes things can be a little squishy. Seems pretty consistent across different restaurants so I think it's just their thing.

 

[Uncle Coaster]

It’s been awhile but I remember really liking their shakes and thinking the fries were good too. I’m not a big fan of chicken and only like specific brands and styles so I wasn’t expecting to like theirs and never gave it another thought after my first try (until now).

 

[LoveDaisy]

I feel like there is a lot of hype around fast food and it never lives up to it. It is still fast food. Krispy Kream opened in my state to multi hours wait. Within a few years all except the ones at the casino went out of business. Then it was sonic, chic fil a, shake shack and now it’s raising canes. None have been great yet they all opened to huge fanfare. Within weeks there is no one at any of them.

 

[sam_gordon]

I agree it's over hyped. But people don't go to "fast food" for great quality. It's decent (even if not decent for you) and generally a known entity. You know ahead of time what your food is going to be like.

So I think you need to compare CFA w/other fast food places. Their chicken is decent, not great, and their shakes are good. Their customer service is excellent. If I'm in the mood for fast food chicken, I would pick them, but I wouldn't go out of my way to do so.

 

[jimmymc]

For a long time, almost all fast food restaurants used frozen patties with ground chicken and filler for their chicken sandwiches. Chick fil a was the only place actually breading chicken breasts and frying them, so it was a step or two above the rest. Now that other places have this option, I think others do it better. Popeyes is my favorite.

 

[neverlandsky]

CFA isn’t good. Raising Cane’s is awesome.

 

[Christine]

CFA isn’t good. Raising Cane’s is awesome.

I haven't been but have been hearing the opposite from my friends. I've heard it's very bland. I will try it for myself, one day of course.

 

[barkley]

Their chicken noodle soup is good.

a million years ago (the 80's ) the mall closest to where I lived had no food court. other than chick-fil-a the only places to eat was a pizza by the slice place, corn dog place and the rather foo-foo fancy eaterie inside emporium capwells. it was a nice place for non fast food options esp. the chicken noodle soup which was a popular option. I went to one for the first time in probably 20 years a handful of months ago and I have to say that the grilled chicken options are nice (the grilled nuggets are nicely seasoned and a healthier alternative to fried stuff). other than that I think they are fairly pricey for fast food.

 

[soccerdad72]

I haven't been but have been hearing the opposite from my friends. I've heard it's very bland. I will try it for myself, one day of course.

I prefer Raisin' Cane's tenders to CFA's nuggets, but since that's all Cane's does, if I'm in the mood for a chicken sandwich, I'll often go to CFA.

If I had one anywhere near me, I'd prefer Popeye's spicy chicken sandwich, but unfortunately the closest one is like 40 minutes away. I'm not going out of my way for any fast food restaurants.

 

[Christine]

I prefer Raisin' Cane's tenders to CFA's nuggets, but since that's all Cane's does, if I'm in the mood for a chicken sandwich, I'll often go to CFA.

If I had one anywhere near me, I'd prefer Popeye's spicy chicken sandwich, but unfortunately the closest one is like 40 minutes away. I'm not going out of my way for any fast food restaurants.

I am surrounded by three Popeye's and I never go. I used to go all the time but the restaurants now seem so poorly run, dirty, and the employees are horrible, I just don't. We had a new one open last year and I wanted to try it again but went back in and couldn't even get waited on. Not sure what the deal is here.

 

[soccerdad72]

I am surrounded by three Popeye's and I never go. I used to go all the time but the restaurants now seem so poorly run, dirty, and the employees are horrible, I just don't. We had a new one open last year and I wanted to try it again but went back in and couldn't even get waited on. Not sure what the deal is here.

That's the problem we have with the KFC by us - service has always been horrendous, the inside of the restaurant is gross and the food inconsistent.

 

[Smugpugmug]

I haven't been but have been hearing the opposite from my friends. I've heard it's very bland. I will try it for myself, one day of course.

It is very bland. The chicken has 0 flavor. I went once and will probably never return. I prefer Bojangles but they don't have locations anywhere near where I live. I only get it when driving down to Florida.

 

[Boopuff]

I think all the "favorite" fast food places are really a regional thing. We recently got In-and-out burgers here. Lines for days. We waited for the hubbub to die down. We went.... meh.. burger. Chick-fil-A is here as well and there's always a line. There are some fast foods from the midwest that I miss (we just got a Culvers!)

 

[LuvOrlando]

The lines wrap about 20+ deep and need traffic direction this time of year in many areas. Most mealtimes have very long lines and two employees with handhelds taking orders to speed up the lines because regular drive through is way too slow for the volume. I am shocked of how busy it is because of the cost, I think it is expensive but so are the burger places. Fast food became way too pricey for it to be an option at any time other than an incredibly busy day and it is fries or nothing. Most of the time I'll stop in a Whole Foods and grab some of their salad bar for the same cost, when we travel this is the new go to.

I don't like fast food much because of sodium content but if I do have it then it will be this mostly because the chicken is a chunk of chicken not ground chicken molded into a nugget, not a fan of the meat molds.

Always loved KFC crispy but the chicken itself seems way too salty now, so much so that taking off the batter doesn't make it ok, it is like they marinade the chicken in a salt bath so there is no way to get it into a normal realm.