Chick-fil-A, Northridge California
Now I realize there is a lot of hype around Chick-fil-A, after all, it’s a very heated debate that each side feels very passionate about. It has nothing to do with those famous cows in their ads. I live near a Chick-fil-A and every week there seems to be something new and exciting around it. One day there were protestors holding signs and yelling their feelings on the issue, on another day there were hundreds of people lined up in cars at the door of the store, all apparently in support of the Dan Cathy’s, the president and the CEO, stand on Gay marriage. After all, that is said and done what about the food? Is the food worth all this attention?
I admit having no baring whatsoever on the topic of gay marriage. I had to try the food just to see if it was worth those hundreds of people waiting in line. After all, if you are going to wait over an hour for fast food, it better be worth the support right? So on a day, when all the attention had settled down, we went to a Chick-fil-A restaurant. We decided to order a variety of items so it would be a fair review. We got a spicy chicken sandwich, chicken strips, the famous original chicken sandwich, chicken nuggets and their waffle fries. While we sat in their dining room we got to read the brief history of the company, how they invented the chicken sandwich and it grew into one of the most popular fast food restaurants in the nation and most importantly how they still hold true to their original values (mainly being closed on Sundays) It was a brief read but informative, before long our food was brought to us by a very pretty young women with a huge smile which is a refreshing change for a fast food chain; no longer are you waiting around the counter watching your food.
We now hit the taste test. We were almost excited to take the first bite so we could see all the excitement was about. When we opened the wrapping we were a little disappointed by the plain white buns. There was nothing about them that was appealing to us unless you happen to have a thing for plain white generic buns. I thought, at least they could toast them like IN-n- OUT or put a little sesame seeds like McDonald’s. My husband was the 1st to bite into the original chicken sandwich then proceeded to hand it over to me. With my first bite I found myself having trouble biting through the large chunk of iceberg lettuce, then came the surprise, my husband calls it a white sauce but the rest of us know it as Mayo and this chicken sandwich was so full of that it was dripping off my chin onto my black shirt. My husband really doesn’t like the sauce so he declined to eat anymore leaving me
the rest while he started on the spicy chicken.
I wouldn’t say it was a bad sandwich, I can’t say that it was anything I would rush back for, the original seemed kind of plain all around, just a breaded fried piece of chicken with mayo, lettuce and tomatoes on a white bun. The spicy which was not spicy, had a little more flavor but really was the same sandwich as the original just a few more spices and less “ white sauce”. We each finished about half of each one before we decided it wasn’t worth the calories to eat it anymore.
We then headed onto the waffle fries, I had heard people rave about them before, so they must be good right? Well, first of all, you are not going to be dipping any of there bad boys into ketchup without breaking them into smaller pieces they are big. They are not soft as the typical fries instead, they are almost chewy. They were not bad but I still prefer the more traditional fries. My younger son must have agreed with me. He may be only 10 months but he knows what he likes and only two bites into one waffle fry he gave up. Last three of us dug into the chicken bites and chicken tenders and I must say they were all pretty tasty. It was a refreshing change from our earlier fare, we spent the rest of our lunch dipping and eating the tender little fried morsels, the chicken was good enough that I only vaguely remembered the dipping sauces. The tenders alone would bring me back to visit again.
So all politics aside would I take the time to eat here again? I admit when I am hungry I am the first to run to a fast food joint, but I am still picky, hey you like what you like right? I have my favorites and I must say the Chick-fil-A is not one of them. I have talked to many people and interviewed them about their experience at this particular restaurant chain tying to get different feed back from others before I wrote this review. I must say that the reviews are mixed, it seems like people either “love it” or “ just ok”. So all that aside, I would have to say it’s a no go for me, its just not good enough to battle through the political pressure.
