No!

Yet people do it for CFA, and have done it in the past for Krispy Kreme (mediocre donuts), In-N-Out (mediocre fast food burgers), and probably a bunch of other crappy fast food places I've forgotten about. And I don't think free food was involved in those (or at least it wasn't advertised that you could get free food by being the first 50 or whatever).

Something about the recipe for the chicken patties being fried up really works well. McDonald's has tried to duplicate it with their "Southern style chicken sandwich" in some markets (which at least is a step up from the awful McChicken), but hasn't gotten the formula quite right. Would not be surprised if the proprietary part wasn't very bad for you.

Waffle fries also are semi-unique...others could try to duplicate, but it seems that if you make a splash initially with one type of fry you have to stay with it. So McDonald's is known for the straight and narrows, Arby's for the curly fries, and Chick Fil- for the waffle fries.

They had a good banana-pudding flavored shake about a year or so ago.

The notable thing about Chick Fil-As around here that never ceases to amaze me is how long the drive-thru lines will get, i.e. how long people are willing to wait (and use gas) in that line rather than get out of their cars, SUVs or whatever. Inevitably they will be behind someone with a large order or with something they don't have already prepared and get a delay, so from a time perspective the drive-thru is a terrible choice. Chick Fil-A isn't the only place I've seen people make horrible time trade-offs by being in the drive-thru, but I think it's the worst (i.e. longest lines of cars).

You don't get it because you must have CFA confused with some other fast food chain that serves chicken. ;)
The standard chicken sandwich is a bun, piece of chicken, and two pickle slices.
No lettuce in sight.
If you order the CFA deluxe sandwich, you'll get added a tomato slice and a very large piece of lettuce that is way bigger than the bun.

But then they'd have to park, and get out of their car, and *gasp* actually walk!


I can totally understand the preference to wait if you have kids in the car, though.

I don't see their waffle fries as being anything noteworthy. Carl's Jr. makes good waffle fries, too.

Had Arby's curly fries on Monday night. mmmmmmmmm

I was referring to entrees at the Cheesecake Factory, not CFA.

Sorry for the confusion.

Well, they are both green!

IIRC, it's 100.
There isn't lettuce on CFA original chicken sandwiches. There are 2 pickles, but no lettuce.
I've never seen that happen at the ones around here.

I don't get it. CF was pretty average for the 2-3 times I've had it over the last few years. I tried IO a few weeks ago at the one by LAX (thank you, Parking Spot shuttle!) and was decidedly underwhelmed given all the hype IO gets. It was better than McD's, but not by much & that's not exactly a hard thing to be. The burger was ok, but in no way anything special. The fries were over cooked and hadn't been properly parboiled first, so they had too much starch in them which left them tasting very cardboard-y.

IMO, in the US Sonic is far better, and Steak n Shake would give both IO and CF a better run for their money. Mos Burger is definitely much better. Most any owner/operator burger place in NZ, Oz, the Cook's, etc will be better by far - although that's probably cultural taste kicking in there.

You must not have a Starbucks with a drive-thru near you.


I worked at McDonald's in high school and college. We weren't afraid to ask someone to park if their order would take long, then someone ran their food out to them. That kept the main line moving, especially if the following vehicles were getting mostly normal things that were ready.

I'm a CFA fan. I think it's some of the better quality truly fast food. While some may think the grilled chicken sandwich is kinda sacrilegious for them, I think it's really good. The employees are also far better and friendlier than your average fast food worker.

This makes me want a deluxe spicy chicken sandwich with waffle fries, and some CFA sauce and buffalo sauce for dipping. :)

Sorry, I missed that someone else had addressed the fat issue.

A lot of it is cultural, regional, and what you were raised on. I started eating CFA as a child and would gladly sit in line for 30 minutes if I could have some of their waffle fries and a cup of sweet tea right now. It's a familiar taste that I've known my whole life, being from the south.

In N Out, not much of a fan. People will line up for miles for it, but I can take it or leave it. That's fine, to each his/her own.

I don't really think food tastes should be something people try too hard to understand because it's completely subjective. There are people who think ice cream is disgusting... I mean, there is just not making sense of that :p

Chick Fil-A also has one of the fastest drive thrus. I've never seen more than 10 cars waiting, and I find it much faster than In-N-Out. I usually wait less than 4 minutes total, with only a minute at the window.

I did the "First 100" camp out with a couple other friends last summer. As young male college students, spending 24 hours in a parking lot for 52 free meals was a no brainer.

As far as the food itself goes, I think Chick-fil-A definitely has a higher quality product than other fast food places. Each chicken sandwich uses a whole piece of breast meat, as opposed to the mechanically separated patties you get from others. Plus, their honey roasted BBQ sauce really is some good stuff ^

Culver's and some McDonaldses do that, though some locations have space problems for where to put the cars and still have the drive-thru line moving.

A common problem with that is having too big a menu. Inevitably someone wants some item that has to be dropped in the fryer (or otherwise made ready) and presto, there's the delay.

I won't get in the drive-thru if I see even one car there, but past a certain level (say 4 or 5) it's almost inevitable that doing that will take more time and cause more gas to be burned than going inside.

[Removed quote of and response to now-deleted OMNI/PR material]

I tried their food once. Was not impressed. A friend from work raved about it and wanted to go there, so I went with her. The one time. I should have known better. It might be a place that finicky kids would like.

We have the holy trinity of long drive thru lines locally..CFA, In n Out and Strbux at one location. Frankly, going inside has rarely been faster for me. They tend to be packed inside when the lines are long outside. And, I have regularly made a note of the last car in line when I chose to go inside just to see which was faster.

California and Texas get a great combination of fast food restaurants. The last hotel I stayed at in California was next to a CFA and across the street from an In-n-Out.

Overall, CFA is one of the better fast food restaurants in terms of quality and customer service. I've also been told that their corporate office near ATL is a great place to work as it has lots of walking trails, free meals (not CFA food), and unlimited Ice Dreams. There is an officially optional church service every Monday.

I'm excited to visit one of the new Seattle-area locations soon. I didn't get to visit the original WA location (a CFA Express) at Western Washington University, which closed partly because the very liberal campus tended not to agree with the company's actions.

If anyone has visited the original location in Hapeville, GA aka the Dwarf House, it has a traffic guard and police presence during busy times.

One of the late Mr. Cathy's true loves was Hawaii, so before he died he opened a Hawaii-themed CFA called Truett's Luau where he hand picked the decor and menu. One of the items on the menu is a pineapple macadamia nut milkshake which sounds really good.

I was surprised to learn that what is now CFA didn't originally serve much chicken and as such, special CFAs serve a fair amount of beef.

I still think that the best chicken strips/tenders are sold in the deli of Publix Super Markets in FL/GA/AL/TN/NC/SC.

One other notable re: CFA. The help is unfailingly friendly and cheerful. A little too wholesome for my taste, but it beats surly and unclean any day. I love asking one of the pretty girls at the counter for something and hearing "my pleasure" in response. :cool:

Good morning!

Now that that this thread, that originated in OMNI, has been moved to the long-running Chick-fil-A thread here in Dining Buzz, posts and material (and responses thereto) that were religious arguments or characterizations have been redacted; there are many places to discuss such in the OMNI/PR forum.

Thank you.

cblaisd,
Co-Moderator, Dining Buzz

I was inspired by this thread to have Chick Fil-A for lunch today: 12 piece classic nuggets, medium waffle fries and 2 tubs of honey mustard sauce. My drink was a Starbucks iced coffee, so no lemonade today.

Good experience. It was their pleasure to serve me. ^^

I can taste the No. 1 right now.

Mr. Kipper consumed one of their wraps for dinner. He won't say he enjoyed it.

I went to my local CFA recently and noticed new card readers like what Target, etc. have. Out of curiosity, anyone try Google Wallet or Apple Pay to see if those actually work? I'll probably try next time I go but that might be a while since I don't eat there that often.

One of our local Chick-fil-A managers is participating in their employee to owner program (not the correct name, I'm sure). Right now, she travels every few weeks to assist with store openings, and just returned from SEA.

Ever ready to advance the cause of science, MrDV conducted a comparison of the standard chicken biscuit and the spicy version. The standard does have an unpleasant, sweetish aftertaste which is marginal in the spicy one. Either the spice masks it or it's not included in the recipe. He says the biscuits are slightly sweet on their own.

Both counter service and the drive-thru lane are remarkably quick and efficient. Personnel are a little saccharine but that's far preferable to dealing with Hardee's verbosely argumentative sales pitches, for example.

The differences between the spicy and regular chicken are:

• The marinade
• The spicy breading has something in it to make it a red color, so it is easily distinguishable

At first glance, I read "spicy breeding", which of course conjured up images of a spicy chicken farm. :D (Perhaps down the street from the boneless chicken farm...)

:D
:D

Lewis Grizzard and his boneless chicken Marriott story anyone? :D

Where can I buy that coffee mug?

Ebay. Set up an alert. Not cheap, though.

http://www.ebay.com/itm/FAR-SIDE-Cof...-/111650835876

I need one of those. :D

Dammit, I had one. But I think it got rightsized.

I remember as a kid wondering what a sad and painful life a boneless skinless chicken would have. You think that thought would have turned me off of chicken altogether. Nope, I ended up working at a Chick-Fil-A through high school to save up for college :D

:(
:d lol!

A boneless Chicken Ranch in Nevada would be a very sad place!

OK, since we're on the boneless chicken bandwagon, I have to (try) to tell a very very funny (to me anyway) story.

I've mentioned in the past that eating local food in Hong Kong was often challenging to say the least for me and most in our group. The biggest single reason by far was the presence of bone pieces in almost every chicken and pork dish we had everywhere for weeks on end. It wasn't an accident, but by design, as those meats are routinely cooked bone in, and then chopped up with a cleaver before serving.

One night at a fairly decent restaurant, my friend noticed a dish on the menu which included "boneless chicken" as an ingredient. He ordered it, and almost broke his tooth on the very first bite. Upset, he called our waiter over. Now you have to picture our waiter. A rather rotund jovial fellow who spoke limited English with a very strong accent.

My friend complained that the chicken was supposed to be boneless.

The waiter, beaming with pride, says "Yes, less bone".

Of course we were all both speechless and laughing so hard it hurt.

You probably had to be there, but it was possibly the funniest moment I have ever experienced in a restaurant.

RPI's track team bought NON-refundable fare to get food from ALB's airside Chik-fil-A
 

RPI's track team wins a dope slap:Link: News 10, Albany, NY: RPI Cross Country team buys plane ticket for Chick-fil-A lunch (Posted: Feb 22, 2020 / 05:58 PM EST)