Now available in malls?
Other than having hyphenated names, In-N-Out and Chick-fil-A have some other eerie parallels. For a long time, Chick-fil-A kept itself to the south, but has since expanded. In-N-Out, on the other hand, has kept itself to the west and has hardly expanded outside of California. Both still carry an air of mystery, as they are not readily available like McDonald’s or Burger King. They are also pretty religious, with Chick-fil-A closing on Sundays and In-N-Out printing bible quotes on their packaging. And finally, their menus are both incredibly simple. Yet, their simple menus are what makes them such opposites. In-N-Out only has burgers, while Chick-fil-A only has chicken.
I didn’t even realize Chick-fil-A existed in LA until a friend told me about one in the South Bay Galleria Mall in Redondo Beach. One day for lunch, we headed over there so I could see what Chick-fil-A was all about. The menu was quite basic, with only a couple sandwiches. Apparently with their recent expansion, Chick-fil-A has decided to mix things up a bit on their menus and now offer a spicy chicken sandwich in addition to their usual. I decided to try this new one out. Each sandwich was available in two ways, with only a pickle or with a pickle, lettuce and tomato. I went with the simpler one and ordered it without the gnarly pickle. It also came with the choice of many sauces for free. This included sauces like barbecue, the special Chick-fil-A sauce and more. I chose the Chick-fil-A sauce, ranch and honey roasted BBQ so I could try each of them out.
Great bun!
When my name was called, I grabbed my food and joined the table my friends had chosen. Then I whipped out my meal and tried it out. The chicken was only slightly spicy, but the meat itself tasted pretty good. The bun was nice and buttery and went well with the breast of chicken. My waffle fries were actually a little disappointing, with some of them being totally uncrispy and bordering sogginess. They probably would have been a lot better if they were well-done, which is also how I have to order my fries at In-N-Out.
My experience with Chick-fil-A was actually quite underwhelming. The sandwich definitely needed more spice, but I could see how people would really like their regular chicken sandwiches. The waffle fries could use some work, too. I’ll be back because I’m sure I’ll find myself near a Chick-fil-A again, but for now I feel they could have done better.
I love Chick-fil-A! I remember when you could only find them at the local shopping malls and they passed out free samples. Between them and Hickory Farms, you could have a free lunch.
You need to give them another try. It would be best to try their regular chicken sandwich, as it’s what they do best. Even Chick-fil-A die-hards have given the spicy chicken sandwich lackluster reviews.
I’m not a fan of pickles myself, but I don’t bother to have them left off. When I take them off myself, some of the pickle juice is left behind, and it blends well with the sandwich. Texas Pete Hot Sauce mixed with a little ketchup works as well. I’ve ate it that way since I was a kid.
I’m surprised to hear about the limp fries. I don’t think I’ve ever had limp or soggy fries in over 30 years of patronizing the place.
I’ll definitely try them out again and make sure to go for the original chicken. It was too bad that the fries weren’t great either. Perhaps it was just an off day…
Definitely order CFA sauce for you fries and order the spicy deluxe w/ pepper jack cheese and no pickles on a golden wheat bun. You won’t be disappointed. Oh, and ask for the spicy salad dressing to put on your sandwich.