For weeks I have been hearing about the free grilled chicken at KFC on April 27th. I even wrote it down on my calendar to make sure I didn’t forget. I’ve never really been a fan of regular KFC, but the prospect of a place called Kentucky Fried Chicken making grilled chicken intrigued the hell out of me.
Online, it said the free chicken would only be one piece, but I figured it would be a good opportunity to re-acquaint myself with some of the older KFC options. I pulled up to the drive-thru window and asked the speakerbox if they were still giving away grilled chicken. The voice replied back that they were, but it was only one piece and apparently it would take another seven minutes to cook. This was already a bad sign…there’s a reason it’s called fast food. To go with my single piece of chicken, I ordered the KFC buffalo chicken snacker, without lettuce. I then pondered who thought it would be a good idea to just toss a piece of lettuce on that sandwich. It couldn’t possibly add anything to it and I’m sure it would have distracted from the actual taste of the chicken. Anyway, I also got a popcorn chicken snack basket, which came with potato wedges (also known as fries).
When my seven minutes of holding up the line had concluded, I collected my food and drove off. First, I opened up the box with the grilled chicken, only to see a singular sickly-looking drumstick. For a promo I had hoped 
they would have given me something a little bigger. I bit into it, only to taste the gooey chicken underneath the grilled skin. Gooey in this case is not a good thing. The flavoring was just ok, but the quality of the meat left a lot to be desired. I felt that it actually tasted less healthy than regular fried chicken. Whether it was healthier or not made no difference to me, because if I really wanted healthy food I wouldn’t have been at a KFC in the first place.
On the other hand, my other chicken dishes were great. The buffalo chicken snacker had a piece of chicken so big it couldn’t even fit within the bun boundaries. This was pure buffalo chicken uninhibited by any vegetables. The sauce was at a comfortable spice level that didn’t get close to burning my tongue, but certainly wasn’t mild. The popcorn chicken snack basket was a great surprise. The whole box was stuffed with those tasty little chicken pieces and wedges, making it well-worth the 1.99 price tag.
In the end, the fried chicken really redeemed KFC, where the grilled chicken failed me. Sometimes I think it’s just better to stick to what you know best.