Critic's Review
As I drove by Chick-Fil-A on a Sunday, I wondered how much money they leave on the table to close on Sundays, given the huge breakfast business they do on Saturday. Principles ahead of profit. You've got to respect it.
Review 2/14/15
I've been hearing about Chick-Fil-A for breakfast; I saw a thing on TV at 9am and I hadn't eaten yet, so I decided to try it out.
I was surprised at the number of cars at the place at 9:30 on a Saturday; I guess this is a destination. Personally, I never had breakfast at McDonald's or Dunkin Donuts on a weekend; I'd stop in occasionally on my way to work, but never on a weekend. I guess this is a thing.
There's always a few spots on the back side; you have to go all of the way around the horn to get there.
The "line" here continues to be nothing more than a gathering. The problem is that the cashiers disappear from their registers for long period of time, and it's not clear if they are open. I stood in front of an empty register and got served quickly, despite some of the lines being 3 deep.
One thing I don't like is the menu; the plastic fast-food menus are hard to read from the back of the line, so if you're not familiar with the menu it's difficult to order. And the cashiers can't answer questions, or at least they don't seem to want to answer questions. I wanted to try a chicken biscuit and also something with eggs, so I ordered 2 breakfast biscuits and a medium coffee.
There's no number or beeper here; you just grab your utensils and napkins go to a table and they somehow find you.
A pretty good crowd for a Saturday, as Billy Joel once curiously sang. Isn't Saturday usually the busiest day in a bar?
A dude in a suit wandered my way with a tray that had my order minus the coffee. It appears that they're supposed to give you the coffee when you order, which would have been nice. My particular cashier didn't.
I had to wait a few minutes for the coffee as the dude delivered a couple of other orders. Finally I had everything. 10 minutes from order to chowing down.
All of the pictures and ads I've seen for their breakfast has coffee in a mug, but apparently you don't actually get a mug, even if you're eating in.
The chicken biscuit is the standard chick-fil-a chicken cutlet with a biscuit. needed a bit of salt but a pretty good piece of chicken. Not like the naked stuff I got the last time. I suspect that the frying process keeps it nice an juicy.
The Sausage Egg and Cheese biscuit was ok, although the eggs are pretty boring. The sausage wasn't bad but it wasn't as tasty as a breakfast sausage can be.
The biscuit didn't hold up well on either sandwich. They weren't sliced evenly and the thin bottom part fell apart quite easily.
I was enjoying the conversation at the table in front of me; a bunch of 20-somethings who spent the entire time sharing their experiences at Chick-Fil-A and Chipotle. I overheard one of the girls making fun of me for taking pictures of my food; do people really think that you can't hear them when you're sitting 6 feet away?
They didn't have what I really wanted, which was a chicken egg and cheese biscuit, so after tasted the 2, I made my own.
Not bad for fuel, but nothing crazy good here. They've got nothing on the Colonel.
Conclusion
I haven't been to McD's for breakfast in a long time, but I remember the Egg McMuffin and biscuits being better than this. Chick Fil-A may be cooler, but taste matters, particularly for breakfast. And this stuff just wasn't all that tasty.
The coffee was "ok"; at McDonald's I can get a latte. I still don't get the pull of eating breaded chicken for breakfast. The venue is more comfortable than your standard fast food joint; this location in particular is more "upscale" than others.
This place loses a fortune by not being open on Sunday. They take a lot of heat from the atheist crowd, but you have to give them credit for putting their principles before their wallet.
Review 12/18/14
I'd driven by the new Fort Lauderdale Chick Fil-A when it first opened and the parking lot was a mess, so I kept on going. Today it was about the same at 1:45, so I went to Bed Bath and Beyond across the street to use my weekly 20% off coupon; by the time I got out after 2pm, the parking lot was slightly less chaotic, so I swung in. As it turns out, it's a seriously bad parking lot. There are spots on the North side of the restaurant, but you can't get around the drive-thru line, which has to leave room for cars to exit. You actually have to leave the parking lot to get to the other side of the lot.
I finally made it around and got a spot, only to put myself into the chaos inside. With most of the tables full, there were a lot of people standing around, possibly doing take out, figuring that waiting inside was faster than the drive-thru.
I got to a register fairly quickly; luckily I'd viewed the menu online beforehand, because it would be difficult to read the wall menu among the chaos. I ordered a chicken club, an iced tea and a chicken salad side. The club is something new; they have a regular grilled chicken sandwich now but that seemed kind of boring. My register person was very gruff; I can't find a specific menu for this location, but the prices were a lot higher than anything I can find. She didn't offer me a "meal"; this came to a whopping $10.57. According to the Broward Mall location menu, this should have cost around $8.50. Note that his is a franchise operation, so it's not under the direct management of Chick Fil-A corporate.
The tea was $1.59; they do have lemon, but it's behind the counter, so no refills.
A styrofoam cup filled with ice and some tea. Not a good value without refills.
The place is a bit more upscale than some other locations, which are 100% fast food. This place uses the idea of upscale decor to charge higher prices; the exact opposite of the Chipotle idea.
A dude in a suit brought out my food; I'm not sure how they find people; there's no big number that you put on your table like at most of the new fast-casual places. But he found me, and put the food on my table.
Very fast food looking. The sauce they give you is honey BBQ; I tend not to like sweet sauces so I passed. I was pretty disappointed in the sandwich. The chicken wasn't even good on it's own. There was nothing about this sandwich that I wouldn't think that I could get at any other fast food restaurant.
The chicken salad was kind of pulverized; not chunks or shredded. It was also very sweet; apparently they put a lot of sugar in it, and maybe some sweet pickle relish. I hated the chicken salad. I had maybe 2 forkfuls and threw the rest out.
We now have a Chick-Fil-A in Fort Lauderdale. I won't be coming here again.
Conclusion
There's a lot of hype around Chick-Fil-A, and I don't get any of it. While I liked the spicy chicken I had at the Pompano location, the waffle fries didn't impress me, and I didn't really like anything I had today. The decor at this location is more upscale, but I'm not willing to pay more for it. All in all, the place is too crowded, too expensive and not good enough for me. Try it once, but I don't get what the big deal is with this place.
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