Critic's Review
There's been some talk that this location is going to be a Shake Shake, but I can't find any evidence so far
Spring Chicken Closed Suddenly one day. This is what happens when you open a chicken joint 1000 feet from a Chick-Fil-A.
Review 6/10/16
In Feb 2017 Spring Chicken was cited with the following in one of their inspections:
Intermediate - Identity of food or food product misrepresented. Establishment advertising on the menu states the following : Natural chicken with no steroids , hormones , or antibiotics, raised on all-vegetarian pesticide free, corn and soybean feed. Cases of chicken found in walk in cooler don't state any thing, they are only labeled with Kelly chicken breast. The operators invoice shows only Kelly chicken and there is no proof of aboves statement **Warning**
I pointed out that Spatch's claim of Hormone-Free Chicken wasn't allowed, but I wasn't aware that the DBPR enforced such things. Time for consumers to smarten up on what restaurants are claiming and what they actually serve.
Review 6/10/16
On a drizzly Friday; the first day that they were open for lunch, I decided to get some chicken. I eat chicken a LOT at home, so I rarely order it when I go out to eat. In this case it didn't seem appropriate to order anything else.
The first annoyance was that half of the parking lot is allocated to handicapped spots. Government mandates out of control. Why does a restaurant with 100 seats need more handicapped parking than Publix? Of course none of them were in use.
A bit of a line inside, but not too out of control. It was a pretty slow moving line; not surprising for the 2nd day open.
The place was about 1/2 full at 2:15. Employees were coming around telling everyone how great the food was. Of course most of them probably worked at Popeye's before this.
I placed my order and they gave me a beeper. To me this isn't fast casual; this is like Shake Shake. They don't bring the food out. No number on the table.
The interior is attractive, but it has that storefront ambiance with way too many windows. On a sunny day the sun is going to beat into this place in an uncomfortable manner. They'll need some shades sooner than later.
Music was very good: Morrissey, Gov't Mule and Ryan Adams provided the entertainment on a good sound system as I continued to wait for my food.
It took 6 minutes for the beeper to start flashing. Not too bad. I'd ordered the Mama's Chicken Biscuit and a side of Mac and Cheese. I wanted to taste the biscuits. When I got to the counter someone was there with my tray to hand it to me.
After taking a couple of pictures I realized that I didn't get my drink. They probably could have given me a cup when I first ordered. I had to go back to get my cup.
They have sweet tea, unsweetened and Lemonade. I went for unsweetened. Sweet Tea that I've tried is always horrible; way too sweet. Interestingly, they don't have sugar. Plenty of self-serve lemons though.
First, I took a look at the chicken. The damn iphone didn't focus on this for some reason. This is a "crispy chicken thigh", which is dark meat. I was baffled as to why it was long and thin. I never saw a thigh like that. Obviously heavily battered and fried.
The mac and cheese had way too many crumbs on top. I'm not sure what it was. They just got in the way of the pasta and cheese without adding anything positive.
Before I was even able to take a bite out of my chicken sandwich, the biscuit was falling apart. Not a promising sign.
The chicken wasn't bad; the breading was light. The meat was a bit pink, so I wondered if the process cooked it long enough. Usually this type of chicken sandwich is made with white meat, so it was a bit different. The sandwich includes pickles and a "pepper jam", neither of which worked with the fried chicken and biscuit. The jam was a big negative.
Getting below the crumbs in the mac and cheese exposes a bland product. Nothing memorable about the mac and cheese.
Every bite of the sandwich produced more of a mess. I started to eat the biscuit and chicken in pieces. The biscuit was OK but not really great. Kind of dense actually. Nothing special about these biscuits.
That's about it. Move along; nothing to see here. The only reason to come here is if you don't feel like waiting on the longer lines at Chick-Fil-A.
Conclusion
If Kentucky Fried Chicken was the only other choice, I'd see the point of these place, but with Chick-Fil-A just down the road, what do they think they have here? This is better than PDQ (the tenders idea is a loser), but not as good as KFC was when they were The Big Thing. I haven't been to a KFC is 20 years so I suspect they aren't as good as they used to be. The sides at KFC were always garbage, but the chicken was fantastic. Something else kind of odd is that they have 2 bad wines available for 8.25 a glass, which is more than I pay for a decent red on Las Olas.
This wasn't fantastic. This is fast food that's better than Wendys with nicer tables and way better music.
Pre-Opening Comments
50 eggs, the owners of Yardbird South Table and Swine in Miami, are starting a Fried Chicken chain with one of their initial locations here in Fort Lauderdale. A location in Coral Gables has already opened, and they'll also have one at the Miami Airport.
It appears to be an upscale Kentucky Fried Chicken; an angle that baffles me. I haven't ordered Fried Chicken for 20 years, and it seems curious to open one right next to Whole Foods. It isn't cheap either; $10 for 2 pieces. It's a Southern thing, I get it, but I've never been the pull of Chicken and Waffles in an actual restaurant. I'm not sure that it appeals to the kind of Northern tourists we get here; or the Northerns like me who've moved here.
Was so poorly run. Amazing that they never even tried to fix their problems.
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