I was hoping that the Chicken Sandwich Wars of 2019 would be a remnant of days past. That we would look at the year and laugh about the heated debates on which chicken sandwich was the best: the classic Chick-Fil-A chicken sandwich or the Popeye’s chicken sandwich. We would shake our heads in slight disappointment when someone disagreed with our opinions and scoff at those who have yet to try the Popeye’s variation. Unfortunately, other companies decided to get into the fad, and many new iterations of the chicken sandwich were born from various companies not known for their chicken.
Today, the Chicken Sandwich Wars of 2019 has simmered to a soft boil, and many companies have decided that this is not the time to proceed with their “fast-food innovations,” so the last thing that people were expecting was another chicken sandwich. But here we are. Taking a look at yet another chicken sandwich, only this time it’s from Checkers.
Checkers is one of the better fast food restaurants in my opinion. They usually have good deals on the food, it’s consistent, and their fries are top tier. The only downside is that they only have outdoor seating, so Checkers in the winter isn’t that great. Which, honestly, isn’t that big of a downside because you can just eat it in your car if you don’t want to go home. Lotsa positives. Very much would recommend.
On June 8th, Checkers decided to get into the chicken sandwich game with the “Mother Cruncher Chicken sandwich.” It boasted a “’mega crunch’ breading, topped with pickles, crisp iceberg lettuce and a slice of ripe red tomato, served on a toasted bun and finished off with Checkers and Rally’s new top-secret, creamy, signature Squawk Sauce.” Honestly, that sounds like a regular chicken sandwich… Just zhuzhed up a bit. The only confusing bit was the “Squawk Sauce.” I assumed that it was going to be some kind of mayo/ketchup combination, but I couldn’t find any more information on it because it is new. However, I did find the trademark license, which wasn’t helpful at all.
If anything, I needed to know what the heck the Squawk Sauce was made out of.
So, I drove up to my local Checkers, opened up my email, and got myself a free Mother Cruncher chicken sandwich (highly recommend going to their website to claim their free chicken sandwich coupon with any purchase). I sat down on the concrete bench and was prepared to be disappointed with the outcome.
Visually… It looked horrible. It just looked like one of the worst sandwiches I’ve seen in a long time. They boasted that it had “mega-crunch” breading, but I think that was just a buzz word because it looked like regular breading to me. Nothing about it could be described as “mega.”
C R O N C H. I wish...
The initial bite also left me questioning why this was considered a special menu item. I mean, I think they already had a version of the chicken sandwich? Maybe without all the additional ingredients, but still… I don’t think I could find anything different between their regular chicken sandwich and their new Mother Cruncher.
And I think I was right about the Squawk Sauce. Nothing really stood out about the special sauce. It was definitely less flavorful or equivalent to the Popeye’s version of the sauce. I think the main difference between the two was the fact that the Popeye’s chicken sandwich uses their blend of spices for the breading that just enhances the flavor of the chicken. It feels like all the ingredients added to the Mother Cruncher doesn’t do anything but add texture to the sandwich.
If you look reaaaal close, you can see the Squawk Sauce. But not really.
Overall, this sandwich gave me similar vibes to the one that I tried in my iHop review. They had very similar qualities and came with the same amount of ingredients. Nothing really stands out in the sandwich, and it leaves you wanting one of the other chicken sandwiches.
Final Rating: 4/10. It’s a chicken sandwich. I heard that the BBQ one is a bit better though.
Bonus
Checkers tends to change their summer menu quite often. Last year, they had a wonderful pineapple drink on their menu that I would always get with my meal because I really like the flavor of pineapple. However, this year, they decided to do something different with their drinks. This year, they came out with the Big Surf Slushie.
Honestly, I was only going to get the Mother Cruncher and some fries, but when I saw the poster for the Big Surf, there was no way I wasn’t going to get it. I mean… I had to figure out if it looked like the advertisements, and what flavors they used in the concoction. In the advertisements, it looked exactly like the inside of a blue and white marble. Its colors colliding in a beautiful medley that epitomized the experience of human sin.
When I got the slushie, it more or less looked exactly like the picture. I was a little shocked at how the employee got it right. I didn’t really research this menu item, so I wasn’t sure what it was exactly. My initial thought was that the white part of the beverage would be a variation on vanilla and the blue was going to be some mystery flavor.
Like a horrible, horrible, sweet ocean...
Upon my first sip, I realized that I was correct in my assumption of the white flavoring, but I was stumped on what the blue was supposed to be. It unearthed some memories of my childhood when I went to the beach. We’d always have something called Hugs, which was a sweet drink that came in little, plastic barrels. Which is a good thing. If the purpose of the drink was to evoke emotions of childhood, then it definitely achieved that goal.
Too bad it wasn’t that good. Nostalgia aside, after my first sip of the beverage, I was overwhelmed with the amount of sugar that was coating my tongue. It was insane. I felt like I was choking on the flavors that it was trying to create.
I learned later that the blue was “blue raspberry” which made sense to me. Only something that artificial can taste that sweet.
After the drink was finished, I was a little shocked to discover that there was a shark gummy bear marinating in the drink as well. Not really appetizing, but whatever. I wanted to try it anyways.
Not only was the gummy bear stale, it was just an awful gummy. I disliked it so much, that it dropped my initial rating of the drink by two whole points. Just. No.
Final rating: 3/10. I want the pineapple drink back.
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