Popeye's Chicken Sandwich

There comes a moment in a person’s life when they realize what they had wasn’t good enough and that something could be better. What was once thought of as the pinnacle of perfection, had suddenly become despicable. How could this be? Why have I not experienced that sooner? Why didn’t anyone tell me? An overwhelming sense of emptiness consumes the memories that you previously had.

This is not the experience I had when trying the Popeye’s Chicken Sandwich.

As of this moment writing this review, it is November 10th, 2019, so I’m a little late in the game, and my judgement might be skewed by the opinions of reviews that I have read and the opinions of my friends. Honestly, I wasn’t even going to eat this sandwich because I felt like it was overhyped, but here we are.

Fifteen regular sandwiches.

One of the things that I was warned about was that the line was going to be long. According to a few of my friends, they have waited up to an hour and a half in order to get this "legendary" sandwich, but for me, it only took ten minutes. That also might be because we ordered in advance, but I had a feeling if I wanted to just get a sandwich, it would take around the same time.

Everyone who reviews this sandwich always compares it to the chicken sandwich from Chick-Fil-A. Which is fair because Chick-Fil-A has run the market on fast food chicken sandwiches for a while. Yes, almost every fast food restaurant has a sandwich, but none of them compare (in quality and price range) to Chick-Fil-A. When Popeye’s released their sandwich, it was as if a new player was entering the ring.

Many have tried to best or be equivalent to Chick-Fil-A, but all of them seemed like jokes in comparison. The reason that the Popeye’s chicken sandwich gained so much traction was because it was an already established, legitimate fast food chicken restaurant. If I’m being completely honest, I was expecting a lot from the sandwich. Everyone I talked to claimed that it was just as good as or better than the original, so my hopes were set pretty high.

The myth. The legend. The sandwich.

When I took the first bite, all I could think of was the mayo. How much mayo was on the sandwich? What kind of mayo were they using? Does it have a significant impact on the taste of the sandwich? Personally, the big difference between the two sandwiches stood in this stance. It is definitely where the two sandwiches differed in terms of aesthetics.

Normally, I don’t have a preference on mayo on sandwiches. Some people swear by it, but I can’t really discern if it is on a sandwich unless it is pointed out to me or if the condiment is coming out of the sandwich. In this case, the mayo was spilling out of the sides of the sandwich. So much so that a drop of it landed on my finger. And it was in that moment that I decided to taste the RAW mayo. And that was the moment I realized how irrelevant it was to my sandwich experience.

I didn’t care about how much mayo was on it. It doesn’t change the experience for me at all, and I was content with that. If it was going to be hyped that much, it needed to have a significant different. A change in the bun, the pickles, the condiments… This sandwich did nothing too special with the formula of a sandwich and it felt like you could have taken Popeye’s chicken and put it on bread to make the sandwich.

Overall, I give it a 7/10. And I would give the same rating to a Chick-Fil-A sandwich.

TL;DR

Special thanks to Esther Park and Stephanie Hwang for reading this over for me and suggesting edits. Y'all are the real MVPs.

Bonus

So a day after writing this review (written on 11/10/2019), I went to Chick-Fil-A, and discovered something that changes my preference. I realized that before, I made it seem like I wouldn't care where I got my chicken sandwich. As long as I got the meal, I would be fine.

I was wrong.

There is a clear difference between the two sandwiches; THE SAUCE. I think I was so fixated on the mayo because of the lack of sauce. According to their website, the only sauces that Popeye's provides are BBQ, Ranch, Chili Sauce, and Tartar. Mayo might not have given a whole lot of flavor to the mixture, but what it does do is give MOISTURE to the sandwich that it would have been missing.

That issue could be remedied if I had the proper sauce, but Popeye's doesn't even give sauces that would complement a sandwich. Each of those sauces compliment their fried chicken well, but I won't be putting any of those sauces in my chicken sandwich anytime soon.

At Chick-Fil-A, each sauce was made to compliment their chicken, whether it be in sandwich or nugget form. It adds another dimension to their chicken that Popeye's cannot achieve without creating a different variety of sauces.

In the end, if it wasn't for the sauce, the sandwiches would be analogous. But because Popeye's added a condiment to their sandwich, we must take into account the condiments we can add to a Chick-Fil-A sandwich, which elevates the Chick-Fil-A sandwich to a higher level.

Final rating: Popeye's -> 7/10; Chick-Fil-A -> 9/10

Also, the best Chick-Fil-A sauce is Honey Mustard; don't at me.