Popeye’s Chicken Sandwiches, Better Than Chick-fil-A?: A Review
Popeye’s recently came out with their version of the Chick-fil-A style chicken sandwiches, and are currently in the midst of a not-at-all manufactured Twitter war with Chick-fil-A that some poor copywriter spent six months on, going through three chains of command, twenty different client revisions, and eight rounds with legal to settle on four perfect tweets to “go viral.” And now that I’ve given you all a peek into how the sausage is made in the wonderful world of advertising, allow me to insert my own take.
See, I’ve dedicated an Instagram account to only taking pictures of me eating Chick-fil-A. Quick background. I had never eaten Chick-fil-A before I moved to Atlanta, tried it, really enjoyed it, then made a tossed off joke about making an Instagram account, got a little over excited and actually created it.
View this post on Instagram
View this post on Instagram
View this post on Instagram
HERE’S YOUR DAILY INSPIRATION. IT’S A CHICKEN SANDWICH IN FRONT OF SOME FUCKIN’ WINGS.
As you can see, it’s a very important account. And even though this account has probably gone on entirely too long, it makes me especially qualified to answer the question. Are the new Popeye’s chicken sandwiches better than Chick-fil-A? Let’s evaluate.
REGULAR
SPICY
These sandwiches are huge. And have a lot of mayo, or in the case of the spicy version, spicy mayo. Everything about mayo is disgusting, but it also tastes good on everything. So, no complaints here. However, while I can dutifully take down two Chick-fil-A sandwiches with ease, taking down these two behemoths was a struggle, and eating them both sincerely ruined the rest of my day. When people talk about fast food making you sluggish and worthless afterwards, this is what they mean. Granted, you should not follow by my example when eating any sort of fast food, or drinking for that matter, so I’m not gonna hold it against them.
The sandwiches themselves are incredible and cheap ($3.99 each) with the spicy coming out ahead of the regular due to the slightly tastier mayo. For both, the breading is essentially the best bites of skin off of a typical fried chicken dinner, and the chicken is plentiful and juicy. But this also creates an interesting conundrum. As I was eating through the sandwiches and greatly enjoying them, I suddenly had the hankering for normal fried chicken instead. And when I started thinking about getting a 4-5 piece, I found myself really wanting that instead of the sandwich. In fact, the more I ate the sandwich, the less I liked it, whereas Chick-fil-A sandwiches have always been satisfying on their own merits.
So, where does that leave us? Are they better than Chick-fil-A? The answer, like a lot of things in life, is a gray area. And that’s fine. Not everything in life has to be Team This or Team That. Both the Chick-fil-A and Popeye’s chicken sandwiches are great. So, to the internet, I’m sorry. I have failed to provide you a hot take, and I will now punish myself by going on Twitter to argue about the politics of Chick-fil-A instead.
TEAM CHICK-FIL-A OR TEAM POPEYE’S?: LIFE IS SHORT, WE’RE ALL GONNA DIE, JUST ENJOY YOUR FUCKING CHICKEN SANDWICH