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Apologies for the off-topic comment — I’m not really sure if the Popeyes sandwich is an indicator of anything, but it’s a damn good sandwich. My trash food fri

Apologies for the off-topic comment — I’m not really sure if the Popeyes sandwich is an indicator of anything, but it’s a damn good sandwich. My trash food friends and I drove nearly an hour (sans traffic it would’ve taken 20 minutes) to one of the only Popeyes in the Seattle area on Wednesday. There was a small line but a very long wait for food (understandably! It was similar to Shake Shack at lunch — lots of people waiting for their food), and we probably waited 20 or 25 minutes. It was worth it. It was worth the 30 minute Uber I took home — putting the full trip time including eating in at 2.5 hours. I wouldn’t do this all the time — and I’m very angry I no longer live in Brooklyn and work in NYC where Popeyes was plentiful — but this was easily the best ratio of value to wait time for food I’ve experienced — and I’m a veteran line waiter for trash/novelty food (Cronut, Ramen Burger, Cookie Dough, other stupid shit I can’t remember). It’s much easier to get to Chick-fil-A or Shake Shack, but I preferred the Popeyes sandwich. I was kind of hoping it was a trap/hype, like the KFC Cheetos sandwich (which was a disappointment). It was not.

sreyaNotfilc 7y ago
When I first took a bite out of Popeye's chicken sandwich I had two immediate thoughts. 1. This thing is delicious!! 2. Poor poor Chick-fil-A. Popeye's sandwich is much better. And I can eat it any day of the week.
- JustSomeNobody 7y ago
  On the bright side, the people who work for Chick-fil-A have at least one known, consistent day off each and every week. For most of you who have not worked a job outside of tech, that's a pretty big deal.
  - sreyaNotfilc 7y ago
    Oh, I agree. My sister works in the fast-food industry. She never knows what days she have off. Its horrible. Chick-fil-A is doing something right here.
cco 7y ago
Your comment seems unbelievable to me, though maybe this has more to do with my distaste for lines in general, but I can't believe that a fast food place has developed a sandwich that would warrant a 30 minute drive let alone a 25 minute wait. I love the food in question, fried chicken sandwiches, and I was fairly disappointed with my first Chick-Fil-A sandwich, it was fairly lackluster. In my experience there are far better examples in non-chain restaurants that would warrant a bit of a wait. Your comment may have convinced me to swing by a Popeyes, during a low usage time period, and give it a try.
- tenpies 7y ago
  Keep in mind Popeyes is not really fast food. Unless you're ordering fried chicken, everything is cooked to order. They are bound by physics as to how fast they can cook a piece of chicken while keeping it delicious. Add assembly time, and even when it's empty, the cashier will tell you "it'll be 10 minutes" on a sandwich order. Other things that a non-patron of Popeyes should know: * There is a daily special (Wednesday is sandwiches in my region, it may be different in yours). * There are coupons on the web site * It is more expensive than fast food * Being slightly mis-treated is part of the Popeyes experience. It's sort of how Chickfila is known for being incredibly nice to all patrons . . . well Popeyes is the opposite. If you don't leave feeling somewhat slighted, you didn't quite get the full experience.
  - pkaye 7y ago
    > Unless you're ordering fried chicken, everything is cooked to order. So all the sides (fries, potatoes, biscuits, rice and beans, etc) are made to order?
    - filmgirlcw 7y ago
      The fries are definitely prepared more frequently -- biscuits too -- but the sides are not what I would call the best part of Popeyes because they can be made in bulk and put under heating lamps for longer periods of time than say, chicken. I don't know how quickly the chicken turns over but it's pretty consistent -- especially if you're ordering something specific (X number of legs, Y thighs, Z breasts), because they need to ensure the proper quantity and that may require breading and then deep-frying the chicken on-demand. The seafood is probably more "prepared to order" than anything, but I honestly don't know. I've never worked at a fast food restaurant, I'm just a giant and unabashed fan of trash food.
erichurkman 7y ago
I live around the corner from the Chick-fil-A just outside the Fulton St station. They have a snaking line inside _and_ a roped off line outside. A line to wait in line, and the outside line often is 40, 50, 60 people plus. I suspect some of those people waited as long as you did end to end, for a chain chicken sandwich in one of the culinary capitals of the world. To someone who hates lines, that's mind boggling!
- LanceH 7y ago
  No lines on Sundays.
- badfrog 7y ago
  Or you can go inside the station and get pre-assembled, slightly-soggy sandwiches from their kiosk with no wait. IMO definitely worth the tradeoff.
  - erichurkman 7y ago
    I think I was better off not knowing this fact.
- michaelmarion 7y ago
  Hey neighbor!
codesushi42 7y ago
I have never had fast food that warranted waiting that long in line for. Rarely, there's good fast food, but nothing extraordinary. It's all kind of gross. But given that you are in NYC, you have a lot of other options then. So may be worth a try.
- liveoneggs 7y ago
  get the spicy
jscheel 7y ago
I mean, you aren't wrong, it's a dang good sandwich. I too waited 20 minutes in a line of 2 cars for it. I wonder though, how much of the hype is because of people who are frustrated with the Chick Fil A owner's beliefs, and not necessarily because it's a great meal? I would wager it has definitely contributed.
- filmgirlcw 7y ago
  Yeah, I think the "moral" component is part of it, at least online. I'm not sure in practice how much of an impact that has had on the people showing up and waiting in line for the food. When push comes to shove, a lot of people can be enraged online and still patron a fast food chain that offers very good food with very consistent service and quality -- even if we do it feeling guilty. And plenty more people just don't care. This is obviously anecdotal and not based on any scientific information -- and it's also based on at least a little bit of stereotyping -- but the Popeyes I went to, which is in Renton, isn't the type of place -- nor is that location the type of location -- that attracts Twitter/extremely online people. Most of the people there looked like they were locals/lived in the area who wanted to try to latest sandwich everyone is talking about. This was suburbia. I will say the whole "Chick-fil-A alternative" framing probably played a big role in the initial media push which has now trickled down into lots of other places, even if the political aspect is lost and it just becomes about the hype around the sandwich.
deleted 7y ago
[deleted]
cossatot 7y ago
I used to go kayaking on the Middle Fork of the Snoqualmie (on I-90 east of Seattle) instead of the far superior Skykomish run on Highway 2 just because of the Popeye's at the Tanner exit of 90, right by the Snoqualmie run.
dgzl 7y ago
It sounds like how White Castle was described in that one movie. I'm not sure if I've ever had Popeyes, but I was really craving fried chicken today. Maybe I'll stop at the spot on the way home.
spectrum1234 7y ago
As someone who never had Popeyes until recently I thought their food was generally trash as is most fast food. Disclaimer I love Mcdonalds but found this very low quality even compared to them.

sreyaNotfilc 7y ago

When I first took a bite out of Popeye's chicken sandwich I had two immediate thoughts. 1. This thing is delicious!! 2. Poor poor Chick-fil-A. Popeye's sandwich is much better. And I can eat it any day of the week.

JustSomeNobody 7y ago
On the bright side, the people who work for Chick-fil-A have at least one known, consistent day off each and every week. For most of you who have not worked a job outside of tech, that's a pretty big deal.
- sreyaNotfilc 7y ago
  Oh, I agree. My sister works in the fast-food industry. She never knows what days she have off. Its horrible. Chick-fil-A is doing something right here.

cco 7y ago

Your comment seems unbelievable to me, though maybe this has more to do with my distaste for lines in general, but I can't believe that a fast food place has developed a sandwich that would warrant a 30 minute drive let alone a 25 minute wait. I love the food in question, fried chicken sandwiches, and I was fairly disappointed with my first Chick-Fil-A sandwich, it was fairly lackluster. In my experience there are far better examples in non-chain restaurants that would warrant a bit of a wait. Your comment may have convinced me to swing by a Popeyes, during a low usage time period, and give it a try.

tenpies 7y ago
Keep in mind Popeyes is not really fast food. Unless you're ordering fried chicken, everything is cooked to order. They are bound by physics as to how fast they can cook a piece of chicken while keeping it delicious. Add assembly time, and even when it's empty, the cashier will tell you "it'll be 10 minutes" on a sandwich order. Other things that a non-patron of Popeyes should know: * There is a daily special (Wednesday is sandwiches in my region, it may be different in yours). * There are coupons on the web site * It is more expensive than fast food * Being slightly mis-treated is part of the Popeyes experience. It's sort of how Chickfila is known for being incredibly nice to all patrons . . . well Popeyes is the opposite. If you don't leave feeling somewhat slighted, you didn't quite get the full experience.
- pkaye 7y ago
  > Unless you're ordering fried chicken, everything is cooked to order. So all the sides (fries, potatoes, biscuits, rice and beans, etc) are made to order?
  - filmgirlcw 7y ago
    The fries are definitely prepared more frequently -- biscuits too -- but the sides are not what I would call the best part of Popeyes because they can be made in bulk and put under heating lamps for longer periods of time than say, chicken. I don't know how quickly the chicken turns over but it's pretty consistent -- especially if you're ordering something specific (X number of legs, Y thighs, Z breasts), because they need to ensure the proper quantity and that may require breading and then deep-frying the chicken on-demand. The seafood is probably more "prepared to order" than anything, but I honestly don't know. I've never worked at a fast food restaurant, I'm just a giant and unabashed fan of trash food.

erichurkman 7y ago

I live around the corner from the Chick-fil-A just outside the Fulton St station. They have a snaking line inside _and_ a roped off line outside. A line to wait in line, and the outside line often is 40, 50, 60 people plus. I suspect some of those people waited as long as you did end to end, for a chain chicken sandwich in one of the culinary capitals of the world. To someone who hates lines, that's mind boggling!

LanceH 7y ago
No lines on Sundays.
badfrog 7y ago
Or you can go inside the station and get pre-assembled, slightly-soggy sandwiches from their kiosk with no wait. IMO definitely worth the tradeoff.
- erichurkman 7y ago
  I think I was better off not knowing this fact.
michaelmarion 7y ago
Hey neighbor!

codesushi42 7y ago

I have never had fast food that warranted waiting that long in line for. Rarely, there's good fast food, but nothing extraordinary. It's all kind of gross. But given that you are in NYC, you have a lot of other options then. So may be worth a try.

liveoneggs 7y ago
get the spicy

jscheel 7y ago

I mean, you aren't wrong, it's a dang good sandwich. I too waited 20 minutes in a line of 2 cars for it. I wonder though, how much of the hype is because of people who are frustrated with the Chick Fil A owner's beliefs, and not necessarily because it's a great meal? I would wager it has definitely contributed.

filmgirlcw 7y ago
Yeah, I think the "moral" component is part of it, at least online. I'm not sure in practice how much of an impact that has had on the people showing up and waiting in line for the food. When push comes to shove, a lot of people can be enraged online and still patron a fast food chain that offers very good food with very consistent service and quality -- even if we do it feeling guilty. And plenty more people just don't care. This is obviously anecdotal and not based on any scientific information -- and it's also based on at least a little bit of stereotyping -- but the Popeyes I went to, which is in Renton, isn't the type of place -- nor is that location the type of location -- that attracts Twitter/extremely online people. Most of the people there looked like they were locals/lived in the area who wanted to try to latest sandwich everyone is talking about. This was suburbia. I will say the whole "Chick-fil-A alternative" framing probably played a big role in the initial media push which has now trickled down into lots of other places, even if the political aspect is lost and it just becomes about the hype around the sandwich.

deleted 7y ago

[deleted]

cossatot 7y ago

I used to go kayaking on the Middle Fork of the Snoqualmie (on I-90 east of Seattle) instead of the far superior Skykomish run on Highway 2 just because of the Popeye's at the Tanner exit of 90, right by the Snoqualmie run.

dgzl 7y ago

It sounds like how White Castle was described in that one movie. I'm not sure if I've ever had Popeyes, but I was really craving fried chicken today. Maybe I'll stop at the spot on the way home.

spectrum1234 7y ago

As someone who never had Popeyes until recently I thought their food was generally trash as is most fast food. Disclaimer I love Mcdonalds but found this very low quality even compared to them.