I had heard so much about it that when I visited the US years ago I really wanted to make sure I tried it. I was rather disappointed to say the least, as you say, it was fine… nothing special, just fine.
The first one I’ve had recently that has really wowed me was Popeye’s opening in the UK, holy crap that was amazing. Huge bit of chicken, perfectly cooked, so juicy inside and so crispy on the outside. The proper amount of sauce, it even looked like the pictures… I crave that experience again…
Probably gonna have american’s rolling eyes at me waxing lyrical about Popeye’s but I’ve had it before in America and it was really good, but not superlative like the UK one.
Do I think theres something magical about it here? No. My theory is that it is because its new here, expectations and standards are really, really high, they need to establish themselves as worth going to over KFC or the local bossman chicken shops but I have no doubt that the standards and quality will start to drop, corners get cut as more franchises open and it will be back to ‘fine’.
Popeyes is great where I live. Popeyes or Publix, I don’t even bother making fried chicken and I make 90% of what we eat from ingredients, including bread. Fried chicken benefits from standardization - Popeyes and Publix are huge and can get chicken pieces that always weigh the same, can keep the oil at a specific temp, I can’t do that.
I like both better than the “real” fried chicken I can do at home. Popeyes has the edge IF the spicy is available. What I am mad about is the discontinued onion rings they were amazing.
I absolutely hated popeyes until the chicken sandwich released. If i go its the only thing i enjoy getting and is crazy how good it ended up being when everything else was meh. I do agree popeyes is mid tier at best because having 1 good item doesnt mean the place is now great, unless your raising canes lol.
Popeye’s is Canadian owned, and it seems to always be great whenever I go there. As we know, the US has lower standards for food quality than we do in the Commonwealth, so maybe it really is just higher quality in the UK.
Weird I have heard of KFC being very lauded in the UK. It always confused me as an American because it always seemed very mid to me. I was wondering if you guys had way better quality KFC than us or something. Now I’m wondering the same for Popeyes.
Overseas KFC is supposedly better than US KFC, conspicuously so.
And Popeyes is actually pretty regional, anyway. Even within the US, I was shocked to find some locations don’t serve shrimp, when that’s the whole reason we went to Popeyes when I was a kid.
I had heard so much about it that when I visited the US years ago I really wanted to make sure I tried it. I was rather disappointed to say the least, as you say, it was fine… nothing special, just fine.
The first one I’ve had recently that has really wowed me was Popeye’s opening in the UK, holy crap that was amazing. Huge bit of chicken, perfectly cooked, so juicy inside and so crispy on the outside. The proper amount of sauce, it even looked like the pictures… I crave that experience again…
Probably gonna have american’s rolling eyes at me waxing lyrical about Popeye’s but I’ve had it before in America and it was really good, but not superlative like the UK one.
Do I think theres something magical about it here? No. My theory is that it is because its new here, expectations and standards are really, really high, they need to establish themselves as worth going to over KFC or the local bossman chicken shops but I have no doubt that the standards and quality will start to drop, corners get cut as more franchises open and it will be back to ‘fine’.
Oh man.
Popeyes is middle tier in the (US) south. It’s dirt cheap and overly salty, but spiced well. I like their shrimp and po-boys.
I’m not rolling my eyes though. Popeyes is good. But real fried chicken is a religious experience in comparison.
Popeyes is great where I live. Popeyes or Publix, I don’t even bother making fried chicken and I make 90% of what we eat from ingredients, including bread. Fried chicken benefits from standardization - Popeyes and Publix are huge and can get chicken pieces that always weigh the same, can keep the oil at a specific temp, I can’t do that.
I like both better than the “real” fried chicken I can do at home. Popeyes has the edge IF the spicy is available. What I am mad about is the discontinued onion rings they were amazing.
I absolutely hated popeyes until the chicken sandwich released. If i go its the only thing i enjoy getting and is crazy how good it ended up being when everything else was meh. I do agree popeyes is mid tier at best because having 1 good item doesnt mean the place is now great, unless your raising canes lol.
Popeye’s is Canadian owned, and it seems to always be great whenever I go there. As we know, the US has lower standards for food quality than we do in the Commonwealth, so maybe it really is just higher quality in the UK.
Weird I have heard of KFC being very lauded in the UK. It always confused me as an American because it always seemed very mid to me. I was wondering if you guys had way better quality KFC than us or something. Now I’m wondering the same for Popeyes.
Overseas KFC is supposedly better than US KFC, conspicuously so.
And Popeyes is actually pretty regional, anyway. Even within the US, I was shocked to find some locations don’t serve shrimp, when that’s the whole reason we went to Popeyes when I was a kid.
KFC is bang average in the UK. Popeyes (UK) blows it out of the water.