KFC

Complete let down. The food was not up to standards and it just did not taste good. The best part of the meal was the mashed potatoes.

Ordered mini chicken sandwiches that just have chicken and pickles on them. I decided I wanted cheese to spice it up. Apparently they aren’t allowed to add cheese to things on their menu. I know you have cheese! You serve cheeseburgers!

Expect to have a wait for your meal. That pretty much sums up the KFC experience at this location.

Absolutely disgusting. Haven’t had that bad of service from anywhere in a very long time. The girl who took my order was extremely rude and made me feel like I was taking up her time. That was nothing compared to what I received for my meal after 15 minutes waiting with 2 people that ordered ahead of me. I finally asked if my food was still coming out and she said, «of course it is coming out.» Then, upon a closer look I was shocked; the floors in the back kitchen was horrifying… There was chicken scattered all over the floors as well as vegetables and bread, almost as if they were just throwing food around. I finally receive my food and I leave to go back to work. I open up the sandwich and find that it is completely smushed, (somebody took there palm and pressed down on the sandwich) cold, mayonnaise was smothered on the outside of the bun along with one pickle on top of the smothered mayonnaise. I ate a fry and that was also cold and not to mention half were raw and the other half were so hard I almost chipped my tooth biting into it. I then took my food back to the store to show them what kind of disgusting food they had served me and they were mostly quiet and called a shift supervisor over to get me a refund which they did. He then asked if I wanted a free food voucher for next time and I obviously declined. Lastly, this place is half A&W half KFC… So don’t trust either of them. Do not ever eat here under any circumstances, unhealthy and unsanitary conditions, disgusting «food» and no sense of customer service.

Ouch this location can be a disaster at times. On my most recent visit there was no leadership, no organization and one staff member was clearly just not interested in working which brought down the entire team. My order was wrong (Was served a mashed potato bowl vs a rice bowl) and when the order was corrected the rice was not fully cooked. The location is mixed with an AW which could also create additional stress for the kitchen. A previous visit was decent which is why the star rating is not less and a cashier did provide great service and it was clear she was trying her best and acknowledged by her actions she knew how bad things were. With more training and some staff adjustments this location has potential…

I doubled up on Double Downs.
So — this isn’t really a review of KFC per se, so why did I drive all the way to Bellingham from Vancouver to eat not once, but *TWICE* at a KFC? The much anticipated Down Double ‘sandwich’ — which replaces buns with two chicken filets sandwiching two strips of bacon, Monterey Jack and pepper jack cheese and ‘Colonel’s Sauce’.
When I heard about the Double Down a year ago being test-​marketed in select areas — I nearly jizzed in my pants. The sheer audacity, brilliance and «Why-didn’t-I-think-of-that» realization was tremendous. I like fried chicken. I like chicken sandwiches. I imagined I would like it even more without a bun.
As soon as I heard that the Double Down was being released nationwide, I immediately started planning a trip south, mouth drooling. Finagled a couple of friends to come along and we were driving down the I-​5 in search of Double Downs. Anticipation could not be higher.
We get to the restaurant and noticed it’s actually a KFC and A&W rolled into one (hence the A&W cups in my pictures). We all ordered Double Downs ($ 6.99 with combo, $ 4.99 without) and acted like crack fiends as we waited for our food — eyes darting around the room.
After getting our food and some required picture-​taking, I paused a moment and felt like I needed mentally prepare myself — I knew the rest of my days would either be grayer because of what I was about to put in my mouth or it would be an epic fail.
I finally took a bite with the nervous energy of first kiss. The first bite was absolutely glorious — crunchy and spiced fried chicken filet and delicious bacon melding into your mouth with creamy sharp cheeses. If Colonel Sander were alive, I would have followed him into battle. But I should have stopped there…
… as it went downhill from there. With each bite and more processing — my mouth got saltier and saltier. Too salty even for a man that craves the occasional salty fast food. As I kept eating it, I became more and more sure that a tomato slice would have done wonders.
Yet afterwards, despite the diminishing returns, I still felt like I wanted another one. Perhaps it was just the fact that I can’t buy them north of the border. Or perhaps it was the fact that I was in denial that it wasn’t everything I ever dreamed of delivered between two chicken filets. However, I just stared intently at the menu board — too frozen by shame to order another one.
After our lunch, we hit the outlets and agreed that we would go back there again for dinner to try the *Grilled* Double Down, which replaces the fried chicken patties with grilled ones (no extra charge).
However, I think I got bad grilled patties that was sitting around too long. When I ordered it, I got it served to me immediately — whereas my friends were told they had to wait 10 minutes for fresh ones to be made. I should have refused to take mine.
While my friends got piping-​hot, fresh grilled chicken, my grilled patties were dry and unappealing. It was less salty, but I prefer the original Double Down over the dry grilled one I had. The softness of the grilled patty meant it lacked structural integrity. You know how when you eat a sloppy burger and it disintegrates at the end, dripping burger remains on your plate? Imagine the burger drippings as an entire ‘sandwich’ and you’re about there.
Pouring salt on the wound, I had to watch my buddy eat a freshly grilled Double Down too hot to hold (remember, no bun!) which he thoroughly enjoyed and picked over the original, fried version.
Overall, the Double Down was a bit of disappointment. Then again, I think I had unrealistically high expectations out of a fast food ‘burger’ (I didn’t see the unicorns and rainbows I was hoping for). As Bourdain says, the mark of a good meal is how much guilt and shame you feel afterwards. The Double Down delivers on this, but probably not for the right reasons.