PDQ Gainesville

They have a food truck that runs around town from time to time. They provide a limited portion of the menu. This time around it was over at the UF East Campus location. I had a buffalo chicken sandwich, which was fine. Pretty standard buffalo sauce, the bun was a nice white flour bun, and the lettuce was crisp.
No real complaints, but the price for a simple sandwich like this is a bit high.

Decent food, way over priced though. Great customer service though. Milkshakes are good but for the price just buy yourself a pint of Ben & Jerry’s. Fries are like Steak ‘n Shake but in a five guys frier so I wasn’t a huge fan. Chicken was high quality but the value for the price of the tenders was definitely low. If it’s pay day and you’ve got money to blow then I guess you could waste it here. I’d still rather go to chick fil a

I went 2 times and both were great experiences. The second time I went i will never forget it. I went with my sorority after rush and we pretty much packed the place. We forgot to let them know in advance so that they would be ready for us but they were very nice about it even when about 120 of us were on line. They were very friendly and patient. The food was delicious and they were quick at taking our orders. We didn’t see any wrong orders or things like that. They were really on top of it!

Fast food restaurant with friendly staff. Food is better than Mcdonald, Wendy’s and other fast food restaurants.

Nice place but the food really from heart nothing special. Crispy turkey sandwich can look little better and the taste was’t perfect. Over seasoned and too much breading and not enough meat, french fries small and too greasy. Chicken salad is just plain, salad like almost in every corner in Gainesville. Only one plus are dressings.

Description:
I’ll make this review quick. The food was decent and the price was reasonable but there wasn’t really anything special about it. I probably won’t come back unless I’m really craving chicken tenders. I definitely prefer PDQ to The Coop though.
Food & Service:
I got the four piece meal which also came with fries and a drink. Not a bad deal but the fries were definitely too soggy and not seasoned well. It might’ve been because I went late but that’s not really a good excuse.
Final Thoughts:
Overall, it’s a fine place and a nice edition to food options in Gainesville but there isn’t really anything special about it besides the man with the loudspeaker yelling «It’s Tender Time!»

Ok so I thought great we have another chicken place in town. We have KFC, Zaxby’s, and many other places that serve chicken strips. Its not really my go to food of choice when eating out.
But we decided to try PDQ. Its been open for a while now, and I really haven’t heard anything good or bad, and we were in the area we decided to try them.
First impression was lots of parking, which is a good thing.
Walking in the door the place is big and bright with a nice décor. Very nice layout.
The menu is limited, salads, shakes and chicken strips either by themselves or on a sandwich. I opted for the buffalo chicken sandwich, which was very yummy. The thing that made the sandwich was their buffalo sauce (very franks redhot style) their blue cheese sauce they put on. Great recipe for the sauce with a great flavor combination. This is one of my favorite buffalo chicken sandwiches now in Gainesville.
We did get a chocolate shake. Waaaayyy to sweet for me. Not sure why or how they get it that sweet, but damn.
The fries were a little on the soggy side. Wish they were crispier
All in all we had a great experience. We will go here again. It’s unique in a unique kind of way differentiating themselves from a Zaxby’s or other places.

Tried PDQ again and they seem to have corrected the soggy fry problem I had before. Tenders were just as crispy and delicious the second time around and the fries were crispy, salty heaven! If you’re into overindulging like I am then I highly suggest one of their oversized cookies for dessert too. :)

Clean up place but should be for a new restaurant. I got the Crispy Chicken Salad with buffalo spice. The ranch dressing was horrible, it tasted like creamy Italian. My wife got the Crispy chicken fingers and fries. The chicken was good the fries were awful, I have no solution but ‘fresh cut fries’ are alway mushy, soft, greasy and NOT crisp!

I had no expectations but was amazed at this place!
I ordered the tenders meal with fries and they were ON… mMm … POINT! Good and crispy but not too much breading. The sauces complimented the tenders (and fries) really well. I will try their sandwiches next time but they’ve stolen my heart with the fried tenders.
Only thing I didnt enjoy very much was the blueberry coleslaw. I was looking forward to it since it was a twist but it fell way off my hopes. It tasted as if it were only cabbage. No seasoning and bland blueberries that werent either sweet or tart. Only good thing was they didnt use globs of mayonnaise like other places. I suppose it’s really just a more fattening side salad.
However, I did try their pretzel peanutbutter shake and wooooowiie was it good! It had a rich peanut butter taste as if it were from a jar and the pretzels were small enough for the straw and crunchy! Wish it were a regular item rather than seasonal.
Will come by again to try their items!

Had the hot wing blue cheese tender sandwich very tasty. Fries are fresh so may not be as crispy as one might expect. What they lack in crispyness is made up by the excellent flavor. Cole slaw was unique and actually quite good. Fast service friendly personal service. Hope they build one in my neck of the woods. Will visit next time I’m in gator land.

Came in with no expectations, hadn’t heard much. Just knew it was the ‘new place where Grandys was’ and Tim Tebow has something to do with it. Had no clue until we were there that it is only chicken, with some turkey, restaurant. I quickly decided on the buffalo bleu chicken sandwich, while my 17 year old son got a fried turkey sandwich. Sides with the combo were fries or blueberry coleslaw. I asked if I could have a small sample of the coleslaw before I ordered it, as I had never heard of such a thing. Strikes me as a taste you would hate, or absolutely love. But I do try to always order the ‘healthy’ side if possible. The cashier states ‘I don’t know, Ill have to ask my manager.” Manager comes over and says he cant. Then he offers. ‘if you don’t like the coleslaw, I will replace it for free with the fries!” I am a little dumbfounded, say I don’t need that. If I don’t like it, that would be a huge waste of food. He sighs, says ‘fine’, tells the cashier to ‘go ahead’. She then brings me a premade container, which you probably have to buy for $ 2 – 3 for, with a fork. I tell them this is not necessary, I only want one forkful to try it! The manager shrugs, rolls his eyes, and goes back to whatever it is he is doing. I tell the cashier forget it. «If I don’t like it, Im obligated to eat it all. Cant throw it in the trash, while there are starving children in china’(SORRY, I come from a family of hog farmers, where you NEVER waste food.) I have made similar requests in other restaurants, and have never even had someone blink an eye. I almost got the feeling he thought I was trying to get some free food or something, but then, Im also trying to read his mind.
SOOO, I got the dang fries. Which were some of the worst I’ve ever had. Barely warm, limp and sad. Even my 17 year old didn’t finish his, said they were awful, which is bad coming from a growing boy that would eat my hand if I didn’t pull it back fast enough.;)
My sandwich was delicious, and very tiny. I could easily have ate two, and I am not a big eater. My sons turkey sandwich was much more substantial, and he said was delicious. Both came with generous amounts of lettuce and tomato. Cokes were cold, and there were many condiments out to use.
Restaurant was very clean, there is even a sink to wash your hands in the middle of the restaurant!(?). Bathrooms were clean. Cashier and other employees were pleasant and professional.
My poor storytelling talents do not do justice to the bizarre issue and event with the coleslaw, it was really weird, and the fries were just plain awful. Will never come back.

I tried PDQ twice because of the hype, but each time was left lacking more. I WANTED to like it, but could not find any redeeming qualities. I tried their grilled chicken salad, and friend chicken salad. Each time, I felt like it was a pre-​made salad that was nothing special. I could have gotten a better salad at Chick-​Fil-​A or Chipotle for a similar price. It just seems like an inferior hybrid of a Dairy Queen and a Chick-​Fil-​A.

Not really sure how to rate PDQ, as I wasn’t exactly sure of what I was expecting.
It’s a chicken tender place, mostly. The brand-​new building is nice, the traffic flow within the building is a bit odd (congestion at the fancy Coke Freestyle dispensers, narrow paths between some tables), but the overall feeling is «open.»
I’m not sure that $ 9.00 for 4 chicken fingers, slaw, and drink is «value» priced, but it served my purposes the other night, and was open past 9pm. Service staff were pleasant.
I’d rather have gone to the old Grandy’s that was on this spot, but… that’s not possible. I would go back, but would not make it a destination.

I like this place so far. It’s new and clean, fast, and some things are really good that I have had.
I really like the coleslaw, I wouldn’t have thought it would be that much better with blueberries but somehow it is.
Also, the fried turkey sandwich is what I like the most. It’s seasoned a lot more than the tenders and it is really good with their sweet heat sauce. I like the fries extra crispy too, with ranch or honey mustard.
Bottled Cheerwine is good, but they also have good sweet tea and the crazy new coke machine.

I truly liked my first visit here. Not fancy but great, fresh, and quick food. Should be really nice on home Gator game days, but they’ll need more televisions.

Okay … we have been WAITING for this PDQ to open, because we know PDQ!!!
They have the FRESHEST chicken sandwich you have ever tasted, piled high (literally) with lettuce and tomato. Seriously, each time we order it, it always looks the same. Piled high. Fresh. The tenders are the tenderest and tastiest — especially with their honey mustard, or sweet heat sauce — love! Other favorites are their grilled turkey sandwich and caesar salad (but we get creamy garlic dressing instead).
Shakes are good, cookies are good. Everything is good. Blueberry cole slaw is unique. I will say that you must eat their fries in-​house, cuz that’s when they’re the best. If you take them home, the heat inside the box makes them a little soggy…
They have a freestyle soda machine, so that rocks. And a cool hand-​washing station, too. We think they truly live up to their name — People Dedicated to Quality, because the quality of their food and preparation is very apparent.
LOVE, LOVE, LOVE PDQ!

The food was delicious. I had a strawberry shake. My husband had a cookie cream shake. I order chicken tenders. He order the chicken sandwich. Fries were GOOD!!! Awww. So good. With the ketchup? Yummy! :)

Since hearing about PDQ replacing Grandy’s longstanding spot at the corner of 34^th/​Newberry I had been skeptical, mainly because of the limited menu focusing on chicken (although they do have a couple turkey options). I kinda felt like the Zaxby’s scattered around the area already had the chicken focused menu cornered.
After eating here a few times I’m largely happy with what I’ve tried. The most important thing they needed to nail for a chicken focused menu was to have good chicken, and that they do have. The tenders and the sauce selection are really good. I’ll be coming back just for the tenders if nothing else. The chicken sandwich and salads are also a step above Zaxby’s in terms of flavor and quality.
The sides leave something to be desired though. The fries as other reviews have pointed out are limp and soggy. Besides the fries your only other choices are coleslaw with blueberries and some apple slices with toffee dip. I wish they had a side item that matched the quality of their chicken but they don’t. Considering this is a franchise I doubt they’ll be quick to even think about adding items.
The service has been quick, even when it’s been busy during opening. They have a guy using a mic to let you know when your food is ready. The interior looks nice but when walking around I felt like I was having to squeeze around people eating to get to where I needed to go.
To sum things up, Gainesville now has another place serving chicken… at least the chicken is pretty tasty.

We were looking forward to this new restaurant near us. We found nothing redeeming when we dined there except that the building inside and out is attractive. The menu is dominated by chicken that to us was neither fresh or tasty. There are few good options for vegetarians. The «hip» design does not foretell a similar menu or dining experience.
The building inside emphasizes looks over function and there several bottle necks when we were there. The condiment counter was too small and dominated by employees stocking and cleaning. Staff were on stools dumping large buckets into an ice maker that must not have been functional.
This restaurant needs to revamp and diversify its menu, find ways to improve customer flow, and improve the quality of their chicken.
As we drove away we asked ourselves whether there was anything to coax us back. We just can’t see it happening.