Chicken Now

STAY AWAY
Chicken Now is one of the most backward, terrifying places I’ve ever seen.
I had a friend who worked for them, and I’ve bore witness to some of the atrocities that have taken place at this lowly Mall Outlet chicken shack.
Everything from health code violations, stealing tips, corrupt owners and even hiring and maintaining a staff comprised of illegal immigrants is only SOME of the things that have taken place here. Hell, the owner doesn’t even use his real name here. He goes by «Bill». He’s buddies with the guy who owns the China Max next door (and the China Max guy is the ONE WHO WOULD STEAL THE TIPS)
Oh, the food? Sub par. Very «meh» in every respect, bland, greasy and over done.
Look elsewhere. Just drive LITERALLY up the road and go to Burger King or something.

Slowest service ever and guy at the register keep your hands out of your mouth.. so gross!!!
Gave them another chance… Still slow but pretty good grilled chicken salad

When I have eaten at this restaurant for the first time, it was okay, and that is all there is to this restaurant. Whenever I get the tender box, it is always just «okay.» I have also got a chicken sandwich once, and it was just okay. This food court restaurant is just okay. The only thing I actually liked, however, was the fries. They were a little above average, to say the least. That is all I have to say
³⁄₅ stars

It was a crowded food court at the outlet. We wandered through the various food stands a few times before deciding to try this one as the line to order didn’t seem that long compared to the others. Little that I know that it was the wait for the food that was long as I stood waiting for at least 15 minutes for our order to be made.
Fortunately, the quesadilla we had was quite good that I was tempted to order another one. Looking at the crowd changed my mind.

My dad and I loved the chicken tenders. Whole white meat chicken. Crispy and juicy. Delicious!

UGH! 15 minute wait for a grilled cheese kids meal and a potato bowl with chicken!!!
OVERPRICED for a kids meal that includes a tiny sandwich with a tiny portion of fries… not that I want my kid to overeat but DROP the damn price for what you are giving the customer! $ 5.99 with tax is way too much for what they give you.
The potato bowl with chicken has corn on it and shredded cheese… it is over $ 6 and NOT worth the price… the potatoes are flavorless, the chicken tiny in portion and typical fried chicken patty chopped up with a SMIDGEN of shredded cheese! Did he hurt his hand the cook and couldnt grab more? And the corn had me on the toilet the whole next day.
What a waste of money! Not many choices at the food court here so your options are slight… seems the owners of this place own the chinese place too… do yourself a favor… EAT at an outside restaurant before or after you go the outlets…
DO NOT WASTE YOUR MONEY!
My potato bowl SAT on the window for over 5 minutes WHILE they cooked the Grilled cheese sandwich and fries! Yes, it was warm only when I got it… NOT worth the wait…
There was a line waiting for the food… they can take your order but NOT Deliver service and food… the guy on the register was not very pro-​active in getting a side of gravy for me… he looked at the register to see if he could ORDER IT??? FOR GOD SAKE, just go around a foot away and yell at the guy in the kitchen to send some out…
Yes I got the gravy and it was GROSS and flavorless… tasted like fried chicken grease!
I will NEVER go there again… NEVER EVER EVER!!!
It was like the cooks could not handle the orders… even I could have handled it and I am not a cook! How hard to slap some cheese on bread and grill it???
Seriously! And there were two of them!
And there was not crowd in the dining room this day… a very slow dinner time…
RUN…they dont deserve even ONE star… but no other options!

Chicken Now just recently opened, as did the rest of the Merrimack Premium Outlet. And as such, it was quite busy. The food court could be a better design. The outlet mall itself is an open air concept. Great idea, except this is New Hampshire, where is snows. But it’s summer right now and everything is nice still. But I digress. The line path that the mall has chosen for the food court is, shall we say, uh… Poor. Yes, poor is a good word to use. Once through the line, ordering is just as straight forward as any other food court counter. Chicken Now prides itself on the fact that it’s food is prepared fresh. Wonderful in the food service industry. I commend them for this. And the food was indeed fresh and piping hot. However, in a food court, with lines as… exquisitely designed as these, this leads towards an ever growing cluster of people hanging out at that end of the line, and totally obscuring where the front of the line actually is, that it can be quite frustrating. Almost everyone who wanted to get in line had to ask where the line actually formed, and those at the end, waiting for food stood patiently (read as growing ever more hungry) were letting people know of the average wait time. At one point those of us at the end, waiting for our food, cheered as one of us had our number called and they were able to receive their food. Again, in fairness, this new Mall did just open, and it was a beautiful Saturday at lunchtime. So this may have accounted for some of the crowding issues.
My wife and I decided to try their chicken tender box. (three piece for those who are curious) Once ordered, our food arrived promptly (by sundial) 16 minutes later. My wife had found us a table inside (Half the tables are outside for those who like to dine Al fresco. Again, great in the summer, but should be really interesting when it’s cold and raining, or snowing. Having navigated the throngs of people attempting to get in line and the decidedly miniscule space that the mall has designed between the tables, where, when patrons are sitting and eating, you can not pass, I arrived at the table my wife had sat at. Our food, packaged in environment friendly Styrofoam boxes, was piping hot and fresh. (Plus for the food)
The food itself was quite good. The coleslaw was fresh, crisp, and had a good bite to it. My mashed potatoes, (Mashed with skins) were very tasty, had a wonderful texture, and the gravy was very complimentary. Though the mass of mashed potatoes was plopped onto eery other piece of food in said box. Our french fries were nothing to get excited over, very generic flavor and size, and average taste. The chicken tenders were nicely breaded and were very tasty. The chicken itself was perfectly cooked, moist and tender. The thing I noticed most about the chicken strips were their size. Most places that serve chicken strips, you get a piece of chicken 3 to 4 inches in length and perhaps an inch in width. These strips were the same length, but were huge in width! One of my chicken strips was nearly as wide as it was long.
So Chicken Now at the Merrimack Premium Outlets:
Pros: Freshly cooked to order food, Excellent chicken, and sides.
Neutral: The fries were average at best, the pricing.
Cons: Having to wait for 16 minutes after ordering you food to receive it,
The above rating is indicative of my experience only from the time I placed my order to the completion of my meal. I did not place any bias on Chicken Now for the things that they were not directly responsible for.
Overall If you have never tried Chicken Now, and there is a short or no line, and you have some time to spare. I’d recommend at least checking it out. They really do have quite good chicken. Had the speed of cooking/​delivery of orders been say 5 minutes or less, I’d have gone with 4 stars.