Bojangles’ Famous Chicken

I love love bojangles. I was so happy when they came back to Richmond. This location can be a little slow at times but food never fails. I usually get the Cajun filet biscuit or chicken tenders. There honey mustard sauce goes great with their tenders. But if you are looking to eat chicken that has a pretty good kick to it. Bojangles is the way to go.

For a fast food place this was decent. Their clerks were pretty clueless and it’s a wonder how the places operates with such geniuses at the counter but still…
We had a family pack and it was decent. Fairly tasty and fresh and the sides were good too albeit a little skimpy on the mash potatoes especially for a family pack…

Hey — it’s Bojangles, so you have to put this in the context of a fast food fried chicken joint. I’ve actually eaten here several times but never bothered to write a review. The chicken is yummy and a little spicy (not as hot as Popeye’s spicy but with definitely more «zing» to it than KFC). I happen to love fried chicken and this is my go-​to joint when I land at Richmond airport since it’s nearby and on the way to the hotel where I usually stay when I’m here on business. A bonus is that the biscuits are REALLY good here — fluffy and fresh.

Can’t tell if this place is recently opened or recently RE-​opened, though it has all the makings of a new location: beautiful interior, ample parking, and new employees still learning the ropes. Let me tell you why the newness of this location does it no favors.
I have been a Bojangles’ fanatic for several years now (especially the ones in MD, since they have mac and cheese as a side option while VA locations don’t). That said, I’m willing to put up with a lot to feed my addiction to this place. Anyway, came here with coupons in hand and my lady friend. While I already had some mixed experiences here before, this one sunk the battleship. We waited several minutes for someone to even wander over to the counter to take our order while various personal conversations raged on loudly in the background. After being asked to repeat my order several times, the cashier finally managed to ring it in and we moved down to the pickup area. Minutes pass, many of them. Orders are haphazardly thrown together, some customers left quickly while others lingered on, waiting for their orders to be completed, my lady friend and I being two of them. Eventually it became clear that they’d lost our ticket and had no idea how to fix both our order and those piling up behind us. Thanks to a single employee who managed to get our order together and give us a few free sausage biscuits to apologize for the mistakes, we finally were able to sit and enjoy our food, though everyone else there did absolutely nothing to solve the problem.
I think this is a good time to mention the purpose of a manager: managers ensure that all the employees and elements of a business are performing their functions well, and always make themselves available to fix problems which arise or help workers who may be struggling in an area. This location’s manager (whose name I did not catch, sadly) did nothing, and looked just as helpless as all the other employees there. If I had been a corporate executive for Bojangles’ and witnessed this, he would have been fired on the spot, replaced with someone who actually managed, and any employee having personal conversations in view/​earshot of guests would have been canned as well. This is a business, not a cafeteria, keep that nonsense to yourself. If they fired everyone there, doubled the wages, and rehired half as many workers (but GOOD workers), this location would be a stellar dining establishment.
I would not return here, since the location on Staples Mill Road is far superior to this one in every way. It’s a shame that despite the large amount of literature on running a business, many owners opt to not even pick up a single book on the subject.
Overall: 2.0 stars
— — — — –
Pros:
— AMAZING food, pretty affordable too.
— Interior is attractive.
— Lots of easy parking.
Cons:
— Service is atrocious, and personal conversations of employees make for an unpleasant experience.
— Poor management does not help the situation one bit.
— Errors are made on nearly every order.
— Condiment dispensers are nearly always out, and trying to get the attention of an employee to get condiments/​refills is an exercise in futility.

Ok… I know this is a chicken spot, but they DO have chicken sandwich options on the menu. How is it that you run out of bread??? No, I don’t want my chicken club sandwich on a freaking bisciut! Sounds like poor management if you can’t ensure the menu items stay stocked! Geez… it’s really not that difficult is it? Have been to THIS location on 3 different occasions only to be told that same story. Of course that’s AFTER you wait in the ridiculously LONG drive thru line. Repeatedly disaapointed in this location.

Friendly service a little slow but got fresh Bo –Berry biscuits. Overall good dining experience.

I don’t eat fast food often but I’m a big fan of Bojangles breakfast. I ordered a sausage, egg, and cheese meal with sweet tea. The biscuit was soft and buttery. A Bojangles biscuit is how a biscuit should be made at a restaurant. The sausage, egg, and cheese blended perfect with the biscuit. Bojangles potato rounds are bigger than most fast food restaurants. Bojangles sweet tea hit the spot. Occasionally, I’ll stop by for fried chicken. I really like Bojangles fried chicken because it’s crispy and juicy in the inside. On Sundays, the drive thru line is usually very busy during the morning hours. Breakfast is served all day at Bojangles. It’s not many Bojangles restaurants in the Richmond area. Bojangles is a good choice for breakfast food and fried chicken. The winner is the hot biscuits!

So I’m driving down the road going 70 in a 45 and Lynyrd Skynyrd is on the radio. Sweet home Alabama. Where skies are so blue. Sweet home… and a Camry cuts in front of me damn near going the speed limit. Cockblocking motherfucker. The guy should have realized I’d just spent three hours driving to Richmond from no-​where-​ville North Carolina and picked up Bojangles’ for my boyfriend. Obviously I was kinda in a hurry to get home with any chicken left for him and/​or before becoming 300lbs; the Audi really didn’t need to have its breaks tested. …Alabama. Lord I’m coming home to you. Guess it wasn’t all a waste seeing as the po had a car pulled over on the very next block. Spank, «good game, Camry.» Good looking out.
As I finish my bite, I make a mental tally while wiping grease from my fingers: 7 biscuits and 22 chicken supremes left for Justin. Still a respectful amount. He probably won’t even notice that two chicken tenders are gone. Maybe I should eat another biscuit and he’ll think each order of a dozen chicken pieces came with just three. I begin to take the on ramp onto 95N to continue my journey to DC when I see movement on the side of the road. Being the animal loving hippie that I am, I naturally begin to engage the breaks while gauging what way the critter is gonna run. Or should I say stagger. While carrying a can of REDBULL. What the fuck has this world come to when in the middle of a city, in broad daylight, you have a skinny, cracked out looking raccoon on the side of the road with a can of diabetes-​filled, caffeine-​injected liquid addiction.
Now this image is clearly saying something about our society. Look in the mirror, America, this cute furry tweaked out rodent is us. Unable to sleep when we should. Unsustainable diets. Store bought addictions. Shit, the next thing you know the little guy is gonna be dipping instant coffee. Don’t judge me! Desperate times call for desperate measures.
I have a feeling I had — or soon would have — a lot in common with this animal. Hey, buddy, caffeine makes you pee and believe me, if you stop to use the facilities at Bojangles’ you won’t have the most comfortable experience. Piss all over the toilets. Both of them. Rolls of toilet paper that look like they’ve fallen into troughs of raccoon feces. I don’t even want to know what the men’s room looks like. Sometimes it pays to be wild: lift your tail and go where you will, don’t hold it for hours and then wish you’d waited some more.
Not sure what was more disappointing: the status of the bathrooms or the fact that this location was out of honey mustard sauce. They were generous with their BBQ sauce, but I’m fairly certain the BBQ doesn’t compare to the sweet and tart honey mustard. But then, maybe not; Justin said he’d rather me come straight home than stop at another location to pick some up (I offered).
The chicken supremes, some biscuits, a container of dirty rice and I all made it back to the District in one piece, despite the fierce battle with traffic that ensued, guaranteeing a happy boyfriend and enough meals of fast food chicken to last a year.

It’s still a toss up for me whether or not Bojangles’ chicken and biscuits are better than Popeyes, but this place has fries that are like crack! The iced tea is usually pretty good too. Sometimes it tastes like not enough sugar was added… or someone failed to give the mix a good stir. This place is almost always busy… especially during lunch, in the evenings, and Sundays after church. Still waiting for a location in the South Side because this is out of the way for me… unless I’m leaving or headed to church. I recently found out there is a location in Hopewell and one in Hanover will be open in April.

Dang, this place is good! I was early for my flight, so when the roadway sign indicated a Bojangles nearby, I decided to swing by on my way to the airport. I had the three piece wing dinner with dirty rice. The chicken was perfectly seasoned and fried and the dirty rice was a dynamite savory side.
The neighborhood is just on the edge of sketchy, so my recommendation is to use the drive thru. However, definitely put this Bojangle’s on your fried chicken craving list.

The best time to visit this eatery is 6pm on Friday because that’s the busiest time and the likelihood of getting your ass shot is lower, say 80%. This is the mecca of Bojangles and doesn’t fit the surrounding ‘stores’ but who cares? Chicken! Chicken! Dirty Rice! Bo-​Berry biscuits are worth the stab-​wound… Roll the dice, bitches and get some of that!