Chica's Chicken — Restaurant in Toronto

So where do I start? This is one of those places that gets popular, thanks to social media. Overrated, barely average. A restaurant is not just a place to eat but also an experience. I came across this place via Instagram and been following it since this place opened. Been wanting to go here, dreaming about the juicy, thick chicken, reading all these great reviews about this place and what not. But I never had the chance because I live far. It's about a 45 min drive for me to get to this place. Maybe you've driven 2 hours to get here but over 30 minutes for average food is far for me. First, there is street parking that you gotta pay for. I thought 45 minutes should be enough time. 20 to get the food, 20 to eat and 5 to spare. And so I went inside. I was a bit surprised by the condition of this store. It was filthy. There was dust on the fans rotating on top of you, on top of speakers lightly blasting, on the door, windows. Basically it was everywhere. I went with my wife, kinda embarrassed by the condition of this place but decided to give it a try anyway since I came just for this chicken. Although, there are tonnes of food places around. The guy asks me what I need and tells me it will be 20-25 minutes. I ordered 2 sandwiches. I thought that's okay, it's not that bad, I'll wait. After 20 minutes, they asked me to come up and pay so I was hoping my food is now ready but guess what? I was told it will be another 20-25 minutes. Not wanting to be rude, I nicely told the guy that I paid for only 45 minutes of parking and it's already been 20 so hoping I can get my food sooner. He said he'll try. I got my food after 42 minutes. Instead of sitting down to enjoy the food, I went out to pay for another 15 minutes of parking...yayyy. I come back hoping...at laaaaast....finally, I can have this chicken I've been thinking about all the time.

Let me be honest, it was not bad. It was good but it wasn't OH MY GOD SOO GOOOD. It was definitely filling though. It was not $13 for a sandwich, good. $7? Yes for sure. It was oily. Very oily. Now hang on a sec, I know what you're thinking. Dude, you're eating fried chicken. OFCOURSE ITS GOING TO BE OILY. lol sure, but they dip the chicken in an oil container AFTER frying it so the spice powder sticks to the chicken. That was a bit disgusting.

To be fair, if this place was cleaned up and maintained properly (I don't think its been cleaned since they opened), and the wait time wasn't as bad (they need to hire more people), and the prices weren't ridiculously high, I wouldn't mind coming here again. If you live close by, don't mind the wait, the dirty place, then the food is actually decent. Maybe takeout is a better option but who wants soggy fried chicken?

What are the 2 stars for? The food and the...

I really wanted to like this. Its had such great reviews and people pumping it so hard on social media. But after getting to the end of the meal (I couldnt make it to the end, the food was so bad). Start with what I got. Cajun waffle fries, deep fried pickles, sweet heat sando. Cajun waffle fries- apparently they are supposed to be made with potatoes? Whatever seasoning they used (mostly just salt) there was more of it layered on than the potato. The only reason i finished these was because there were so few in the serving. Deep fried pickles- do they actually use any pickles in these? all i got was the breading, and the breading had no seasoning. could have taken some of the seasoning from the waffle fries and put them in here. Ontop of the no seasoning, there were hardly pickles in the deep fried batter they used (see pictures). If someone put these infront of me in a blind taste, I would have no idea what im eating.

And finally the chicken sandwich. If this were half decent, Id be able to look past the sides, but it wasnt

Sweet Heat Sando- cold, dry and not alot of meat. easiest way to describe it. its obvious it had been sitting under a heat lamp or some equivalent for a while as the meat was dry and chewey. Then there was whatever sauce they used on it? "sweet heat"... it was neither sweet or hot, just overpowered with molasses.

Again, after eating fried chicken sandwiches from around the city, I will not even consider this again. I couldnt even finish the pickles or the chicken sandwich. I even offered the chicken to my dog, he sniffed it and backed away in disgust (and he was a rescue from the streets).

T anyone wanting a good fried chicken sandwich... The Heartbreak Chef or Chen Chens (in that order). Both are levels above this that doesnt...

I’ve had this place before a few years ago and was overall disappointed but was in the area and decided to stop by again and I’m glad I did.

Things to know: They have 3x Michelin bib gourmand awards for 2022, 2023 and 2024 and are halal aswell.

Now the review: First of all the exterior is bad. Plain and simple. It’s extremely uninviting and super dark so you don’t even know if it’s open. However if you overlook that and go inside you’ll get some really good service. I guess we came in when they weren’t busy but the people who served us were very nice and helpful and told us they’d need 10-15 minutes to make our sandwiches which was accurate. Until this point I was hesitant about the place but then we got the food. We ordered the OG sandwich medium spice on a brioche bun for $1 extra and Cajun waffle fries. The fries were VERY good. I’m not sure what it is but they tasted like a potato chip mixed with a French fry in the best way possible. We got them fresh so I’m sure that had to do with it but I highly recommend the fries. The sandwich was also one of the best chicken sandwiches I’ve ever had. The spice was perfect (although too spicy for my friend who couldn’t finish it) so if you can’t handle spice get mild. The chicken was cooked perfectly, their sauce they put on the sandwich is really good as well and the coleslaw complements the sandwich really well. Overall taste it was basically perfect. There’s nothing that I’d change except maybe a bit more coleslaw as it was lacking a little. Other than that perfect.

Only things I didn’t like overall are that the sandwiches are a bit small for the price ($13 or $14 for mine), and the decor and inside should be nicer. Get more lights inside the place too as they need them badly. Overall I would for sure...