Chickadee's — Restaurant in Amsterdam

As a fellow American I'm glad to finally have something to scratch my Raising Cane's itch. Unfortunately RC's was never a 5/5 type place for me and neither can this be. The chicken itself, while tender and juicy with nice crispy breading is bland and entirely carried by the sauces. Each serving of sauce is an additional charge and one serving isn't enough to get through a combo (I like to use a lot of sauce for both my fries and tenders) which in my opinion, should include at least one sauce. To their credit, the sauces are great, particularly the chickadee sauce, which is a typical fry sauce much like Cane's.

The Nashville hot seasoning is very much tuned for the Dutch palate and I found it to be very underwhelming and didn't help the under-seasoned chicken very much. Had this on both the burger and the tenders.

The fries are very good and well seasoned, which unfortunately makes the blandness of the chicken stand out even more.

The only thing I haven't had here is the bone-in fried chicken and frankly I'm not inclined to if it is just as bland as the other chicken and this one doesn't get by with the sauce excuse as classic fried chicken should be able to stand on it's own and I already know the Nashville seasoning isn't going to help it much.

One point of constructive criticism I have is that when getting the tenders while dining in, they are served fresh directly out of the fryer. I would recommend letting them rest for a bit on a wire rack before serving as they are still oozing liquid which gets the breading soggy while it sits in the paper tray. They're too hot to eat right away anyway so letting them cool and dry off a bit can only help.

Just had to keep it real for any other Americans who were hoping for some good southern fried chicken. This ain't quite it. The glazing comments are crazy but I guess this is what works well here. Europeans really must have the most sensitive palates...

MUST GO!!! I first ordered chickadee’s for delivery and was absolutely blown away by it so I came into the shop to try it. When ordering for delivery, it completely exceeded any expectations I had. I ordered the Nashville Hot Chicken and it came crunchy and crispy with plenty of seasoning, a slice of bread to soak up those juices and some pickle slices. Having had this, I had to try it in person.

As we walked in we had a very warm welcome from the owner who’s from Nashville. We ended up ordering some fries, a Nashville Hot Chicken Sandwich, Nashville Hot Chicken, some ranch, chickadees sauce and dill pickles.

This was by the far the best fried chicken I’ve had in Amsterdam and maybe even Europe. It’s on par with some of the great spots in the US. Let me get into some details here.

The sandwich comes on some very soft and buttery brioche buns, with some pickles and I think chickadees sauce. The chicken is crispy and tender gives you a crunchy and juicy bite packed with seasoning and flavour. I could’ve had 3 more sandwiches right then and there. I ended up adding some ranch and chickadees sauce to it increase that flavour bomb and it was insane.

Next up the Nashville Hot Chicken, fried to perfection and seasoned to expert taste. You get that crunchy, juicy, seasoned bite each time and it’s absolutely amazing. That batter is for real, you get some serious crunch. I recommend pairing it with a sauce like the ranch. At the end you get all those juices to be soaked up by the piece of bread which is sublime!

As for the sauces they’re also top tier, love the ranch and the chickadees. Will definitely come back here and try the tenders next time.

Would highly recommend if you’re looking for an American style fried chicken spot in Amsterdam. It literally does not get...

Wow, what a disappointment.

tldr - Soggy breading, bland chicken served room temperature. Only positive was I felt it was a lot of quantity for the price, and their sauces were ok.

Full review: I've seen this place do a social media push in recent weeks. As someone who sorely misses Biscuit Baby, I was excited to have a fried chicken alternative in Amsterdam.

I arrived in the evening and the place was quite messy. The tables and floors were not being cleaned. Not a huge deal for me to be honest, but not great considering everything else.

My friend and I ordered the regular and hot chicken sandwiches, both with fries, along with the Chickadee Sauce and ranch. The Chickadee Sauce I think is ketchup, mayo, and some seasoning (a la Canes sauce) - but not very flavorful. The ranch was good.

But man, the chicken. Our chicken arrived room temperature and under seasoned. The batter was soggy (and we didn't order delivery, we ate it fresh at the restaurant).

The hot seasoning was better than the normal, but both need salt, and even that addition left them very unremarkable. The texture of the batter was gummy, not crunchy.

I was really confused at the disconnect between review and reality - then I heard the kitchen staff asking the customers to please leave positive reviews. I have to think that's partly the cause for the major miss of expectation vs reality.

If you're an American who misses the tastes of home, I'm sorry to say this "authentically American" spot really ain't it, despite the marketing hype...