Popeyes Louisiana Chicken — Restaurant in Chelmsford

My partner had wanted to try Popeye's with me since it opened and we finally had the chance to go and eat in.

It wasn't particularly busy when we walked in and the ordering experience was easy, thanks to the "self service" machines, although I did notice that the menu was quite limited. As for the prices, they were mostly on par with comparative items from KFC.

After we sat down though I immediately noticed one of the staff members looking like they would rather be anywhere but there, going back and forth between doing table service and cleaning.

When it came time for our food, it was the same staff member and they slapped the tray down on our table without saying a word and immediately went back to their routine, before we could even mutter a "thank-you".

I have nothing against this particular staff member and do not wish repercussions on them, but clearly they needed a break from cleaning up after lazy customers who couldn't even be bothered to put their trays by the bins and having "SERVICE" shouted at them across the dining floor.

A minor thing is that the sauces were missing from our order too and although the person I spoke to at the counter was friendly, they said it was because they were "very busy" (what I heard), when there were probably only 15-20 diners in the whole restaurant.

Understaffed, or simply overworked?

As for the food itself, it really missed the mark. I would say it was "piping hot", but quite honestly for the first couple of minutes it was far too hot to even put in my mouth without risking singing my palate (I can handle hot food too), which is ironic, given the usual state of "fast food". My chicken strips/bites, despite being boiling hot were incredibly rubbery and it made me think they had been cooked previously and thrown in the microwave for a few minutes too long to re-heat. I could barely even taste the breading either. My partner's chicken burger seemed a lot better**, but I only took a single bite, so can't say a lot on the matter. I honestly can't remember the fries, so no opinion on those.

The best part of the meal on my side was the Speculoos milkshake; that was tasty.

**Now, I said my partner's burger seemed a lot better, however shortly after returning home, she, to put it nicely, "orally evacuated" it. As I said, I only took a small bite of it, so I can't say for certain whether it was dodgy food, or just bad luck, but she was certainly more than put off.

Overall, we can't say it was a very pleasant experience eating here and I'm certainly not going to rush back. Despite the greasiness, I think I'll be...

I was originally put off by the higher prices, but decided to treat myself and try this. I am vegetarian and the only mains option is a burger with no drink or meal deal options, with the burger on its own costing the same as you would get a burger and a drink together from a different famous chicken restaurant chain. If they had a meal deal which included a vegetarian burger and drink, I would be more tempted to go back. The burger was good, but nothing special for the money and would have been better if the bun was toasted and crispy, as it seemed a bit cold and limp. I also tried the lotus biscoff milkshake, where I was expecting a caramel flavoured milkshake, but it just tasted plain vanilla, until the last little bit where the biscoff crumbs also got stuck in the straw making it impossible to drink using the straw. I also tried the biscuit and gravy, which I enjoyed but there was far too much gravy for one small biscuit and no spoons to eat the remaining gravy which made it very, very messy. The female member of staff in the tables area was great. Being vegetarian it would take longer to cook my meal, so she came over and told me there would be a wait and asked if that was OK which was good, and also asked me how it was and took my tray away when I had finished the meal. The store is doing a big "spin the wheel" promotion to win prizes where you can scan a QR code on the receipt on your phone with ads all over the self service machines and screens. After scanning the code, I was just taken to a "feed it back" front page website where the Popeyes restaurant is not even shown in the list of places there. I asked the member of staff about this when I collected the tray of food at the counter (I am not really sure the point of having the Table Number cards you take from the self service machines, when you have to collect your own tray and they call out the order number on the receipt instead) and he said he would ask someone, but then never followed it up with me. I also asked the lady when she took my tray at the end of the meal and she said to wait a while and it would work later, but a day later and it is still taking me to the same feed it back website, with no wheel showing, so the main reason for the review rating is heavily advertising a promotion which...

What can I say, visited the Chelmsford Poyeyes last night and had to wait till this morning to post my review because concerned view would be affected by the way I feel. Food was great! but dear god the way the young staff members are treated was like watching a per 1940’s sweatshop in force. The management shouting as the staff out on the floor for standing there when nothing to do, VERY UNPROFESSIONAL!!!!! As a rule I eat my meal and leave, but felt compelled to stay and watch to see if this torment continued, during the hour I was there I witnessed the same grey shirted person which I can only assume is a manager. Come out from his hole to shout and the staff 4 times during this hour, then proceed to go out the front of the shop for a social meeting with a member of the public and a quick smoke. Fear seems to be the key management training for this company. If you want to eat here would recommend getting delivered or a takeaway, but from other views that could be hit and miss. 2 stars were given as food great but left with a bitter taste in my month due to the way staff treated. They maybe young but that is no reason to treat them that way. You could have future managers in your mist treat them well if you want to keep them. If not carry on and McDonald’s will happily...