Slim Chickens — Restaurant in Crawley

First impressions were pretty good, restaurant was clean and Queue was stretching out of the door so obviously they are busy, i thought this is usually a good sign?! Staff on the door was nice. Ordered our meals on the screen along with bottomless drinks - 18:33. Sat down at a booth with our table number card thing - 18:35. Food came fairly swiftly, but the order was wrong. The lady asked "was there anything else you ordered". I mentioned that we also ordered some fried onions and two bottomless drinks, only to then be told that their bottomless machine was not working, we were then provided with 1x 330ml can of coke.... I'm certainly not an oxford professor or dictionary, but I do not believe this to be the definition of 'bottomless'. We were told that the fried onions would be with us shortly, so we waited (take note of how many apologies we were given - I am always thorough with my reviews as to dissuade misinformation) We tucked into our meals and awaited out fried onions. The chips were hot and fresh and seasoned well. However for the main event - the chicken. The restaurant was busy, so you'd think that the food would be fresh enough.... NOPE. The coating was stale, not crunchy. And the inside was almost room temperature and so so so dry. It really is a shame as we have eaten at Slim Chickens Southampton multiple times and we're so excited that one has opened closer to us, however the entire experience was entirely different! The sauces were good, so at least that hasn't changed. 18:45 - Went up to the counter and asked how long the fried onions were going to be, she said she'd bring them right away. Went back to the table to finish our meals. 18:55 - Went back up to ask them about the fried onions once again, told that they would bring them to our table. By this time we had finished our meals and we're just waiting on the fried onions... I have them the benefit of the doubt and waiting until 19:10, at which point I went up to the bar for the third time and asked for a refund (we had to leave to go to a movie). I stated that it does not take nearly 40 minutes to fry some onions and we had seen multiple other tables receiver their order of fried onions - so it is simply a mystery as to why we did not receive ours... at which point the lady said "Well i did tell the kitchen to make them"... I'm sorry but this is not a valid excuse! I come from a customer service background and this is utterly appalling!!! I know it sounds stupid, but it shows how disorganised, untrained and disrespectful this establishment is. I will return in a few months, by then I hope that the staff are better trained on how to approach these situations and i hope the food is better - we all make mistakes but resolving them and how we resolve them is what ALWAYS stands out the most to...

I'm glad we went here. Great food, we were served quickly and an easy ordering process. I am looking forward to coming back to try more of the menu. The selection of sauces was great!

Some constructive points (I recognise the place has recently opened, so teething problems are expected, but there are some areas for improvement which will hopefully be reviewed/taken on board by management):

The cheap kitchen rolls on the tables were not appealing/showed evidence of previous customers touching them (greasy fingers). Perhaps worth considering investing in napkin dispensers on each table for hygiene reasons.

Table numbers could be larger/clearer. Staff clearly struggled to locate tables and were walking back and forth trying to identify which table they had to deliver to.

Staff could have been more engaging. No-one was rude, but the team could have been warmer/could have spoken at all or at least above a whisper when bringing food to your table.

Staff general conduct could be better/more professional. We observed colleagues belching loudly and giggling within earshot of multiple customers, one staff member wearing Earphones in one ear and others on their phones on the shop floor while another colleague was working hard cleaning the tables and interacting well with customers. I'm not sure if staff have a break area or staff room so this may explain why staff were on the shop floor. Perhaps a colleague break area could be indicated with a sign (as seen in other restaurants). We also observed a colleague pulling faces to another staff member about a customer they were speaking with on the phone. These might seem trivial, but I don't see this in other restaurants.

Toilet cubicle seats were wonky/did not seem secured properly.

Despite the above points, I'd like to reiterate how much we like this new venue and look forward to coming back. Hopefully, these easy fixes/quick wins are addressed soon, which would improve the customer...

Very disappointed!!! The place itself is well decorated, has nice vibes, staff seem friendly, easy to use service. It all seemed fine until the food arrived.

Firstly, some of our meals came with chips. There were around 10 of us and all of our chips came pre salted, and boy did they pour the salt! The chips were inedible after a few bites, and could literally see the salt piled at the bottom of the tray! Why not just make it and let customers apply their own salt like most places do?

I also had a spicy chicken burger. It looked nice, size was ok, but again, everything changed after the first bite. The chicken was cooked fine, but a little dry. But the burger was doused in this tangy sauce which took away all the flavour. All I could taste was this horrible, overpowering tangy taste which ruined the burger.

For kids meals, my kids had something which in normal circumstances would be one of their favourites, macaroni cheese. Again, this looked fine until they took a bite. One child rejected it after the second bite, the second child rejected it after the 4th spoon. After failing to convince my kids to eat anymore, I took a bite and realised why. It's was flavourless and makes the stuff in a supermarket tin look like a Michelin star dish in comparison!

Some of the others in the group had a few other options like boneless chicken and don't recall them enjoying their meals much. One of them literally ate just the one piece.

Overall, the place looks nice, but the food is terrible! I will not be convinced to return any time soon! The only reason it got 2 stars instead of 1, is because the service was good. Otherwise the food alone is...