Popeyes Louisiana Chicken — Restaurant in Gateshead

Me and my husband tried this on Thursday night when it was quiet at the new Gateshead Metrocentre branch and it was absolutely amazing, we had heard loads of good things from friends and family so we decided to give it a go and we couldn’t believe how nice it was! In fact we were so amazed that we then decided to go back again tonight only this time with it being a Saturday night it was much busier. The first sign it was going to be a poor experience was the fact that despite me ordering before my husband, his order came out before mine. He said his fries were stale, I waited 20 minutes and then chased my order up which appeared to have gone missing. When it finally came out I did not enjoy the food at all, infact it was so bad that it was inedible. I ordered the deluxe spicy chicken sandwich meal, the previous time I had the normal spicy chicken sandwich, the deluxe is literally no different to the normal one except for a slither of plastic cheese! The chicken had a weird and rubbery texture which made me uncomfortable and the Cajun gravy was cold. The refillable fizzy drinks are also very watered down and have no taste. In the end I just took the half eaten tray of food back and asked for a refund as it was £13 and that’s a lot of money. Their chicken is tasteless inside, KFC chicken is nicer. The staff are very nice and friendly here which is about the only positive I can give them and they were apologetic. My original review of this place was absolutely glowing and 5 stars but based on tonight’s experience I’ve had to knock them down to 2 stars. We won’t be visiting again as sadly they seem to very inconsistent, amazing on a quiet day but very poor on a busy day. At least with KFC they are consistent and we’ve never had a meal there so poor that we’ve had to ask for a refund. We won’t be returning to Popeye’s. I had to go and buy a Tesco meal deal afterwards! I just feel like since Covid so many places have gone downhill, it wasn’t like...

I'm not too sure if it was all the hype around this store opening that set high expectations but I have to say I have ended up being extremely disappointed...

Ordered a classic burger, chips and drink for around £10, I saw the deluxe but from the photos on the order booth they just didn't look any different? I was immediately disappointed with the burger, it was literally a piece of chicken (albeit a big piece!) in a squashed up bun along with the most tiny bit of sauce possible and 2 extremely sorry for themselves pieces of pickled cucumber... No salad, nothing at all and it just looked a bit sad. Taste wise I didn't get much, rather bland, especially when comparing to KFC. The chips weren't fluffy and instead rather hard and almost stale, they didn't taste terrible so if done right they would have been great I imagine.

I also got 5 wings which were OK, nothing special but at £4 for 5 they just don't have anything on KFC in taste or price.

There was also quite a large amount of excess batter/coating which whilst crispy held quite alot of grease so any bite into this part of the chicken didn't taste good and left a greasy feel in the mouth. I had to remove quite a bit.

Overall very disappointing first experience, the seasoning and taste of the chicken was sub par compared to other establishments (although chicken was juicy, which I was thankful for going with my tiny spatter of sauce I got). Secondly if its the deluxe burger that comes with salad then paying an extra £2 on a pricey burger for that privelage is very cheeky... For the total price of the food (£15 for burger and a few wings in a fast food outlet) and this experience it will take quite a bit to get me back through their door as a returning customer.

Must mention though, place looked great, order was quick and staff were...

So we were the only 2 customers there, possibly first of the day. We were excited to order and get a feel for the new opened place but the manager asked us to order from the self service because people “eat with their eyes”. I ordered the deluxe spicy chicken burger, the hot wings, strawberry milkshake and vanilla ice-cream to get a real feel for it. The food was ready quite quick which was great as we were on our lunch break, we asked for staff discount but the manager didn’t want to give it to us. We got back to our store and the food was nothing to hype about, it doesn’t have anything that makes it better or more exciting than slim chicken, kfc or dixy chicken for that matter. They got my order wrong and the portions were tiny. My milkshake cup had room for a lot more and the ice cream was bland. The hot wings were tiny and so was the burger. The only thing more irritating than the waste of money was the constant beg for a 5 star review from the manager. The only thing that gave this place a 1 star was the crunch of the chicken. I will not be recommending this place to anyone, I’ve let all me colleagues know and all of them agree with this review. Very very...