Raising Cane's Chicken Fingers — Restaurant in Albuquerque

I couldn't resist to give this place a try and see what the hype was all about so I showed up on grand opening day to see what it's about. Immediately found parking as crazy as it sounds at 5pm when I arrived. They had security guards directing traffic. The setting is far cooler then Chik-Fil-A inside and has personality and makes a connection to Albuquerque with its art. The menu could do better in variety, make spicy strips and add more sides, more sauce, more sides. The menu is very minimal. The sauce is good it tastes like Freddy's sauce with more of a peppery taste. The prices are high - I got a sample for me so I ordered a kids meal. I got 2 strips and a small serving of fries for 6.00 which in my opinion is over priced. The prices get much higher for actual meals and so on. I didn't get any bread in the kids meal so I can't comment on that. The strips were very small. They were really good I thought however. Fries are basic and nothing to get excited about. I would imagine if Canes was serious they would make larger chicken fingers since that is their signature and that's the only thing in the menu practically. Is it good? Yes. Is it overrated? Yes. Would I go back? Probably if they expand their menu and made real sized chicken fingers that lived up to it's name. It does have potential to get better and live up to it's name, will it or will it just stay as is? My biggest piece of advice is step up your game with your menu options and make the tenders live up their hype and their prices you charge and offer better service. I don't think it's that bad but it's also not that great and I don't think it lives up to the hype (outside the sauce which I did enjoy). Churches Chicken strips beat Canes all day...

Cains just opened their first two locations in ABQ. This one, on Wyoming, seems to always be hopping. On my most recent trip, the drive through was very long so we parked at the Walmart and walked over to avoid having to drive through the line to park.

Once inside, we were able to order pretty quick but it got very busy right after we ordered they had 3 or 4 stations open and were moving pretty quick, but it's just so busy right now.

The restaurant was clean and had plenty of seating. Most of the people there seemed to be carry out orders. We got our drinks and waited for about 10 minutes. Not too bad considering how busy it was.

Cains chicken is interesting. It's very lightly, but very crisply, battered. The outside almost reminds me of corn flakes. Light, delicate, very crunchy. But, here's the thing: The chicken and the batter on their own have very little flavor. Minimal salt and spices (though not NONE; it does have some taste). So that means the chicken flavor is pretty pure, but also pretty bland. The chicken itself is very tender. The sauce is critical, and when combined with the crispy texture makes it a decent combo. But i don't love it. I think KFC and Popeyes have better flavored chicken, without needing sauce.

The fries are ok, nothing special. The meals are massive. I actually thing the move is to order the strips a la carte, and a drink and sauce. The meals come with Texas toast and Cole slaw along with fries and chicken and are just way too big.

Anyway, there you have it. Lots of hoopla over a new place. I actually wish I could give 3.5 stars, that would...

My son absolutely loves Raising Cane's. I don't even really like chicken and I'll get food from here because it's actually good. I really like the slice of buttered bread that comes with my meal (we get the caniac combo). My son doesn't really like the bread so I always take his bread too, then you can put the chicken strips on one, dump some Cane's signature dipping sauce on the chicken then top it off with the other slice of buttery bread and make a yummy sandwich. I took my 80 year old grandpa to Raising Cane's for his first time trying it and he said that it's so good he will have to get it more often. However, we do not get it too often as it's expensive and frankly not that good for you considering it's almost 1800 calories just for one caniac combo and has around 3200 milligrams of sodium! Wow! So, you could have one caniac combo and probably be done eating for the day unless you are super active and burn a lot of calories in your day. As far as sodium is concerned, it's already above the recommended daily limit for an adult, so you would have to limit the rest of your sodium intake for the day. Let's just end by saying that it's a delicious treat for occasional purposes but not something you want to eat regularly. It tastes great but isn't so great for your body, like most things that...