Chicken Express — Restaurant in Arlington

As a former GM over two locations, and a trainer who worked directly with the company's founder opening new locations... I was quite disappointed with my recent visit to this store. The kitchen was messy, the back of house prep line was cluttered and messy, the "peanut butter" (they will know what this means) box was within sight, oily and visibly leaking. The tub of tenders that was on top of the prep station while I ordered was STILL up there when I was done with my meal... not refrigerated or handled safely. There were storage boxes at the last table near the restrooms, which were not cleaned recently and trash overflowing. The cook handled raw food, then his personal drink (in the kitchen area), and then handled raw food again without hand washing in between. The gravy cup provided with tenders was only a little over half full ... other locations started using smaller cups, this ine still has the original size but seems to be only partially filling them (seen this on more than one recent visit). This location is one of the "older" designs but some updating is visible. It needs to be better maintained... much needed deep cleaning should also be a top priority. I've been here several times and always enjoyed it... but this most recent visit has me concerned that this location may be in decline. I always order a variety of food (reciept provided) to sample each and get my "fix" in one visit. This time, the tenders were decent, but obviouslynot as fresh as preferred and the breast was a little dry suggestingit was also not very fresh the fries were great but the rolls were slightly hard. I LOVE chicken E, always have... but I have concerns about returning to this location...

This location is the closes one to my home and most of the time they've given my 3 kiddos and me some great food. The service is the same some are more friendly than others but either or I'm good as long as my food is fresh, my order is correct, and the deals are good. That said last night(2-25-21) after getting off earlier than normal I was finally able to make it to this location before it closed. The person who took my order was ok I could tell she was pressed because she made sure to tell me what they didn't have(Reg Chicken Tenders) and that if I ordered, they would take 10-15 minutes and they close at 10pm. My kids and I Loveeeee there Chicken Tenders both Regular/Spicy and since it had been some time since I've gotten to leave the hospital early I said I would still like some Regular and Spicy Tenders plz. She said you want to wait of which I said yes and I pulled around, paid, and waited. It wasn't until I made it home that we realized that the Reg were over seasoned and barely had any batter on them and the Spicy were spongy, they weren't fresh AT ALL. Only good out of this visit was the corn nuggets and our drinks, I understand that it was late (9:50pm) I got there as quickly and safely as I could(it was raining), but it's very disheartening to see people gladly take your money and be perfectly okay with giving you, ugly service and nasty food, food that ain't even close to what they would...

I only gave them 1 star because it wouldn’t let me post my review without one but believe me this was a -20 star visit!

My husband went in and ordered a 12pc wing special @ 9:20p.m. He was told that it would be a 20 minute wait for the wings. I already wasn’t excited about having to wait this long but I figured @ least we’d have fresh chicken. Well my son who is 8 was thirsty and went to the counter to ask for a cup for water. Can you believe he was told the cups are 25 cents?!?!?! I went in and questioned why he was being charged 25 cents for a cup when we are having to wait 20 mins for CHICKEN from a CHICKEN PLACE!

The young lady behind the counter gave me attitude and rolled her eyes as I questioned her. THAT right there helped me decide to get a refund. As if that wasn’t enough, the “manager” never said a word in response to the young lady’s actions but rather asked for my card to do the refund, with still nothing to say!

I have NEVER before this day AND WILL NEVER after today, do business with this store!

How absolutely RUDE can you be! Oh and trust me, it wasn’t that we didn’t have 25 cents, it was the principle that unfortunately many don’t understand or simply...