Chick-fil-A — Restaurant in Federal Way

This was my wife's first time trying CfA.

I prefaced our lunchtime visit with my initial take on CfA.

I thought it was okay.

Nothing special, I've always been more perplexed by the public's general praise and elevation of the fast food chain's status to near celestial and godlike, than concerned with my own take which falls grossly outside of the populous vote.

No. It's a chicken place with chicken kine foods.

And truth be told, I fancy a McChicken over the offerings, and price, of CfA. (Yes, I said it)

But I digress. The fam went to CfA for the first time.

My first time to a CfA was a solo venture. My first opinion was based solely on the combo meal I ate. This review and experience now includes the cost and quality from feeding a family of 4.

A kid's meal runs about $6. Should be good, right? Should be adequate at $6 to feed our 9 year old. Right?

I'm just going to give you a word of advice, if you're buying for any average sized child with an average sized appetite, this 'meal' is not going to fill them, not even close. There should be a disclaimer on the kids meal menu, not for children over the age of 3. I'm not sure where CfA got their definition of a chicken nugget, but these were not nuggets. No. CfA gives kids popcorn chicken. 4 bite sized bits of popcorn chicken. $6.

I will applaud CfA for their substitution of fresh fruit bowls in the place of their signature waffle cut fries, but it's far too late, and Far too little.

On to the adult entrees. It's chicken.

My son got the chicken strips. Much in the same lane as the children's popcorn chicken kids meal, the chicken strips seemed to be lacking. Perhaps these were cornish hen strips, but certainly, not a well fed, of age, plump chicken. $9, and our 14 year old son also left hungry.

I've spoken before about my opinion of the sandwiches. I got the deluxe spicy chicken combo. Somewhere between $9-$10. I prefer the spicy chicken sandwich from Wendy's over all other fastfood offerings. Behind Wendy's, Popeyes delivers a delicious spicy chicken sandwich, followed by Jack in the Box. The CfA spicy chicken offering does have a slice of legit pepperjack cheese on it. I also like the bun. Everything else, to me, is just okay... and grossly overpriced.

So, why does everyone love Chick-fil-A?? Really, why? I don't get the hype.

Our meal cost more than $30, and that's with my wife also ordering a kid's meal.

2 kids meals, 2 basic combos. $30 +, and my entire family left feeling hungry, I even joked that perhaps we could run through McDonald's to pick up a couple of McChickens! (We didn't, just a joke...)

One last gripe, for all fast food chains... if you haven't already done so, please, I implore you... move your soda dispensing drink refilling station to OUT from behind the counter. CfA, like some other chains, still have the drink station behind the counter... this is simply medieval, cheap, and impedes the overall customer experience, for those waiting to order, as well as for me, who now must wait in line each time I'd like to refill my cup.

On the plus side, to wrap up on a positive note; the customer service at CfA is second to none. Super friendly, genuine engagement, polite, courteous, 10 stars for the customer service and the employees! Minus 7 stars for the rest of the experience... the average food, the high prices, the wait times due to the hype train that is driving drivers of new and faithful customers in to your restaurants.

Well done CfA, I applaud you, but I won't be dining with you again anytime in the foreseeable future. We paid for a meal, but were served appetizers, and my wife left just as perplexed as me, as to your fame and your fan's...

Today just changed my opinion of this location. I remember when it first opened and the main thing that always stood out was the great customer service and just how friendly everyone was, even saying my pleasure. Today however we placed an Uber eats order and unfortunately one of our sandwiches had a long black hair in the melted cheese. We called the restaurant to let them know that we would like to bring it back to get a replacement. The person on the phone said there was nothing they could do. We decided to go there and when we walked in no one greeted us, in fact multiple employees just looked right at us without saying anything. Finally someone asked if they could help us, we asked to speak with the manager. We waited a few minutes then a young lady comes out and says she is the one we spoke to on the phone. We showed her the hair that was still in the cheese of the sandwich, she went on to say that it’s their policy that 3rd party orders need to go through Uber. I explained I just want a replacement sandwich. With resistance she finally agreed. I felt very un valued as a customer who’s been eating at this location for years now. The quality of the food staff and customer service has really gone down hill and I really think it’s time to bring in someone to fix the issues before they get worse and that location get a bad reputation. The store was dirty, piles of ice on the ground which is a safety hazard. No one was wearing mask or hair nets that I could see, it really just felt like there’s no true leadership in that restaurant. If this review is read by someone who is involved with this establishment please take my concerns seriously and fix these issues before it get out of hand. Ps look out for hair...

The food has always been fresh and great tasting. The service has generally been wonderful with some of the friendliest folks in the fast food industry. Chick-fil-a is my go to fast food restaurant, but my recent visits to this location have been chaotic and stressful. This location recently implemented a mobile order lane to their current 3-lane order queue. I was ecstatic, I always place my orders through the mobile app for both convenience and rewards through their app.

Before the dedicated lane, I would have to wait for everyone else to figure out what they want, order, and pay before I could move through the line. My first couple trips through the new lane were great, it was always open and moved me through the line quickly. However, over my last few visits it seems this location has abandoned all requirements for a mobile order lane despite having signage stating otherwise.

I have had to wait 5-10 minutes for people to order before I get to move through, which completely negates having a mobile order ONLY lane. When asked, the employees don’t care and seem annoyed.

At this point, just remove the sign and turn it back into a regular lane, or do what you should have done in the first place, and enforce the mobile order requirement. It wouldn’t take but having one of your employees direct cars to the appropriate lane depending on their order method.

I hope to see this improve with time but I have my doubts.

9/30/23 Edit*

This location has removed the mobile order lane entirely, shocker. Hope to see it return one day with...