Atlas Chicken Shack - Geneva — Restaurant in Geneva Township

Summary: Tenders OK, rest not. Significant QC and Work Flow Issues

Just finished our meal after our first-ever visit. Sunday night. Walked in 5:25pm, order in/ticket printed 5:31. Walked out with food 6:03.

Food:

Ordered 15 pack of tenders with 4 sauces, hamburger, and rice and beans.

Tenders: Enjoyed corn breading Cooked to proper temp (still moist) Stands on its own without sauces

Sauces: BBQ was pretty tasty, nice tang Honey mustard was fairly standard tasting Green chili sauce was a tomatillo base. Decent heat but missing something (lime?) to round it out. Just kind of fell flat on taste profile. That's just personal preference though. Paprika mayo was pretty bland

Hamburger: Charred to the point of bitterness Overdone by a long shot

Beans and Rice: Bland and under-seasoned Menu states "poblano rice" but zero poblano flavor, or really any flavor Small portion

To the QC/Work Flow issues...

Sign on front door stating no wings. Fine, that happens sometimes, but Sunday is also Wing Special day apparently... a poor day to run out. That said, while we were waiting for food they took a phone order and we explicitly heard the employee tell caller that yes they had wings and took a large wing order.

No greeting or acknowledgement walking in. Confusion at counter while a customer stood near register. We thought we were waiting in line for service while we could have walked right up to place order. Took over 5 minutes for register employee to acknowledge the room and figure out who was next to order (despite apparently doing nothing else).

Watching kitchen work... multiple outstanding tickets printed but virtually no sense of urgency or prompt action. The kitchen staff felt almost confused at times. At one point observed one employee sitting on the side of the restaurant for a lengthy period while the other was working away. It became apparent they were dealing with numerous orders including take-out, eat ins, call-aheads, and delivery orders, a rush as it were. I understand all employees might not be trained in all functions, and people need breaks once in a while, but with the backlog of work going on and only 3 employees seen during entire visit)... well, I see why they badly need additional employees, but it didn't seem an appropriate time to see only one employee actively working.

Frustrating to see orders of customers entering after us (not call-ahead) fulfilled before us. Again, I get it happens, and we had a larger order of tenders... but we watched our tenders sit while it waited on the hamburger to get done. This goes to work flow. That said...

A 30+ minute wait from ticket to completion for a bunch of tenders and a burger is just not acceptable (let alone the small pile of rice and beans). While the tenders were decent, they weren't good enough to accept that kind of wait. Honestly got antsy about getting a parking ticket (parked in the 15 minute spot outside the restaurant because we believed it would be a quick in and out).

Burger served without pickles

Slushie maker out of service

We will return at some point and hopefully will have a better experience, but we're a...

I try to write informational and honest personal reviews. Pulling up on the drive, this business is located on army trail road in the same strip mall as beef shack one the opposite end. It is new construction, pleasant to the eye and super clean. Staff is extremely polite. I called to place my order to pick up. 10 piece chicken wings Sauce Ranch, paprika Mayo, honey mustard Sprout and Jicama slaw with citrus 1side of black beans and rice. French fries 1pina colada non booze slush 1cherry non booze slush

My critique will start with the positives: The slush was delicious. I savored it an hour after I got home just cold and icy. The $5 cost is easily seen because the ingredients are fresh, no food coloring, ice blend good quality.

This food menu is based on buying sauces to flavor your food. The sauces were delicious and dipping suitable for fries. The slaw was fresh, I would recommend adding extra citrus for adequate flavor. The black beans and rice is a small one portion Chinese box similar to Panda Express small size. The beans were loose without a gravy and packed on top of short grain white rice. It was properly cooked and plain flavored to either be a pallet cleanser or to mix with your own separate sauce. My final critique is on the chicken wings. They are plain in flavor and fried hard not greasy. Because we bought mild sauces, although the ranch is super delicious, I felt for mild sauce flavors, the chicken didn’t pair well. I hope they consider a sauce thats like a mild barbecue, garlic herb Parmesan, or sweet n sour. I’m going to assume maybe the wings are designed to be paired with hotter sauces? We didn’t try the chicken tenders because I was seeking a non breaded chicken. For your reference, most of the restaurants in the area serve processed breaded wings. If they serve non-breaded it’s very oily.

This restaurant did properly cook their chicken. It is served plain in an open white box Chinese container. I would recommend using a wax paper or a box that can be closed. The heat disintegrated the brown paper bag in 15 min commute.

I can see lines out the door in the summer for their slush. Wishing this new business...

Despite my five-star rating, there are some negatives about this place. I'll get those out of the way first, then the good stuff!

NEGATIVES:

Like the rest of downtown Geneva, parking here is awful. The place is tiny and not easy to spot while driving; you may want to look up Street View beforehand so you know what to look for. There's a brief flight of stairs to enter the place, but no ramp, so it's not wheelchair-accessible. There's no public restroom. The seating is negligible. Don't plan on eating AT this place; you'll probably have to do carryout. Despite frequent requests, they do NOT toss any chicken in any sauce.

Other than those items, everything else is AWESOME! They make all their own sauces (about 10 options). I've only had the buffalo and the BBQ. The buffalo is terrific, but warning: it's probably hotter than any buffalo sauce you've ever had. The BBQ sauce is OUT OF THIS WORLD; it's the best BBQ sauce I've ever had! The chicken fingers are BY FAR the best fast-food chicken I've ever had, in fact better than most chicken, period, even at fancy restaurants. They also have bone-in wings here, and grilled chicken, but I haven't had those yet. The fries are pretty good too.

If you want OUTSTANDING fried chicken tenders and homemade sauces, you can't...