Slim Chickens — Restaurant in Little Rock

Edit: 7/26/24

I wanted to express my thoughts on why I will never spend another dime with your company. About a year ago, I had a poor experience with your Markham location. I wrote a review and stated I would be taking a break and spending my money elsewhere. I also reached out through your company website with my concerns about that visit to which I received a rather lackluster apology from a John Luckett who cited a management change over for the poor performance and offered me coupons in exchange for giving y'all another shot. I decided not to reply to this apology and offer, but rather stick to my convictions and decision. And aside from an order at a different location and ordering food for someone else, I've kept my distance from Slims over this past year.

Then yesterday, I got a text message saying you guys missed me and offered me a BOGO on two adult meals. I thought, why not give the location another shot?! And you know what happened? The exact same problem. The okra was missing! I had to go back inside and ask about it. I was told, "oh we don't have that." No offer of a solution. Then another employee came up and I asked her if I could substitute it. She responded that I could and suggested fried pickles. I agreed and sat down to wait. A few moments later, another woman came out from the back and with a snarky tone asked an employee that was on break, "What's his problem?" pointing at me. I don't know about you but I always find it welcoming as a guest in a restaurant to be referred to as a problem or a person with a problem. I spoke up and told the woman, "Y'all don't have okra and I'm waiting on fried pickles as a substitute." She asked my name and when I replied disappeared into the back. At this point, I went to my car to put my rapidly cooling chicken in a hot bag to keep it as warm as possible while I continued to wait for my pickles. When I returned another lady was having the same issue I was, missing items and was asking about a refund or substitution and a different employee told her, "I don't know if there is anything we can do. I would have to ask."

Finally, I got my small box of fried pickles. I'm almost positive it wasn't a full order. It should have been considering I paid for a regular side of okra. No dipping sauce in the box. I didn't bother asking for ranch because, I was exhausted from this experience and my food in the car was getting cooler by the minute. My food was supposed to be ready for pick up at 7:04 and when I walked out of the store, it was 7:21. Oh, and when I got home, no dipping sauce for the chicken tenders. Perfect!

1 year of not returning to this location just to walk through the door and have the same issue all over again. They say the definition of insanity is trying the same thing over and over again, expecting a different result. As someone who spent over 2 decades in the restaurant business I gotta ask, why would you not tell a guest that you are out of a product before sending them on their way with a missing item? Why wouldn't you offer a substitution or offer them a refund? Twice, it happened to me and it happened to another lady while I was there. How many other guests has this location scammed by not addressing the issue? How many guests haven't realized they didn't get everything they paid for until they returned home? I mean, it tells me this location is intentionally trying to scam guests out of their hard earned money.

I hope whomever reads this takes it to heart. Your chain has a fantastic product. Everything I have ever ordered has tasted amazing. Slims truly have some of the best chicken around. However, the standard and practices of the guest experience, to which you train your employees, is in the gutter. Everything is to expensive for most people nowdays to have this...

TL;DR Review: Rude staff, dirtiest dining room I've seen this year, mediocre food.

You must understand that in my family, I'm the proponent of Slim Chickens. I like it. I like their food, and we've come to this establishment dozens of times in the last five years. My wife is more-or-less ambivalent, but she's the one who makes the more healthy food descisions; so she wouldn't prefer a restaurant that basically just fries every menu item, discounting their salads. So over weeks I dropped hints about wanting Slim Chickens and she eventually caved. On a Sunday. So the kids could eat free during this current limited promotion.

We walked in and ordered, my order included paying for an extra sauce; a promotional sauce called Devil Smoke. I had it last time and loved it. We sat down at a nearby table. It wobbled. I folded a napkin to hamper this, and fixed it one way, then my wife pushed the other way and it tilted probably twenty degrees in the opposite direction. She took a paper towel from the table and tried to wipe off something sticky in the middle of the table and it ripped the paper towel, not budging. We got up and moved to the next booth. That table wasn't wobbly, but it had a foot-wide strip down the middle of the table that was even sticker than the previous table. I tried to wipe it with a dry paper towel, and again not budging, it tore the towel to shreds. Yuck.

Finally after 20 minutes of waiting, our food was delivered, but I was missing my Devil Smoke sauce. So I got up and went to the line to ask for it. There were maybe 12 people in line before me. I tried to make eye contact with the lady who took my order so maybe she would pull me out of line to ask what I need. It didn't happen. Finally I got to the front and told her that she'd neglected to give me my DS and she yelled at the kitchen that she needed Devil Smoke, at which point she was informed they didn't have any. She turned to me and said they didn't have any. After I paid for it without suggestion or apology. Ugh.

We ate. Food wasn't bad. Chicken was moist and delicious, okra was better than most other places, fried mushrooms were best in trade, fries were on on par with Chili's or Applebee's.

When we were leaving, we noticed the woman who took our order wiping down tables with what looked like a wet paper towel. She didn't have a spray bottle nor bucket. We watched her wipe five tables. No wonder the tables were sticky. I'm pretty sure that's a health department violation, but I don't know anything about that.

If it were up to me, I'd be back, probably sometime soon. But now I can't really suggest it knowing that my wife's objections are completely warranted. So...

This was my first time trying Slim Chickens, and unfortunately, it was a pretty disappointing experience overall. On the positive side, I received friendly service at the counter when placing my order for the Buffalo Tender Mac Bowl meal. The garlic toast that came with the meal was also fantastic—crispy, buttery, and cooked perfectly.

However, the experience quickly went downhill from there. When the general manager brought my order to the table, she came across as rude and dismissive toward me, despite being noticeably friendly and upbeat with other patrons around me. It left a bad impression.

As for the meal itself, the flavor of the mac and cheese bowl was decent, but the noodles were noticeably overcooked and mushy. The chicken tenders had an odd, rubbery texture that made them pretty unappetizing. On top of that, the buffalo sauce wasn’t mixed in well at all—I only got spicy flavor in a few bites, and the rest was pretty bland.

To make things worse, while I was still actively eating, one of the employees tried to take my plate, making me feel rushed and unwelcome.

Overall, between the uneven food quality, uncomfortable service experience, and feeling rushed out the door, I doubt I’ll be returning to this location...