Chick-fil-A — Restaurant in Mesa

So I recently got into the realm of chicken sandwiches as curiosity got the best of me prompting me to get a chicken sandwich from Popeyes, which is a good sandwich. But that left me to try it’s immediate competitor, Chick-fil-a. A place that I never gave the time of day until now. So overall, I must say that dining at chick-fil-a (Of that is a bit to type so I’ll abbreviate CFA) is an experience on its own. With the craze of the chicken sandwich really rising, one CFA recently opened over at Power and McKellips which is pretty close to me and giving me a good opportunity to try it out. First of all the place is bumping, as it is new but if you are looking to grab a quick bite to eat keep that in mind as I’ll get into that a bit later but just know that there is a decent sized line. From there things are pretty cut and dry with your original, spicy, nuggets, grilled, and salad type of meals but this time I just went with a classic crispy one and after about a small wait of 10 minutes they brought me my meal which is a good time to point out that this place functions as a half and half type of sit down and fast food establishment as when you order you give them your name and they come looking for you once your order is ready along with essentials like sauce and napkins. Eventually you’ll come across an employee that will get you a refill if you need one, get you any other items, or take your trash for you which is also a plus in my book as the employee “James” was pretty nice and got me a primo Arnold Palmer made just how I like it. Now compared to a chicken sandwich like Popeyes, CFA’s sandwich is admittedly smaller in pretty much every way and lacks the crunch, but what they lack in those areas they more than make up for in the area of execution of spice, flavoring, tenderness, and juiciness. The sandwich is pretty damn tasty and every bite was just as good as the last and consistent, whereas with Popeyes, you’ll sometimes get a bit of a dry piece and sometimes a bite that is nothing but breading, not to say that it doesn’t have it’s own merits. Other than that the sandwich is kind of plain, it’s got its pickles but they are on the weaker side and the bun just seems like a regular bun, overall pretty simple. Still though that taste is still pretty world class, coupled with the excellent service, and good lemonade plus tea, I am definitely putting this on the menu. The average meal will cost you about 9ish dollars which gets you a drink, entree, and side which I got their waffle fries that came out a bit too salty for me so I currently just get two sandwiches and large Arnold Palmer (which is also pretty good). Other amenities include a play place for the kids although in the current state of affairs with the nation that might not be so great but it is there. The other notable thing are the automatic trash cans that open up via sensor so you don’t have to touch it in any way which is nice. I must stress that when dining here you are also buying into a sort of experience that I came to enjoy with employees walking the lobby like wait-staff to get you some small things or otherwise checking if your order is all good. So the place gets a very big kudos for that from me and I...

GRANDMA BETH! If you know, you know. I’ve never been to this location but my kids love to go to chick-fil-a in queen creek so after a great day at the Fun Box we decided to go for lunch. We pulled up with four kids in one car (we were visiting from out of town and were trying to carpool. Not the easiest thing to do with all those babies!) one of which is barely a month old, to a pretty packed parking lot. To our surprise however there was a parking space that was reserved for expecting and new moms! We’ve never been so excited to unload our pack. It’s hard enough going out to eat with kids especially learning to balance in a new baby and this special touch just started this whole experience off right. We stumbled into the lobby and headed straight for a table to set down our car seat babies and to usher the toddlers to the play area. The convenience of being able to order from our phones at the table and not have to stagger in line with the kids while they just want to be running free is so incredible. As we were ordering, the sweetest employee (Grandma Beth) asked us about our kids and if they were getting a kids meal to hold on to the toy, she said if they’d swap her the toy at the end of their meal then she’d let them come make their own ice cream cones! Needless to say my two year has never been so excited about ice cream and that is saying something. There were pipe cleaners for crafts and placemats that were old McDonald themed (my sons favorite song) coloring pages and markers/crayons, story pages and games. Just the perfect assortment to keep a toddler occupied while waiting for food. The food came SO quickly and there wasn’t a mistake made. Everything was fresh and delicious, including my sons fruit cup. I hadn’t ordered one because I’m usually disappointed in the sad excuses some companies have for fruit cups but this one was vibrant and a great variety. I was jealous of his kids meal! As my kids plowed through their food, sweet grandma Beth picked up things they were dropping and kept reminding them to visit her when they were done. True to her word they got to go with her behind the scenes (with us trusted adults) and make their very own ice creams. We played and ate and smiled and it was the easiest day to be a mom. Thank you for such a wonderful experience! I wish I lived closer because I was pouring over their upcoming events and they’ve got all sorts of activities headed your way, Mesa. Give Grandma Beth my best wishes and I hope to see more “grandma” positions at other locations...

*Update, I contacted the manager via the email he put in the comment to this post,,, it has now been almost 2 weeks and he has not responded back to my email. The customer service at this location is an obvious reflection of the leadership it seems. Very sad, very disappointing Chick-fil-A.

First off I love Chick-fil-A this is not a review about the food at all. This location, however, has got to be the absolute slowest worst customer service location in the entire south west. First off, I was doing curb side to go orders which is amazing, and super convenient for the customers but for some reason this location decided to stop doing that. So then I either do carry out or drive thru both of which I have had absolutely horrific experiences with. Missing items in my order, missing sauces, missing french fries in kids meals, Uber ridiculously slow to get the food made even when order 15-20 minutes in advance. And the drive thru is even worse,,,, we sat in line tonight and for some reason 6 cars from the other lane went in front of us, then when we got our order they gave us the wrong suaces!!! Got home our order was cold because they let 6 extra cars go In front of us..... Seriously horrible, and I'm a signature...