Viva Chicken — Restaurant in Harrisburg

I love everything about Viva Chicken's food, but I am giving 3 stars for service because of my recent experiences ordering to go. Sorry this is long-winded, but I simply must get my thoughts across AND in a constructive way. It seems the inside guests are treated with far more prompt service than anyone picking up orders. A few weeks ago I came to pickup an order and joined about 5 others waiting by the counter. I waited for at least 20 MINUTES and nobody called out my order (at least not when I was there). So when I was the last person waiting I decided to walk up to the rack and read the receipts. Sure enough my order was there...and had been the entire time I stood waiting. What an irritating experience and waste of time!

So now fast forward to my second visit. I was confident my order would be ready upon my arrival and sure enough, same gaggle of customers waiting, but I strolled right up to the rack, found my order, but an employee politely told me not to approach the rack (technically an employee-only zone) and simply ask if I needed to check on an order. OK...fine I get it, the next time I came back I was not going to do this.

On my 3rd visit I decided to test the crew by waiting with the crowd again like the first time. probably around 15 minutes passed before I was asked "are you waiting on an order?" This should be self-evident when I am standing by the order rack. I said yes and the girl hands me a large bag with my family meal which...you guessed it...was sitting for probably 20 minutes before it was in my hand. I probably could have saved myself time, BUT see below:

feedback point #1 it should not be the customer's responsibility to flag down an crew member to proactively ask their order status at any given time UNLESS there is an extreme rush. At all of my visits, things were rather calm.

feedback point #2 crew need to call out orders in a LOUD, PROJECTING voice, not a hush-tone. One girl called a different order 5 feet from me and I could barely hear her and there was hardly background noise. Repeat the name AT LEAST twice if there are 4 customers waiting right there.

feedback point #3 crew members need to prioritize to-go guests and routinely cycle back through the orders sitting on the rack. Ask guests ASAP if they are waiting on a order - NOT after they have been there a crazy long time. Some of us are shy or feel like we are in a line when there are several people so we don't want to appear as though we are cutting in front, even if it isn't the case. My experiences tell me no one really cared if my food...

Sunday, July 20 Lunch..This location has gradually gone downhill. We eat at this location and other locations frequently. Never had any issues with the quarter dark chicken…until today. It seemed they were having problems getting the food out. The wait for our food was longer than usual but that didn’t bother us because it was lunchtime on a Sunday. But..when our food came, the chicken was nothing like we have ever gotten at any Viva during all the years we have eaten at them. The chicken had extra crispy skin with lots of grease (see photo of skin we removed). It was cooked like Bojangles chicken. The chicken had to have been put in the fryer because rotisserie chicken does not have grease running off it nor does it have crispy skin. It was also overcooked. We brought this to the attention of an employee. She wasn’t sure why the chicken was cooked this way but said the cooks may have “opened up the door” to let the skin “crisp up”. She had no explanation as to why it was so greasy. She offered to replace the chicken. When she came back, she had two pieces of breast instead of the quarter dark chicken. We didn’t want the chicken breast. She said it would be a while before they had any more dark quarters ready to serve. At this point, she decided to refund our meals. We picked the skin off, ate what we could and ate the sides. I will have to say..the food at the Huntersville. Greensboro and Wilmington locations is superior to the Concord location. We live close to the...

I've been wanting to try this place. So I stopped on my way back from a delivery. I ordered a quarter chicken white. I paid the additional up charge. I got my order went to my car and noticed that I had dark meat chicken. I went back into the restaurant to get what I originally ordered and paid for. I was asked if I had a receipt I did not because I did not request one when I placed the order. The sticker on the box was evident that I did pay an order for the white meat portion of chicken. I was at the very least shocked when they took the order from me and carried it to the prep area of the kitchen. I'm not certain what they did with the chicken that I brought back into the restaurant. Coming from someone who's working quick service and full service restaurants. I definitely know that is against health code. My Hope is that they toss the chicken but I can't be certain. Ultimately the chicken should have never went back to the kitchen prep area it should have immediately been thrown in the trash considering it's already left the building and I had touched the chicken. The risk of cross-contamination is a true thing. I did get my white meat chicken portion minus the wing portion. I paid a lot for a chicken dinner I did not fully get. The chicken I wish would have been better. The thing that I enjoy the most had to be the Peruvian corn salad. Very unique and very fresh. I will say the staff are. friendly...