Church's Texas Chicken — Restaurant in Omaha

My friend enjoyed Church's Fried Chicken as a youngster so when they came to Omaha she was eager to have it again and I was eager to try something new. The new location is near Walmart at 168th & Maple. My first impression is that the parking/drive through situation was poorly designed. Even though there was ample parking available in the lot, it was impossible to reach it as the drive through customers in line block access to it. I ended up parking at Walmart and walking a block. We ordered a bit of everything to get an overall impression of the food. Our order of 3 chicken tenders was a huge disappointment as they were extremely thin, not much meat to them at all. Our fried chicken breast was dry. The cheesy jalapeno poppers were a premium side but tasted like something you could get from the freezer section at any grocery store. The fries were not very good either. I picked out the largest fries to eat and left the hard overcooked skinny ones. We had to go up to the counter to ask for ketchup as it wasn't offered. The coleslaw was dry and has no flavor. The spicy rice wasn't bad but seemed out of place on the menu. The biscuit was pretty good. It was coated with honey so it was sweet. No butter & knife was offered with it. They don't have a drink fountain so the busy counter staff has to get your drink. Which means that they can fill the cup up with ice. I ordered Ice Tea and it was the only drink option that was self serve. I'm not sure if they have free drink refills as I would've felt uncomfortable asking the busy counter staff to refill a drink. We ate in but everything was packaged to go which created a lot of paper and plastic waste. No bueno. Overall, I see no reason to go back. The food was unremarkable and sparse, the amenities were stingy, we ended up with a big bag of paper waste, spent around $14 each for not much value and good luck getting a parking space if the drive through has a line. Even my friend was disappointed. Yep, this one is a one and...

I was pleasantly surprised when Church's opened a new location in the Omaha area. I remember Church's from my active duty days in Fort Hood, Texas. We'd sometimes go to Church's for lunch and I was always impressed with the pickled jalapenos. I'd squeeze them on my chicken and then just pop them in for a snack in between chicken pieces. I've been meaning to make it out to West O for about 6 months just to revisit my old lunch place. I finally did it this past weekend, and I told myself several times on the way there, not to get my hopes up because things are never as good as we remember them from the good-ole-days. ... I was pleasantly amazed. My experience at the Omaha Church's exceeded my memories of being a young active duty infantry sergeant in Killeen, Texas. The chicken was amazing! The Jalapenos were just as I remembered them. They even had packets of Spicy Sprinklings for the fries that I don't remember from the good-ole-days. I got the 3 piece combo and couldn't find room to even attempt the biscuit (which looked amazing). I had a rare day off to myself and this was my treat to myself. I feel guilty not taking the kids, but then again, I don't. My only gripe is that this Church's is way out in NW Omaha, dang near a day-trip from where I live (Papillion area). But, you can't fault them for that, I guess. Do yourself a favor, go try this chicken. It is (in my opinion) the BEST fast food chicken in Nebraska. The chicken is great, the venue is great, and the experience, for an old infantry man, was perfect! ... Please consider opening a Church's in Papillion...

EDIT: In desperation to find fast food after 9pm, I tried this location again. Apparently, they worked out whatever issues they had shortly after opening, because I found much better quality chicken. Ive updated my rating and will return again. ‐---------------‐-------------- Finally found a time when the line was less than 20 minutes long to try out this first in Omaha Church's location.

Frankly, I am underwhelmed. Billed as 'Texas style' on the side of the restaurant, I was surprised to find the chicken pieces themselves noticeably smaller than Popeye's. Most disappointing though was the flavor itself. I don't like spicy food, so chose the mild chicken, which I found to be rather bland compared to Popeye's. The mashed potatoes were bland as well. The one positive finding I share is on the biscuits, which I thought were very good, with a honey flavor baked in.

By the way Churches corporate, if you're listening. You've got a dinner special listed on the location website which they say they aren't honoring. That's a bit disappointing as well.

My parting thought.. Bojangles! Please return to Omaha! Best chicken of these three.. sadly disappeared from town in the 90's. Sorry, meanwhile I'll be sticking...