Popeyes Louisiana Kitchen — Restaurant in Salina

This is one of my favorite fast food restaurants...I just wish there was one closer to me (both closest ones, that I know of, are 2 hours away). The food here is SO much better than your typical fast food. I've tried most of what they offer, so I'll give you a rundown - needless to say, it all has great flavor...the seasoning is amazing, and unlike anything you'll get at any other fast food place: Shrimp - popcorn style, perfectly cooked, tender and not chewy at all Chicken Strips - tender inside, and crunchy outside, with awesome breading. If you like hot & spicy food, go with the spicy ones...they actually marinate the chicken in the hot seasoning, instead of just adding it to the breading. You can tell by the small red line just under the breading. And be warned - these will probably seem fairly hot to the average person. I can't eat spicy food anymore, but my Mom, the chilie head, loves them. Cajun Fries - crispy on the outside, and soft on the inside, with a seasoning that is simply delicious Red Beans and Rice - rich, smoky, and savory...the perfect side dish Jambalaya - lots of amazing flavors, perfectly combined Cole Slaw - a great side for the spicy chicken strips...cool, traditional cole slaw flavor, and in my opinion, almost has a slight "fresh bite" to it. Kind of like how fresh raw cabbage has a bit of a bite when you eat it plain...it makes it taste much fresher than most. Biscuits (which come with each meal) - just a perfect biscuit...what else can I say? You just can't go wrong with a good biscuit. And of course, they have honey packets for them (and for the chicken, if that's your thing).

I haven't tried the regular fried chicken or the mashed potatoes myself, but that's what my Dad has gotten both times, and he seemed to really like them. And fried chicken is his top favorite food, so if there was a problem with it, we would have heard about it lol!

Their dipping sauces are very good as well. My two favorites are the Blackened Ranch (perfect with the shrimp), and their sweet & hot saice (can't remember the exact name of it), which is sweet, but also has a nice spicy kick to it, and just a bit of vinegar...works great with the chicken. As far as I can remember, they also have a cocktail sauce for the shrimp, a Buffalo sauce, and a kind of mustard (called Mardi Gras mustard I think...and I believe it's a kind of honey mustard, possibly with a little bit of heat to it too...pretty sure I tried it a while back and liked it). They also have a dry seasoning in packets that you can get called Cajun Sparkle, that is great on pretty much everything.

I've been to this particular location twice now, and have received great service both times. Even the first time, when they forgot to give us a couple of our sides (we ordered a LOT of them between the three of us, just to try everything), I just went up to the counter and told them, and they immediately handed them to me without a problem. I've also never been charged for asking for a few extra sauces, like many places do now. The staff was VERY friendly and helpful, and our food came out really fast...for the three of us (and all of our extra sides), it only took about 5-7 minutes for our entire order (and we ordered a quite a bit). And the food tasted fresh...not like it had been sitting under a warmer for a while.

And lastly, the restaurant was very clean, including the bathrooms (which isn't always the case in some places). Not even sticky spots around the soda fountain. So they obviously clean it pretty often.

P.S. This restaurant has a little added bonus, at least for me. It's half of one building, the other half being a gas station next door, which you can access from a set of doors inside. And right on the other side of those doors, as you enter the gas station, is a Starbucks. So after I fill up on delicious Cajun spiced food, I get to hop over next door and get my coffee fix, all in one place. Doesn't get any...

If I could leave 0 stars I would. We ordered our food on the app before coming to the drive thru. We pulled up and stated we had a mobile order and they said to pull up to the window. That was at 3:51 (not a busy time for this location as we were the only ones in the drive thru) for the next 20 minutes we waited and not one person spoke to us and we had no idea why it was taking so long. We were on our way home from being out of town and still had 2.5 hours left in our drive. We tried waving and getting the workers attention to see how much longer as our kids were getting very hungry and restless. When a worker finally approaches the window she smiles sarcastically at us and waves back. She opened the window and gave us our food and we expressed our issue with not only the long wait but also the lack of communication that there was even going to be a long wait. She tried saying that she wasn’t responsible even tho we could see her and her coworkers standing around and blatantly ignoring us. Then she slammed the window shut while we were still talking. We then asked for a manager and discussed our very awful experience and he did not seem surprised or concerned. He asked if our food was made correctly and upon checking, all of our food was cold and my sandwich actually felt like it came out of the fridge. He remade the order for us and we went on our way home. Upon distributing the now hot food after a 45 minute long affair with a “fast” food drive thru, we see that we didn’t even get our sides. We were not going to turn around and waste more time at a place that obviously cannot even care to try and make it right when he had our receipt to correctly make our food. I will never return to this place and will gladly discourage everyone from ever thinking about tying it out for themselves. My review is a zero star, do not let the one...

I dont know how this franchise stays open. I dont think they have an actual boss who enforces rules and teaches customer service and how a business operates. Second time in a row this has happened-make mobile order, stores closed. That as in California. This time was a little different in that it wasnt closed for the night, at 8pm, but just between 8-9pm. Even better, they actually opened 30 minutes late. EVEN BETTER, they just dropped new food, so 20 minute wait.🤦🏼‍♂️ its 942pm, i’m excited to how the night will finish, will i get my food? Or was he guy lying, and they only dropped the food when i asked, and i will be waiting when they close at 10, and they murder me to stop my Its painful that both stores, as well as the other ones i have been to, are just bad sitcoms. Same tired personal interactions, same, same sort of employees, who all act like they dont work for the same company the guy sitting next to them does only applies to all of them. All of them work at a completely different business than any of the others. And it’s always the managers that have the drama that you could hear with the heaviest conversations that are highly inappropriate behind the counter while customers are standing at the counter. I take that back, it’s not a sitcom it’s a parody of a sitcom, and it’s not very funny…. The food is good, how long will it keep a grumpy old bastard like me customer let alone somebody’s not a grumpy...