Raising Cane's Chicken Fingers — Restaurant in Springfield

This is my first and last visit to Raising Cane's.

We went early before the normal dinner rush hours through the drive thru. The parking lot is big and clean. The menu board is large and fairly easy to read. I was in a hurry so I didn't get to read all of it.

Ordered food for the whole family. The children split with us. We got the big meal and shared the chicken and fries. The whole experience was fine with no complaints about the store, staff or entire interaction. All of that was fine.

Here is why it was my first and last visit to them. They only give you 2 of the "Special sauces". I should have pulled over and did some research about this place and its sauce. But I didn't. I assumed it was edible and meant for human consumption. Boy it sure isn't. More on that later. It was not clear, at least in the 1 minute I looked at the menu while ordering the sauce was not fit for human consumption. I was not asked if I wanted any edible sauce for all the chicken. The cole slaw was just ok. If I had to say anything I guess I would say it was on the dry side. It isn't worth ordering or going there for it.

The texas toast they give you with it was decent. However, as an experienced baker, I can tell you the bread has an unnatural softness that bread does not have. So there are clearly some real issues going on with the bread. I'd imagine a LOT of chemicals and unnatural ingredients are added to make that bread like that. So without seeing the ingredients and making sure it isn't toxic, I would never eat it again. The fries were thin crinkle cut, which are my personal favorite style of fries. However. I found them very dull and non crispy. In fact, most were soggy like they were undercooked. I've seen such things when a store is slammed and they rush the fries without using the timers or checking them. Again. It was not "busy" yet. So the kitchen should not have been so rushed to make fries.

Now the chicken. This is when I found out about that offensive inedible sauce. I waited about 10 minutes for the chicken to cool enough to handle safely. The chicken was fresh straight from the fryer.

The very first nibble of the chicken was crispy and okay. Not great but just okay. Not too dry but not juicy. Just ehh. Then I dunked it in the "Special Sauce" and took a bite..

Hands down the worst food experience I have ever had. That sauce is not actual sauce. It is a freak of nature and unholy unnatural thing that needs to be destroyed and never made again.

I feel that it is possible that maybe we were even targeted for chemical warfare because of how bad these cups of sauce were.

They tasted a cross between old mayonnaise thats been left out on the counter all night, with generic stale ketchup added to it. Then they dumped an entire pepper shaker in it cause the cap fell off into the bowl. While they were making this toxic garbage someone assumed it was a garbage can and decided to empty every ashtray they could find into it. Which explains the clumps and chunks found in it I couldn't explain what the heck they were. It made everyone want to puke. So I know it wasn't just me. Needless to say. I took these cups of illegal chemical weapons and put them up to use later.

(I ended up using a brush and spread the special sauce outside to keep the animals away from the trash cans and garden. It works amazingly well for that. It was trash day. Can sat out front all night and day. Nothing got in the trash like they usually do. So may need to find the recipe so I can keep applying it to get nuisance animals away)

Back to the chicken. Maybe its possible that I just got a bad batch of chicken or wasn't handled properly. But all of us were very underwhelmed and disappointed. Considering that I had been wanting to try this place since I heard about it on our last cross country trip and saw it. Then saw a bunch of meme's about how great it was. Clearly they paid to make that meme campaign.

I paid almost $100 to get the works to feed all of us. No one liked it and for the money it wasn't even a...

This is my second time visiting Cane's but my first time at this location, we drove an hour to eat lunch here! I was surprisingly impressed with how wonderful the food was, not to mention how happy it made me to see how many people were actually coming in to eat. There were so many customers coming in and out of the restaurant while we were there. Seems like everybody was leaving happy, I don't blame them because our food was fantastic and it was so fresh. We all ordered the four piece chicken strips and fries, I suggested the six piece because a couple of us wouldn't have minded having another one. The coleslaw was good too, but honestly, the bread and the chicken together with the cane sauce was just absolutely wonderful! I loved the vibe of the restaurant, the candy cane decorations we're super cute and festive! I feel like you don't see that very often at other restaurants. There was plenty of space to be able to sit down and eat in the restaurant, which was really nice! We sat at a huge booth right by the Elvis picture, probably could have gotten like six people sitting there! There's also some outdoor seating with some ambient lighting, I love that so much it was really pretty and cozy! I bet it's really nice to sit out there in the summertime and enjoy the weather! Absolutely cannot wait to go back and get some hot and ready fresh chicken strips! Great friendly and courteous customer service, good...

The quality of the food was good, but unremarkable, hence my average ranking. The front counter person was polite, but spoke so quietly, I couldn't hear him over the din of the dining room. I asked repeatedly for him to repeat himself, but he didn't seem to understand that he was speaking far too softly.

More importantly, the sandwich seemed completely lacking in the "secret sauce," so I asked if I could have a packet or small cup with some additional sauce. I was told I would be charged for it, so I declined, since $11+ was plenty for a sandwich, fries, and medium drink. Just seems to me that if a new restaurant opens in the local area, all attempts would be made to make an "above-and-beyond" experience, especially when competing with Chick-fil-a just down the road. I've received unsolicited free entrees/milkshakes/desserts at Chick-fil-a, so I'll patronize their establishment from henceforth. Asking for a small amount of sauce that should been put on the sandwich in the first place is not too much to ask.

Sorry, but the small things mean a lot, especially with the price of products/services nowadays versus the value of what is received. Raising Cane's just did...