Chick-fil-A — Restaurant in St. Cloud

Tonight is Chick Fil A's Premier Night, by special invitation only. I'm planning to attend. The excitement regarding the St. Cloud, Minn. Chick Fil A has been building for months as it's taken a longer than normal time for the restaurant to get built. It occupies the space that was formerly occupied by Pizza Hut on the corner of Division Street near J.C. Penny's at the Crossroads Mall.

What an amazing evening! I think the A in Chick Fil A stands for Amazing. When we arrived at Chick Fil A, the cow mascot was there for photos, there was a red carpet, and the manager greeted us by name.

All of the employees, and hospitality staff were incredibly friendly and supportive, grabbing us beverages, taking us on a tour of the kitchen, and just being incredibly welcoming.

Did you know that all of the chicken is hand-breaded, the biscuits are homemade, and the lemonade is fresh squeezed on the premises? I didn't know that either.

We were served an abundance of samples from the restaurant's entire menu.There were tasty little breakfast Chick-n-Mini's, scrumptious homemade biscuits, truly delicious lemonade. We were also served samples of the classic Chick fil A chicken sandwich, the grilled chicken sandwich, and the spicy deluxe, which is a slightly spicier take on the original breaded sandwich. I liked the spicy version best, and the grilled chicken least. The grilled chicken had a bit of a rubbery texture, which the classic did not.

We were also served Chick fil A nuggets, which are quite small pieces of hand-breaded chicken that kids would love. We also tried the grilled nuggets, which were extremely juicy and flavorful. I'd recommend the Chick-n-Strips rather than the nuggets, because you get more for your money. They have all kinds of dipping sauces: ranch, barbecue, honey mustard, Polynesian, Sriracha... and my favorite...the Chick-Fil-A dipping sauce, a tangy sauce that goes well with chicken or their waffle fries.

We were also treated to their famous waffle fries, a cup of their Greek yogurt with fruit that was refreshing, and two of their salads. The Spicy Southwest salad was grilled spicy chicken with mixed greens, carrots, red cabbage, corn, cheese, and black beans that had a bit of a kick to it and left our lips tingling. We were also served their Superfood Side, and I'm glad we were. I never would have tried this mixture of broccoli and kale with a sweet dressing, but it was excellent. I'd recommend it for all those who would like something healthier than the fries.

Finally, we were given a Cookies and Cream shake and a warm chocolate chunk cookie to complete the meal. It was all amazing. I tried items I had never tried before, but would certainly order again.

Each of us was given Ambassador cards to share with family, friends, and co-workers, and a water/coffee mug to take home.

There is a lot to like about Chick Fil A, and they are going to do great in St. Cloud. They're not open on Sundays. They give a lot to local charities. They have excellent customer service, and the food is healthier than most fast food chains.

If you prefer not to eat inside, there's a double drive-thru and they work to have your food within 3.5 minutes after you order it.

During our tour of the kitchen we saw the efficient lay-out and the pressure fryers, which cook the fresh chicken within 6 minutes.

If the service we received is any indication of what it will be like when the restaurant opens on Thursday, this location is going to be extremely popular. Families, especially, will enjoy bringing their children here.

Thank you, Chick-Fil-A for a wonderful preview of what to expect. I'm...

Went through the drive thru and right away the lady was very snarky towards me when I asked for a menu. She was very rude the entire time I ordered, and because I had to ask my child a couple questions about what he wanted, she acted like we were a big inconvenience. I had not been there in years and only went to use up some gift cards we had (3-$10 cards), so we weren’t overly familiar with the menu. She then told me that we can only use one of the gift cards. Of course that irritated me because why would I only be able to use one. She then sent me around and there was a trainee and an assistant manager to take payment. The trainee said of course you can use all three gift cards. He was the nicest person I encountered there. I told the asst. manager that the lady taking orders was very rude and all he asked was which one (there were two lanes). We pulled ahead and got the food, then drove off to park. My son’s shake was the wrong flavor so then I had to go inside and wait. Finally a manager came by and I told him what happened in the drive thru and that now my order was wrong. He did apologize but didn’t seem like he really knew what to say. I will never return to this place and don’t have anything nice to say about it. My chicken sandwich was mediocre and literally had one pickle (even McDonald’s puts more pickles on...

It's a very interesting restaurant to me. Every time I've been to a Chick-fil-A they're not very satisfying. Yet, I know many, many people who swear they're delicious.

I don't know if I always just get the worst food or if it's just not that impressive to me.

First of all, the chicken nuggets were tiny. I don't know if the ones I got everything were double fried, the outside is typically really hard while the inside was dry.

We've ordered waffle fries, and they always seemed to be underdone. They were soft and soggy. I've worked with fries at many different restaurants and at my house. If you pull them out too soon they get soggy instead of crisp. That was my impression of the waffle fries. Soggy and soft.

I've also had a few chicken sandwiches with lettuce, tomato and mayo. Again, the breading was just too crunchy and the inside was dry. Chicken sandwiches are meant to be juicy and crisp, not crunchy and dry.

Overall, just not really impressed.

Then, also you have the factor of the cost. Honestly, I just don't feel like I'm getting what I pay for.

Again, this is not necessarily the location I've had an issue with, I have gone to one other Chick-fil-A in St Cloud, MN and it was...