Spatch

Critic's Review

I was parked 50 feet from the place when I went to Fresh Market, so I decided to get some chicken. I eat a lot of chicken, so it's difficult to get excited about it. But I tried the other location when they first opened and I owed it to them to see if they've gotten any better.

Inside the place is very rectangular; menu on the wall, music blaring; a fast food restaurant with nicer furniture.

I was surprise there was anyone else there at 4:40p on a Friday. Some people eat early I guess.

The place reminds me of Burger Fi.

They're all in on the saucy station; I was astonished on my visit to their first location to find that the hot sauce wasn't hot. Maybe they've fixed the problem?

While I waited I fiddled with my phone; the wifi here has an annoying login where they ask for you email. Why annoy your customers with such nonsense. I'm not giving you my real email address anyway.

I ordered a 1/4 chicken white meat this time with "hot" sauce, and laid out the extra $1 to "upgrade" to sweet potato mash.

They have pretty fancy bags, which I promise you're paying for in the price of the product.

When I opened the food, I said to myself "This is a Dinner?". It just didn't seem like much food for $9.35. They didn't give me any extra sauce, so I guess you just get when they brush on the chicken? I should have gotten some cause at the Saucy bar, but I thought I'd get a container with my take out. They're very cheap with the sauce!

I tried the sweet potato mash first; the word I'd use is addictive. Just the right amount of sweetness. I'll swirl some butter into this when I reheat this and it will be even better. Not sure why I had to pay an extra $1 for it though; What's in here, 1/2 a yam? Most places don't charge more for sweet potato fries and there's nothing to a mash other than some liquid.

The chicken had a citrusy flavor; the hot sauce has absolutely no heat. NONE. The flavor of the sauce only makes it about 1/4" deep; most of the breast is just dry and flavorless. What's interesting is that the sauce doesn't play well with salt. When I salted the meat, it seemed to make the sauce taste bad. Not that there was any sauce on the chicken.

Unlike the chicken I got at the other location, this chicken was cooked through; however it was quite dry. The trick of cooking the chicken properly and still having it be moist has not yet been mastered by Spatch.

I can get a whole chicken better than this for the same price, and then I can put actually hot sauce on it if that's what I want. Why buy this stuff?

Conclusion

If you want to sell citrus grilled chicken fine; but don't advertise the sauce as being made with super hot peppers if your sauce has no heat. I'm astonished that nobody in this restaurant group understands this simple concept.

I rarely order chicken out because it's too easy to make cutlets at home or to just pick up a rotisserie chicken; for the same price I get 4x as much chicken plus 2 quarts of stock. I can't think of a reason that I'd ever come in this place again.