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What does Chick-fil-A mean?
- Thread starter Mildredop
- Start date
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In what way? It’s breaded, fried, mass-produced chicken and fries and whatever. Maybe it’s better tasting I guess but it’s still just generic fast food lol.
maflynn
macrumors Broadwell
[MOD NOTE]
A number of posts were removed, Lets keep the PRSI content out of this thread. Its off topic and has no place in this thread.
A number of posts were removed, Lets keep the PRSI content out of this thread. Its off topic and has no place in this thread.
willmtaylor
macrumors G4
Their consistency of product quality and customer experience are virtually unmatched in the fast food industry.
It’s also just about the healthiest (nationwide) fast food (chain) there is.
Additionally, they regularly hire and promote within, and store operators treat their workers very well.
It really is beak and cockscombs above the competition.
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Good to hear they have some good hiring practices. It’s stilk just a generic fast food chain. How are waffle fries ever considered healthy? Being a “healthy fast food chain” is a bit of a weird thing to say to justify eating generic unhealthy fast food.
willmtaylor
macrumors G4
Still fast food; no doubt about that. My point, however, is that it’s much better than most others in the category, making it exceptional, not generic (within its category). Either way, now I’m craving a spicy chicken biscuit.
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But much higher quality of food as well as service. Also, KFC does bone-in chicken, and CFA started as a chicken sandwich joint. I haven’t eaten at KFC in 20 years and have zero desire to do so in the future.
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Falhófnir
macrumors 603
I'm intrigued - is the atmosphere more like a traditional restaurant than a take-away that also happens to have seating then?
willmtaylor
macrumors G4
Elevated fast food. Order at counter but they bring food to table. Fast food furniture but real flowers in vases on tabletops.
Falhófnir
macrumors 603
Actually that does sound a little bit like Nando's - they don't have full table service there either (at least not in the one closest to me) and you order from the counter and they bring you the food. From what I can see on Chic's website they don't have quite as much variety on their menu though (mainly chicken burgers?)
willmtaylor
macrumors G4
Chicken sandwich varieties (fried, spicy, or grilled), chicken nuggets (both fried & grilled) and also chicken strips. They also have wraps & salads (both made fresh on the premises).
The fact that some menu items are less healthy than others doesn’t affect the fact that they offer food far healthier than most fast food chains. Their grilled chicken club is incredible.
You can get grilled chicken at Subway or a bunch of other places too.
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As above, so do other generic fast food chains.
Chic-Fil-A has got you hooked like a fish.
willmtaylor
macrumors G4
I’m not allowed to praise a company or its products without being blind or brainwashed? Bizarre “thinking” there.
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JagdTiger
macrumors 6502
SDColorado
macrumors 601
Chick-Fil-A chicken sandwich...
440 Calories, 19G Fat, 4 Saturated Fat, 60G cholesterol, 1350MG Sodium, 40G Carbohydrates
Not buying the "healthiest fast food there" is. I am not a fan of fast food/mall food court food in general, but if I am to eat it, I would rather go to Garbonzo or Mad Greens or someplace like that. Chick-Fil-A marinates their chicken in pickle brine, It is salty and gross imho, but that is just my opinion. I know a lot of people LOVE it. But the healthies fast food there is?
JagdTiger
macrumors 6502
As far as fast food restaurants are concerned that’s true but if someone wanted a healthy burger the only one to get is a steamed cheeseburger unfortunately it’s only available in one state and only (with exception) in two towns...the meat is steamed as well as the cheese, the fat drips down in a lower tray.
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SDColorado
macrumors 601
I don't disagree that there are some fast food items that are just not healthy no matter what restaurants you get them from, but I would argue that there are some fast food restaurants that do offer overall healthier choices than Chick-Fil-A in general. Which is where I take issue with it being "about the healthiest fast food restaurant there is." It just isn't. Fast Food doesn't *have* to be cheeseburgers, fries and chicken 🙂
Facepalm. I’ve worked in the kitchen. I know how the food is made and what ingredients are used. You’re acting like all food that is called the same thing on different menus is equivalent. I give up.
willmtaylor
macrumors G4
Neither of the restaurants you mentioned would be considered a nationwide fast food chain, so the comparison is disingenuous.
I also won't argue that the sodium ought to be reduced (and their spicy sandwiches are actually worse) because it absolutely should.
My point--and I'm sorry, I thought this was obvious--was that compared to your average cheap, drive thru, nationwide chain, CFA is generally much better in taste and quality (not to mention consistency).
And just as a comparison:
- The average CFA entree has 400 calories & 17 grams of fat
- The average McDonalds where the average entree has close to 525 calories & 27 grams of fat
SDColorado
macrumors 601
Garbanzo may not be on the West Coast yet, but that just seems like moving the goal posts. I am sure there are other regional options to compare to.
McDonalds may be the worst or the worst, so I am not sure I would compare anything to that.
I get it, you love Chick-Fil-A, that’s fine. I am not arguing that people don’t like it. I personally think it is gross, but it has its fans. I don’t get the hype of In-N-Out Burger either.
But to make any claims that Chick-Fil-A is anything but generic mall/fast food and is in some way healthy. In my opinion that is disingenuous.
But that’s fine, this thread started off about what the name meant and has gone into some bizarre discussion about the healthiness of fast food chicken sandwiches and fries 🙂
Enjoy 🙂
ElectricPotato
macrumors 6502a
A good sandwich often has just a few simple ingredients covering basic flavors. In this case, it is meat, salt and sour (pickle brine and pickle on the meat). I've had Chick-Fil-A, and it was too salty for my tastes, but I think they did the right thing by not putting onion, lettuce, etc on it. I can see it would be a popular combination even though I would never eat there again.
willmtaylor
macrumors G4
I looked up the two joints you mentioned, by the way, and they both sounded delicious. If I make it to them, what do you recommend?
Onion, lettuce on a CHICKEN sandwich? Wha???
We now have two Shake Shacks in San Diego, haven't been to either. Been to the one in Miami Beach (#2 for the chain, I think). Great burgers and the eponymous shakes. Not good fries. We are getting another one, within walking distance of me, though, in Little Italy. It's replacing a psychic reader. Great thing about MB Shake Shack is that (at least when I was there).... NO LINE! I will NOT stand in line for any restaurant, sorry, especially when it is fast food. I think the one in MB doesn't get the line because it is just enough off the beaten path that you have to look for it. (Near, but not on, Lincoln Road, on a side street.)
There will be a line in San Diego Little Italy, from people who are pasta'd out. (There IS a Burger Lounge, though. And a place I REALLY want Apple to go after for trademark infringement, iDessert...)
I THINK in their wisdom, they are leaving the Psychic Reader sign up! At least, it hasn't been removed yet. (A fancy pour-over coffee place with some fancy-schmancy glass apparatus went in to replace a union hall. The idiots removed the union hall logo, briefly leaving a "shadow" that I photographed while it still existed. They scraped and painted it, it is gone forever. It is especially ironic, because it (was) in the style of what is now known derisively as a "hipster logo" - i.e. a circle with two crossed diagonal lines inside and four iconic symbols in the divided spaces. They are ALL over the hipster hangouts in this area, but the only ORIGINAL one from like the 30s or 40s has been removed...
Anyway, I THINK we are about to have a Shake Shack with a Psychic Reader sign.
We now have two Shake Shacks in San Diego, haven't been to either. Been to the one in Miami Beach (#2 for the chain, I think). Great burgers and the eponymous shakes. Not good fries. We are getting another one, within walking distance of me, though, in Little Italy. It's replacing a psychic reader. Great thing about MB Shake Shack is that (at least when I was there).... NO LINE! I will NOT stand in line for any restaurant, sorry, especially when it is fast food. I think the one in MB doesn't get the line because it is just enough off the beaten path that you have to look for it. (Near, but not on, Lincoln Road, on a side street.)
There will be a line in San Diego Little Italy, from people who are pasta'd out. (There IS a Burger Lounge, though. And a place I REALLY want Apple to go after for trademark infringement, iDessert...)
I THINK in their wisdom, they are leaving the Psychic Reader sign up! At least, it hasn't been removed yet. (A fancy pour-over coffee place with some fancy-schmancy glass apparatus went in to replace a union hall. The idiots removed the union hall logo, briefly leaving a "shadow" that I photographed while it still existed. They scraped and painted it, it is gone forever. It is especially ironic, because it (was) in the style of what is now known derisively as a "hipster logo" - i.e. a circle with two crossed diagonal lines inside and four iconic symbols in the divided spaces. They are ALL over the hipster hangouts in this area, but the only ORIGINAL one from like the 30s or 40s has been removed...
Anyway, I THINK we are about to have a Shake Shack with a Psychic Reader sign.
SDColorado
macrumors 601
At Garbanzo the plates of course are the healthier option and generally what I get *when* I do go there.
Comparing Chicken to Chicken, the Garbanzo chicken plate is 160 calories, 8g fat, 2g saturated fat, 115mg cholesterol, 135mg sodium, 21g protein. Of course depending which veggies and sauce you add, it will increase those numbers somewhat, but it would be *almost* impossible to reach numbers like the chicken sandwich mentioned above. Wraps and Pitas are all good as well, but of course they do increase the fat by 2-3 grams and carbs by about 60.
Mad Greens I like to build my own rather than their stock ones, so I wouldn't be able to make a good recommendation there.
We have Truefood Kitchen here too, but they aren't North or Northwest so won't go into that one either. I wasn't aware that the discussion was only about mass market fast food 🙂
Also there is Sweet Tomatoes/Soup Plantation and Panera which has a ton of salads, PeiWei which has some quinoa and cauliflower rice entrees with steamed proteins and Chipotle/Qdobo which have some bowls that aren't bad, Mod Market and others. But again, they aren't national or mass market.