At this point, the only way fast food chains can be “innovative” when it comes to chicken sandwiches is if they radically change the stuff around the chicken – i.e., all of the other ingredients underneath the bread – or find an entirely different kind of bird to deep fry (I’m anticipating a breaded pheasant Arby’s entree by 2020, for sure.)
Needless to say, Burger King’s all-too-generically titled Spicy Crispy Chicken Sandwich isn’t the revolutionary L-T-O the fast food industry’s looking for. That’s not to say it’s bad or anything like that, just that it’s, well, pretty much exactly what you would expect. As soon as you eye the sandwich, you know precisely what to anticipate, and as soon as you take your first bite all of your prejudices are validated. Sorry BK – this is one book we can all safely judge by its wrapper.
First things first, my sandwich didn’t look anything like the sandwich on the advertisement posters. Sure, they never do, but in this case it was egregiously underwhelming. The whole sandwich was flatter than a pancake, to the point I couldn’t even see the interior chicken gawping at the sandwich sideways. And I assure you, what was lurking underneath the hood was even more disappointing.
Yeah, that’s a pretty small chicken patty, isn’t it? Hell, that thing is so small, it might be better described as a morbidly obese chicken nugget. Still, it did have a nice, healthy orange sheen to it, so I’ll at least give the King props for aesthetics.
Maybe it’s just my local BK crew not giving a hoot, but it seems like there was a surplus of mayonnaise on my sandwich and a deficit of tomato and lettuce. Ultimately, this thing had more “dead space” on it than any fast food burger I’ve chewed in a long time. Indeed, my first couple of bites, I was literally gnashing bread on bread. I’ve gotten to the center of a Tootsie Roll lollipop faster than it took me to hit something other than bun on this sucker.
The white meat patty – once you get to it – though, is pretty good, but the “spiciness” is another letdown. Pretty much all this thing does is give you a nasty case of Doritos breath, and maybe a little bit of “Texas Pete tongue” for half a minute.
Again, it’s not horrible tasting, it’s just so woefully predictable. Even if you haven’t tried BK’s latest, I promise you that you’ve had at least one other sandwich that tasted like it. Had Burger King at least tried to up the ante with a spicier dressing, hotter cheese, or even some spicy onion rings, they would have given this thing some kind of identity.
But as is, this thing is painfully bland. And if there’s one thing worse than being a bad fast food sandwich, surely, it’s being one that’s just OK.
(Nutrition Facts – 700 calories, 42 grams of fat, 7 grams of saturated fat, 0 grams of trans fat, 65 milligrams of cholesterol, 1,140 milligrams of sodium, 57 grams of carbohydrates, 3 grams of fiber, 8 grams of sugar, 25 grams of protein.)
Purchased Price: $4.49
Size: N/A
Rating: 5 out of 10
Pros: The chicken patty has a nice apricot glow. The ample “white space” allows for plenty of creative uses of condiments. The white meat, admittedly, is pretty chewy.
Cons: It’s not spicy – at all. It really could benefit from some extra ingredients. The feeling that you’ve already eaten this thing before…and at a lower price point, too.