Chicken Delight

Chicken Delight
7624 6th Street
Burnaby, BC

A couple of weeks ago, shokutsu (of f o o d o s o p h y) wrote a post about a burger shop in an area of Burnaby slightly off where I usually drive by/run errands. In that post, he did not really suggest that place; however, at least that hinted there are restaurants in the area that might be worth trying. So, in a dark stormy night… Errr…. OK, it was a dark and stormy night that I had some errands to run, when I chose to look for some good eats. And that lead me to target #1, Chicken Delight.

Of course, going at night does not really tell you about how busy it could be during the day, not to mention the fact that, in a lot of restaurants, after certain time of the day, when business technically slows down, things might go sideways. With all those details in mind, I walked in just to find an empty restaurant. Now, it wasn’t that late either – it wasn’t even 7:00 p.m. but, then again, it was rainy. It seems I might have surprised the operators, as there wasn’t anybody at the cash register, rather, they were in the back kitchen. Of course, that did not really matter to me, provided the food to be served was good.

And, on the note of food, they have fried chicken and pizza. I might have been tempted to order a slice while waiting for the chicken to be fried (when I made the order, I was told “10 minutes”); however, despite there was a pizza display box, it was turned off. I guess, once again, it was the time of the day? But, back to the chicken. Somewhat similar to other fried chicken chains (KFC, Church’s, etc. etc.), they have chicken only, in combos (with fries and salad), chicken wings and so on. In other words, almost your usual menu. So, after making my order, I drove back home and…

As mentioned above, it was a dark stormy night and let’s just say I was in a quick rush to open that box that I ended up tearing it. Feel free to blame it to the fact the box was inside a paper bag (stapled, I must say) which was then placed inside a plastic bag. But, then again, you can also blame to the fact I was a bit hungry! Because of that small “accident”, I couldn’t take a picture of the box “as is” and, as a result, I had to “plate” the pieces of chicken. As you can see, plating is not one of my forte…

But, back to the actual food. I ended up ordering their “Deluxe Complete Dinner” for $9.50, which has 4 pieces of chicken, served with crinkle-cut fries, coleslaw and roll. Here is a probably a small source of confusion: in their site, that order is listed at $9.50 but, in the restaurant, it was listed at $8. I wonder if that price difference resulted in the fact I was given three pieces of chicken thighs plus one drumstick, rather than mix of white and dark meat? Now, I am all in for dark meat, just that I wish I was told in advance. That is because, at $8, four pieces of dark meat can be considered expensive (compared to, say, Church’s). But, if the chicken tasted good, that won’t be an issue, right? Wrong… Aside from them being really small pieces, it was bland, not to mentioned overcooked and not crispy. OK, I will take the crispiness point out, due to the transit time. However, that still does not explain why it lacked any flavour.

When I was ordering, I said to myself “what the heck” and ended up ordering 8 pieces of their “Hot & Spicy – Cajun style” wings for $4.50. I will have to say those are the smallest wings I have had in a while! It did have some hints of spiciness in it; however, it was more on the lines of Frank’s Hot Sauce or something on those lines, rather than actual hot sauces. (This is taking into consideration I tend to sweat a lot while eating spicy food; in this case, I didn’t break a sweat).

One point I did not even touch were the sides – based on visuals only, you can have an idea of what they could have been. I am not sure if I had high expectations (actually, I had none) or I should have lowered it considering the area (can you have < 0 expectations?) and the time of the day. However, based on this experience, I am not sure if I am willing to come back. Granted, it was edible but, at the same price, I think there are better options.

Tagged under: Burnaby • Chicken