The Wide World of Dirt

After missing breakfast on Sunday morning, my gut needed some sustenance. While McDonald’s isn’t ever my first choice, I noticed a new addition to their menu:

Spicy. Crispy. Chicken. Sandwich.

For fans of this series, you know that’s like music to my ears, but I was a bit off-put, considering the source. The McDonald’s I’m used to has offerings like the McChicken and the Buttermilk Chicken Sandwich, neither of which are particularly tasty.

I decided to take a chance on this though, mainly because I know this series has been lacking in entries as of recent, and the price point was super nice.

The first thing I noticed was the quality of the bird. My experience with McDonald’s chicken has been mixed, but it’s especially been negative towards their sandwiches.

The McChicken is great for its price, but you may as well buy a bag of Tyson chicken patties at the store and some buns. You could make 15 McChickens at a fraction of the cost.

The Buttermilk Chicken Sandwich was just underwhelming. I gave it a few chances. The bird lacked flavor. The bird was tough at times. Not great!

The Hamburglar turns it around here. The bird was fresh and wasn’t tough. The breading didn’t really add anything to the sandwich as a whole, but it stayed together while I was eating. It added the kick it needed, but I don’t know how different it is from the standard.

The bun was a noted improvement over their standard buns, but it didn’t get in the way of the sandwich. The carb cushions were just there as they should be.

I hardly noticed that there were pickles on there. Normally, they bring out something in the sandwich at other places, but here, they’re just there. Not bad, just ineffective.

I saw people saying that the sauce was the most questionable part of the sandwich, and that may just be up for personal preference. I enjoyed it. I think it could’ve been spicier, but it’s McDonald’s. I didn’t even expect it to be as spicy as it was to begin with.

The employees made a tad mess of the sauce, but they were in the midst of the rush. So, that’s probably not the standard. I won’t hold that against them. Charge it to the game.

The price point for the sandwich is solid. I believe it’s the cheapest in the market at $3.79 by itself, and that’s a pretty good way to get people in the door. If you can’t get to the level of Popeyes or Chick-fil-A, swing lower!

Overall, I was impressed by this sandwich as a whole, but there’s room to improve here. I don’t know if this sandwich even needs pickles if they’re just gonna exist.

The sauce is good, but McDonald’s needs to stop worrying about scaring people off with seasonings. Seasonings and spices are good. Add them!

They could give the sandwich a bit more bulk to keep up with the competition, but if they’re sacrificing the size for the killer price point, I understand that.

This is better than Cane’s sandwich, but as far as the rest of the field is concerned, it’s still a bit behind. I hope they bring this back after this initial run with some improvements.

The chicken sandwich game is better when everybody’s giving it their best. Having the biggest name in the game in on the action makes the game better.