Popeyes chicken sandwich, it’s finally back

After several months and several long lines, I finally got the sandwich.

The spicy chicken sandwich is back (Josiah Carino/Lariat)

In early August, Popeyes came out with something new, a chicken sandwich that you could get mild or spicy. It was something people claimed to be so good, several Popeyes locations flooded with people trying to get a hold of this sandwich before they sold out for the day.

However, only two weeks into selling the sandwich, the fast food chain was no longer offering it, stating that they had run out of it. But in the first weekend of November, the sandwich was brought back and not for just a limited time, but to stay.

After hearing the news of this, I rushed over to the closest Popeyes in south OC I could find and boy, was I in for a treat. The plaza where the restaurant was located had cars lined up around the entire place. It looked like a maze of cars were waiting for the return of some holy figure they’d always want to meet.

Safe to say, I wasn’t going to wait in a line like that for just one sandwich and I wasn’t going to wait inside where the line looked to start from one entrance to the other.

Later on that week, I decided to try my luck with getting the sandwich on a Friday night. When I was driving there, I didn’t think the line for the drive thru was going to be as long. I was right, it was barely shorter than when I first went on the weekend.

Instead of waiting in a line like that, I decided to go inside and this time line stretched all the way to the dining area. Looking at this, and the fact that it was my second time trying to get this sandwich, I wasn’t going to turn my back and leave without it.

To make sure that they wouldn’t run out so quickly, there was a limit of five sandwiches per person.

After waiting only about 12 minutes, I got to the front of the line where I ordered two sandwiches, one mild and one spicy. The cashier asked for my name and to sign my receipt, something I had never had to do before at a Popeyes. But after thinking about how hard it is to keep track of orders, it made more sense.

Getting my sandwiches wasn’t hard, all they asked me to do was show my receipt to them to confirm it was me and I was on my way.

I pulled out the spicy sandwich and took a bite out of it and it tasted amazing. It was crispy, crunchy and the chicken wasn’t dry at all. It really tasted like a great sandwich.

The hype surrounding the sandwich made it feel like it was holy or something, but in my opinion it was just a really good tasting, spicy sandwich. The mild one lacked a lot of flavor which made me regret not getting a second spicy sandwich.

Even after having both sandwiches, a few weeks later I decided to go back and try it again to see if anything changed.

Not much really changed though. The drive thru line was still packed as always, and the line inside was a little longer than last time. From the length of both of these things, the hype behind the sandwich still didn’t die down.

But I know that for some people, they’re not the biggest fan of it.

“As a person who enjoys more exotic flavors, I found the sandwich was a little plain for my taste. It was basically just sauce, chicken, and two pickles on a bun. Yes the chicken was crispy and delicious, but that was the only thing that really stood out. Next time I go to Popeye’s I will stick to just the fried chicken. It was good, but certainly not worth the hype.” said Elena Malek.

Still for me, I really like the sandwich and having it the second time didn’t change either. The consistency of how crispy the sandwich was still the same, but I do think that the spice level was a little hotter than last. Trying the sandwich twice didn’t really make me think different of it at all, it just made me a fan of Popeyes even more.

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