The Shadiest Things About Popeyes' Menu

outrageously small portions fishy food prep and frustrating shortages this is the Shady business that Popeyes has tried to get away with when you go to your local Popeyes you expect it will have what's listed on the menu but that hasn't always been true and we're not just talking about the time that the chicken sandwich blew up in 2019 occasionally a popey's location may be out of just one item but it's often worse than that as one disgruntled customer wrote on Reddit whenever I order at my three local Popeyes they literally are out of open for half the menu every time and another upset Patron declared they absolutely knew they had zero chicken and I do mean zero chicken to serve but still took our orders so they could keep our money when the lady behind the counter offered we could get $34 worth of fries and mac and cheese I had to laugh after researching it I've discovered this is the process at popey's this lack of items occurred frequently during the height of the covid-19 pandemic when much of the restaurant world was struggling with supply chain issues but even since then there have been reports of Popeyes occasionally running out of food when they're offering a popular special that makes people flock to their local restaurant even worse some locations have a reputation for running out of food on any old random weekday no God no God please no no when popey's introduced a plant-based sandwich in 2021 it didn't stay on the menu for long the chain does offer vegetarian menus in the UK and India but if you're someone in the US who sticks to a plant-based diet you should do your research because looks can be deceiving for instance the southern classic of red beans and rice contains lard and meat at least the mashed potatoes are vegetarian as long as you get them without the meat infused gravy the green beans are also a noo since they contain turkey bacon for flavoring finding something truly vegan at Popeyes is even more difficult the cajun fries and hash rounds might qualify but they're sometimes cooked in the same frers as non-vegan items and thus may experience cross-contamination Popeyes has also admitted that it fries its Selections in beef tallow the coffee and most drinks on the menu do appear to be safe options for vegans but that's about it when popey's brought back its chicken sandwich after running out of its Supply in 2019 there were many complaints that it wasn't the same as before its return was met with Mayhem and violence in some extreme cases in part because it didn't look quite the same as everyone remembered it I'm experiencing some things right now even though Popeyes swore that nothing had changed customer testimonials told a different story the first hint that something was off was the fact that the sandwiches calorie count had decreased from 690 to 660 and in side-by-side photo comparisons the new version was visibly smaller as the chicken and Bun weren't nearly as thick as the first time around there didn't seem to be as many pickles anymore either plus the new bun was lighter in color while some people thought that the breading was also somehow different despite these clear discrepancies some customers believe that the chicken sandwich is still just as delicious as always some even thought that it tasted better you never want to eat uncooked chicken as it could be contaminated with salmonella and cause food poisoning thus there's a lot of inherent trust that we have in poultry based fast food restaurants alas incidents of uncooked chicken at Popeyes reportedly happen far too often as one customer revealed on Reddit I was served a raw chicken sandwich and I got sick the owner did nothing and corporate did nothing I am hoping this gets shared another customer who was served an uncooked chicken sandwich called popey's on the phone and was reportedly told we check our broilers every 4 hours to make sure they are at the food safe temperature I'm sorry you were dissatisfied with it customers have complained about similar issues with the Chain's bone and chicken including the wings so it's probably a good idea to cut into the meat yourself before you take a bite of chicken at Popeyes or anywhere else for that matter some customers have complained that the chicken tenders they get at their local Popeyes aren't as good as they once were the issues cited include smaller amounts of crisp batter tiny portions and increasingly lowquality meat as one customer put it on Reddit they used to be really tender now they are quite chewy and dense and another claimed they definitely have some weird spots in them like rubbery others have received tiny pieces that they contend shouldn't count towards their total number of tenders the breading is another common problem area since regular chicken tenders are breaded by hand at Popeyes they can VAR significantly from location to location so this issue is probably more about the individuals who are doing the breading rather than a chain wide problem the spicy tenders at least seem to be more consistent because they come pre- breeded spicy not all cooking oils are exactly the same and it's worth noting that popey's uses palm oil to fry its chicken that's a bit unusual compared to other major chicken chains like raisin canes and Chick-fil-A which use Blends that contain different oils like canola soy or peanut palm oil has a bad reputation for several reasons it may have some health benefits but it's also high in saturated fats one 2006 study published in the American journal of clinical nutrition found that palm oil can keep cholesterol at higher levels compared to other types of oil like soy and canola another big problem with palm oil is that it often comes from unsustainable sources that contribute to deforestation as for where papy stands on this issue the chain noted in 2022 the commitment to contribute to the production of certified sustainable palm oil is part of popey's ambition to support deforestation free Supply chains on top of all that there's anecdotal evidence from some customers who claim that eating at Popeyes has given them serious digestive problems some of them believe that palm oil is to blame however it's not in entirely clear what oil blend popey's really uses with some sources reporting that they use beef fat in their fryers not all of Popeyes menu items sell quickly and consistently nevertheless the chain still makes a habit of cooking them ahead of time and putting them under the heat lamp in anticipation of customers eventually ordering them alas they're not always exactly fresh in this scenario so if you're someone who likes your fast food straight out of the fryer there are a few items that you might want to avoid as one person claiming to be a popey's employee revealed on Reddit spicy chicken doesn't sell as well as mild so it just sits there for longer than 30 minutes it's supposed to be there until we get a complaint or we have time to look same for the fish it just doesn't sell this practice varies by location though spicy chicken is particularly popular in New Orleans for example but if you live in an area where people don't like spicy food as much it might be one of the slower selling and therefore less fresh items available there are a couple of workarounds to help you get fresher food one option is to only visit when it's super busy and there's no need to put anything under a lamp or you could politely inform the staff that you're willing to wait for your food to be cooked fresh we don't make sense we make chicken obtaining fresh fries from any fast food joint can be tricky and it may be all the more difficult at Popeyes where customers have complained about them being greasy soggy and cold as for the greasiness one person claimed on Reddit that's true 90% of the time however it wasn't all bad as that same person also revealed this past week I must have hit the fry jackpot or something because I got a batch of crispy not too oily fries and everybody agreed they were the best Popeyes fries we've ever tried but even if you do look out with fresh fries it's important to not wait too long to eat them as one person advised on Reddit the secret is that you have to eat them right away if they sit in the bag they become soggy because of all the steam being created in the bag that can't vent to be fair this isn't entirely unusual when it comes to fast food fries but it's still worth pointing out so that you can take precautions try politely asking the cashier that you're willing to wait for a fresh batch and once you receive them keep the box or bag open so that the spuds don't drown in their own Steam and become a soggy greasy mess getting tiny bone in chicken pieces from Popeyes can no doubt be a major bummer the quality of the chicken itself may be up for debate as well while Popeyes promises that it uses antibiotic free poultry it has never promised that they're cagefree or hormone free this likewise means that there's little reason for their chicken pieces to be so small and yet multiple customers have complained about the size or lack thereof as one person put on Reddit the bone and chicken at Popeyes has gotten ridiculously small the legs can be eaten in almost a single bite and the thighs are only slightly bigger than the legs and don't even get me started on the wings and a customer who visited in 2023 had this to say on Reddit these are the tiniest dinky wings I have ever seen about oneir the size of the Wings I'm used to getting one Tik tocker even went so far as to post a video in which he asked for more Wings to make up for the minuscule serving at least give me two of them it's fairly well known that the process of preparing shrimp involves deving it although apparently not everyone at popey's got the memo getting cooked shrimp with the veins intact may sound rather unappetizing though it is technically food safe still if you're trying to avoid shrimp veins you should probably be careful at this particular chain the potential problem with leaving the vein in is that it is actually the shrimp's digestive tract it's dark because it's filled with all of the food the shrimp was digesting it's essentially the shrimp version of eating another animal's intestines just on a smaller scale while it's not hard harmful to eat cooked vein and shrimp there's surely an undeniable ick factor for plenty of people plus it can sometimes leave a gritty residue behind and who wants to bite down on something Sandy when eating shrimp or any food for that matter one gross outout customer who served shrimp from Popeyes that wasn't devain shared the experience on Reddit while declaring Popeyes doesn't even devain their shrimp looks like no more Popeyes for me some customers have even found Tails left on all of their shrimp which isn't exactly the most appetizing possibility either it's probably fair to say that not every fast food lover assumes that all chicken tenders are made from actual chicken tender loins but this distinction was important enough for some people that a class action lawsuit was brought against Popeyes as its name suggests the tenderloin part of a chicken breast tends to be more moist and tender than other white meat cuts the customer named in the suit felt that she and other customers were being cheated when they ordered tenders at a premium price even though they weren't made from tenderloin meat however Popeyes doesn't specify that its tenders come from any particular part of the chicken moreover they don't even call them tenderloins according to court docket info the case does not appear to have moved forward between 2022 and 2024 after the court suggested a dismissal or amendment in the meantime Popeyes has continued to advertise its chicken strips as tenders rather than strips or fingers

Channel: Mashed

Views: 157,795

Keywords: mashed, Popeyes, fast food, restaurants, fried chicken

Id: 0GWni4Ia0xM

Length: 10min 24sec (624 seconds)

Published: Thu Apr 25 2024