The Birds Are Calling: Who Will Win the Chicken War?

In 2019, the world erupted with the ongoing debate as to whose chicken sandwich was the best: Popeyes or Chick-fil-A? Unfortunately, even after months of debate, there was still no clear winner. This led the title open which attracted every fast-food chain to hop on board and take their stab at the possibility of being crowned with the title ‘Best Chicken Sandwich. Our newsgroup wanted to see for ourselves who would come out on top. We, of course, started with bias and prediction towards our favorite fast-food restaurants, however, we never could’ve predicted who really came out on top.

We knew the challenge, we just needed to find the contestants. We started out with Popeyes. Popeyes boasts a chicken sandwich that is, “crispy fried chicken breast, topped with pickles, slicked with your choice of mayo or spicy Cajun sauce, and nestled on a brioche bun ‘southern style’”. We got the bag which smelled absolutely delicious and we couldn’t wait to try it. After opening the package, we saw that the sandwich lived up to the hype. It was crispy, juicy, and unbelievably fresh-tasting, considering it came from a restaurant nestled on the side of 309. We developed a rating scale so that we could hold and compare all the chicken sandwiches on the same level. For overall flavor, we gave it an 8/10. The presentation got a 6/10, its main downfall being that there was an unproportionate amount of chicken to the bun which made it look thrown together. Crispiness got a 7/10, juiciness a 9/10, the ease of eating a 5/10, again the downfall being the absurdly large amount of chicken. The amount of chicken got a 10/10, while it was overwhelming, you definitely got what you paid for. And finally, on the basis of whether or not it tasted like chicken, it got a 10/10. Popeyes was able to go home with a whopping score of 55/70.

Next up was McDonald’s. McDonald’s is famous for its McNuggets so our group had high hopes for the chicken sandwich. McDonald’s advertises the sandwich as ‘a new word to describe a new kind of delicious—with our new crispy chicken fillet made with all-white meat, crinkle-cut pickles, and new buttered potato roll’. It certainly smelled delicious, however, once we opened the bag and took a bite, our group was let down. While the sandwich, objectively, wasn’t bad, it wasn’t what we had hoped for nor what we had expected. As for the rating scale, we gave it a 5/10 for overall flavor, a 7/10 for presentation, an 8/10 for crispiness, a 4/10 for juiciness, for the ease of eating we gave it a 9/10, and for the amount of chicken, a 10/10. Overall, we rated the taste of the chicken a 6/10. The sandwich is something that someone could sit down and enjoy, however, it doesn’t prove its worth, as it only scored a 49/70.

Next, we had Popeyes’ rival, Chick-fil-A. This was one of the restaurants that started it all, so we had high expectations while pulling into that parking lot. With everyone in the car being a big fan of Chick-fil-A nuggets, we were expecting the sandwich to be just as amazing, and we weren’t disappointed. They describe their sandwich as ‘a boneless breast of chicken seasoned to perfection, freshly breaded, pressure cooked in 100% refined peanut oil and served on a toasted, buttered bun with dill pickle chips.’ We began to dig in and were impressed with what they had to offer, and it soon became clear why there was a chicken war at all. For overall flavor we gave it a 9/10, for presentation, an 8/10, for crispiness a 6/10, for juiciness an 8/10, for ease of eating, we gave it a 10/10, and for the amount of chicken, an 8/10. Finally, for the taste and quality of the chicken itself, we gave it a 10/10. It was clear that this would give the rest of the restaurants a run for their money, with an overall score of 59/70.

Next up was Wendy’s. We had heard different opinions from people outside of the newsgroup that had already tried both the original and spicy chicken sandwich. All the reviews had been good and so we were excited to see what Wendy’s had in store. They advertise their chicken sandwich as ‘the chain’s latest entry into the chicken sandwich wars boasts an updated take on its all-white meat chicken breast coated in a crispy breading. The fillet is then topped with mayo, tomato, lettuce, and pickles, all sandwiched between a toasted bun for $4.99.’ However, we were disappointed once we got the bags. We opened up the top bun of the sandwich and found lettuce and tomatoes that resembled the fake vegetables you would get in a play kitchen when you were a kid. They were browning and stiff. However, we decided to just remove the vegetables and try the sandwich by itself. For overall flavor, we gave it a 5, for presentation a 1, all of the points being taken off of for the vegetables that were on the sandwich. For crispiness, we gave it a 4/10, for juiciness, an 8/10, for ease of eating a 7/10, and for the amount of chicken, we gave it a 7/10. Finally, for the overall rating of the quality and taste of the chicken itself, we gave it a 6/10. Overall, we were disappointed and had hoped for more from Wendy’s, especially a higher final score that only came to 38/70, the lowest score of all the sandwiches we tried.

Second to last was a small, privately owned chicken shop called ‘Lovebird’ which is located in main town Doylestown. Some of us had already eaten at the establishment and had really enjoyed the food we were given, so we were especially excited to be able to try the chicken sandwich, which was something from the menu none of us had tried before. We grabbed it at curbside pickup and were automatically impressed with the presentation. For the ratings, we gave its overall flavor an 8/10, for presentation a 9/10, for crispiness a 7/10, for juiciness, a 9/10, and for the ease of eating a 10/10, and the amount of chicken a 9/10. Finally, for the overall taste and quality of the chicken itself, we gave it a 10/10. Lovebird isn’t well known outside of Bucks County, however, some of these other chain restaurants can’t hold a flame to the Lovebird chicken sandwich. It came out as one of the best, with an overall score of 62/70.

Finally, the best chicken sandwich, winning by only one point, went to Burger King. This was the restaurant that all of us were doubting would be any good, let alone be the top contender. We pulled into our parking spot, opened the bag, and were automatically met with delicious smells that made our mouths water. We took a bite and were immediately impressed with the Burger King chicken sandwich. For the rating, we gave the overall flavor a 9/10, for presentation, an 8/10, for crispiness, a 10/10, for juiciness, an 8/10, for ease of eating, a 9/10, and for the amount of chicken, a 9/10. Finally, for the overall taste and quality of the chicken itself, we gave it a 10/10. Overall, Burger King beat Lovebird by one point, coming out on top with an overall score of 63/70.

We also took this opportunity to talk to other chicken lovers and get their opinions as to who they thought had the best chicken sandwich. We talked to Grace Robago, a current senior at Pennridge High School. We initially asked her out of the restaurants we visited, which one had her favorite, “I would have to go with Chick-Fil-A. I love chicken sandwiches and I’ve tried most of those restaurants and I would prefer Chick-Fil-A just because they taste the best and are consistently good.” She notes that, while she doesn’t order chicken sandwiches all the time, whenever she is going out to eat, her go-to is a chicken sandwich, so we knew we could trust her opinion. Out of our rating categories, we asked Grace which is the most important to her when it comes to her sandwiches, “The most important to me is probably crispiness or overall flavor. Obviously, it should taste good, but I like a nice crispy chicken sandwich.” We also got the opportunity to ask Mrs. Bates, the AP Environmental teacher at PHS, about where her favorite chicken sandwich comes from. She held Grace’s response, saying that Chick-fil-A is where she prefers. When asked about which place she believed would have the most popular chicken sandwich, she resounded, “CHICK-FIL-A! It’s the only thing they offer [chicken]- they better be good at it.”

Overall, all of the restaurants that we put to the test did deliver and did in fact give us chicken sandwiches. Whether or not they were the best is debatable, but we have done the research, we have done the fieldwork, and we have made our choice, and we proudly crown Burger King with the best chicken sandwich. And of course, this issue will forever be debated, as different taste buds have different opinions, however, if you are in need of a chicken sandwich, our group highly recommends Burger King’s Original Chicken Sandwich.