Checking Chicken at Chicken Salad Chick

-3 Snaps! Try it. You might like it.

Fancy Nancy sandwich on a croissant with broccoli salad

​Back in 1863 while working at Town Meats in Wakefield Rhode Island, Liam Gray needed something to do with leftover chicken. Being inventive he mixed it with some Mayo, grapes, and tarragon and voilà, the first chicken salad appears in the United States. Since then it has become somewhat of a southern staple (we love our chicken), and when I heard about the opening of Chicken Salad Chick in the former home of Lenny’s subs on Kennedy Boulevard I made a beeline. 

The interior of the Chicken Salad Chick is bright and fresh.

The interior is fresh and bright with one of the walls lined with photos of downtown Tampa and surrounding area. Food is ordered at a counter for dine in or takeout, and the food is delivered to tables by staff.

I'm not sure what I am looking at. Is that pimento cheese in a scoop?

Visually the menu is somewhat confusing. It starts out with combos, moves on to chicken salads, and then to pimento cheese and more. The chicken salad section is broken down into traditional, savory, fruity and nutty, and spicy. Other offerings include salads, sides, soups, and signature sandwiches. The pimento cheese section exhibits a picture of what looks like chicken salad. Does their pimento cheese come in a scoop? 

Fancy Nancy chicken salad on a croissant with broccoli salad

We start with a Fancy Nancy -chicken salad with Fuji apples, seedless grapes, and pecans- on a croissant with lettuce and tomato ($7.99). For a side we order broccoli salad. All meals come with a garlic pickle wedge and a prepackaged buttercream frosted cookie. 
The sandwich is a healthy size. Biting in I note a slight sweetness to the mix, but the rest is just okay. The flavor of the chicken is flat and I don’t really taste the apple or grapes. The mayo base is creamy and not overdone leaving the chicken salad firm. The croissant is not fresh. It tastes and looks institutional. When asked, the server is not sure where they are baked. It is a serious oversight. A fresh croissant would elevate this sandwich significantly.
The broccoli side salad is a bowl of small florets mixed with shredded mozzarella and cheddar and topped with bacon, tossed in a sweet vinegar based dressing. There is a nice tart edge to the mix. For the taste, think broccoli slaw with a bacon kicker.

Barbie-Q scoop on the Classic Salad with pickle spear and buttercream frosted cookie

Next is a scoop of Barbie Q- chicken salad with a hickory smoked barbecue flavor. I order it on the house Classic Salad ($7.99). The chicken is tangy and savory and the BBQ flavor smokey is enough to shine through but not take over. It’s a tasty mix. The classic salad is a basic blend of greens, grape tomatoes and cucumber pieces. Several salad dressings are offered including poppyseed, Italian, ranch, and honey mustard.

A prepackaged mini buttercream frosted cookie comes with every meal

The buttercream frosted cookie that comes with every meal is a nice signature. It’s a small bite of overly sweet cookie, but a nice end to the meal.

Both of the chicken salads we sampled were missing any real chicken hardiness and were underwhelming. I prefer chunks of chicken instead of the mixed/pureed type. Both salads seem over processed. If you like a texture more akin to tuna salad give these a try. Overall I am a little disappointed. The idea behind offering a large selection of chicken salad is brilliant.  In this day of hyper focused food specialization, opening a place that focuses on this southern tradition seems like a no-brainer. However, there is room for improvement here.
I wonder to myself if some of the quality issues could be due to being recently opened. But they have several other stores with similar menus and these issues should be worked out.