My goodness, the crazy popularity of Madison’s first Chick-Fil-A reminds me of when Sonic first opened and cars would be backed up on University Avenue. At one point in December, I counted at least 14 cars in a row in the drive-thru at Chick-Fil-A, plus others in the adjacent lot waiting for their order.
I’ve had Chick-Fil-A before in Florida, but I thought I’d go over some of the items for those who aren’t familiar with the menu.
Breakfast is served until 10:30 a.m. every day and includes items such as the sausage, egg and cheese biscuit and the chicken breakfast burrito. While I like the biscuits, I was intrigued by the chicken, egg and cheese on sunflower multigrain bagel ($3.55). There’s nothing like fried chicken to get your day started. The bagel was good but too crumbly; I may as well have just eaten a biscuit.
The rest of the menu is served all day, even during breakfast. If you’ve never eaten here, you should probably start with the classic chicken sandwich. For me, I wanted to try the Spicy Chicken Deluxe Sandwich ($4.05), which comes with pepperjack cheese, lettuce and tomatoes. I liked this a lot, and despite it not being that spicy, the sandwich was still spicier than Wendy’s version.
I also enjoyed the Grilled Chicken Club Sandwich ($5.95), topped with bacon and Colby-Jack cheese. The chicken was moist and well-seasoned. I was actually surprised Chick-Fil-A could do grilled chicken as well as it does fried chicken.
On that thought, let’s talk about the chicken nuggets. My 12-piece order ($4.69) was a mixed batch of mega-dry pieces and tender pieces. Plus, they didn’t carry the flavor of the fried chicken, and for those reasons, I wouldn’t order the nuggets again. Note: you also may order the nuggets in grilled form.
The rest of the menu is comprised of salads, wraps, desserts and even soups.
Chick-Fil-A is open Monday-Saturday. It has a big indoor playground and free wifi.
The rest of the menu is comprised of “Meatless Eats,” muffalettas, pasta dishes, soups and salads (I told you the menu was huge!). The Mighty Salmon Salad ($9.69) scared me at first, as it was so full of beans, beets and nuts that I didn’t initially see any salmon (a big chunk was indeed there). The whole ensemble was a bit bland for me, but it is a supremely healthy salad.
