Went with the chicken strips in Spicy with an order of cajun fries. When queried about my "dippin" sauce selection I replied Ranch and was met with scorn from the order taker as apparently, Popeyes has no less than 5 different types of Ranch dressing. I settled on Blackened Ranch dressing and ordered a Dr.Pepper to complete my southern chicken experience.
The fries were crisp but not very spicy they had some sort of coating or batter that reminded me of old 90s Burger King fries. They were very long and pretty tasty. I did not use ketchup on any other sauce on them. I received an ample amount of them that lasted purpostionatly to the rest of the meal not leaving any leftovers to throw away like Five Guys or other burger places.
The chicken had a good kick that was not evident at first, Originally when I ate my first piece I was disappointed and I could not taste the heat right away but after a few moments I could taste it. Very heavy on cheyenne and black pepper and a slight note of dill in the seasoning, I would maybe guess they use white pepper instead of black due to the subtle heat but I doubt Pop-Eyes would use a more expensive version. The chicken itself was very crunchy and I would say more crunch than chicken, it was moist white meat that was big enough that I had to break it into small bite size pieces. I would've preferred a thicker cut of chicken as you never really got a good taste of chicken it was more like chicken flavored breading with spices. Still it was filling and had a good flavor.
The biscuit is always my favorite part of going to Pop-Eyes and i would say they have the best biscuit in the fast food game hands down. I normally get a packet of honey and eat it with the biscuit as a sort of dessert from with my meal but I was very hungry and ate immediately when i got home.
The sauce was a big disappointment it was disgusting pink shaded black pepper infused fake ranch concoction that after one strip out of five was discarded in favor of eating them plain. I'm not sure how something that is supposed to be blackened ranch dressing comes out as a pinkish yellow discharge but i was turned off.
Luckily, the Dr.Pepper was crisp and properly carbonated I would say the Pop-Eyes had it's syrup lines cleaned recently.
All in all it was a tasty greasy hangover helping meal and I give it 3.5/5 on the Fast Food scale.