Steveats: Wendy’s new chicken makes a better salad

Debuting a new, semi-regular feature! I tryout questionable food items so that you don’t have to in… Steveats. (Note: Title developed in about 10 seconds of brainstorming.)

The best praise I can give to Wendy’s new grilled chicken sandwich is that it makes for a decent salad. They throw a bunch of arugula or baby spinach in the bun, along with a tomato and a special sauce, and that aspect is pretty delicious! Their website describes it as a “spring mix” with smoky honey mustard. The bun is also tasty, since it’s a (re-heated) toasted bun with grains and what not.

Unfortunately, the sandwich comes with chicken, although this might be a generous description of whatever the meat product actually is. It’s shockingly rubbery, which is the kind of thing I’d expect more from McDonald’s or Roy Rogers or 7-Eleven than Wendy’s. Stuff like their crispy chicken sandwich, chicken wraps and homestyle chicken sandwich obviously have a fry batter, but they all tasty juicier and fresher than the grilled chicken sandwich I got.

Because there was a thick salad on my bun, it was hard for me to really analyze the sandwich. I imagine it would have been even more disappointing if I had. Thankfully, they’re having a $5 meal special on the sandwich because it’s new, because I would have been disappointed if it was one of the oddly high-priced normal Wendy’s combos.

As they’ve phased out the value menu and 4-for-$4 at some locations, Wendy’s has tumbled down my fast food rankings, even lower than Burger King. If it’s around $9 for a burger, fries and a drink, I’d rather just pay an extra buck or two and go to a place like Moe’s, Five Guys, Chipotle or Cilantro, to name the places I see regularly in my Rhode Island travels. I’m usually going for quality or cheapness when I’m in my “I’m too lazy to cook” moods, and right now Wendy’s doesn’t really hit either niche.

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