Church's Chicken - Richmond

I visited the restaurant in person two days in a row and both times they did not have any Regular chicken available. On the first day, it was 10pm and they close at 11pm, but they had already mopped the floor and asked me to wait 15 minutes for chicken, which I declined and left. Today, at 8:30pm, there was still no regular chicken despite the clerk saying they had some. They asked me to wait 10 minutes, but I was frustrated as they close at 11pm and questioned why they didn't have any product available or were not making any at that time. I got into a heated argument with the manager, or someone who claimed to be the manager, and threatened to complain to head office once again. After exchanging heated words, I decided to order from another restaurant via Uber instead.

We decided on some Church's chicken for dinner. We asked the counter person for 12 pieces of thighs and drum sticks (because we did not believe it was worth 75 cents each to upgrade the drum sticks to thighs. We specifically requested fresh chicken to which the clerk assured us that the chicken was only 10 minutes out of the fryer. Additionally the clerk offered to upgrade us to breasts at no additional cost. When we arrived home we discovered 3 drum sticks and 3 thighs in one box and 6 breasts in the other. The drum sticks and thighs were barely warm and the breasts were cold and so very dry that we could not swallow them. We forced ourselves to eat the drum sticks and thighs and ended up disposing of 5 of the breasts in the trash can. Needless to say it will be a long time before we patronize this location of Church's chicken again.

There's about a 1/2 dozen chicken outlets (including both national brands and local sites} in metro Vancouver but Church's remains on top of the ladder. Church's pieces are larger than KFC, some ma pa operations insist that you purchase both a thigh and leg as a combo, Some local outlets simply lack flavor or sell stale dated products. Our experience is that the Terra Nova outlet is the most consistent although they appear to experience management issues.

Seems to me that the prices for chicken have increased and the size of the chicken pieces have shrunk. It could also be my imagination but the chicken seems to taste fresher on Wednesdays (could it be a product of fresh inventory or possibly that the oil in the deep fryer was changed on Tuesdays). Off street in the Terra Nova Shopping Centre is also more scarce now days.

I’ve had Church’s countless times and finally decided to write a review. Actually there is one Church’s just across from where I live but that is always so busy that I had been coming to this location instead. I find the chicken at this location is usually very juicy and fresh, staffs are also very friendly and accommodating if you have any special request etc. I ordered the in house Special: 10 piece drum sticks thighs with 2 lsides for $29.35 including tax. After arriving home the chicken is still very crispy and juicy! With a good movie what more can you ask for!? Maybe a Coke?