21% Agree This Chain Restaurant Has The Worst Quality Chicken

Great chicken recipes make dinners easy, and there is so much you can do with this one meat. From a whole roasted bird to crispy wings or a prepping a quick seasoned chicken breast, your options are endless. There are chicken dishes that are so good that you will want to make them every day, including shredded chicken recipes that you can quickly whip up. But what if you want to take the night off from cooking and want someone else to make it for you?

If you are still craving chicken, it will be easy to find a chain restaurant that serves a nice variety of options. Plus, a number of fast-food chains are still going head-to-head in the fried chicken wars. Yet, if you want to sit down and leisurely enjoy your meal, fast food is not going to be your best bet.

Don't know where to go for chicken on your night off? Well, here are the places you might want to skip. In a recent Mashed poll, respondents were asked which chain restaurant has the worst quality chicken.

In a poll with 593 respondents from the United States, 21.08% of people said that Applebee's has the worst quality chicken. The other options in the poll were TGI Fridays, Chili's, The Cheesecake Factory, O'Charley's, and Cracker Barrel. Chili's was a close second, with 19.79% of respondents saying that it has the worst chicken.

Third in line with the worst chicken was O'Charley's, according to 15.68% of the votes. Meanwhile, TGI Fridays and Cracker Barrel were tied at 15.01% of respondents thinking they have the worst quality. Finally, The Cheesecake Factory received 13.49% of the votes from poll participants.

Although it seems like the votes say that chicken at Applebee's is a no-go, there might be a few other things on the restaurant's menu you want to steer clear of. According to a previous Mashed article, you might want to avoid the Loaded Fajitas, Loaded Baked Potato Soup, and even the frozen strawberry lemonade. For these menu items, it is less about the taste and more about the nutritional value.

Per a 2018 L.A. Times article, a scathing Reddit thread was created about the restaurant people have sworn not return to, and there were many Reddit users mentioning Applebee's. Although not all their complaints were specifically related to chicken, there were some former customers who had bad experiences with Applebee's chicken dishes.

"Went to Applebee's and my bf got chicken tenders or aka hockey pucks in the shape of tenders," one user commented. From the L.A. Times article, one Reddit commenter wrote about being served raw chicken in their grilled chicken salad, and the restaurant did not take the meal off the bill.

There are also items on the menu that staff at Applebee's avoid, and when it comes to chicken, you might want to pass on the Oriental Chicken Salad. This might have to do less with the chicken itself and rather the high calories in the dressing. However, if a good number of people think that Applebee's chicken is not so great, this might not be the standout chicken salad you can get while eating out.

Wondering if people have anything good to say about the chicken at Applebee's? Well, as it turns out, not everyone dislikes this sit-down chain's chicken dishes, and on social media platforms, many people have raved about them. One Twitter user posted that "This Chicken Penne from Applebee's just made my soul smile." Another Twitter user wrote, "Applebee's grilled chicken has no business being as good as it is."

Someone else recommended the Southwest Chicken Bowl in a tweet, so before you head over to Applebee's, one option is to take a few minutes to see what dishes others liked or disliked before ordering. One other social media recommendation through Twitter was the Honey Chicken Mac and Cheese, which does sound like a tasty twist on a classic or more simple mac and cheese dish.

If you decide to steer clear of Applebee's entirely, there are a lot of great chicken dishes that you can make at home instead of going out to a restaurant. There are some copycat KFC recipes that might be even easier than going out for fast food, or you can check out Tyler Florence's secret to juicy fried chicken.