There’s a new fried chicken restaurant in town that offers all things chicken including fried chicken, chicken tenders, chicken wings, chicken sandwiches, chicken and waffles, and even smoked chicken for everybody that’s trying to avoid fried foods to start the year.
The new local concept is called Chick N Max and the first of three planned openings is now ready to go in Wichita.
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410 N Hillside Suite #500
Wichita, KS 67204
316-831-1286
Monday – Thursday: 10:30am – 10pm
Friday – Saturday: 10:30am – 11pm
Sunday: 10:30am – 9pm
Cash/Card Accepted
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Chick N Max opened last week at Central and Hillside in the former Freebirds World Burrito. I actually stopped by twice over the past week to get a good look at the new fried chicken quick-service restaurant.
On my first outing, I realized they still had a lot of growing pains. I grabbed what I hoped would be a quick dinner on my way home from work. I ordered the chicken and waffles along with the fried biscuits tossed in cinnamon sauce. There were many unhappy customers that evening. Wait times for food took roughly twenty minutes. That’s something Chick N Max will have to work on if they want to keep returning customers.
The chicken was pretty tender, flavorful and delicious. I was quite impressed with it seeing as though I had fairly low expectations. The waffle was decent. I prefer my waffles to have a softer texture and a bit doughy. Chick N Max’ had a harder, almost crunchy texture than my preference. It didn’t have that homemade flavor to it. It also came with a small container of Smuckers syrup. Overall though it was much better than I expected. If I were to go to Chick N Max again, I’d likely still order this.
The fried biscuits though were a no go for me; very dry and just had a flat taste to it.
On my second outing to Chick N Max, it was a large carry out order for my coworkers. We ordered an array of items from the sandwiches to the chicken tenders to the premium tenders which are supposed to be bigger to the smoked chickens to the ice cream sundae.
For starters they billed us incorrectly. There were a couple items where we didn’t order the full meals. This was a $2.50 difference per item which adds up than they also messed up on side orders. They offered to give us a credit so it looks like we will have to go back in the near future.
As for the food, the comments were more positive than negative from our group. One of the big likes by everybody was the minimal amount of breading they used. Some chicken places have all breading and little chicken. You won’t have that problem at Chick N Max.
One coworker who had the chicken sandwich thought it was wonderful. He loved the chicken and had the same sentiments that I had. The same was said for one of the guys who had the tenders. They all thought they were very tasty. I opted for the premium tenders this go around and was full after just one tender. I was impressed with how much better the premium tenders were compared to the regular tenders I received on my chicken and waffles on my previous visit. The one major drawback about the chicken was the grease. We went through a lot of napkins; tree activists would not have been happy with us.
For reference, you can get a 4 tender meal for $7.99 or you can get a 2 premium tender meal for $8.49. The premium tenders are advertised as bigger and juicier. Here’s a picture of what the difference looks like. We all said we would opt for the premium tenders every single time.
After two visits to Chick N Max, it was obvious they have some issues to fix on the service side. You can hopefully chalk that up to growing pains of a new restaurant and a new wait staff. For what it’s worth, my carry out order was all ready to go when I arrived at the exact time they told me it’d be ready. Had I been charged correctly, it would have been a great visit. We get carry out a lot of various restaurants around town so having everything go right is so convenient.
Everybody who had the regular fried chicken was very happy with their meal. Was it great enough to warrant a return visit? We’re back and forth given the amount of chicken competition in town but since there’s a credit for me there, the odds are high.
Have you gone before? We’d love to read your comments!
Here’s their menu:
Happy Dining,
Eddy
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I went on their opening day. I was not impressed with 2 main things. First, their value compared to someplace like Krispy’s just wasn’t there. Sure the premium wings were similar in size but the cost difference was crazy. Second, my chicken was so greasy that it left a pool of grease in the bottom of the basket. That sounds like it might have been a day one issue, which is good. I will have to go back and see if that is the case.
Overall I just didn’t think it was anything special. Krispy’s is awesome because it is good meaty chicken for a great value. This was just good expensive chicken. Without the value play or something exceptional on their menu that makes it worth the cost, not sure it will keep drawing me back.
Sign looks like a quick loan place. And what is Max? Maximum chicken? Looks like Slim Chicken sign. Why a picture of a chicken you are about ready to eat. Ugh.
The smoked chicken is fantastic at this store! When cooking low and slow leaving the skin on helps to retain moisture and prevents the meat from drying out. In order to get a smoke ring on a white meat like chicken the meat must be smoked for hours. Which means that it was not rushed in the cooking process. Not sure what the chicken looked like but when taking the skin off it should have pink meat just under the skin. This is a smoke ring which is a sign of quality in BBQ world, which may be mistook for undercooked chicken. Knowing this can put her at ease so next time she can enjoy a tasty smoked chicken.
Picked up a to go order last Saturday that consisted of two Loaded spicy Chick N Max sandwiches with Max Sauce along with greens, mac and cheese and fries. Have to say I’m a fan of the chicken, lightly breaded, spice was nice, cole slaw topping was good, but the bun wasn’t up to the format of the sandwich, two tenders with cole slaw, pickles and sauce and quickly fell apart. Not a tragedy, but they might want to rethink the format of the sandwich. Greens were good, mac not so much. Just cheese sauce poured over cooked pasta. Yuck. 3 outta 4.
We have been twice. For a new concept they are on the right track. My wife had the chicken and waffles and she really liked them. I had the smoked chicken and thought it was pretty darn good. The manager took me back to check out the smoker; it uses stick wood and not pellets which I prefer. It was pink, but most of that was the smoke ring. We also had the slaw and mac and cheese. Slaw, OK but the Mac and Cheese is some of the best around. Would go back just for that. Second time through was the Chicken Tenders. We opted for the premium and glad we did. I did not think they were overly greasy and the meat was very juicy which I never got at Slims. The desserts are OK but nothing to brag about. Our service both times was top notch and being a franchisee I get the early growing pains, especially if this is your new concept. We will go back.
I just had lunch there today. Got the barbecue and onion ring smoked chicken combo, with a side of onion rings.
The sandwich was very good, pulled chicken in a little bit larger chunks than I expected but very flavorful. Onion rings were excellent as were the dipping sauces.