Chicken Salad Chick

First time here. Food is good and fresh and good quality. Very good option instead of the everyday fast food places. The dining room is good size, not crowded at lunch time despite a constant flow of people. The menu is not very big but has good variety. There is quite a few different chicken salad flavors, sandwiches and deserts. Drinks are self serve. I had the one scoop of salad with 2 sides — pasta salad and grape salad. The lunch was very filling without causing the bloated feeling. Definitely worth a try.

Chicken salad is chicken salad — what’s the big deal, right? Well, Chicken Salad Chick puts a little more than your average TLC into their chicken salads not to mention offering nearly a dozen or more different varieties of chicken salad (I didn’t think it was possible either — it is).
FOOD
The menu items are little on the pricier side for chicken salad, I know, but it’s filling, satisfying and overall tasty! They offer sandwiches, salads, soups, and scoops and about 5 different side items pasta salad, grape salad, broccoli salad, chips, fruit cup. I ordered the two scoops of chicken salad (pick your own varieties from the 12 or so offered — I chose buffalo and «Fruity Fran» w/​grapes and nuts) and a side item of pasta salad. The large scoops of chicken salad are generous dollops and the side item is also large. I left stuffed and with a to-​go box. The buffalo chicken salad tasted as such with a little kick that I appreciated. The Fruity Fran was okay — I do wish they cut the whole grapes into halves and added a few more nuts as shared in a few other reviews. There weren’t as many fixings as I hoped in this chicken salad. The pasta salad surprised me with it’s light dressing (not mayo based which I liked) black olives, chopped artichokes, feta and lots of seasoning. Impressive for a side item, I felt. These two large scoops of chicken salad and pasta salad was $ 8.95. My husband had the jalapeño chicken salad that lacked the heat jalapenos should bring and the classic that was creamy and filling if you’re into the ‘plain Jane’ type menu items. Fountain sodas available. You can also purchase the chicken salads by the pound in larger portions and catering options available, too.
SERVICE
Order at the counter and take your table number for them to bring your order to your seat. Friendly staff and always appreciate when staff come around to check on tables and ask if you need anything.
ATMOSPHERE
The space is large and has plenty of seating both booths and tables. I LOVE the cutesy, girly décor with pattern tableclothes, framed quotes in the restrooms, and a terrific framed ‘story’ wall art describes how Chicken Salad Chick began. I appreciate reading the history of it all got started. Very clean place!
Why I’d come back… the buffalo chicken salad chick or one of the others I haven’t tried yet!

One of the best and freshest meals I’ve had in Gainesville. Simply delicious. This is going to become a regular place for me… yum!
I had the loaded potato soup, which at first looked like a small portion but was very rich, tasty and filling. I also had the broccoli salad for a side. That too was very fresh and tasty. I had the the chic salad with sweet relish and egg (forgot the name of it, «southern» or something like that). I sampled it first and ordered it on sourdough with let and tom. Hubby got a turkey sub.
We got it as takeout. We enjoyed everything. We did not feel the salad was «mushy» although it is not chunky. I actually liked it that way even though it wasn’t quite what I was expecting either. The bread was fresh as well as the sides and veggies on the sandwiches. Delicious! We also bought a pound to take home for lunches.

This place has Paula Dean written all over it. The décor is southern traditional balancing on the really tacky. You know that old striped funky colored wall paper your grandma had in her kitchen. Year that everywhere in the dining room. The people behind the counter to me acted like robots. Can I help you? What side do you want with that? Your total is? Do you want your receipt? OK I got thru that and went to sit down and await my food. I went with a the original chick which is a sandwich and one side. I like some spice so I went with the jalapeño chicken salad sandwich. Only one thing wrong after I was done a remembered that it was suppose to be spicy I thought. Well one bite had some heat and not much of it either. I saw that they put a lot of chicken in the chicken salad and just enough mayo to hold it together. Well my chicken salad had more mayo that chicken unless they threw the whole kit n knittencabootle in the food processor. it was kind of like a puddling with some chunks. My side really lacked flavor also. I know pasta salad is normally easy but I didn’t like the piece I ate of it. Away it went with my tray. So Im going to keep trying to find more places in work.

An entire restaurant concept around the chicken salad. Of course, chicken salad IS one of the greatest dishes this side of the Atlantic Ocean. Chicken Salad Chick (CSC) did not disappoint. Their formulas are spot on. I tried an array of chicken salad options. The Olivia’s Old Southern (egg and sweet pickle) had a nice twang, just like Olivia did. The curry flavored one was mild and well blended. The best that I tried was a recommendation from the cashier. It was the Sassy Scotty that gets my vote. With ranch, cheese and bacon, chicken salad never tasted so good. You can even buy the chicken salad of your choice by the pound to go. Décor was whimsical and fun. Quality service ordering up front and having a waiter drop off plates and pick them up when you’re finished. The broccoli salad was a wonderful side item and wasn’t too mayonnaisey. With Butler plaza nearby, the traffic is nuts, but if I happen to be near 34^th and Archer, I’d go back for more.

Not great… There are very few toppings in the chicken salad… I ordered a Fancy Nancy and got two scoops and there was only one apple piece and two grapes and seriously a few crums of pecans at the bottom… I felt like I was eating chicken salad out of a can. The shredded chicken is extremely thin and could use more seasoning. I usually prefer cubed or thicker shredded chicken.
Then the side of broccoli salad was average. The salad itself was ok. However the bacon toppings tasted extremely dehydrated and had a strong preservative taste. Definitely not fresh.
I expected this place to use fresher ingredients with generous toppings for your chicken salad.
Probably wouldn’t pay for that again.

My coworker brought the franny cran (i think its called) and omg it was amazing. We couldnt stop eating it! I cant wait to go there and try the other selections.

Stacy M. Brown has done it! (She is the founder of Chicken Salad Chick and she IS the ‘chick’ in the name.) A restaurant based on chicken salad!
My wife is a really big fan of chicken salad so she was intrigued when she heard that this place had opened. We went there for lunch on Saturday, January 23^rd.
As we walked in there was something bright and cheery about the place. It looks a lot like Zoe’s, Panera’s, or many other «fast casual» dining places. But wait! Chicken Salad Chick has tablecloths on the tables. Now that is something that you don’t find very often.
As I said, the restaurant is based on CHICKEN SALAD! The diner stands in line and orders when he/​she reaches the cashier. Very friendly and helpful folks, those cashiers. You can order Jassy Julie, Jalapeño Holly, Buffalo Barclay, and perhaps a dozen other chicken salad concoctions on your choice of basic breads. There was white bread, wheat bread and sourdough bread. There may have been others.
My wife ordered NUTTY NANA chicken salad on wheat bread. Finely blended chicken salad with not too much mayonnaise with pecans and cashews mixed in. It came with a side salad, although we had to pay a $ 1.00 upcharge for the Cranberry & Apple salad. It did not make sense to me, but we paid it anyway. WOS liked the chicken salad and the side salad as well as the included ‘cookie of the day’ which was chocolate chip. She passed the kosher dill to me.
Cookie desserts vary by the day of the week. Monday and Friday is chocolate chip. Tuesday is a lemon cookie, Wednesday is a snickerdoodle and Thursday is white chocolate macadamia nut. Turns out that Saturday is «manager’s choice»…this day it was the chocolate chip. They do the same with soups, Monday and Thursday you can get a Loaded Potato soup, Tuesday, broccoli and cheese, Wednesday, chicken Tortilla, and Friday, Chicken Artichoke Florentine. Saturday is «manager’s choice»
If you do not want a sandwich, you can order a scoop of any of the 16 or more chicken salads. Side items also include a broccoli salad, a grape salad and a pasta salad.
WHAT IF YOU DO NOT LIKE CHICKEN SALAD? There is a choice of 4 DELI SANDWICHES: Turkey Hoagie, Roast Beef, Virginia Ham or Pimento Cheese.
I am not a big fan of chicken salad, although a taste of WOS’s sandwich surprise me… it was very good. I opted for the Roast Beef sandwich, a «zesty» Cajun roast beef on sourdough bread dressed with lettuce, tomato, mayo, mustard and Provolone cheese. I ordered it as a ½ sandwich with a cup of soup The soup of the day was a light, creamy chicken artichoke Florentine. I was duly impressed. The sandwich itself was good, but suffered from not living up to the «zesty» description. I enjoyed TWO kosher dills thanks to WOS.
I am not a fan of ‘fast casual’ restaurants. I realize that the economy dictates the proliferation of these places, but I would rather be waited on, tip a server (they need jobs, too) and not have to wait on line to order food. But, I understand that this is the way of the world.
Catering is available.
Taking a cue from Chick-​Fil-​A, it looks like they are closed on Sundays.

Chicken salad is one of my favorites so I was really excited when I heard about this place coming to Gainesville but a little disappointed now:(I prefer a chunky chicken salad and so their shredded creamier chicken salad was not my favorite because it rather reminds me of baby food consistency.
I forget the names but I tried the chicken salad with apples and grapes and the one with ranch and cheese. The grapes were whole in the salad making it a little awkward. The ranch chicken salad had better flavor but still just not crazy about the texture.
Overall just a mediocre experience.

Picked up dinner for myself and a friend– everything was fresh and delicious! We had Carol’s classic, Curry chicken salad and the Fancy Nancy. The staff was friendly and even offered a taste of some of the salads to help me make up my mind.

The sandwiches are ok… & they don’t toast bread?! The curry chicken salad isn’t too bad.
But… THE SIDES ARE AMAZING! You have to try the grape salad & broccoli salad. I was so surprised at how delicious the were! The pasta salad was also very good.
They have a nice staff and it’s a cute restaurant. *** They let you sample any of the chicken salads and sides on the menu! Pretty neat.

The staff was nice but the food was so bland. I’ll look past the fact that they gave me a croissant when I asked for sourdough. The chicken salad had no texture. It was mush and very little flavor. I had high expectations given the name of the place.
I LOVE chicken salad but NOT theirs. The combo was $ 8 but didn’t come with a drink. I got a side of fruit salad with a few grapes and 2 strawberries.
I may try again in a few months but not anytime soon.

I love the concept, the service, the atmosphere. The tea is tasty, the prices are right, the food seems fresh.
But the actual chicken salads are so bland. I’ve been twice since they opened. The first time was a complete disaster for a meal. There is no bread on the menu. It SEEMED like a good idea to try a few flavors so the $ 9 trio was perfect. The reality? You’re going to see those wheat crackers regardless of what you order and regardless of what flavor scoop (s) you got. So you get bland chicken salad to go with crackers that you’ll hate because they lend more flavor than the chicken salad so you always just taste cracker and mush. We sat there and wished we got a $ 1 baguette from earth fare next door before walking in. But it was opening week so service was excellent, almost overbearing. That said, we were honest about the bland food, crackers, and all when someone asked as we finished our meal. It doesn’t show on the menu, but apparently you can request bread for some sort of charge. And the bland problem should be remedied soon as this location should be switching types of mayo.
Came back after Christmas. Same mayo recipe as before. Still bland. Same wheat crackers. But I brought a sliced mountain loaf from publix. It saved our meal from being disgusting or becoming take out. I think if I give this place a third try, I won’t order until i ask if they changed the recipe.
Anyway, about the food (Whatever the names are): I’ve tried the buffalo chicken salad. Barely any spice but plenty of color. But at least it has flavor. But due its texture it’d be better served as a dip surrounded by chips.
The Dixie chick or whatever they named the offensively onion loaded one– yum! Tastes like a fresh basic chicken salad. Actual flavor! Our favorite by far!
The original is so bland. For anyone that likes real chicken salad or flavor, you’ll struggle to appreciate this. It’s bland mush. This’ll be my favorite though in 60 years when I can’t handle spices of any kind and lost all my teeth.
The one with pineapple and macadamia nuts– how is there almost no pineapple flavor? Seems like not enough pineapple or it was so fresh (from a can…) the juice hadn’t escaped the pineapple tidbit to lend a helping hand to the bland mush of chicken salad it was suddenly surrounded by. This also happens to be the case with another (albeit dried) fruit + nut combo we had. I agree with another reviewer that there’s not enough of those extra bits to go calling it something like CRANBERRY Kelli. Or at least of the chicken salad itself wasn’t bland I wouldn’t notice the lack of fruit /​fruit flavor.
The pimento cheese scoop is good!
The creamy artichoke chicken soup is also really good! Flavorful and perfect. Worth the $ 1 upgrade on a trio to get some for sure.
Lastly, if you’ve read this far: The trio is a great portion size for two people to eat if you bring bread. So for all the complaints about bland I may have, it could be an easy fix and then this place will be nearly perfect. They just need to have a better menu.

Walked in and was greeted by a smiling fellow offering up menus as if he read my mind; asked for a takeout menu and went back to consult with the wife in the car.
We decided to order a couple of the 3-​salad combos for around $ 8.95 each; myself the original, the Jazzy Julie (spiced with cayenne), and Pimento Cheese, while my wife got the original, the Sassy Scotty, and also the Pimento cheese. Also tried the soup of the day, chicken and wild rice. Each trio came with a pickle spear and, today, a free chocolate-​chip cookie. The server at the counter was extremely polite and attentive.
The original chicken salad was quite plain, basically pulled chicken breast and mayo and not much, if anything else. The Sassy Scotty had a bit more substance, but the Pimento cheese we agreed was the most tasty of the bunch. Each appeared to be the product of a food processor, remarkably uniform texture throughout; not bad but just very predictable.
These seemed not to be the best for a lunch by themselves, despite the ample Lance Wheat Twins crackers supplied, but instead might be better taken home to make into wraps with a variety of your favorite toppings. Also, a bit surprised that they didn’t offer a curried chicken salad on their menu, given the area’s Indian population, mainly students.
The soup clearly seemed to be derived from a frozen or otherwise prepackaged chicken broth plus whatever fresh chicken they had, which was wholesome but unremarkable. The chocolate chip cookie seemed clearly baked up from a frozen log of dough.
In spite of all the negatives, their chicken salad was cold and extremely fresh, which is always a wonderful thing.

Dining space was nice. But I really thought a place named after its specialty would have better chicken salad.
The broccoli salad was ok but nothing really special.
The concept could be great but I had higher hopes.

Overall, my friend and I enjoyed our meals here… however there is definitely room for improvement. My friend ordered the Cranberry Kelli [cranberries and slivered almonds] on sourdough with the grape salad and pumpkin cheesecake while I ordered the Luau Lydia [pineapple and macadamia nuts] on a croissant with pasta salad and the cookie of the day– lemon.
High points:
— Very fast service [order was ready in under 5 minutes] and attentive wait staff
— Clean and nicely decorated… though the branding is a little confusing; Their logo is a blonde lady with a purse. I’m not sure why they decided not to incorporate a chicken in their logo and went for such feminine branding… but I guess I’m okay with it!
— the grape salad, lemon cookie, and pasta salad were all very, very tasty
— good portion sizes
Suggestions:
While the chicken salad was tasty, we both felt there should have been more of the mix-​ins in each of our sandwiches. My friend only got a few cranberries and almonds in his, and I barely got any chunks of pineapple in mine… for that reason, both of our sandwiches tasted kind of similar. Also, I can see why reviews of other locations of this restaurant complained that the chicken salad is mushy… while I did like it, the chicken is chopped up very, very finely so the texture of the salad is very homogenous [as opposed to chicken salad that has chunky pieces of chicken in it].
My other suggestion is that the bread be toasted. My friend’s bread was not quite soft, yet not toasted– kind of tasting as if it had come from the freezer. Toasting the bread would greatly improve the overall taste of the sandwich IMO.
Tips:
— Get the grape salad– grapes in this cream cheese/​marshmallow mixture topped with nuts/​brown sugar
— Go for the cheesecake upgrade
— Get your sandwich on a croissant [until and unless they decide to start toasting their bread]

Chicken salad was dropped off at the Shands adult Er earlier this evening. We all enjoyed your chicken salad. Thank you what a great treat.