Walk into most chain restaurants and you’ll find chicken salad on the menu somewhere. It’s one of those lunch staples that seems like a safe bet when you can’t decide what else to eat. But here’s something most people don’t know: not all chain restaurant chicken salads are created equal. Some are fresh, loaded with good ingredients, and actually worth your money. Others? Well, they’re so bad that customers literally throw them in the trash after one bite. Between watery mixes that soak through bread, overly sweet concoctions that taste more like dessert, and portions so small you’ll still be hungry, the differences between these sandwiches are shocking.
Which Wich makes chicken salad nobody wants to eat
If you’re thinking about ordering chicken salad from Which Wich, think again. This sub shop usually does a decent job with its sandwiches, but when it comes to chicken salad, customers have nothing good to say. The biggest complaint? The stuff looks disgusting before you even take a bite. People describe it as overwhelmingly white and slimy, with basically no vegetables mixed in to give it any color or texture. That pale, gloppy appearance is enough to kill your appetite right there.
Things get worse once you actually taste it. Which Wich serves its chicken salad hot, which is just weird for something that’s supposed to be a cold sandwich. The tangy mayo taste that normally works when chilled turns sour and unpleasant when heated up. Multiple customers reported taking just two bites before tossing the entire sandwich in the trash. When people are literally throwing away food they paid for, you know something went seriously wrong in the kitchen.
Arby’s chicken salad disappoints with tiny portions
Arby’s brings back its Pecan Chicken Salad Sandwich every summer, and every summer people remember why they didn’t miss it. The sandwich sounds good on paper with pecans, grapes, and apples mixed in, but the reality is pretty sad. The main problem is that you’re basically paying for bread with a tiny smear of chicken salad in the middle. Customers complain that the sandwich is mostly fruit with hardly any chicken or pecans at all. When you order a chicken salad sandwich, you expect chicken to be the star, not an afterthought.
The quality of the ingredients doesn’t help matters either. People say Arby’s uses the stalest, lowest-quality stuff they can find for this sandwich. In a survey about Arby’s sandwiches, 37% of people ranked the chicken salad as the absolute worst option on the menu. That’s a pretty brutal verdict when you’re competing against a whole menu of choices. Arby’s should probably stick to what it does best, which is roast beef, and leave the chicken salad to someone else who actually cares about making it right.
The Cheesecake Factory charges too much for mediocre results
The Cheesecake Factory’s Chicken Almond Salad sandwich costs almost $17 for a whole sandwich, which is ridiculous for what you actually get. Sure, the portions are big, but that doesn’t mean much when the food itself is just okay at best. The sandwich comes on griddled brioche with lettuce, tomato, and mayo, and some people do enjoy the crunch from the almonds. But just as many customers walk away disappointed, saying there’s literally nothing positive about the sandwich at all.
What’s really weird about this sandwich is how wildly inconsistent the reviews are. Some people think it’s decent, while others say even the Arby’s version tastes better, which is saying something considering how bad that one is. For nearly seventeen bucks, you’d expect something special or at least consistently good. Instead, you’re gambling on whether you’ll get an acceptable sandwich or a total dud. When you can get a much better chicken salad elsewhere for half the price, paying Cheesecake Factory prices just doesn’t make sense.
Panera Bread makes theirs way too sweet
Panera Bread has over 2,000 locations across the country, so lots of people have tried its Napa Almond Chicken Salad Sandwich. The sandwich has grapes, almonds, celery, and chicken salad on Country Rustic Sourdough, and Panera makes a big deal about using preservative-free white meat. The bread is definitely good, which makes sense since Panera is a bakery chain. But that good bread can’t save this sandwich from its biggest problem, which is that it tastes like candy.
Red grapes are already pretty sweet and juicy on their own, but whatever dressing Panera uses makes the whole thing sickeningly sugary. Some people like sweeter chicken salads, but this one crosses the line into dessert territory. On top of that, the sandwiches aren’t made consistently from one location to another. People report getting sandwiches with pathetic amounts of chicken salad and tons of lettuce instead. You’re basically paying for an overpriced lettuce sandwich with a hint of overly sweet chicken salad if you’re unlucky.
Pret A Manger skimps on the good stuff
Pret A Manger’s chicken salad sandwich costs $7.75 for a half portion, which seems reasonable until you actually see what you get. The sandwich is supposed to have grilled chicken with whole grain mustard mayo, dried cranberries, sliced almonds, avocado, and lettuce on multi-grain bread. When you open it up, though, there’s just a tiny scoop of chicken salad in the middle that doesn’t even reach the edges of the bread. Most bites are just bread and avocado with no chicken salad at all.
The menu promises cranberries and almonds, but good luck finding them. One customer found exactly one cranberry in their entire sandwich and didn’t notice any almonds at all. The mustard mayo that’s supposed to give it a tangy kick? Missing in action. What’s the point of advertising all these ingredients if they’re barely there? The bread is soft and the avocado is creamy, which are the only good things about this disappointing sandwich. For almost eight bucks, you deserve better than a mostly empty bread sandwich with a promise of ingredients that never showed up.
Potbelly lets you customize but can’t fix bland chicken
Potbelly doesn’t have a set chicken salad sandwich on the menu, which sounds like it could be good since you can customize everything yourself. The chain suggests adding provolone cheese, and employees typically recommend cucumber, tomato, onion, and lettuce on multigrain bread. A skinny (half-size) sandwich costs $8.09, and at least you get a decent amount of chicken salad, unlike some other places. The multigrain bread is lightly toasted and actually pretty good.
The problem is that the chicken salad itself has almost no taste to it. The sandwich has a slightly smoky thing going on, and the tomatoes are fresh, which is nice. But the whole thing ends up being kind of watery and bland. The cucumber and tomato make it feel light and refreshing, but they can’t hide the fact that the chicken salad has zero personality. You have to hunt for the onions, and when you finally find them, they’re the most interesting part. The best thing about this sandwich is the bread, which tells you everything you need to know about how boring the actual chicken salad is.
Subway wraps it up but makes it messy
Subway technically puts its chicken salad in a wrap instead of on regular bread, but the wrap is so thick it feels more like pita bread anyway. The whole thing costs $8.70 and comes with rotisserie-style chicken mixed with mayo, plus spinach, tomatoes, cucumbers, red onions, and lettuce. Everything is customizable, so you can switch things around if you want. The chicken salad has way too much mayo, which makes it pretty heavy, but it tastes okay despite being overdressed.
The vegetables add a nice crunch, and the onions pack a serious punch, so maybe skip this one if you have plans later. The biggest problem with this wrap is that it’s ridiculously messy to eat. The chicken salad squishes out the back with every bite because the wrap is so loosely put together. You’ll need a pile of napkins to get through this thing without making a mess all over yourself. It’s a classic chicken salad that doesn’t do anything special, but at least it’s not actively bad like some of the others on this list.
Forty Carrots costs a fortune but delivers quality
Forty Carrots is the café inside Bloomingdale’s department stores, which explains why its Sonoma Chicken Salad sandwich costs a shocking $19. The sandwich comes with chicken breast, raisins, celery, cashews, grapes, and light mayo on multigrain bread, plus lettuce and tomato on top. You also get a pickle slice and some kind of carrot coleslaw on the side, which helps justify the crazy price a little bit. The sandwich is absolutely loaded with chicken salad, with big chunks of chicken visible along with raisins, grapes, and cashew pieces.
The chicken salad tastes freshly made with a slightly sweet thing going on, almost like there’s nutmeg in the mix. The lettuce isn’t boring iceberg but something with actual taste, and all the mix-ins give it a really satisfying crunch. The grapes add juicy sweet bites throughout the sandwich. It’s messy to eat because there’s so much chicken salad packed in there, but that’s not really a complaint. Whatever secret seasoning they use makes this sandwich stand out from every other chain version. Yeah, nineteen bucks is insane for a sandwich, but at least the quality matches the price tag, unlike some other expensive options out there.
Chick-fil-A gets it right with fresh ingredients
Chick-fil-A offers two different chicken salad options, and both of them are actually pretty good. The Spicy Southwest Salad costs $9.69 and comes beautifully put together with lots of grape tomatoes, chicken, black beans, corn, and Monterey cheddar on crisp lettuce. Everything tastes fresh, especially the tomatoes, which have that perfect firm texture. A bite with all the toppings really does taste like the Southwest, with all the ingredients working together instead of fighting each other.
The chicken has actual spice to it, way more kick than most chain restaurant chicken salads. If you like things spicy, this is definitely your pick. The only real downside is that the chicken crosses the line into too salty territory. The spice helps balance it out some, but it’s still more salt than necessary. Even with that issue, this salad beats most of the competition easily. For under ten bucks, you get a filling meal that actually tastes good and uses quality ingredients, which is more than you can say for a lot of these chain options.
The truth is that chicken salad quality varies wildly from one chain to another, even when they cost about the same. Some places serve up gorgeous, fresh sandwiches packed with good ingredients, while others give you sad, skimpy portions of flavorless mush. If you want to avoid wasting money on a lunch you’ll just throw away, stick with places that actually care about making their chicken salad right instead of just slapping mayo and chicken together and calling it a day.
