Church’s Chicken

Although I’m the Duchess of this Church’s, and I believe I am a benevolent monarch, the service here is hit and miss. I don’t have high expectations because it’s no Chez Panisse! But for fast food I expect orders to be accurate and timely. I’ve learned some tips since I’ve been here four times now, but still there are unforeseen issues.
My first time, I placed my order and began the wait, mid way through the young lady at the counter said by the way apple turnovers take about 12 min. No big deal. She packed some of my food and it was sitting in a warming area. I’m still okay, at least it’s being kept warm. Then as the apple turnovers are ready, oh by the way we’re out of mac n cheese, it’s going to take another 7 – 9 minutes. At that point I said just give me some corn or something. I was maxed out on patience.
Next 2 visits, learning the ropes — make sure to order the apple turnovers first so they can drop them in the fryer while I order the rest. Nothing too dramatic and a normal wait time.
This last time, ordered the turnovers and other food. At the last minute I also ordered some of the new lemon biscuit-​y things 5 for $.99. Everything was ready, headed home to unpack it, and no lemon biscuit-​y things.
My husband likes this chicken way more than KFC. I love the honey biscuits and chicken sandwich. The food is good and reasonably priced. I always see people in here with coupons, so I need to find out where they are getting those. I think the only issues with this store is the inventory and time management. It seems that you can track how much food to prepare during busy times vs slow times. Also at times they have 3 «cooks» but the cashier is still having to pack most of the orders.

Open your mouth, here comes my chicken!
So yeah, I’m guilty of patronizing Church’s on my «cheat meal» days. Why? Well, because it’s, IMHO, better than KFC and, while Popeye’s had better sides (curse you damn Cajun fries and beans and rice), the big «C» has always been a tastier bird for yours truly!
It’s funny how some other reviewers be a dissing the hood where this chicken franchise is located. I mean, come on, it’s not like you’re ever going to find a Church’s Chicken or a Popeyes located inside a Neiman Marcus or Saks Fifth Avenue!
Yes, this bird place is located in a strip mall, on the main road, close to the freeways and the beach. This area gets lots of traffic so you do indeed get homeless people hanging out in the parking lot from time to time. They’re transient and I’ve never had a problem with them so, rather than making fun of them in your Unilocal reviews, why not do like I do, spring a buck or two, and buy them a couple of wings if they look tired and hungry?
Church’s is pretty strict about maintaining their standards when it comes to their shops and the food here is always consistent, even though their menu is not huge. The manager, «Beatriz» does a pretty tight job of making sure the orders are pushed and that the customers are happy. She has to deal with a broad range of clientele along with a largely untrained and ever changing staff (would you seriously want a longtime job where you’re required to greet every single person by asking, ‘Welcome to Church’s Chicken. Would you like to try our Lemon Popcorn Shrimp today?’).
Long ago, I learned the hard way that it’s ultimately «MY» responsibility to check and double check my order when ordering/​picking take-​out if I really want to be satisfied. On this go round, «Beatriz» forgot that I ordered a pint of cole slaw as one of the sides to my family meal and gave me mashed potatoes instead, even though the receipt clearly stated «cole slaw».
In the end, it wasn’t a deal breaker and I’d still come back here.
So take the drama out of your drumsticks because in the big scheme of fast food places, Churches remains my cherry (remember that song from the movie ‘Animal House’)?
«I gave my love a cherry without a stone
I gave my love a chicken without a bone
I gave my love a ring that had no end
I gave my love a baby with no crying…»

As an American living in Canada, the lack of yummy, fluffy biscuits is a constant lament for me. On a visit to Oceanside, I discovered Church’s Chicken and their ohhhhh-​this-​is-​good honey biscuits. Discovered, as in Devoured!!! I believe their chicken was also good, but everything faded into the background for me when I tasted those biscuits. Why oh why can’t the concept of biscuits travel this far north???

Came here while on vacation from Canada.
Our FAVOURITE part was the biscuits and the macaroni and cheese was pretty decent.
Between the 5 of us, I think we tried it all.
The waffle and chicken bites are what drew us in but I don’t think I’d order those again anyway.
The staff were friendly but it felt like we waited an eternity for our order which was missing 2 items.
3 stars = a okay.

My husband and I won’t be returning to this location only having to visit here a handful of times. I have to say that I can remember that we had a couple of visits where the service was very good when it was quite busy. Unfortunately, I did not review at that time. This visit was just off… the customer service was quick, but not efficient. When I questioned if I could switch something out, she said yes but change the entire order. We did not find this out until we left and opened our order. We assumed it was correct because she read it back to us correctly at the counter.
My husband specifically ordered the shrimp poppers with fries and biscuit, looking forward to having the fries. When the box was opened the only thing in the box was the shrimp.
I ordered the 3 pc combo and switched out the mash potatoes for fries. My biscuit was missing. And the reason we came here, well at least I wanted to come here was specifically for the biscuits before I get on my healthier eating kick!!! Grrrrr. As we were collecting our food at the counter from the employee, I was requesting ketchup and at the same time she was placing items in the bag, me thinking she was filling my request. Well, she didn’t… we felt like she was just shoving us along our way since we got ‘most’ of our food. And she was more focused on getting the line moving.
Another reason we won’t return, this area seems sketchy with some of the patrons that come in… just beware if you are coming in during the evenings and are alone, sit by the door if you need to make a quick get away.
Unfortunately, the reason I am giving a one star this time around is because the biscuits rocks.

Food is good, but scary location. Had to take food to go because of a homeless man harassing our family. Also, no ice, so drink was warm.

Nice people, but the chicken was terrible today. I’m a fried chicken lover, but I threw the whole 2 piece with fries order away and went to McDonald’s. I’m sticking to Kfc or Popeyes.

Beatriz the general manager is super nice, gave us extra chicken for the wait. The restaurant was clean and organized, staff were helpful and friendly. Our food was delicious, the chicken is always super hot and fresh, not microwaved. I also love how they sell sweet teas by the half gallon! Check this place out! Way better than KFC!

Rude Rude. The manager Betreese or whatever her name is. Ask for a breast and got a leg. She then told me I had to get back in line and wait again. all with a total attitude because she screwed up. Never again.

Over priced. Customer service sucks. Chicken sucks. They don’t offer napkins nor any sauce. Man at register was dealing with cash then handling food. The place stinks and needs a new ventilation system. No sweet tea no spicy chicken. 8 pieces of regular chicken left what in the world is wrong with this place? The place had trash everywhere. I will never come here again.

Well I pass this place every day going home so I said let’s try it for a a little bite! What a mistake, placed an order and the fryer has a problem, so I select another option available, two breast please, biscuit & coleslaw and sweet tea! Sweet tea sorry tank is empty ok I’m easy give something else! The chicken, how in the hell can you over cook Fried chicken if that your specialty? I can assure you it does not resemble the golden color in the pictures. Terrible, biscuits don’t taste like biscuits, sorry! Well at least there is coleslaw, well maybe it’s there style but I think you can chop into smaller pieces. Lastly table haven’t been cleaned and the men’s room it out of order! Ladies you lucked out that one works management heads up get a manager in there that knows what he or she is doing with some integrity!

My guy and I were looking for a KFC while driving in Oceanside, and we spotted this place first. There were only two other tables with customers, and a few of the tables (and the floor) were dirty. You’d think with 5 – 6 employees on the job, and hardly any customers, someone would be out cleaning the tables and floors.
We ordered the 8-​piece chicken for $ 10.99 and the 8-​piece shrimp with fries and a biscuit. The shrimp were good, as well as the fries, but the biscuit looked overbaked and was a little hard; didn’t taste that great either. The chicken was good, other than the dry breasts. I also noticed the men’s restroom door was missing the ‘Men’ sign. The place could be a littler cleaner; I’ll never go back there again.

The party’s over.
We went there yesterday with $ 3.99 coupons for 3 piece mixed with mashed potatoes and a biscuit. I asked the manager if we could substitute coleslaw for the mashed potatoes and she said no substitutions but when she went to make up the boxes she didn’t have any breasts so she substituted dark meat. Interesting twist on no substitutions.

I like the food. I especially like the spicy chicken. But this owner will nickel and dime you. You may or may not get one refill… fountain guarded by employees. No mayo packets. Want something, ask. Want more than one, beg. Salt and straws is all you have access to. They control the amount of napkins you get as well. Knives, forks, spoons… ask nicely.

We haven’t had church’s chicken for many years and decided to try it out again, it wasn’t anything special. Their chicken was alright, the MAC and cheese was a little dry, the biscuits were good but not good the next day (as someone said it was)
We’re not coming back.

Good chicken and biscuits, poor service. Not the cleanest place either. I will only go back because I like chicken and biscuits.

Reminded me of the, layout of an older Kentucky Fried Chicken place. I liked it, it brought back pleasant memories. The lady at front desk was friendly. She was helping a customer ordering a large order for the next day. She was patient as the customer asked lots of questions about large orders. There are specials of the day, the specials are posted on the window, that is when you can take advantage of their lower prices.
We order «take out» the special of 8 pieces for $ 5.99, and added Cajun Rice, for dessert, one of each a Lemon and an Apple pie (more like flour covered tarts).
There are two bathrooms, one for each sex. One bathroom was out of order, so I tried giving it a 3.5 star rating but could not, that is why you see a 4 star rating. Just subtract half a star from it.

During my order, I noticed the lady manager cleaning a oven near cashier area. she was spraying with a cleaner so the mist was going all over the food. One word — wow. very unsanitary! beware all!

I came here because I was hungry for the Colonel, but happened to drive by this place first.
It was pretty grimy. The employees didn’t seem to know the menu and/​or speak English. The chicken was okay. The iced tea machines were broken. The biscuits looked good, but I didn’t want to go through the hassle of ordering, again.

My son wanted chicken so we stopped at Church’s on our way back home from the movies… what a big mistake. First, the cashier grabbed some chicken strips with her unwashed hands after taking our order
And using the cash register, and placed them into the fryer.
Then the same cashier, a rather portly lady, messed up our order. She mistakingly gave me a four piece order of chicken strips when I had ordered a three piece combo. Realizing this I took the chicken strips to the cashier at which time she proceeded to argue and insist that I had ordered the chicken strips… I made my case but she was determined to convince me I had ordered the strips. In frustration, I finally said I did not want the strips and insisted she give me the three piece combo. She then angrily said she would but that it would cost an extra dollar and a half. Fine I said, just Give me the correct order and advised her it was not a good idea to argue with the customer. After that fiasco I was not in a good mood since I was in disbelief that a cashier would angrily argue such a petty matter and not just correct the order.
Now for the food: It was awful! the breading on the chicken was excessive and super greasy. The biscuit was drenched in grease, which I think was either grease or some feeble attempt at butter. My son ordered the boneless wings which were equally greasy and unappetizing.
Aside from the lack of proper food handling by the cashier, and the poor customer service, I was also put off by the general lack of cleanliness. The floor behind the counter was dirty, including cardboard and other debris… the dining area was unkept and generally filthy looking. The place just looks greasy. Do yourself a favor and when you want chicken go elsewhere. This place is pathetic!