It's me again! For my third stop in the quest for Charlotte's best chicken tenders, I had a few extra people along for the ride. Ross and Kelly (friends from Elon) decided to come to Charlotte for the weekend and they went with Madison and I to this bar called Kennedy's Premium Bar & Grill near Elizabeth Avenue. Kennedy's is your typical sports bar with large televisions everywhere (when we were there the Boston Celtics were playing the Miami Heat...the Celtics won). I decided to try Kennedy's because I purchased a Living Social coupon for 2 appetizers (one of which was the chicken tender meal I am critiquing below), 2 entrees, and 2 beers a few days before. Now that you we have established a backstory on my meal, let's move on to the critique.
My disappointing chicken tender lunch at Kennedy's.
Batter and crispiness: D-
-The batter on these chicken tenders was not good at all. It lacked any sort of flavor and was clearly not applied carefully because the tenders simply had a light "dusting" of batter and they were not crispy whatsoever. They were very much like the chicken tenders that me and one of my best friends, Danielle, made back in college when we were sophomores and even we came up with a better batter formula over the years! It is hard to believe that I actually bought these chicken tenders at a restaurant because they seemed so homemade. On the plus side, the lackluster batter did not add any unwanted flavors to the chicken and the ranch dressing I got on the side complemented the chicken tenders nicely. I do not think I would have eaten them if I did not have the ranch to dip them in.
-The chicken tenders themselves were very juicy and tender, but there were some things I did not like about them. For starters, the tenders did not have any flavor and were quite bland. Not only that, but the ends of most of the tenders was very tough. I feel like the chefs at Kennedy's need to put more effort in the preparation of their chicken tenders.
Portion size/presentation: C
-The size of the meal was decent, but there were clearly a lot more french fries than chicken tenders (as you can see in the picture). Also, the tenders themselves were very small. It's a good thing that I had this as an appetizer or else there would not have been any chicken tenders left for me to reheat later. I gave the portion size/presentation a C because while I was disappointed with the amount of chicken tenders, Kennedy's did give you tons of fries and that was the best part of the meal.
Options for side items: D
-While I chose to have french fries with all my chicken tender meals, I know that some people would rather have onion rings or maybe some fruit. However, from what the menu stated, the only side that came with the tenders was the french fries. Now, the fries were very good (the perfect amount of crispy), but from a critic's standpoint, I wish there were more options for side items.
Reheating: B+
-I have eaten a lot of chicken tenders in my life and I definitely experienced a first that was very unexpected when I heated up my leftovers at work the next day...the chicken tenders were better reheated than they were originally! Honestly I was not looking forward to trying these tenders again (I probably would not have done so if it were not for this blog), but I was quite surprised. The chicken was just as juicy as when I first ate the chicken tenders at the restaurant, but it seemed like the tougher, lower quality chicken, became softer once reheated. Not only that, but I also preferred the batter once it was reheated too. Even though the batter was not crispy, the tenders had more natural flavor, which was brought out. This was definitely a new experience for me, but I do not think it is a positive about the chicken tenders at Kennedy's because in my opinion, a meal should taste its best right out of the oven, which was not the case.
Description on menu:
-Served over fries with your choice of sauce, Honey Mustard/BBQ/Ranch. $8.95 Tossed in your choice of mild, medium or hot sauce for $0.99.
Side item:
-The french fries that came with the tenders were delicious. They were thick, crispy, and golden brown. It must be a common recipe at an Irish pub because the day before Madison and I had fish and chips at Fitzgerald's, an Irish pub in Uptown, and they tasted basically the same.
Overall my grade for the chicken tenders at Kennedy's Premium Bar & Grill is a D and I do not think I will be back to there anytime soon. The chicken tenders were not good (the positives about that meal were the fries and how the tenders reheated) and neither was either of the other dishes we got (corn beef and cabbage, Dublin broil (London broil), and the garbage plate...a mound of french fries with 2 beef patties, a pound of macaroni salad, and meat sauce on top, I felt a little sick just looking at it). If you're in the area then I would check it out for the bar atmosphere, but definitely not for the cuisine.
So there you have it...my third chicken tender critique. As of right now, this was my most disappointing meal, but hopefully next week's will be better. I guess you'll have to wait until then to see.
LB
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