Chicken Now just recently opened, as did the rest of the Merrimack Premium Outlet. And as such, it was quite busy. The food court could be a better design. The outlet mall itself is an open air concept. Great idea, except this is New Hampshire, where is snows. But it's summer right now and everything is nice still. But I digress. The line path that the mall has chosen for the food court is, shall we say, uh... Poor. Yes, poor is a good word to use. Once through the line, ordering is just as straight forward as any other food court counter. Chicken Now prides itself on the fact that it's food is prepared fresh. Wonderful in the food service industry. I commend them for this. And the food was indeed fresh and piping hot. However, in a food court, with lines as... exquisitely designed as these, this leads towards an ever growing cluster of people hanging out at that end of the line, and totally obscuring where the front of the line actually is, that it can be quite frustrating. Almost everyone who wanted to get in line had to ask where the line actually formed, and those at the end, waiting for food stood patiently (read as growing ever more hungry) were letting people know of the average wait time. At one point those of us at the end, waiting for our food, cheered as one of us had our number called and they were able to receive their food. Again, in fairness, this new Mall did just open, and it was a beautiful Saturday at lunchtime. So this may have accounted for some of the crowding issues.
My wife and I decided to try their chicken tender box. (three piece for those who are curious) Once ordered, our food arrived promptly (by sundial) 16 minutes later. My wife had found us a table inside (Half the tables are outside for those who like to dine Al fresco. Again, great in the summer, but should be really interesting when it's cold and raining, or snowing. Having navigated the throngs of people attempting to get in line and the decidedly miniscule space that the mall has designed between the tables, where, when patrons are sitting and eating, you can not pass, I arrived at the table my wife had sat at. Our food, packaged in environment friendly Styrofoam boxes, was piping hot and fresh. (Plus for the food)
The food itself was quite good. The coleslaw was fresh, crisp, and had a good bite to it. My mashed potatoes, (Mashed with skins) were very tasty, had a wonderful texture, and the gravy was very complimentary. Though the mass of mashed potatoes was plopped onto eery other piece of food in said box. Our french fries were nothing to get excited over, very generic flavor and size, and average taste. The chicken tenders were nicely breaded and were very tasty. The chicken itself was perfectly cooked, moist and tender. The thing I noticed most about the chicken strips were their size. Most places that serve chicken strips, you get a piece of chicken 3 to 4 inches in length and perhaps an inch in width. These strips were the same length, but were huge in width! One of my chicken strips was nearly as wide as it was long.
So Chicken Now at the Merrimack Premium Outlets:
Pros: Freshly cooked to order food, Excellent chicken, and sides.
Neutral: The fries were average at best, the pricing.
Cons: Having to wait for 16 minutes after ordering you food to receive it,
The above rating is indicative of my experience only from the time I placed my order to the completion of my meal. I did not place any bias on Chicken Now for the things that they were not directly responsible for.
Overall If you have never tried Chicken Now, and there is a short or no line, and you have some time to spare. I'd recommend at least checking it out. They really do have quite good chicken. Had the speed of cooking/delivery of orders been say 5 minutes or less, I'd have gone with 4 stars. read more