The server David was hella nice and the food was good. They gave us a lot of different dipping sauces, of which the bbq was the best. The waffle fries were well-cooked and had the perfect amount of salt Highlight- the bun was pretty high quality and tasty. Pickles were homemade. Fries were good. Lots of sauce choices. Chicken seemed like good quality meat. read more

$50 bucks for 2 chix sandwiches, order of fries, order or onion rings and the smallest coleslaw ever (3 bites for $5 bucks). No drinks! Can go to Chick fil A for half price and better food. read more

WoW! am I disappointed! The pictures on yelp made my mouth water . When we opened our grilled and spicy chicken sandos our bubble burst. This will not be our fried chicken spot . Just not my kinda spot! Also I ordered their root beer, which never arrived upon delivery so i guess i'm out $6.00. And I can't even blame a third party delivery service, since I ordered directly from their website. They were unable to answer the phone call due to being "busy" as per their message with a full voicemail to follow. So thought of this being my spot, has disappeared read more

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The actual chicken is really tasty.. wish it was spicer though. They could have put more effort into the topping though. Chopped lettuce is a bit lazy. The onion rings were very cool though. Sort of an Asian style salt and pepper ring. Eat them first while hot though read more

Meh Definitely edible but not at all exceptional. Even the spicy chicken was a bit bland and not very juicy. Very small portion for the price. $4 extra for about 2 tablespoons of avocado. The mushroom sandwich was more interesting and had more texture. Pickles were alright and the bread is fresh. Best thing was the sauce I think. Reasonably quick service but I probably will pass in the future. 1 spicy chicken sandwich with avocado 1 mushroom sandwich $36 read more

I was visiting Santa Cruz today and went into Abbott square to see how they've redone it. There are a lot of food options there and it was very busy being a warm Saturday and coming out of covid. I thought the sandwich that I got was very good and the sauces were good. I got the sandwich the original and had them make it a club by adding bacon and pepper jack cheese. I thought it was a little bit pricey and honestly I felt the place had kind of a food court in a shopping mall feel, but I guess that's what the museum was shooting for. I'd probably get another sandwich there although there are so many food choices in Santa Cruz in Santa Cruz. read more

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We got the normal chicken sandwich and opted for the spicy option. The chicken in the sandwich was not the best but was not the worst. In my opinion, the chicken was a little bit dry, but the portion of the chicken was relatively generous. The spice seasoning on the chicken was definitely not the spiciest, but I do believe it is the perfect level of introductory spiciness. The bun was pretty soggy and not very appealing, and the coleslaw didn't give too much of a crunch either. Not a bad chicken sandwich spot for Santa Cruz, but I definitely have tasted better. read more

Don't get me wrong, the taste is good but $16 for a chicken sandwich (w/ out any sides) is insane. I got the bbq grilled chicken sandwich and when I received it the first time, it was without bbq sauce. It was an easy fix though and the staff was nice. However, I would much rather just get $12 combo at Popeyes or chick-fil-a. read more

Came here after being referred by a local so I had high hopes. Ordered the spicy chicken sandwich, Mac and cheese, waffle fries and chicken fingers. The price was pretty high so I thought it would blow my mind but that wasn't the case. The chicken sandwich was pretty dry, seemed over cooked and wasn't very tasty. It was doable but not something I'd ever order again on my own free will. My daughter had the Mac and cheese, she's a big fan of Mac and cheese from anywhere really but she said it had no taste and refused to eat it all. The chicken fingers were exactly that.... about the length of my index finger and the width of my thumb. Was not happy I paid $9 for essentially three chicken nuggets. Tried it anyway and me and my daughter both agreed they were garbage and ended up feeding it to our dog. The only thing that was actually good was the waffle fries and we killed them pretty quickly. Overall I spent about $34 and ended up hungry, disappointed. Will likely have to go for fast food somewhere in order to feed my kid a full dinner. Never again. read more

After another certain Santa Cruz fried chicken establishment's recent closing I turned to you Flashbird for my classy chicken needs... but you gave me poor quality food that did not taste good or digest well. Nah, I say. NAH. ~ So I got the spicy chicken sandwich (add onion tangle) and an order of mac'n'cheese with bacon, all to-go to enjoy in the consistently comforting ambiance of my own home. They seemed to be recovering from a rush and were a little late with my order, but I wont hold that against them as Abbott Square was absolutely packed with people for live music. Finding parking was insane, though, making this place a non-option for takeout during any kind of event. The one star rating is just for the food however: The chicken itself, while not at all spicy, was cooked well enough but the sandwich overall was bland and desperately needed some sauce or flavor. I had ordered two sauces in fact on the online order form, but they were absent from my order. I can only judge what I tasted and it didn't bring the joy that a piece of fried chicken with fried onion on a bun should bring a man. I think proper seasoning would have saved this sandwich, and also including the sauces that I ordered of course. The mac'n'cheese was far more pitiful. Big giant pasta with a thin cheese sauce that slept at the bottom of the foil dish it was served in so all the pasta was pretty much bone dry at the top. Giant 'crumbles' of bacon that really should have been smaller and mixed into the dish. The cheese sauce did not taste good to my palette, and was too thin to coat anything before dripping all over the place. Thicken up that sauce bois, maybe google making a béchamel, i dunno. So far I would normally be at about two stars as the chicken being fried properly is otherwise a bit of a redemption until the poor meal made its way a bit further past my mouth. Lets just leave it at this meal did not agree with me. read more

Great spicy chicken sandwiches! Super nice staff and flash sauce is tasty! The ranch is on the dilly side but the flash sauce makes up for it read more

was actually excited about trying this place bc the pictures looks good but i was a victim of cat fishing, maybe chicken fishing? sandwich was mid, wasn't really warm and was messy. redeemable quality was the size of the chicken; thicc. i didn't get the tangles that i ordered bc they were out (they gave me a voucher for free chicken and wrote "no tangles" on the blank side)so they gave me some fries that had tasted like they were left out on a table and thrown in there last minute. i have certainly had warmer fries at mcdonald's. certainly if i want a chicken sandwich i'll just go there next time. they also forgot 1 of my sauces that i paid extra for. the honey mustard and flash sauce gave this place 1 star. i really don't like giving small businesses 1 star so the other star is a pity star. i don't know if i'll give this place another try, even with the voucher. read more

Flashbird Chicken - ancient hieroglyphs stating "no tangles" - Chicken Shop Near Me - Santa Cruz, California

It's alright. The chicken is good, but the flavor in the overall sandwich just isn't there. No sauce on the sandwich, just seasoning, and the Jeff's Sauce that I got on the side just made it taste like a fancy hot dog. The waffle fries though... The waffle fries were completely unseasoned, unsalted, and just slightly overdone to the point of feeling weirdly chewy; like they were stale, even though I knew they weren't. VERY strange. It was passable. Definitely not "$20 for the meal" level. read more

Took a walk yesterday to pick up lunch foy a co-worker and myself. We both got the spicy chicken sandwich and split the "onion tangles." It was a good basic chicken sandwich, I put the honey mustard on mine. Next tim gonna skip the "onion tangles." Pricey, but good. read more

No service. Changes to a self-service order computer and it is frustrating. They ask for a tip when you do all the work to order. Example of a company trying to reduce costs at the expense of the customer. read more

Tasty sandwich, delicious waffle fries and fast, friendly service, even with the busy lunch rush. What more could one want? Definitely worth a visit read more

I ordered the onion tangles because they were recommended by another yelp reviewer. First of all I paid like $7 for 5 onion rings which felt absurd, but yk whatever food is expensive here in Santa Cruz. But let me tell u. These "onion tangles" were not it. It said on the menu "dusted with jalapeño & lime seasoning" but I really couldn't see or taste any seasoning at all, just SALT so much salt like they smothered these things in giant kernels of salt. Even after attempting to brush off the salt I felt like I was going to have a heart attack and couldn't finish eating them. read more

The fries and sauces are the only thing that I liked. I couldn't finish the sandwich because the chicken had some pink and didn't look like it was cooked all the way, it was also sloppy so it was hard to eat. read more

I am very very very sad to say that consistency is not in the building. This place had the BEST I repeat BEST onion rings in the world. But unfortunately it is a hit or miss. I am very saddened by this I will try again and update you. These ones were very plain and basic. It use to have a zesty lemony flavor which is now gone. Each time I have gone the flavor has gotten milder milder. Like a child who has grown to a boring adult. Unfortunately flash bird is now an adult with no happiness or joy left. read more

all hail flashbird chicky sammys: delish chicky fingys: tender onion tangles: tangled waffle fries: cure to a bad day and the lime soda?!?! impeccable the service is the freaking cherry on top we love flashbird and the fellas runnin the show read more

Came and order Botha spicy and regular chicken sandwich with onion rings and a rootbeer. Starting with the good, the onion rings were superb. Fried just right and amazing taste with the spicy seasoning. I think it was like a jalapeño seasoning. Rootbeer tasted great however the way it's poured cause it to be flat and who wants flat rootbeer. Now the chicken sandwiches were disappointing. Both of them were way overfried. Chicken was dry and hard. For the price I should have complained but we ate and left as we were in a rush, couldn't even finish the sandwich's because of it. read more

The sauces, the crispy chicken, the soft delicious buns...the waffle fries with addictive mind altering ranchy dust on top...the freaking sodas are even chef made and amazing. If you're vegetarian or want something different the mushroom instead of chicken is incredible too. What's NOT to like, seriously. Go. Now. Why are you still reading this? Go on, get! read more

dont go here unless you like small portions for a huge price. paid 6$ for 4 onion rings. also sauce sucks its small amd they dont fill it up at all. not worth going read more

Honestly, this place does not deserve to be in business with how terrible the food was. I paid $23 for the tenders and original chicken sandwich having semi high expectations based on the pictures online and was utterly disappointed. The chicken tenders were tiny, approx 5 oz total of food and were very hard/dry. The chicken sandwich was also small and dry while not being fully cooked. I am not sure how this is even possible but I am walking away feeling like I wasted $23. read more

Flashbird was fantastic when they first opened, it's been sad to see the quality decline since. The last couple of times sandwiches have been small, stale, and just poorly balanced. The fries are dry, hard, and tasteless, and they no longer sprinkle them with the magical cheese dust by default. It had such potential, and now you're better off elsewhere. read more

Not great. 5 dollars for 6 onions rings? The chicken wasn't evenly cooked. Sandwich was 6/10. Hot sauce wasn't great either. Wouldn't return. read more

We were originally looking to try the ice cream place in this little food court, but this chicken sandwich place was the only one that looked like they were open. The guy that took our order was super friendly, and answered all all of our questions happily. My wife wife and I shared a regular chicken sandwich, an order of waffle fries, and a side of the mac and cheese. Everything was hot, fresh and delicious. Great sauces too. The ranch tasted freshly made with lots of dill, and their signature smokey sauce was incredible. And even the "nitro" rootbeer was perfect. We were both very happy with out experience and plan to revisit whenever we are in town. read more

We decided to try this new take-out only restaurant in Scotts Valley. We were shocked at the pricing! It was $25 for my partner's chicken Club, $16 for my rather small chicken sandwich with mushrooms, and $6.50 for a tiny (less than Burger King sized) order of onion rings which were basically two small clumps of onion rings. Their special deal was $2.50 for the sauces which are free at most places. The expected tip (for take out) is prepaid before you receive your sandwiches. Although the buns were soggy by the time we got home, the sandwiches and the ranch dip on the onion rings was still tasty. However, at $65.50 for two fast food sandwiches, 1 side, and no drinks, we won't be returning. read more

I was so excited to get this fried chicken sandwich looking at the sign. Then I got it and i was kinda disappointed it did not look like the sign with all the country fried patter but I still had to try it . I took I bite and instantly lost my appetite.. so to those fried chicken lovers don't be fooled. I will never go back. read more

Went in on a Monday at 6:30 My sandwich was cold, whiffle fries where over cooked and cold. Would not recommend friends to eat at or be going back. Place was overhyped. The highlight of the meal was the pickles. read more

Damn good sandwich. Friendly staff. Super clean order system food comes out fast. Hidden gem in downtown check it out.

Phenomenal food and service went there today with my children and originally only got food for my kids, my wife and I got a burger at a different place in the plaza. We ended up have to use Flashbird chickens sauce to improve the burgers. read more

Sadly, more like "Flash-in-a-pan" Bird Chicken. It's was great the first two months!! Now, the last FOUR VISITS have entailed wrong sandwiches, old cold fries (dine in! twice!), thin crispy onion strings have given over to standard size greasy actually Oily onion rings, variable sizes of chicken from super tiny to so large it wasn't fully cooked :( :( :( in same order. The same for the mushrooms they started out wonderful and now I've turned into a hot mess. I couldn't be sadder at this downturn but I can't rationalize $40/2pp with this bad of food. Sadly so sadly avoid. read more