3800 Gull RoadMy family was one of those families in the 80’s and 90’s that, if we ate out, we ate at a chain restaurant. I grew up in the Kankakee/Bradley/Bourbonnais area in Illinois and I can probably count on one hand the number of non-chain restaurants we ate it my entire childhood.
Arby’s was a big one because of their 5 for $5 roast beefs. We ate at Pizza Hut because we got free Book-It pizzas. We ate at Taco Johns because they gave Tacos for A’s (on report cards). We ate at Ponderosa and Old Country Buffet because my brother and I were two growing boys and we could put away half the buffet each time we ate there.
When Popeyes moved to Bradley, IL….oh boy. Everything changed. We had a new favorite go-to fast food joint.
When J and I moved to Kalamazoo in 2009, there were no Popeyes in town. There had been one on Gull Road but that was a Dairy Queen by the time we moved here.
A new Popeyes was opened on West Main Street in 2015 and people freaked out. The line spilled out frequently on to the busy stretch of road for weeks after the restaurant opened.
Now, there’s a Popeyes back on Gull Road. It’s just barely inside the Kalamazoo Township limits on Gull Road near Eastland Drive. It’s a new build right next to Roxie’s Breakfast and Lunch. The land was actually a car wash up until last year when it was torn down to make way for this new chicken joint.
This Popeyes location is the newer style store. It’s a little smaller and much sleeker than the old style building that is one West Main. The color scheme has changed with teal accents through the inside and outside of the building.
Fast food stores are moving more towards take out and delivery. Most of the business goes through the drive thru but there is still a traditional fast food order counter inside but it’s not manned like it used to be. An employee putting together a Door Dash order saw me walk in and said she’d be right up. There’s an “Order Pickup” window next to the counter where those mobile and Door Dash orders are waiting.
There’s still a decent sized dining room for those wanting to dine in but it’s not as big as the West Main Popeyes. The traditional tables and chairs have given way to something a little more modern. The people that were in the restaurant were just using these spaces to wait for their to-go orders.
I was really torn on what to order. There’s a Ghost Pepper Chicken sandwich that I really wanted to try but I also just wanted chicken. I used to love the chicken from Popeyes and that’s really what I was in the mood for.
I ordered the 3 Piece Signature Chicken meal which came with two sides and a drink. I picked the Cajun fries and Mac & Cheese as my side then upgraded the drink to a large. The cost was right under $15.
I grabbed my sack of food and headed back to the office to eat. I pulled the fries out first. They were underwhelming. The portion size was really small and they were pretty limp. I wasn’t expecting fresh out of the fryer crispy fries but these were just meh. They do have a pretty good seasoning on them but I was turned off from the beginning on just how few there were. I get it…chicken is expensive..but potatoes really aren’t so don’t cut back there.
I went for the chicken next. Man, I used to love Popeyes chicken. I expected the taste not to hold up to the nostalgia…but I was wrong. The spicy chicken is so good. The three piece meal includes a wing, a breast, and a leg. They’re not very big pieces and there is a lot of super crispy breading on each piece. But once you get down to the meat, it’s a really juicy piece of meat with that somehow amazingly good spiciness. You can definitely get bigger pieces of chicken from other restaurants (or really good grocery store delis) but you won’t get that flavor anywhere else.
Once the chicken was gone, I grabbed the Mac & Cheese. Again, meh. Nothing wrong with it. It’s a cheesy, gooey mess of macaroni but there was nothing that stood out about it either. I thought about dressing it up with some hot sauce but I didn’t have any in the office fridge.
Finally, to round out the meal, the biscuit. Popeyes biscuits have always been the best. We used to order like a dozen extra and just fill up on bread. The one I got with this meal was quite as soft as I remember it being but it was just as tasty. The biscuit is flaky, buttery goodness. I know some people like to slather them in honey but I’m good with the biscuit just how it its.
This Popeyes has been getting dragged on the local Facebook groups since it opened. I really think people’s expectations are WAAAAAAAAAYYYYYYYYYY to high for fast food anymore. The only thing about the meal that was a real turnoff for me was the fries. The rest of it is classic Popeyes. The chain has a special nostalgia for me just because it was such a huge deal when the first one moved to our hometown. We were never KFC people so getting a “good” fried chicken place was a huge deal. My dad used to go out of his way after work to bring home chicken for dinner. That was always a good night.