$16 for a Bowl of Lettuce? PDQ, We Can Do Better Than This…read more
I've ordered from PDQ before, and generally, the food doesn't disappoint. Unfortunately, this experience left me wondering whether anyone actually looked at what they were putting in the box before sending it out.
I ordered two three-piece chicken tender boxes, a PDQ Salad, and a half-gallon of sweet tea through DoorDash.
Let's start with the good. The chicken tenders were delicious, as usual. They arrived warm, tasted fresh, and were exactly what I've come to expect from PDQ. The sweet tea was excellent, too. No complaints there.
The packaging, however, left something to be desired. The fries were smashed into the chicken, the cookies were crushed, and everything looked like it had been thrown together in a hurry. Not exactly the care you'd expect when paying restaurant prices.
But the real disappointment? The $15-$16 PDQ Salad.
According to the menu, this salad includes chicken, mixed greens, red cabbage, carrots, mixed shredded cheese, grape tomatoes, and cucumbers, plus your choice of dressing.
Here's what I actually received:
* Chicken: Check. No complaints.
* Mixed greens: A bowl overwhelmingly filled with iceberg lettuce. If there was a mix, it was hiding.
* Red cabbage: A tiny sprinkling.
* Carrots: Completely missing.
* Shredded cheese: Present, but melted onto the warm chicken, thanks to poor packaging.
* Grape tomatoes: ONE. Yes, one tiny grape tomato, no bigger than the top segment of my index finger, cut into four pieces. Apparently, cutting one tomato into quarters makes it plural.
* Cucumbers: Four paper-thin slices that, combined, might have amounted to one respectable cucumber slice. They were so thin I could barely distinguish them from the lettuce.
Seriously, PDQ? This is what $16 buys?
At a time when we're constantly encouraging people to make healthier food choices, you'd think a restaurant offering a salad would make it substantial enough to encourage someone to order it again. Instead, I received what amounted to a bowl of iceberg lettuce and a piece of chicken, with a few decorative vegetables sprinkled on top.
For perspective, I could buy an entire head of lettuce at the grocery store for around $3 and get more vegetables than this. And ordering chicken separately from PDQ would have cost me less!
In an economy where every dollar matters, charging nearly $16 for something this underwhelming feels particularly out of touch.
To be fair, I ordered delivery and didn't visit the restaurant, so I can't comment on the cleanliness, atmosphere, or in-store service. The chicken and tea were genuinely good. But the careless packaging and embarrassingly skimpy salad overshadowed what should have been an otherwise satisfying meal.
Two stars. Maybe two and a half on a generous day. PDQ knows how to make good chicken. Now, if only they'd put the same effort into their salads and presentation.
One grape tomato cut into four pieces? Come on, PDQ. We can do better than that.