I grew up in North Carolina where Bojangles was my family's most popular choice for fast food. While the chain has some consistency issues that differs based on location, I always found the food to be a comforting respite. Now that I've lived outside of Bojangles territory for over 15 years, I always make it a point to visit whenever I travel to the South. As soon as I found out that Bojangles had opened a new location only 3 hours drive away, I had to add it to my 2024 Eclipse road trip through Indiana and Ohio.
I normally don't review the Bojangles I visit (I've actually visited 4 or 5 locations in the past year or so on my travels), but I found this one unique enough to warrant some attention. The three things I judge Bojangles on are the fried chicken (bone-in of course), the biscuits, and the sweet tea. For some reason, this location does not have bone-in fried chicken which I find to be an absolutely bizarre choice. It's like opening a Chick-fil-A without having chicken sandwiches or a McDonalds without burgers.
Then again the menu overall at this Bojangles is bizarre in general. In addition to the bone-in chicken, they are missing a wide variety of sides and several other popular items. Bojangles has some of the best fast food biscuits you can get , and yet the menu here doesn't show that you can buy these ala carte, which is what I usually order. Luckily the worker knew what to do when I requested those items.
Bo's Chicken Sandwich ($5.49) - As an alternative to bone-in fried chicken, I got the sandwich. This includes a deceptively large fried boneless piece of white meat chicken. The breading is applied quite liberally, making several offshoots of only breading that jut off the main body. The breading makes a piece of chicken probably less than one inch in thickness poof up to almost two inches at the thickest end. The breading is appropriately crispy and isn't oily. The chicken is white meat, but does have a good moisture level on the interior. The exterior has an appropriate amount of the cajun Bojangles seasoning applied. I find that locations can be pretty inconsistent in the amount of seasoning they use - this one is pretty much on the dot. There's a large dollop of mayo applied to the top bun, which allows just enough moisture in every bite. And of course two tangy pickles on top of the chicken. The chicken in this sandwich is unfortunately not centered in the bun, but it's able to grip the soft bun so that none of the ingredients slide around. (4/5)
6 Biscuits ($6.39) - The biscuits have a very nice golden brown color on the top. The exterior on the bottom has a developed crust that adds a bit of a crunch. The top, with the nice coloring, only has an almost imperceptible skin. Instead, it's mostly soft and fluffy, matching the interior. The interior is fluffy and buttery throughout. In most other Bojangles, I've found that the biscuits are kind of layered, so the biscuits are able to split apart right in the middle. This biscuit, on the other hand, is super fluffy and doesn't have any delineations on the inside to split. The dough feels quite a bit less salty than other Bojangles on the interior. This could be because the salted butter mixture that they usually brush on top of biscuits isn't applied as liberally here. Several pieces actually seemed to be missing this entirely. (3/5)
1/2 Gal Sweet Tea ($3.99) - The sweet tea is the most difficult for any Bojangles to mess up. This one is no different. Good sweetness combined with a strong caffeinated tea flavor. I'm somewhat glad I don't live in the South anymore, otherwise I would probably have diabetes. (4/5)
After eating at this Bojangles, I actually think this location is above average for the chain, hence my rating of 4. I still don't really consider this to be Bojangles since they are missing way too much - they probably should have rebranded as a Bojangles Express/Lite, or something similar just because there are far too many missing offerings. read more