Chicken Power (Woonsocket, RI) Review

Cost: *****

Taste: ***1/2

Service: *****

Ah, Chicken Power, a place that would make Colonel Sanders green with jealousy and PETA’s head explode with rage. There’s a rather uninteresting story about how I found this place, but I’ll share it with you anyway. Freshman year on our way to a diner I spotted this establishment with its bold red letters jutting out of a shopping center. Its name intrigued me. Chicken Power you say? That place better serve some damn fine chicken. Unfortunately like everything else useful in my memory, it was buried under nonsense from courses, at that time probably under the 48 drum names I had to memorize for Intro to World Music.

Well on the way back from the mall last month with my chicken loving compadre in car we happened past Chicken Power and immediately pulled into the parking lot upon seeing the sign. It looked like we were about two years late as the place had been gutted and was empty. Luckily about one week later I discovered another one in Woonsocket while lost with my directionless roommate. Oh happy day. I of course convinced our two resident stoners and other football fan to go there before Sunday night’s Pats/Stealer’s game.

When you first walk into Chicken Power, you’re greeted by the smell of what can only be described as “good stuff”. The restaurant is more a fast food joint with a few tables. Everything you order is ready made under glass. There’s rotisserie chickens, fried chicken, chicken wings, you name it. The chicken pot pies looked especially good. For sides they’ve got fried potato wedges, mac and cheese, stuffing, mashed potatoes and a million other goddamn things I can’t remember. Let’s put it this way, it all looks good, especially the large turnovers they have for dessert, which I didn’t get but was told were good. The quality is certainly there for the most part, the start of course being anything with chicken in it. The sides weren’t amazing but I only tried stuffing and mashed potatoes, which let’s face it, aren’t always on the top of a restaurant’s priorities for taste. In any case, they were better than that wall paper paste from KFC. They also sell pre-packaged raw chicken breasts (which I assume they don't get from the grocery store) and fried chicken.

Price is where this place shines above all else for chicken. Four of use ate for roughly $28 and mind you that’s two kids blazed out of their minds, me not having eaten all day, and one other. We ordered the fried chicken meal which came with 15 pieces of fried chicken, 6 corn muffins and two large sides along with sodas. Alternately for the same price you can get two whole rotisserie chickens, corn bread and three sides if you’re concerned with living past 50. There was a bunch of food left over to, a great value all around.

My friends were the first to comment about the service as soon as we walked out. From the moment we entered the place we were greeted with smiles. We stumbled around the place for a good two minutes like idiot tourists, trying to figure out what to order. We were never rushed and the server even through in free potato wedges on our order. It was some of the best service I’ve ever had in a fast food joint.

I’m somewhat disappointed in myself for not trying this place sooner. It’s definitely one of the best values around here for chicken and one of the few KFC alternatives I know of. Go check it out.

Chicken Power

800 Providence Street
Woonsocket, RI 02895-6263
(401) 762-1211  

How I Review Places

Over my years of going out to eat with the family and friends , I've learned why some people can love a restaurant and why others will hate it. Quality of service is an obvious one and can fluctuate depending on the server you get stuck with. My mom probably taught me the main reason people will have such differing opinions on the food itself. She and others like her will go to a restaurant, look at an item, and figure out every possible change she can make to it when ordering. She'll order blackened fish and ask for no pepper or shrimp and garlic sauce without too much garlic and of course complain after that her food is bland.

Any place I go to eat I will usually order the stuff on the menu exactly as it appears because that's how the cook/chef/whatever intended it to be cooked. If you need no spices or low salt or anything else specially catered to you, stay home and cook. It'll save you money and the CO2 you'd expel from bitching.

So here's the breakdown:

Places will be rated on Cost, Taste, and Service, each scoring a possible 5 out of 5 stars. Price indicates the value you get for your food so essentially 5 stars means you get the most bang for your buck.

Example:
Price: ***
Taste: ****
Service:***

I'm not going to take some total average because that would score this place a 66% which lead you to think its crap, but 3/5 stars isn't necessarily a bad thing. After the score I'll give a rundown of the whole experience so you can get an idea of it and see if you'd like to try it. I may or may not have pics of the grub, since some of these reviews may have been from long before I started this blog.