Okay, the title is misleading. I've written exactly one post about chicken sandwiches, comparing Chick-fil-a to Mc-fil-a, and I followed that up by reviewing a burger. But in my head it feels like I was just writing about a chicken sandwich so now that I'm writing about another chicken sandwich I'm going to make the point that everything is chicken sandwiches until the words "chicken" and "sandwich" feel like they've lost all meaning.
So anyway, Arby's "We Have The Meats" ☜(ﾟヮﾟ☜) has chicken as one of those meats, and at request they'll put it on a sandwich for you. I ordered the Chicken Bacon Swiss sandwich, because everything is improved by adding bacon and Switzerland to it. This occurred not long after the head-to-head between Macbeth and Duncan, and I was distantly anticipating some sort of comparison to those two sandwiches in this review. But as it happens adding sauce, lettuce, tomato, cheese, and friggin bacon to a sandwich does quite a lot to differentiate it from a sandwich that is essentially just a piece of fried chicken between two slices of bread.
And no, I won't be going to KFC, buying a chicken breast, and putting it on a bun to compare it to Chick-fil-a. Why would you even suggest that? *frantically scribbles note*
Ahem, where were we? Oh right. The sandwich that is not competing with Chick-fil-a, at least not directly. Honestly the thing was far more reminiscent of the chicken sandwiches at Wendy's, which I do enjoy. And the short version of the whole story is that the sandwich is very good.
Um... I guess we're done here? I don't know what kind of additional information you're looking for. The addition of some basic sauces and veg has the same effect it has on a burger, lightening the flavor profile of otherwise very fatty fried meat with the addition of acidity and additional texture. The bacon they've used here doesn't have an incredibly strong flavor but it's still bacon, so suffice it to say the bites that have both bacon and chicken in them taste mainly of bacon. That doesn't mean the chicken itself is bad; mine was reasonably well cooked white breast meat that was still moist and breaded with a lightly seasoned touch. But if you're mainly here for the taste of chicken, probably get the version that doesn't have bacon on it. The cheese is good too. It's Swiss.
Hopefully you picked up on that.
So as a whole the sandwich is tasty, and by itself it's not terribly expensive. It costs less than a full phat premium chicken sandwich from Wendy's, at least. But beneath all this you find the rub; it also doesn't taste as good as a premium chicken sandwich from Wendy's.
It's like I said, this sandwich doesn't really compete directly with the likes of Chick-fil-a. If you're in the mood for that sandwich, this thing will land totally wrong, while if you're in the mood for something more like this, a Chick-fil-a chicken sandwich will leave you wanting more. But if you're in the mood for a fully-loaded chicken sandwich, especially one with bacon on it, what you're actually gonna want to do is go to Wendy's. Their basic Crispy Chicken BLT is essentially the same sandwich, minus the Swiss and using different sauces technically, and it costs a little less while delivering better bacon and, at least to my taste, better chicken as well. Or if you want to you can step up from there to their premium chicken sandwiches, which come in a variety of flavor profile combinations, including at the moment the incomparable Pretzel Bacon Pub chicken sandwich. To add insult to injury for the restaurant that claims to have "the meats", at Wendy's you can get any of their premium chicken sandwiches with a classic breaded and fried chicken breast, a spicy breaded chicken breast, or just straight up grilled, which is my preferred option for the Pretzel Bacon Pub.
So Arby's didn't do a bad job here. I bought the sandwich with a coupon, which meant I got this sandwich and like a ten-piece of their chicken nuggets for about the same price as a premium chicken sandwich from Wendy's. And that was a good price for a lot more food which still tastes good, so I have no regrets. So no shame if you buy a chicken sandwich from Arby's. But given the other options out there if I had a choice... I wouldn't.
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