Chicken Guy Review
Chicken Guy is celebrity chef Guy Fieri’s counter service restaurant at Walt Disney World, located in the same complex as Planet Hollywood in Disney Springs. In this WDW dining review, we’ll share food photos and offer our thoughts.
As the name would suggest, the fast food concept specializes in chicken, and touts itself as one of the best value options in all of Walt Disney World. The question is thus whether Chicken Guy is fast food done right, or suffers from the same overindulgence problems of the adjacent Planet Hollywood Observatory.
Right from the get-go, you might be wondering whether we are credible voices when it comes to Guy Fieri. Our Planet Hollywood Observatory Review was pretty brutal, and we ended by calling it one of the worst restaurants at Walt Disney World. That was unfortunate, as the idea of comfort food prepared as over-the-top indulgences is something that appeals to me, but Planet Hollywood just fails to deliver…
That review more or less distills where I stand with Guy Fieri. Criticisms of him are overdone, but there is some basis for them. (I will say that his Twitter account is pitch-perfect, and he’s self-deprecating in a way rarely seen from chefs, many of who take themselves way too seriously.)
While Fieri does a good job sniffing out and showcasing excellent hole-in-the-wall restaurants that the high-brow culinary world looks down on, but his own culinary concoctions tend to drown under the weight of their own Donkey Sauce; an example of excess taken a bit too far.
Upon first glance of the menu, you can see that the restaurants two of Planet Hollywood’s problems by simplifying the menu and offering foods at competitive prices. The staples here are all chicken, with pretty much every entree being either plain chicken tenders, or tenders in sandwiches.
It’s a back to the basics approach that’s a refreshing contrast to Planet Hollywood, which has a menu that practically needs a table of contents. (I blame Cheesecake Factory for the proliferation of restaurants with novel-length menus.)
Of course, this means that Chicken Guy doesn’t have much to offer if you don’t like chicken tenders, but the good news is that there are like 37,392 other Disney Springs restaurants for you.
Still apprehensive about what a Guy Fieri restaurant concept–even a more straightforward one–might entail, we opted to keep our orders very simple, ordering the chicken tenders and the Sauce Boss sandwich.
We’ll start with the Chicken Tenders, as that’s the foundation of everything Chicken Guy is doing. Getting these wrong would be pretty disastrous, as pretty much the entire menu is predicated upon them.
Fortunately, Chicken Guy nails the tenders. I wouldn’t call them revolutionary, but they are very, very good. Perhaps addictively good. The breading is mildly seasoned, conservatively applied, and perfectly crisp. The chicken underneath is juicy and flavorful, cooked to perfection.
The end result is something that tastes ‘fresh’ rather than having an artificial or frozen quality. Even Sarah was pleased with these chicken tenders, noting that the chicken is all-natural, hand pounded, and breaded daily.
However, it was the Signature Sauces that really put these chicken tenders over the top. This is a Guy Fieri restaurant, so it’s “necessary” to be over the top in some way, and that promise is delivered upon via a staggering lineup of 22 dipping sauces.
Literally every single one of these was delicious, offering a sweet contrast to the chicken or upping the savory ante. As we didn’t try all of the 22 sauces, I can’t speak to quality across the board, but the ones we tried were nothing short of excellent. My favorite was the Garlic Parmesan, but I plan on going for some outside-the-box options next time.
This is part of the appeal of Chicken Guy–dare I say what makes it a truly “fun” meal experience. While it was just the two of us, I could imagine going with a larger group and trying more varieties of sauces.
That’s one of the things I love about the fries at D-Luxe Burger, but perhaps I’m just odd about that.
For our other entree, we ordered the Sauce Boss sandwich. Per the menu, the Sauce Boss sandwich consists of “two Chicken Tenders (Crispy Fried or Grilled All-natural), Lettuce, Tomato, Onion, Pickle and your choice of any two Signature Sauces.”
This was also good. All of the toppings tasted fresh, and it was definitely more filling than the tenders by themselves, but I’d probably opt against it next time. Not because there was anything wrong with it, but because the heart of the experience is the tenders and dipping sauces, and nothing else should get in the way of that.
We also tried the Mac Daddy Mac ‘N’ Cheese. This was a mistake. It was inexplicably very creamy and dense, but not all that cheesy. I’m a sucker for mac & cheese, but this was a disappointment. We should’ve ordered the fries as our side instead.
Ultimately, that would be my recommendation for Chicken Guy: stick to the foods that can best use the dipping sauces, and lean into the communal, fun nature of the experience. While Chicken Guy would not top my
Planning a Walt Disney World trip? Learn about hotels on our Walt Disney World Hotels Reviews page. For where to eat, read our Walt Disney World Restaurant Reviews. To save money on tickets or determine which type to buy, read our Tips for Saving Money on Walt Disney World Tickets post. Our What to Pack for Disney Trips post takes a unique look at clever items to take. For what to do and when to do it, our Walt Disney World Ride Guides will help. For comprehensive advice, the best place to start is our Walt Disney World Trip Planning Guide for everything you need to know!
Your Thoughts
Have you tried Chicken Guy? Have any favorite sauces? Do you agree or disagree with our review? Any questions we can help you answer? Hearing your feedback–even when you disagree with us–is both interesting to us and helpful to other readers, so please share your thoughts below in the comments!
I really want to try guys chicken . But was every disappointed. As I’m eating the chicken sandwich. I find a hair in it . Well that was the end of that . And all management could say was sorry . Really he could of said said let refund your meal . But instead offered to buy me a meal at a different restaurant. So obviously the workers know it not worth eating there . Will not go back .
Chicken guy in Disney Fl….we will not be back…fries were cold, small, burnt…bun hard..
Strawberry shake not the greatest…don’t bother eating there!
We ate at chicken guy at Disney springs. The meal was served cold. The chicken was tough, fries cold and the staff was not friendly at all. It was the worst chicken I ever had. And the shakes were over priced for the size.
After hearing all the hype about the chicken tenders, I have to say I was pretty disappointed. The ones my party had were pretty flavorless and about on par with what you’d find in the freezer aisle of the grocery store.
The sauces are really the star of the show here IMO, so my recommendation (once the gift shop opens) is get an order of fries (which were quite good) and any a la carte sauces you want to try to dip them in, then go to the gift shop and pick up some sauces to put on your own tenders or whatever at home (a lot of them would make good salad dressings as well.)
Being from the south, not impressed at all, very disappointing and mediocre at best! Sad that it takes a sauce to make fried chicken good
John N We just finished our lunch at Chicken Guy. It was very good. Thanks for your review. It was right on the money.
Is Chicken Guy on the Dining Plan
Yes it’s is on the dining plan. It’s a quick service meal.
I disagree on the Mac n cheese! It is amazing! I know that people tend to battle over the presence of Velveeta in Mac n cheese, but I love it in mine. Chicken guy mac is certainly at or near the top of the list for me.
We visited during our Aug 2018 trip and loved it! Everything was delicious. I will say that we opted for the sandwich and next time will change it up for just the chicken tenders as we didn’t need the extra bread. Everything was delicious! We’re headed back to Disney 4 weeks from tomorrow and I’m pretty confident we’ll hit Chicken Guy up for our very first meal when we arrive and head to DS for lunch!
We happened to be at Springs when Chicken Guy soft-opened and then we went back the next day for the official opening (so clearly, we liked it!). During the soft opening, the staff was going out of their way to have people try sauces, so I think I ended up with five or six different options for my tenders. Everything I tried was super good. The fries are great but I prefer swapping them out for the fried pickles. I actually dreamed that I was eating at Chicken Guy the other night (embarrassing but true) and we frequently will mention eating there to one another, so we are definitely fans. It’s not the most revolutionary restaurant in the world, but everything we tried was really good and the price is reasonable by theme park standards.
I’ve only been once and split my order of chicken tenders, half breading/half no breading. I thought they were good, really liked how light the breading was. The item I loved the most was the French fries, they were basically amazing!
I didn’t have any big problems with the food, but they could use more indoor dining space. I sat outside on a sunny summer afternoon, and before I finished my meal, I heard a loud noise, and I thought, “Disney fireworks in the middle of the day?” Then it began to pour, and I was forced to toss the remains of my supper away and take shelter.
They definitely need more indoor seating. I read somewhere someone suggested that they expand into the planet hollywood store, and I love that idea. I can’t imagine they are selling that much PH merch.
With two not-yet-tween daughters, my family leans toward more casual dining options. Although they both are adventurous eaters and will try pretty much anything we ask them to, they tend to stick with what they know. So adding Chicken Guy to Blaze, Earl of Sandwich and D-Lux gives us lots of fun possibilities. Even with the limited menu, I am looking foward to giving them a try. Who doesn’t love chicken fingers?!?!?
I was hesitant to try this place out. My husband really wanted to try it. We skipped it one day as we were on the meal plan and did not realize that you can use your meal plan for this location. Once we found out you could we gave it a shot. WOW!! This place is amazing!!!. It is so good!!! Not your average chicken sandwich joint. The sauces are amazing as well! Everything about this place is tasty!! It is a definitely must try if you are in Disney Springs. !!
Seeing that picture of him holding the chicken right before I was going to eat chicken would be enough to turn me off!
LOL, I had to go back and look again. I thought that Tom had snapped the actual chicken guy.
Agreed.
I hope some media organization was covering the Chicken Guy photo shoot:
“Shut the front door! This flavortown is the real deal!” said Fieri has he slowly asphyxiated the live chicken tucked into the crook of his right arm.