Review: McDonald’s Premium Grilled Chicken Club Sandwich
Author: indianapoliseater | Filed under: Food Reviews
In my recent visit to McDonald’s, I took a look at one of their Real Fruit Smoothies. In addition to my smoothie, I also added in a meal. I didn’t want a burger and I was already feeling snooty since I ordered a smoothie at McDonald’s (LOL), so I decided to order a sandwich from their Premium Chicken line.
What I Got: Premium Grilled Chicken Club Sandwich Combo $6.15 (large sized for 80 cents more)
The Premium Grilled Chicken Club Sandwich is made up of a grilled and seasoned chicken breast filet, hickory smoked bacon, lettuce, tomato, melted swiss cheese, and mayonnaise, all served on a honey wheat roll that was shaped somewhat like a mini sub sandwich.
When you order grilled chicken instead of fried chicken at a lot of fast food establishments, they will dry it out. Thankfully, McDonald’s did not do this. The breast’s flavor was tender and delicious and also had a mild peppery bite to it as well, so that was wonderful. The bacon was soft and chewy and since I prefer my bacon that way, I really enjoyed that. If you prefer crispy bacon over chewy bacon, you may not like this. When they combined these two meat ingredients with the melted swiss cheese (it was extremely warm, gooey and awesome), it was a truly winning flavor combination.
The rest of the sandwich consisted of the bread, produce and mayonnaise. The bread was fine and you could taste the honey flavoring, but it was a little hard for my liking. The lettuce seemed slightly aged, but the tomato was fine, so the produce didn’t really add or subtract from the sandwich in any way.
The sandwich did have one negative though and that was the mayonnaise. I don’t mind mayonnaise and I usually order my sandwiches without it for dietary reasons, but in this instance I decided to leave it on the sandwich and that was a mistake as there was WAY TOO MUCH on there and I actually had to open up the sandwich and scrape it off. It seemed like they put an entire tablespoon on there. Gross.
Would I Buy It Again? Absolutely. I don’t ordinarily go to McDonald’s for anything other than breakfast, ice cream or coffee, but this sandwich may have converted me back to ordering other things off the menu. The only problem I had with sandwich was with the mayonnaise, so next time I will make sure to ask them to take it off.
Quick rant here: McDonald’s fries have the reputation of being some of, if not the best, fries in the fast food business and I just don’t get it. I think they are vastly overrated and I personally consider them to be mediocre at best. Whenever I order them, they are never crispy, they are always too greasy and their flavor is exceptionally bland. I always have to use a ton of salt just to give them some flavor and I almost never do that with fries when I order them at other fast food joints. Oh well, despite their blandness, at least they are better than Burger King’s (LOL, I had to work a Burger King fries blast into this post somehow).
-IndianapolisEater
Tags: Bacon, Chicken, Food, Fries, McDonalds, premium chicken, premium grilled chicken club, sandwich, swiss cheese
Can’t stand the honey bun on this one. Hardee’s blows this away….it is bigger, tastes better and cheaper.
Oh yeah, McD gets crazy with the mayo. Try the angus burgers, they put a ton on them.
You know, I just don’t like that slimey glaze that comes on enhanced, pre-cooked chicken breast with rib meat lol. (Side story: We have them at our college’s dining hall, and I always ask them to shake it off. One time, the pimply faced kid working the station goes, “what, the au jus?” LOL, who is this dude kidding?) But really, I do like the salty flavor in a I know-its-horrible for me way, but combined with limp bacon, I just don’t think I could get into the texture. Given that most places fry in canola oil, I really don’t see “grilled” anything as healthier than fried, anymore.
Fries from Micky D’s — like anywhere — can be hit or miss depending on when you go and the attentiveness of who is working the fryer. I ordered a happy meal last week and literally had perfectly crisp fries that were sublime. Likewise, I’ve had great fries from BK. At the same time, I got Arby’s Curley Fries last week which sucked and were limp and saturated in too much oil. It’s a gamble, but I’ll take Micky D’s fries anyday, and that is saying quite a lot, considering I’m also a fry snob who lists “Duck Fat Fries with Sea Salt and Rosmary” as my side for my death-row meal fantatsy.
Oh crap, I’ve said too much. Haha, great work as usual guys!
I am not a fan of these big buns they are putting on sandwiches. Although I have not had this sandwich, I avoid these kind of chicken sandwiches because of that slimey glaze texture Adam was referring to but Hardee’s chicken does not have it. Not a big fry eater but like MCD’s.
Oh, no! We’ve lost Indy to the cult of McD!
As Short Round would shriek: “Indy! COVAH YO HEART!”
McDonald’s fries USED to be the best until they switched to trans-fat free oil. Now they are the worst fast food fries out there.
I really like McD’s fries a lot, but I agree with Charlotte … they were better pre-trans-fat free oil!
Wait, do you mean when they were cooked in beef tallow, or was there an intermediate oil used in the transition before going “trans fat free”?
Well, from what I can gather they were formerly fried in a combination of cottonseed oil and beef tallow. Now they are fried in vegetable oil. It’s the slightly beefy flavor that is missing. It makes me sad.
I don’t like those honey wheat rolls either. They are too much bread for me and they are hard enough that the sandwich fixings squeeze out from the edges. Happily, you can order your sandwich with a regular bun instead of the honey wheat roll. There’s even a “button” to do this! Works for me!
They did away with using beef tallow a while ago amid consumer concerns. They still add beef flavoring though, dunno if that comes from a cow.
Anyway the secret to getting the best fries at McDonald’s is twofold! First, either ask them to make a fresh batch or get them without salt (because they have to make a fresh batch for it to be w/o salt). Second, you have to get your fries while the oil is still newly replaced. The older the oil gets, the worse the fries.
Hey Adam, where can I find those duck fat french fries?? The Meridian has some rockin’ fries with truffle oil.
Victoria Gastro Pub in Columbia, MD
Ha! I guess I’m one of the weird ones that likes Burger King fries over all others.
Anyway, long time follower, first time commenter. It’s been fun and keep up the good work.
Great review–I pretty much agree. I like this sandwich a lot, but the lettuce is usually a little old, and the mayo is too much and unevenly spread, so I usually order it without or on the side. And I actually prefer my bacon to be a bit crispier, which is how they do it at my nearest McDonald’s, so I guess that (like other things) depends on the location at which you get the sandwich.
I also agree with TheWarden–BK has my favorite fries. Though I find the freshness of their food to be a hit or miss when I visit.
Great posts, everyone. Thanks!