8 Items To Avoid Ordering At Popeyes, Based On Reviews

Southern fried chicken fans looking for a bigger kick in the tongue than what they were getting from franchise giants KFC and Church's were delighted when Popeyes Louisiana Kitchen brought its spicy, Cajun-influenced menu to the masses in 1976. With a batter that delivered sweet, peppery heat and an unrivaled crunch, Popeyes rose quickly in popularity to include more than 3,800 restaurants worldwide.

Over the years, its menu expansions dabbled in seafood, desserts, beverages, sauces, and a steady parade of sides — with varying degrees of success. And while Popeyes remains a top-ranking, fast-food fried chicken chain and loyalists continue to sing its praises  — yes, many of us still "Love that chicken from Popeyes" — we discovered that several of its current offerings have people humming a slightly less enthusiastic tune. A dive into non-sponsored, social media reviews of Popeyes menu items from the last year, considering both taste and value, helped us create this list of eight items to avoid ordering at Popeyes.

Popeyes teamed up with Hot Ones hot sauce for this menu collaboration that many customers feel missed the mark. This limited-time offering, which pairs Popeyes' signature hot wings with a packet of ghost pepper dry rub and a ranch dip cup spiked with Last Dab hot sauce, fails to set any mouths on fire, according to reviews. 

The consensus seems to be that these are just regular old wings dusted with pepper flakes and that Popeyes fails to deliver a brow-dabbing, mouth-scorching, hot wing that customers hoped for. "I want the option of wet wings," one Redditor opines, recalling a time when Popeyes' hot wings used to be sticky, messy, and significantly better. He'd assumed the Darin' Dab Ghost Wings would be saucy and was disappointed by the dry rub, stating: "My heart is broken."

Another Reddit user asks, "Why did they ruin the wings? ... This new rub BS is not good. I am crying." On Facebook, another dissatisfied wing fan says, "For me, as a lover of hot stuff, they really weren't that hot at all. Just tasted like run-of-the-mill, not-so-spicy nuggets." 

Few side dishes offer more down-home comfort and glutinous goodness than macaroni and cheese, especially when served alongside a batch of crispy fried chicken. When it's properly prepared, this traditional Southern staple strikes just the right balance between cream, cheese, and salt. When it misses the mark, people have strong opinions about what went wrong. Such is the case with this menu item from Popeyes.

On Reddit, several Popeyes customers find it dry, gelatinous, and off-smelling in texture. Some avoid ordering the macaroni and cheese at Popeyes because the cheese is not fully integrated with the macaroni and/or its consistency is too watery, as well.

A common complaint at locations everywhere is that the macaroni and cheese portion sizes are small. While this issue might be subject to employee error or location, there are enough mentions of it on social media to declare it a universal complaint. One Redditor asks: "Is this cup properly filled? It seems like I'm always getting skimped." A commenter adds: "Idk why people bother with that sh***y little mac and cheese." Users put Popeyes low on the best fast food mac and cheese totem pole, and suggest taking your cravings for this side dish elsewhere.

Lampooned on Reddit for being "mid" and "more tortilla than chicken," the wrap is another item you may want to avoid ordering from Popeyes. Available at select locations for a limited time, these wraps are "Everything you love about Popeyes, now wrapped and ready to roll," according to its promotional release. However, while a tortilla, a chicken tender, lettuce, cheese, pickles, and a choice of classic, spicy, or honey mustard spread might sound like a winning combination, most reviewers put this one squarely in the loser column.   

"I was expecting a nice chunk of chicken in each wrap ..." one Reddit user says: "Sadly, my wraps were all 70% tortilla." Another reviewer urges readers to "Just build your own wrap, guys," while a commenter on the same thread longs for the days when Popeyes' chicken wraps had rice and beans in them, offering a little more substance and flavor. "Would've been different from all the other chicken wraps coming out from different places right now and 100x better. I miss them so much." It seems few can get on board with this uninspired reprise of an old favorite, and there are other menu items that outshine Popeyes' chicken wraps.

While opinions are mixed on the taste and quality of this Popeyes frozen, pre-cooked turkey, the price tag alone gives most reviewers a good reason to grab a bird elsewhere or make one at home. Weighing between 11 and 13 pounds, the cost for a Cajun-style turkey from Popeyes begins around $55 for a pickup order and soars to $99 for delivery. With experts recommending that you serve roughly one pound of turkey per guest, that can add up quickly for those of us with a lot of seats at the table. 

A Popeyes Cajun-style turkey takes about two days to thaw out in the refrigerator and two hours to heat up in the oven. According to one Facebook review, no carving tools were necessary because the cooked turkey was "falling off the bone," which might sound like a good thing, but made for a messy presentation. Noting strong spices like paprika, cayenne, and garlic, the same reviewer suggested the flavor might be overpowering to the other sides at Thanksgiving, and said: "The $99 price point is simply too much unless your life straight-up revolves around Popeyes." A Reddit user agrees, saying: "Pickup at the one up the street is 74.99, like who's seriously gonna pay that for a turkey?"

While there appears to be some love for Popeyes' deep-fried foray into seafood and its popcorn shrimp offering, the scale on this one clearly tips toward hate. At issue are the portion size and breading-to-shrimp ratio, with several suggesting this menu item is mostly batter and spice, and the consensus being that it's one to avoid ordering at Popeyes.

By definition, a popcorn shrimp is small, so no one should be surprised by this item's diminutive character, but when one Reddit user says: "I ordered a ¼ pound of popcorn shrimp and I think I got a cup of deep fried batter ... What's up with the shrimp?" commenters jumped on the bandwagon, calling it "skimp," "scrimp," and "scant." On Facebook, a reviewer echoed the same sentiment, saying: "There's hardly any shrimp in here," commenters on the thread call it "salad shrimp" adding, "They need to take this off the menu."

When done right, few side dishes pair better with fried chicken than mashed potatoes. A scoop of creamy, buttery spuds ladled with a puddle of thick, salty gravy sets the scene for a picture-perfect Southern supper. For many of us who are partial to this starchy staple — whether it be scratch-made or a popular brand of instant flakes — even bad mashed potatoes are pretty good when you're picking them up at the drive-through. And while this holds true for many Popeyes customers, the consensus seems to be that this menu item is pretty uninspired and wouldn't be worth ordering on its own merit. 

Several reviewers mention there being too much salt on the potatoes, while others are turned off by the gravy's green coloring. On Facebook, one reviewer calls the mashed potatoes a low point, saying: " The mash was potato flakes and water, no fat or salt in the potato. The gravy was OK, but 10 mins later, I couldn't tell you what it tasted like." On a Reddit post asking commenters to rank Popeyes mashed potatoes from 1 to 10, reviews averaged around 5, with more strong negative opinions than positive, and one user saying: "As fake ass mashed potatoes 5, as a legit mashed potatoes -1". 

Popeyes rolls out this seasonal menu item at participating restaurants each Spring to amp up its sandwich options for those who go meatless during Lent, or at least on Fridays during Lent. Sourced from Alaska, Popeyes' flounder is marinated in Cajun spices, coated with its signature breading, and served on a brioche bun with classic tartar or spicy spread, according to the Popeyes website. And while that description sounds pretty tasty to fish sandwich fans, Popeyes customers don't seem to be particularly hooked by this special seafood offering. 

Critics say this sandwich has soggy batter, an odd brown coloring, and a fishy smell, so you might want to avoid ordering it. "It tastes like a sardine sandwich (I normally like sardines, but even I didn't like this). It's soggy and not crispy," says one Redditor. Most commenters on the post agree, with one saying, "It tasted like spam or Vienna sausage to me. Thin, limp, and not crispy." On Popeyes fish sandwich was TRASH!!! ...It was just A NO FOR ME!!!" Bottom line: If you're determined to get your fried fish sandwich fix from a drive-through, you may want to cruise past Popeyes and hit another fast food restaurant offering a fish sandwich during Lent.  

Pickles are definitely having a moment in contemporary food culture, and Popeyes has joined the movement with its new pickle menu. Putting a briny spin on its traditional chicken wings and sandwiches, Popeyes found natural ways to incorporate its high-ranking fast food pickles into its everyday menu with a special offering that's been generally well-received by customers, but some say it went too far when it pickled the lemonade.

"It tastes like a jar of pickles with a lemon in it," one Facebook user notes, while another says her boys gave it "Zero out of 10." A reviewer who'd been excited to try the beverage said: "I'M SO DISAPPOINTED!! I mean... It's definitely pickle, not in a way I liked, it was too much." A Reddit user also gives this one a thumbs down, saying: "No lemonade. No sweetness. I took a sip, visibly gagged, thought maybe it was my bad, and took another sip, it made me feel worse." So, unless you're a real pickle nerd, those who've tried this newcomer to the Popeyes menu suggest it might be better suited to curing a hangover than washing down a chicken sandwich. 

We searched social media for mentions of specific menu items to determine which ones to avoid ordering at Popeyes, focusing on opinions related to taste, quality, portion size, and value. After eliminating from consideration any reviews that may be sponsored or biased, as well as those specific to an experience at a particular franchise, we looked for items that elicited strong negative opinions and generally received more criticism than praise on forums such as Facebook, Reddit, and YouTube. Focusing our survey on comments from the past year, we also gave preference to those who appear to enjoy Cajun cuisine and eat regularly at Popeyes, while screening out haters who don't eat at Popeyes anyway.