9 Common Customer Complaints At Chick-Fil-A

Chick-fil-A has built a reputation over the years as being a fast food restaurant that stands out from the rest, serving quality food and providing great customer service. However, as much as there are plenty of fans, that doesn't mean that nothing ever goes wrong, and many customers are less than impressed with the chicken chain. 

Chick-fil-A is known for its best-selling waffle fries, the super polite "my pleasure" response from staff, and, of course, not being open on a Sunday, something that the staff, if not necessarily the customers, appreciates. While every restaurant can have an off day, some complaints resurface time and again, and these are the ones we have considered when making this list. 

Even the famous waffle fries have their haters, especially since the chain made an unpopular change a few years ago. From cold food to shrinking sandwiches, here are some of the most common complaints from Chick-fil-A customers.

Opening up a paper bag with your much-anticipated food order inside, only to find it is missing a crucial item, must be one of the biggest culinary frustrations. Chick-fil-A customers encounter this issue too often for it to be a fluke, with some orders even lacking the chicken. One customer on Trustpilot told how she was given her order without waffle fries one week, then returned a week later only to be missing the sandwich. Sauces and desserts are items that are often missed, with one Facebook user commenting that it seems something is always left out of her order.

As irritating as it can be, customers go from frustrated to angry when the issue can't be resolved. One customer was missing $22 worth of food and was refused a refund unless they were willing to travel a 90-minute round trip to the store. It defeats the purpose of ordering home delivery or utilizing the drive-thru if a return trip to the store is required to remedy the issue of items left behind. While most of us would expect a large restaurant chain to be able to get orders right, it probably pays to give the bag a quick check before leaving the branch.

Waffle fries are one of the items that Chick-fil-A is often praised for, and the brand is famous for the lattice-shaped potato sides. With that praise, however, come high expectations, and customers are not shy to complain when the fries don't live up to their standards. Prior to 2024, the main complaint about the fries was that they were soggy, with this often being blamed on the bag they are served in causing them to steam and absorb water. However, in 2024 the chain made a major change to the fries by adding pea starch to the coating to crisp them up.

Suffice to say that this change did not go well with fans of the original, with customers complaining in droves. One Reddit user wrote, "They use to be my 2nd favorite fast food fries, but now I can't stand them." The new recipe also contained rice flour, making them unsuitable to diners with either rice or pea allergies. Common complaints of the new recipe include them tasting stale, having no flavor, and being dry. While there is no question that the new recipe solved the issue of soggy fries, it prompted fans to demand the soggy version back.

To their credit, the people at Chick-fil-A listened, and the recipe had pea starch removed in early 2026. The lesson to be learned is that if you are known for having some of the best fries in the business, you'd better know what you're doing if you are going to start messing about with the recipe.

Fast food lovers understand how the concept works and are well aware that each meal is not necessarily made to order. However, the very least that can be expected is that items are served hot, and in a number of Chick-fil-A branches, this is not always the case.

With all wholesale prices increasing, ordering fast food is not the economical choice it once was, and many customers head to Chick-fil-A in the hope of higher quality takeout. To then be served, in the case of one customer, a $17 chicken sandwich that is cold, makes the chain seem much poorer value for money. Fries are the subject of much of the criticism, with one customer wondering how a busy restaurant would have fries sitting long enough to get cold in the first place.

In addition to being lukewarm or cold, some customers reported food being undercooked or raw, which compounds the issue as texture is affected as well as temperature. While it is understandable that items from an order may cool slightly as the rest of the meal is prepared, not being cooked properly is something they have no excuse for, especially if it involves chicken. While home delivery orders aren't expected to arrive piping hot, the number of complaints suggests that Chick-fil-A is falling well short of customer expectations.

Most of us don't choose fast food expecting a gourmet meal, but Chick-fil-A has been known for serving higher quality fare than most. Even so, fans of the chain have noticed a decline in the quality of certain items recently and are not holding back their disappointment.

Some complaints come from long-term customers who have a go-to order and have noticed a distinct deterioration in the flavor and texture. One Reddit user has noticed his usual order going downhill, saying, "The chicken is hit or miss on quality at times. Sometimes thin, tough meat." The big issue for Chick-fil-A is that its loyal customers are used to paying higher prices compared to other chains, on the assumption that they will get a better standard of product. The same reviewer said, "I was fine with paying a premium because you were getting good quality, tasty, consistent stuff. Now everything has gone down in quality drastically."

Customers on Trustpilot had similar concerns, with many commenting that they had previously thought better of the chain. It seems to be an ongoing problem, with one saying, "Chick Fil-A has not been the best place to eat for a while and I used to be able to count on them to get good food and good service." With complaints about quality covering chicken, sides, and drinks, Chick-fil-A's reputation for high-quality food seems to be crumbling before our eyes.

When hearing praise for Chick-fil-A, it is often customer service that is highly rated, and that is clearly an important part of the brand's image. While the luxury hotel-inspired signature phrase "my pleasure" is synonymous with the polite image of the chicken chain, recent complaints suggest that not every member of staff is living up to the high expectations.

Customers have commented that staff members are reluctant to greet customers on arrival, instead chatting to colleagues until called over. Many reviewers refer to staff as unprofessional and have pointed out that the service used to be much better than it is currently. There are many reviews that mention younger staff as being rude and dismissive, and suggest that they may not be as on board with the "my pleasure" catchphrase as the brand would like.

In some cases, customers who have complained about missing items from their order have encountered rude workers who are not interested in resolving the issue and make no attempt to apologize. While there are still many customers who comment on good service, the standards from some Chick-fil-A staff seem to be slipping over the last few years.

Shrinkflation is the term that describes products that sneakily become smaller while customers pay the same price, and Chick-fil-A seems to be just as guilty as other brands. Though sides and drinks are often common culprits, the biggest complaints are for the star of the show — the chicken.

A recent Reddit thread discussed the ongoing shrinking of the chicken sandwich, including the bun that goes with it. One customer said, "Every sandwich I've picked up since July is at least 30% smaller. I'll go back for a replacement but sometimes the new one will be even smaller." 

With prices at Chick-fil-A already higher than the average fast food outlet, a reduction in portion size is not going to do anything to appease customers' fears about value for money. While there still seems to be variation between branches, with some commenters saying they think the sandwiches are the same size they have always been, this complaint appears often enough for it to be a sign of a bigger problem within the chain.

In the past few years, it feels as though fast food has gotten so expensive, and Chick-fil-A is no exception. While fans of the chain have been happy in the past to pay more for a better-than-average experience, customers are now complaining that the prices have increased way too much, while the quality and portions have not. One conversation on Reddit even involved Chick-fil-A employees discussing how overpriced some of the items are and how they often agree with customers who mention it. Upsells are also expensive, with one customer unaware when ordering that changing from hot coffee to iced coffee would be accompanied by an upcharge of around $2.

One Chick-fil-A worker had insight into why the wraps are so expensive in comparison to other items, which was the main complaint of one Reddit thread. They explained that in the time it takes to make just eight wraps, staff can prepare around 80 sandwiches or hundreds of nuggets.

Ultimately, this scathing criticism from Trustpilot sums up some customers' overall feelings for Chick-fil-A, saying, "I could have gotten real good food [rather] than junk food with this price." At a chain where diners are willing to pay more for better quality, Chick-fil-A's perceived value seems to be letting them down.

Such is the popularity of Chick-fil-A that some branches are often seen with enormous drive-thru queues, sometimes pouring out onto busy roads. Though a small wait at a drive-thru is to be expected, Chick-fil-A customers often complain that their experience is less than satisfactory.

Long waits are one of the main issues, with some reviewers having to wait up to 30 minutes to get their food. Chick-fil-A has tried to remedy the queue situation by having dedicated mobile-only lanes in certain stores, but these seem to cause even more frustration. Customers are pre-ordering on mobile and expecting to turn up and be served promptly, only to find a huge line of cars in the mobile-only queue. To make matters worse, some have observed an empty drive-thru lane and a packed mobile-only lane, with customers not allowed to use the regular lane if they have already ordered on mobile.

According to staff working at Chick-fil-A, the issue with mobile ordering comes from the fact that the order isn't processed until the customer arrives on site and confirms that they are ready. If there is already a delay in the kitchen, or the mobile order needs to be cooked from scratch, the customer is likely to face a much longer wait than expected. What used to be a shortcut is now so heavily used that going into the store in person could be a quicker option at some branches.

Let's be honest, most of us are not heading to Chick-fil-A specifically for the coffee, but if you are planning on ordering one with your next breakfast, be aware that it is rated pretty poorly by customers. There is much debate on Reddit as to whether it is reasonable to expect a chicken chain to serve good coffee, but most customers feel that if a restaurant is going to serve coffee and charge for it, it should at least be halfway decent.

The complaints about Chick-fil-A coffee are certainly not isolated, with multiple comments online saying the same thing. A Reddit user said, "Worked there for a total of 5 years at two different locations and I think I met less than 5 people who worked there that liked it," while a reply on the same thread described it as, "the absolute worst coffee I've ever had in my life."

Many people say the iced coffee is far better than the hot coffee, since it is made differently, though one customer did refer to it as "repulsive," so views on the cold coffee are still mixed. While there are certainly many dedicated chains that will guarantee a more satisfying cup of joe, for those who want the convenience of getting all their takeout in one place, Chick-fil-A is very much letting its customers down with its subpar coffee.

To create a list of the most common Chick-fil-A complaints, we selected only challenges that were noted by multiple customers, ignoring any that seemed to be personal issues or one-off problems. Comments were only considered if they came from customers at U.S. restaurants, and in most cases the complaints spanned a wide variety of U.S. locations. Review sites such as Trustpilot were used, as well as conversations on Reddit.