Stop Ordering This Chick-Fil-A Side: It Won't Hold Up Through The Drive Home

Chick-fil-A built its reputation on elite chicken sandwiches. Whether you order the standard chicken sandwich, its spicy counterpart, or the deluxe version with cheese, lettuce, tomato, and pickles, you're almost guaranteed to receive a high-quality, delicious sandwich. With that said, Chick-fil-A's sides can sometimes be an afterthought. The fast food chain does have some tasty choices, but when we tried nine Chick-fil-A sides and ranked them from worst to best, our least favorite was the mac and cheese.

We admit that we were surprised Chick-fil-A's mac and cheese was at the bottom of our list, mainly because CFA puts a lot of care into this side dish. The mac and cheese is baked in-house and comes with a blend of parmesan, cheddar, and Romano cheeses. The top layer has a nice crunch, but the overall flavor is rather bland, lacking seasoning, and the texture isn't creamy or gooey like you'd expect from a baked mac and cheese.

Some people say that Chick-fil-A's mac and cheese is best eaten piping hot inside the restaurant. But, if the quality doesn't hold up after 10 minutes in the car, isn't that even more indicative of the mac and cheese being a lackluster side? Even reheated at home, the mac and cheese doesn't deliver the type of texture you expect from a baked mac and cheese — like the version the Pioneer Woman makes.

Online reviews are fairly mixed when it comes to Chick-fil-A's mac and cheese. "[Not gonna lie], mediocre," says one Redditor. "I don't really get the hype because I can make it better at home. To me it just tastes like boxed shell mac and cheese." Another Redditor says Popeyes makes a superior version. "I could not even finish the one I got from CFA the other day," they said. "It was too dry and bland whereas Popeyes was creamy and flavorful." Some customers love the mac and cheese — one Redditor even called it a "revelation" — while others suggest it's best eaten fresh when Chick-fil-A starts serving lunch at 10:30 a.m.

If you're looking for the best sides at Chick-fil-A, you can't go wrong with the famous, crispy waffle fries (the chain's most ordered item), though our favorite was the side salad ordered with the suggested avocado lime ranch dressing. We thought the dressing carried the whole salad, and really made it the top side you can order at Chick-fil-A. If you're not in the mood for chicken, order the side salad (the Kale Crunch salad isn't a bad alternative) with a side of waffle fries and enjoy the best two sides CFA has to offer.

Good on Chick-fil-A for offering a house-baked mac and cheese — it's not prevalent at fast food chains — but the execution just falls flat. It's worth trying at the start of lunch service like some customers advise, but if you're considering Chick-fil-A's mac and cheese to-go, we suggest passing it up for some of the chain's better sides.