Donna Cooks

A Louisiana-based chain of fast food chicken restaurants has recently sprouted up in the Dallas area.  Raising Cane’s has one location in far north Dallas at Preston & Belt Line and one at Hebron Pkwy at IH 35E.  I don’t eat fast food too often, but I haven’t had much time to cook since I’m trying to cram in all these home improvement projects before moving in 2 weeks.  Between a busy work schedule and finals at school coming up, weekend home improvement projects translate into fast food meals.

Cane’s sounded like a promising choice (within fast food options) with their “our chicken is never frozen” slogan.  Our first surprise when we entered the restaurant is the limited menu selection.  When they say chicken fingers, they mean chicken fingers.  That’s all there is on the menu unless you consider the chicken finger sandwich (chicken fingers on a bun) variety.  We ordered the #3 Caniac Combo to split (6 chicken fingers, extra fries, cole slaw, Cane’s sauce, Texas Toast, and a large drink).

The chicken strips were tender and crispy, but really really bland.  I suppose that’s why they give you Cane’s special sauce, which to me just tasted like thousand island dressing with extra black pepper, not so special.  A little Google research reveals that Cane’s sauce is identical to Guthrie’s sauce (a small Alabama-based chain in operation since the 1980’s):

1⁄2 cup mayonnaise

1⁄4 cup ketchup

1⁄2 tablespoon garlic powder

1⁄2 tablespoon Worcestershire sauce

1 teaspoon paprika

Generous amount of black pepper (cover surface two or three times and mix in)

I’d rather have ranch dressing, or even country gravy.  The crinkle fries tasted like the frozen Oreida variety except more greasy.  The Texas Toast was disgustingly greasy.  The cole slaw had so much mayonnaise that it looked like a thick soup instead of slaw.  The sweet tea was way too sweet and provided no relief from the greasy meal.

Other than the actual chicken and batter being a decent texture (but needs flavor), everything at Raising Cane’s disappointed.  Why anyone would want to pay near casual dining restaurant prices for bad fast food is beyond me, as the restaurant was quite busy during this Saturday lunch.  I’d rather go to Popeye’s any day.

My companion pointed out something that may lend insight to my confounding question.  Let’s just say that the demographics of Raising Cane’s customers aren’t quite the same as that of Popeye’s or Church’s.  With locations in primarily affluent neighborhoods, at least judging by their Texas locations (Houston locations are in west Houston and The Woodlands), Cane’s bland chicken has the right “safe” appeal to people of “safe” tastes. 

Rating: 2/5

Raising Cane’s
720 W. Hebron Pkwy
Lewisville, TX 75057 (locations all over the US)