I waited as long as I could, and 10 days after it opened I made my first visit to Grand Junction's new Popeye's Lousiana Kitchen.

I had been monitoring the drive-thru line for several days. Of course, the first weekend Popeye's was open, it was sheer madness with the line winding all the way back into the Peachtree Shopping Center. I heard from one person who waited two hours.

I was anxious to experience Popeye's for the first time in years, but there is no way I was going to wait in line for two hours, so I continued to delay my visit.

Sunday was the day. It was lunch time, I figured Popeye's would be extremely busy - and they were. But, no matter, this was going to be our day.

Zane Mathews
Zane Mathews
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We pulled into the approximately 17-car  drive-thru line and I estimated it would be a 30 minute wait. I was right. Well, actually it was 29.

Was it worth it?

For me, yes. For my wife no.

I had the spicy chicken with red beans and rice on the side. I thought it was very delicious, but I was just a little disappointed that there wasn't more kick to it.

My wife, on the other hand, got the fish and shrimp. There was no spicy or mild option on this, and I asked the young man taking my order if this was going to be mild, and he assured me that it was. Well, it wasn't.

I thought it was quite delicious, but the shrimp turned out to be spicier than my spicy chicken, and that was not going to be suitable for my wife, who just doesn't do spicy food at all.  She couldn't eat it.So, I ended up with an extra large meal -- mine AND hers. Too bad for her, but good for me.

Of course, Popeye's is know for it's Cajun cooking, so, sure you would expect the food to be spicy. But, what about the mild chicken? Is it really mild, or is it as spicy as the shrimp?

For us, the answer to that will have to wait until our next visit. Perhaps you have experienced Popeye's and you know the answer. But, what is spicy to one person, may not be to another, so we'll just have to make that discovery on our own.

In the meantime, I expect that long drive-thru line and the packed inside dining room will slowly diminish over the next few weeks to a normal fast-food wait experience. We saw this happen with Freddie's - especially when the second location went in--and I expect the same will be true in this case.

 

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