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| - Union Chicken is the highly advertised/anticipated restaurant located on the outer perimeter of Sherway Gardens Mall on the side closest to the bus terminal/ToysRus and the main entrance to Nordstrom. It's deceiving from the outside as it gives the impression of a much bigger space but in reality, its a little bigger than good-sized Starbucks - strange given the most of the "anchor" restaurants attached to this mall are much larger.
I waited to dine here twice before writing a review for Union Chicken, so I can safely conclude that the experience I received across both visits were accurate now and indicative of what one can expect here.
On my first visit, I went the with OG Fried Chicken and shared a wide assortment of sides with my fiancee. She opted to have less chicken and more of their salads and sides to compliment her vegetarian leanings - despite being a chicken forward joint there IS enough on the menu to feed those in a group, not of the meat-eating sort. The sides were all OK, a little heavy on the cooking, oil and sauces at times (looking at the Brussels sprouts side), as for the chicken, you get 2-3 small fried chicken thighs, no wings, no breasts and no drumsticks or legs. I felt like this was kind of a cheap out for the price.
The aftermath of the meal was really bad, I was up most of the night following my dining experience with painful stomach issues and burps that tasted like bad chicken. I found this off since everything taste good but the reaction was so intense I was confused.
About 2 weeks later I returned with a pal and instead of the OG fried chicken I went with the Lightning Chicken (done in a habanero sauce). Again I had a beer or two, a few fewer sides (but sharing non-the-less) and the chicken. The flavour of that lightning chicken was amazing, crazy heat, big bold flavours and a good crunch on the chicken. Again I was disappointed with the small thigh portions - come on guys, event KFC offers you a leg and a breast, I don't believe 2-3 thighs is sufficient as a true test of your chicken skills lies in how your cooking and batter measure up to each of the regular parts that most places serve.
However, I forgot about the positives by the time a got home as came down with the same stomach issues again the second time around. I've eaten other fried chicken within the last month and this has never happened to me, so I'm assuming that it is something in how they cook it or prepare it that is causing me all this anguish.
I really cannot blast these guys too much, the flavours are all there but some of the cooking methods must be lacking due to the heavy presence of oils, sauces and subsequent explosions of the rear and equally matched heartburn).
The one other thing I was a little bummed out on is how limited their menu is: rotisserie chicken, fried chicken, chicken sandwiches and sides... this doesn't cut it for me as a sit down restaurant I think they would have been better served and more successful as a fast-casual joint much like Dirty Bird in Kensington Market. hopefully their new/soon-to-be-opened Union Station location is more the latter than a sit down joint, otherwise, I don't see these guys lasting too much longer.
Definitely worth a try, but come packing antacids!
Eatcrest Out
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