Restaurant Review: Chick in Max

Always striving to try some of the new places here in town, this last weekend we decided to head over to Chick In Max, a new chain restaurant that was founded right here in Wichita.  The menu is pretty simple, putting forward a variety of fried chicken dishes as well as smoked chickens.  They have a number of sauces that you can try as well, with a pretty standard selection of sides for fried chicken: Fries, Greens, White Beans, Mac and Cheese and Cole Slaw.

Its a counter and get called up style of restaurant, where you can judge the menu, order and then receive a little buzzer for when your food is ready.  From order to prepared we waited maybe about 7 minutes on a not busy evening, which isn't too bad since the founder stated everything is fresh prepared.  I got the Deluxe Wings, which is two full chicken wings, not tiny drummettes. You have the choice of a regular or spicy coating for your fried items, which I of course took the spicy.  The Wings came with a choice of one side, and either cornbread or toast in fairly true chicken joint fashion.  For my sauce I asked what the Max Sauce was, which the cashier described as a creamy ketchup mixture.  I didnt think that sounded right for wings, so I got the Ghost Pepper sauce instead.  My wife ended up ordering the Chicken and Waffles, because she is a sucker for that combination, wile a friend that joined us got the Deluxe wings as well, but with greens and the BBQ sauce.

Those Crispy wings

After getting our food, we all tucked in pretty quickly.  The food came out nice and hot, and the wings, despite being a little greasy, were superb.  They had an excellent crunch on the fry, and the meat inside was super tender.  The flavoring I thought was good, but the spicy mixture was a little on the low scoville unit side for me.  The ghost pepper sauce was as well not very spicy, and it makes me wonder if I ended up with Max Sauce instead.  Whatever it was though, this sauce was supremely tasty.  It had several layers of sweet and well seasoned, and it complimented the wings just perfectly.  My compatriot that ordered the BBQ sauce also really enjoyed his  I am not normally a cornbread super fan, but this was probably the best restaurant corn bread I've had in a long time.  Fluffy and warm, with just a little sweetness and none of the grittiness that too often plagues corn bread.  The french fries were good, but not anything earth shattering.  My friends greens he said were a little too limp, but were fine. My Wife's chicken strips she said were awesome, again moist on the inside and a good crisp on the outside.  The waffle was a pretty standard waffle though.

Overall it was a very enjoyable experience eating here.  It was a bit pricier than your typical "Fast Casual" fare, but was extremely satisfying.  The staff was very friendly, and the restaurant was clean and orderly.  The only minor gripe I had was the sauce containers wee fairly small, and its 30 cents per for any more.   This place though is a prizewinner for us lovers of fried chicken, and will be on the must visit again list to try more of their offerings.