I recently had the opportunity to visit PDQ, and wanted to share the experience.  This is one of the cleanest, well organized and  maintained fast food restaurants I have ever been in.  Often we don’t think about the back of the house when we are in our favorite spot, I do.  As a blogger I often get invited to try out  food at spots around town,  never have I been asked to take a tour of the kitchen,  that was not the case here.  My guide was happy to point out no freezers, all food is fresh, processed daily on site, labeled, date time and expire date and it was  all bar coded.  Amazing. The walk in cooler was immaculate,  prep and service areas, orderly, clean and well maintained.  This is a kitchen you want you food being prepared in.  The restaurant itself is a comfortable, bright space with earth tone colors and large windows.  There is a covered outside patio which is a plus for us Florida people.

Open kitchen, we had the entire tour

All the chicken is hand cut and battered, french fries hand cut,  and cooked to perfection.  Lemons for the lemonade hand pressed daily, all salad material cut fresh in-house daily, and all the dipping sauces also made fresh in-house as needed.

Order at the counter

Spacious areas for families and groups

One more item before we get to the reason for being here, the drive thru window.  This is not shout into the speaker  service, when you drive up your first experience is a smiling face greeting you to take your order.  As the order is entered into the system, the info is available to the kitchen staff who begin the process of making the food.  The staff assembling this food is amazing, not only are they servicing the drive through, but the in-house customers as well.  I like the fact that if you ask for extra dipping sauce there is no additional charge, many restaurants do not follow this model.  Also evident while we were eating  I could see the staff  happily welcoming, and enthusiastic to all the customers.  Service is the number one goal for this company.

Finally let’s talk food.  Although the menu is chicken or turkey there were too many items for us to decide  so we asked  it it was possible for us to share several items and that is just what we did.

We started with the  Cali Club, grilled chicken, on a brioche bun, ranch, crispy bacon avocado, lettuce and tomato.  The chicken was succulent, well seasoned and cooked to perfection.

Cali Club

This is what it looked like inside after we halved it. Huge

Next up the spicy buffalo chicken,  just as succulent, crispy with the right amount of zing….hand cut fries were amazing

Spicy Buffalo Chicken Sandwitch

After we dispatched, these items we moved on to grilled strips and an order of fresh honey marinated nuggets,  with a sampling of all the home made dips, as well as the blueberry slaw and fresh sliced apple with toffee dip

We made our own tray of goodies, sauce, apple, with toffee

We loved the grilled tenders

Nuggets were the best ever

To finish up we  sampled  the daily baked cookies,  these were definitely a great sweet ending to our meal.  Along with a fresh squeezed lemonade and hand spun shake we were completely sated.

Assorted Fresh Baked Cookies

Fresh juiced lemons

Hand made milkshake

So our decision this is a must try place for anyone who loves chicken done right.  There are three locations in the Jacksonville area, with more planned. I can honestly say, you will not have a better experience at any other “chicken” restaurant in town.