Chiktopia in Thurrock

Took my family there and was hopeful for some nice chicken. When you enter, there are plenty of tables. We found a table for 4 quickly. Noticed the table wasn’t clean and there was food on the seating. There are 6 ordering screens but only 3 were working, The ordering screen was easy to use and I elected to collect from the counter. We waited patiently (hungrily) for 30minutes then decided we need to see what’s happening, the staff member said our order would be with us shortly. 5 minutes later he arrived with a tray of food but no food for our kids, he said it would take 4 minutes. I asked why it took so long and what was the average wait, he said they were struggling due to having 2 large groups and usually orders took between 5-10 minutes. I was not impressed as there seemed to be plenty of staff. My wife ordered grilled chicken tenders and they were served in a cardboard box, when I lifted the box off the tray to pass it to her, a lot of liquid began literally pouring out of the corner. Needed quite a few napkins to mop it up. This liquid was oil (yuck). I ordered a ’Chicktopolis’ burger which was huge and to be fair was very nice. We all ordered skinny fries and there were plenty of them. They were adequate but no more. After 7-8 minutes the staff member arrived with the kids food ( grilled tenders again) and explained they were extremely hot. They were exactly that, they were far too hot to handle so we had to keep them away from the kids for a few minutes more. Once again they were practically swimming in oil and my kids were not impressed. I suspected microwavery as the chicken was very rubbery and chewy. We all ordered milkshakes with our meals and they were average at best, me and my son ordered chocolate but I found it challenging identifying any hint of chocolate. All in all a very underwhelming visit. Whilst we were there, roughly 55minutes, we saw no staff cleaning tables and the place began to look untidy very quickly. I had expected perhaps a different experience from the likes of KFC etc but this was so poor we will definitely not be returning. It was pretty disappointing that they made us wait so long, then they made us wait again for the kids food which was the same as my wife’s order. Why does it take sooo long for chicken And why the hell was the “grilled” chicken swimming in oil ?

On arrival it can be a bit intimidating as it’s such a huge looking restaurant, however once your food is ordered via self service (which is really easy) you will feel right at ease! Staff were all really friendly including the manager. Food is fresh with so much to choose from! So many different ways to have chicken! I would totally recommend!