after dinner sneeze

t says:  Lately, I’ve been going to Rotisseur in Center City a lot.  I mean a lot.  g actually makes fun of me a little for how often I go, but that’s probably because her dad’s a known chicken-o-phile and could probably eat it twice a day forever if allowed.  He once had chicken for dessert.  He’s serious about chicken …  So … back to Rortisseur.  This place is incredibly close to where we live, so when I’m looking for a quick lunch during the weekday, that’s where I go.  And really – I just don’t think you can go wrong there.  The chicken is seasoned very well and is super tender/moist/juicy.  The kale chips and cornbread are delicious.  Personally, I’m not a huge fan of their mac-n-cheese, but it seems like a lot of other people like it because I see people ordering it constantly.

As good as these are, I have to say that the true shining stars of Rotisseur are those chicken sandwiches.  I’ve seen Chicken Bahn Mi, Chick Italiano, and BBQ chicken.  I’ve tasted the first two on several occasions.  They are absolutely delicious.  Juicy chicken chunks, nice condiments, and, most notable of all, absolutely perfect bread (crisp outside, soft inside, and not soggy … unless you wait too long).

chicken italiano = chicken + broccoli rabe + pepper + sharp provolone

It’s hard to make a chicken sandwich sexy-looking, but what it lacks in visual pizazz, it makes up for in taste.  It reminded me a little of Tony Luke’s Pork Italiano sandwich (which I also love) except that because this is chicken, I am able to convince myself it’s healthier.  It’s gotta be healthier, right?

The downside of Rotisseur, and the thing that makes me cringe 50% of the times I go,  is that they have no good “system” in place to execute food in an efficient manner.  At times when they’re not busy, things run smoothly, as one person preps the chicken and the other does the sides and rings you up.  However, if you walk in at 12:30pm or at 6pm, when groups of people show up hungry for chicken, you’re screwed.  It’s during these crowds that the three people behind the counter try their best to deal with multiple orders simultaneously, but the end result is a disorganized, chaotic, hell-on-earth cluster-fluff.  Once, because I happened to walk in right as a group of 6 people were placing their order, I was left hanging out at least 15 mins before my order was taken and 10 mins to receive my food (and would have had to wait even longer had I wanted mac-n-cheese because they ran out).  I know they’re trying to do right by their food by carving chicken to order and making their sides in small batches, however, they completely fall apart during the lunch and dinner rushes.  Hell, even the tried-and-true “take a number” system’s gotta work better than the off-the-cuff multi-tasking they’re doing now.  Also – they seriously need to scale up their most popular sides – it’s not like they have a ton of room for patrons to stand and wait for roasting veggies for a grab-n-go lunch.  Of course, what do I know?  I have no restaurant experience and am nothing more than a consumer who wants food as fast as possible.  Patience is a virtue I need to work on … and efficiency is a necessity they need to work on … but hot-damn those sandwiches are so good that they keep me coming back for more!