I headed to North Carolina chain Smithfield’s today to see how their chicken tenders stacked up to the competition. I had very high hopes, let’s see if they delivered.
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hey guys thanks for tuning in to poppy eats today i’m somewhere here in north carolina that i’ve been meaning to go to and i just haven’t gotten around to it smithfield’s chicken and barbecue um my understanding is this is a north carolina chain across north carolina i think we have one in charlotte and i’m at it so uh they look like they have really good chicken they’ve got like a what i assume is like a pulled pork barbecue or maybe it’s brisket i don’t know people refer to barbecue as like i don’t know what it is i haven’t ordered barbecue cookout is a chain here and they do barbecue i don’t know what it is though it’s either pork or beef i looks good i got chicken tenders we’re ranking the chicken tenders today so i got sauces to go with it kind of disappointed she asked me first do i want vinegar-based barbecue or i don’t know if she said honey or what the other one was but i’ve got like a carolina style vinegar-based barbecue sauce and she said ranch so of course i wanted ranch but it’s just ken’s steak ass ranch which i’m sure most not all of you have had plenty of times in your lifetime anyways let’s check out these tenders i’m ranking these i do count this it’s a chain even if it’s only in one state and they’re looking good this is the tender snack this whole thing was nine dollars so it wasn’t but i got three sizable contenders fries and a couple sauces here let’s get our stupid selfie thumbnail all right um first let’s try the fries cause i have very low hopes for these they’re kind of soggy looking honestly they kind of taste like mcdonald’s very similar to mcdonald’s maybe not quite as salty not quite as crispy but it tastes like mcdonald’s okay okay that’s good here i thought i could save the calories not eating them if they weren’t any good uh let’s grab a tender these look like freshly hand battered and breaded check this baby out look at all the crispiness the nooks and crannies yadda yadda let’s take a bite with no sauce it reminds me of one but this is the one so far this is good this is what a chicken tender should be um hands down without question the best one i’ve had on this ranking best one i’ve had on this channel ever easily super juicy flavorful the texture of the breading it’s light but there’s some crispiness to it there’s seasoning enough to give it some flavor um fantastic very reminiscent of like a publix chicken tender publix consistency isn’t great especially if you’ve gotten some tenders i’ve been sitting around for a while i still mean to do those but when they’re fresh they’re fantastic very similar to these very good let’s dip it in this barbecue sauce see how that is i’m not a barbecue expert as i’ve already kind of given away um carolina barbecue their sauces are vinegar based um and some oh yeah so it’s this is very watery i can’t even show you or it’ll it’ll dip out it’ll pour out um this one very normally they’re not this watery it smells heavily like a malt vinegar apple cider vinegar ah let’s try it that ain’t it tastes like you dipped it in apple cider vinegar which maybe is what they’re going for but not for me now typically i do like a vinegar-based barbecue sauce down here and i don’t do barbecue on this channel ever because i don’t know i just i feel like i don’t have the the taste for it in the oh crap it’s spilling now in that i love all barbecue it’s all good even bad barbecue i’m sure i find good so i can’t give you like an honest good review of it you know like i’m just gonna like it no matter what i don’t know what to do about this this is gonna spill and spill and spill um look at this look at the size of one of these tenders though this thing gargantuan like wow like i don’t even know how to approach it never do a sideways tender bite me neither until now so good so incredibly good easily number one what was number one so this is another level like what was one some some chickens number one right now i think so and maybe zaxby’s than super chicks yeah those are all pretty tasty i don’t compare to these these blow those away at similar pricing so problem is for 90 plus percent of you guys watching this you don’t have this you don’t live anywhere near one but if you’re ever in north carolina and you love chicken tenders i suggest you try this it’s fantastic let’s try the fries in the sauce yeah no it’s like malt vinegar it’s not barbecue sauce or maybe i just have no idea what i’m talking about plenty possible um let’s get some of those kinds of ranch because as good as these tenders are without anything else you dip your tenders right that’s just what you do yeah be careful opening these cups they like to just squirt out at you i already still have to try a little harder to clean some oil off of this shirt that’s a mistake all right got our ken’s ranch on the tender it’s a decent enough ranch but nothing special you’ve had it these are great i was really hoping these would be great this whole chicken tender ranking what i’ve learned is chicken tenders are either pre-breaded frozen garbage and overpriced or they’re tiny hand-breaded in store and overpriced these are huge delicious hand breaded in store they’re pricey but they’re worth it i think the fries taste like mcdonald’s hmm we’ll be back here guys i just came from the outlet store nearby i needed new underwear and uh apparently american eagle underwear is expensive but it lasts me a while as i’ve learned because i’m finally starting to find like holes and tears i’m like well i can afford new underwear i should go buy that so here we are anyways i’m poppy this is poppy eats it’s smithfield’s chicken and barbecue north carolina barbecue and chicken chain uh hit that subscribe button if you want to see more like this leave me a comment let me know what you thought hit that like button if you liked the video stay tuned for the ranking screen if you want to catch up on that i appreciate you being here y’all take care [Music] you
41 Comments
Good evening! Hope it's good!
Never heard of it, hope it’s good
Nothing of that brand here in sanfrancisco. Must be nice if we have ..
Had to look it up and apparently you got the westernmost location of the chain, so you know what that means lol. I don't get how a 'snack' order is 9 bucks, that stuff better be organic and the workers making 15 an hour or something. BTW North Carolina BBQ sauce could be a vinegar based sauce with some ketchup, but that's way better for pulled pork or pulled chicken, not dipping stuff into it.
Awesomeness but that apple sauce was way too runny
Hey, you should try the new mrbeast burger “Shreks Quesadilla” now that I think about it
We have some in NC the same meal here is 11 dollars with no drink
If you're ever in chapel hill-Durham area and you want the best chicken. Check out time out restaurant. You won't be disappointed.
When you said vinegar-based, I had the feeling it was going to be runny. That kind of "sauce" seems more oriented to fish like Arthur Treacher's back in the day. Man I miss that place(none here in Wisconsin since the late 70s). Chicken looks really good. With the amount of fries and the size of the tenders the price is pretty comparable for what I would pay at our store's deli-5 tenders for $10 but no fries. I would pay $9 for what you have there. Tried going to the Chester's by my old apartment only to find they are gone. Just got Chinese food from the place across the street I always used to go to. And yikes the prices have really gone up there. So now we don't have #1 thru #6 here. Feeling very chicken-deprived.
My best friend is from NC and we traveled up that way in Garner and her mom bought bbq and chicken family pack to eat. It was some of the best fried chicken from a restaurant I’ve had. Light batter crispy and chicken was hella juicy and the bbq meat was juicy as well.
Just a small correction lol, Carolina BBQ is typically mustard based IIRC, also ive never seen sauce that watery, WTH?
I asked for bbq sauce not soup lol
😋
first tender looked like . . . . 👺🤯
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Leave it to the one place none of us have to have the best food LOL
Hell yeah brother I recommended you try Smithfields awhile back!!! I knew you'd think they were fire. Their sauce game is weak, but the chicken is righteous. Here in NC I think the number 1 choice on freshly prepared fried chicken is a sauce like Texas Pete or Frank's. Some people of course like ranch and BBQ but here when you go to a fried chicken dinner with potato salad and baked beans you typically just see Texas Pete. Try the pulled pork BBQ, it's worth it! I only recently discovered their tenders were huge and delicious during the Pandemic and at the time you were reviewing fried chicken and I thought "Papieats would looove these."
Mrs Winners, if one is near you, is worth trying, too. And when you get up to Greensboro try "Pantry Fried Chicken" in gas station on S Elm-Eugene St.
That was some definite crunch! Looks good.
Those are the best-looking chicken tenders I've seen, but I'm too far away to try them. As you were eating the fries, I was eating Checkers fries (for which I have an affinity).
Had to laugh, I knew when you bit into that it was going to be good, just the crunch sound had me sold
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Looks delicious. Gotta love the "sideways tender bite" #Chomp
Those tenders are bigger than a lot of chicken sandwiches! They look amazing! The sauce……not so much
get the barbecue. it looks just like cookout, which is nothing special. but it's still good.
I love Smithfields! I just don't like the vinegar taste. But by far some of the best bbq available.
That is barbecue sauce but not for dipping. It's meant to like saturate the bbq and kinda soaks into the bun when you're having a sandwich. They were nuts for giving you that with tendies lol, so I have to ask what IS the best ranch to you? Ken's is my fav you can buy bottled, I've heard East Coast Wings makes theirs and is the best buy I've yet to try it!
👀👀👀i’m going tmr
Wow those look delicious papi. So worth it. That crunch is something else. Sure beats all the frozen tenders in great abundance everywhere.
I know you are doing a chicken tenders series but the fact you went to Smithfield’s and didn’t get actual bbq is kind of a crime 🧐🤣
Those tenders look delicious. We don't have Smithfield's down here in Tallahassee Florida. But I wish we did. Great video as always. Keep it up brother.
Looking good with Lacoste shirt. The tenders looks juicy and crispy. Looks like a winner.
Those tenders looked great but the bbq, if that's what it really is called, looked awful. Like you said, even a Carolina bbq, is thicker than that.
One way we like to eat fried chicken here in NC is with coleslaw. Some people dip the tenders and scoop the coleslaw up that way or you eat it with a fork and place the coleslaw on top of the chicken, or you just shovel the coleslaw in your mouth after biting the chicken.
Why would any one get tenders over A Chicken meal ? Tenders are for toddlers. -!! 👎👎👎
Wow, those chicken tenders are huge!! Looks really good!! Thanks, Papi!! 😀😎
Im from NC stay in knightdale literally walking distance from the Smithfield, U have to eat those tenders with red sauce thank me later🔥🔥 i go here almost once a week im obsessed with the tenders😂😂
U are supposed to eat that sauce with the pulled bbq pour it over it
I have a Smithfields down the street and still have never gone 😏
Tried this place on the way to Charlotte and 🫤 my husband and I were underwhelmed. Tenders were large but lacked flavor to us. You’re spot on about the vinegar bbq sauce though! Seems more appropriate for smoked bbq than tenders. The Red sauce wasn’t bad. It’s how I thought the vinegar sauce would be – tomato based and thin bc of the excess vinegar. The fries were trash – an air fryer didn’t even resuscitate them and give them a new crunchy life. Could’ve been an off day 🤷🏾♀️
Next time try the red sauce.
Red sauce is what you eat with tenders. That sauce was for the BBQ