Oxford's Popeyes first reviews are in

The fast-food chain is somewhat of a cult phenomenon, which was made clear when hungry customers queued up from 5am outside the new branch in Queen Street - just to get their hands on free fried chicken.

Oxford’s branch of Popeyes opened its doors on Saturday (September 17) at 11am and by noon the queue was flooding out the door and the restaurant was packed.

READ MORE: Oxford's Popeyes brings its famous chicken sandwich - Review

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The hype behind Popeyes has to be seen to be believed.

When the chain opened its Stratford, Chelmsford, Romford and Gateshead restaurants, chicken lovers travelled from across the UK to – quite literally – pitch up tents and camping chairs so they could get their hands on the food first thing.

The viral hype started back in August 2019 when Popeyes in US tweeted it would sell a new $3.99 sandwich - fried chicken topped with pickles and either mayonnaise or spicy Cajun sauce on a brioche bun - at its 2,400 American locations.

Bloomberg, which dubbed it the chicken sandwich that ‘broke the internet’, reported Popeyes prepared its franchises to sell around 60 sandwiches a day, however they sold closer to 1,000.

Popeyes Chicken Sandwich (Image: Newsquest)

People went mad for the sandwich and waited for hours line to get their hands on one, some people even listing them on EBay with an asking price of $7,000.

At one location, when the sandwich came back in stock, the hysteria became fatal when a man was stabbed to death outside a Maryland Popeyes by another customer who accused him of cutting in line.

With this fanatical history in mind, the first reviews for the city centre restaurant have rolled in.

Popeyes in Oxford on opening day: Picture: Ed Nix (Image: Ed Nix)

At the time of this article being published the restaurant, which has only been open five days, has 30 reviews on Google and a 4.2 star rating.

The consensus?

Pretty positive.

One reviewer, David Antoš, called it “the best thing that happened to Oxford ever”.

People queued for hours outside the restaurant. Picture: Ed Nix (Image: Newsquest)

Another, Simon Murphy, praised the staff for their service and called the food “very good”, adding he would definitely return.

However, while many reviewers were impressed with the food they were less keen on the price.

Several customers pointed out that the price for a burger meal was a little on the expensive side.

Popeyes fried chicken straight out of the fryer (Image: Newsquest)

This was summed up by Google user Amigow0w who said: “The chicken is quite nice and they do probably the best chips compared to KFC, Burger King or McDonald's.

“The only problem I think is the price, they are way more expensive compared to KFC or McDonald's. In KFC you can get a Chicken Burger meal for £5.99 and a similar meal in Popeyes it will be around £8.50 or more.”

“Loved it, if it was a bit less expensive I'd really love it,” fellow reviewer Nigel Reading wrote.

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This story was written by Sophie Perry. She joined the team in 2021 as a digital reporter.

You can get in touch with her by emailing: sophie.perry@newsquest.co.uk

Follow her on Twitter @itssophieperry

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