12 Chain Restaurant Chicken Salad Ranked From Worst To Best, According To Customers

For a lakeside trip or scenic stroll on the beach (can you tell summer is on our minds?), portable foods that you can stow away in a cooler are ideal. Arguably one of the tastiest to have in your picnic basket is chicken salad, an American staple that's as humble and nourishing as it is variable. Traditionally made with a mayonnaise dressing, the tender chicken can be diced, chopped, or shredded, with mix-ins that compliment just about any bed of greens or toasted bread in existence. Between grapes and minced almonds, garden herbs and celery, the seemingly endless possibilities allow culinary experimentation to flourish. 

Craving the creamy dish but not the cleanup in the kitchen? You'll be able to order it lickety-split from many a restaurant chain, and it turns out that the options are generous. To that end, we sought to settle on which franchises make the best chicken salad — and which ones make the sort of chicken salad you may want to avoid. Your Aunt Rhoda may or may not corner the competition no matter how good number one is, but this guide will surely come in handy when a quick fix is in order. So, we took a look at 12 readily available chain restaurant takes on chicken salad and, based on the opinions of paying customers, ranked them in order from worst to first.

Typically, Arby's releases its Pecan Chicken Salad Sandwich when summer is around the corner. We conducted a 2021 survey of Arby's sandwiches in which 37% of respondents thought it the worst sandwich of the pack, and while ranking it low here might hint at a bias, this spot is backed up by plenty of frustrated customers. One letdown patron referred to it as a "HUGE disappointment," saying that "The chicken salad [was] mostly made up of grapes and apples, hardly any pecans and chicken at all." 

Judging by the slew of complaints over the skimpy portions at Arby's, it's safe to say that the roast beef purveyor is mostly giving bread with a touch of chilled salad. Customers have also voiced disappointment regarding the salad's low-quality ingredients claiming that the drive-thru chain mixes in the stalest bits it can get its hands on. Should we pass on this one? That depends — how much mediocrity can you handle? Maybe Arby's should just stick to its more famous roast beef instead. 

At The Cheesecake Factory, restaurant-goers perusing the chain's hefty menu can order sandwiches like the Chicken Almond Salad in either whole or half servings. The chain empire goes for a griddled brioche to cradle its nut-centric spread, embracing textural flair by garnishing it with crisp lettuce, tomato, and for extra richness, a slather of mayo. 

Yet public consensus seems to vacillate between confident recommendations and cautious warnings. Proponents enjoyed the hearty crunch of the almonds and gave praise of the exceptionally large portions. However, numerous patrons at best found the chicken salad sandwich to be simply okay. And at worst? It inspired scathing indictments. 

To a diner in the latter camp, even the Arby's chicken salad was superior to The Cheesecake Factory's version: "I love chicken salad, when it's good," they wrote. "This was not good at all. There was not one positive thing about it actually." And serving size notwithstanding, $16.95 for a whole sandwich seems absurd when nothing about it is very artisanal or complex. 

The polarizing feedback leads us to believe that, despite some perks, there'll be heartbreak among diehard foodies expecting more. 

Clocking in more than 2,000 cafes in the U.S., the deli-adjacent Panera Bread is an unsurprising addition to this list. Its Napa Almond Chicken Salad Sandwich, a silky collage of minced celery, grapes, and almonds, is nestled with chicken salad between slabs of Country Rustic Sourdough. Excellent bread already puts the bakery chain at an advantage, but as the menu demonstrates, the sandwich gets an added boost thanks to preservative-free white meat. 

Satisfying those sweeter notes is something a fruit-forward chicken salad can do well. Yet this might be an issue where Panera's take is concerned. Red grapes happen to already be quite juicy, but according to customers, the chain's dressing leads to a downright cloying flavor profile. Others noted that sandwiches were prepared inconsistently. As one diner shared, "The amount of chicken salad in these sandwiches was pathetic," expressing disbelief at how much lettuce — and how little protein — they received.

Of course, only you can decide for yourself whether Panera's is nauseatingly saccharine. Give it a shot if you enjoy fruitier chicken salads. Ultimately, the ingredients rise above the fast-casual norm, but we think other chains pull off this sweeter style better. 

Bloomingdale's has been around since the mid-19th century, but it wasn't until 1974 that the luxury department store debuted a now-beloved ritual by opening its in-store Forty Carrots cafe meant to satiate shoppers after spending sprees. The signature draw is frozen yogurt, but there's also deli fare that's lean and wholesome, ranging from turkey sandwiches to refrigerated picnic salads. 

The Sonoma Chicken Salad, showcased on sandwiches as well as the Flagship Trio Platter, is on the sweet-ish end, flavor-wise. There's a mosaic of dried fruits not counting the cranberry bread (raisins and grapes), but savory palates should be receptive to the chopped celery, chives, and cashews. Most of all, folks were in agreement that the salad increasingly displayed a vivacious freshness. Mayonnaise is used sparingly in this recipe per the menu, and this seems to reflect a springier feel that differs from the stodgy, nursing home quality of lower-ranked cold salads. Reported one positive comment, "The chicken salad sandwich and salmon burger are solid," whereas another patron hyped up the poultry as "very good and fresh." 

Yet, the numbers on the menu may give you pause, even knowing that this is attached to the spendy Bloomingdale's. That's because some Forty Carrots locations charge $14 to $15 for the chicken salad sandwich. In our opinion, that's a tad high next to other contenders with equally strong offerings, so you may only want to seek this out if splurging is on the table. 

In our ranking of Potbelly sandwiches, Chicken Saladlanded at number eight out of 17 total, beating popular picks like the Avo Turkey and A Wreck. Though it didn't bring the A-game of, say, the Roast Beef and Grilled Chicken, we're stacking it against other restaurant chains and more importantly, other chicken salads. From the internet's perspective, Potbelly is a solid choice for your lunchtime rotation. 

The sandwich chain's recipe rejects the often-funereal appearance of the chilled staple, proffering loads of chunky chicken and a zippy flavor to show for it. The sauces and toppings are up to customer discretion, like most sub shops, but adding provolone cheese for a bit of richness kicks things up. One Yelp review applauded how nicely seasoned the meat mixture was, confirming it "had more pepper than any chicken salad I've had on the West Coast (win!)." Another commenter wasn't expecting much beyond convenience when deciding to purchase the sandwich. To say they were beyond satisfied might be an understatement. As they exclaimed, "I was pleasantly surprised how good my sandwich was!" Perhaps not the sort of rave review that will land a place in the top spot, but still respectable.

Diners can get their sandwich on a white or whole-wheat hoagie (or flatbread) and either way you slice it, it'll be toasty on the outside and creamy on the inside. What's more, the portions were reasonably priced for the quality, too. 

Whether scooped into a roll or served as is, chicken salad needs to be creamy and chock-full of chunky bliss. This is especially crucial when it comes to awarding a restaurant chain for its salad-making prowess, which Lenny's Grill & Subs achieved without a hitch. The micro-chain, mostly concentrated in the Southeastern region (63 locations in a dozen states, to be exact), hawks a drool-worthy chicken salad that customers routinely laud any chance they get. The spread is delightfully silky, and one way you can tell –besides trying it, that is — has to do with the restaurant creating it from scratch, and only with the most premium chicken. 

To be honest, tracking down unflattering impressions was much more challenging, since the verdict, as expressed by reviews, largely fell in favor of this sandwich. Scores of folks raving over the chicken salad's homemade feel, while the provolone, added by default, lends a mildness that's perfect for bouncing off the tangy dressing. But the nice thing about Lenny's is that, cheese aside, the diner is given license to toss on whatever garnishes they like. No wonder it's so popular. As one delighted patron told it, "I'm a fan of chicken salad and they have some of the best around."