PDQ is a national chain of chicken tender restaurants. PDQ stands for people dedicated to quality. It has to be the most talked about fast food option in Jacksonville over the last couple of months. This primarily stems from the fact that Tim Tebow is an investor in the Jacksonville locations. PDQ is known for high-quality chicken tenders and sauces made in the house. On this visit we stopped in at the location at the corner of hodges and beach blvd.
PDQ – Grilled Chicken Salad
Website: http://www.eatpdq.com
Location: 3620 Hodges blvd. Jacksonville fl 32224
Food: We had to go with PDQ’s 3 piece chicken tenders since that’s considered their signature item. The tenders were good. They were better than you’d typically get at a fast food joint. They weren’t so good that I’d feel compelled to come back for them. I thought the fries were really mediocre if not below average. What PDQ does really well is sauces. They makes all their sauces in house and they are really really good. Their ranch dressing is so good I think I could bathe in it! We had to go back and get more of it. All of us dining couldn’t get enough. If you’re of the mindset that sauces make the tenders then you’ll love PDQ. If you look for stand alone flavor in your chicken tenders you’ll probably find PDQ to be decent but not exactly be blown away. We also tried the blueberry cole slaw. It sounded like a crazy combination of flavors. Normally if crazy combinations make onto a menu it’s because they are really good. Not the case this time. This tasted more like a bowl of chopped cabbage with blueberries and some carrots mixed in that cole slaw. It need more mayo and sauce blended in. A disappointing side. We also tried the grilled chicken salad with blueberry vinaigrette. It was incredibly mediocre. Instead of layers of flavor with the grilled chicken, dried cranberries, candied walnuts (yeah, those were definitely slivered almonds and not candied), and blueberry vinaigrette, every bite was just bland. Plus the iceberg lettuce had that day old sorta not quite crunch that fast food salads are so good at. Wendy’s makes an apple pecan chicken salad that suffers from the same lettuce issue, but has immensely more flavor than this salad. If you’re trying to make a healthy choice, do it somewhere besides pdq. Your taste buds will thank you.
PDQ – Blueberry Coleslaw
Service: The girl taking our order was friendly, patient, and very knowledgable about the food options and sauces. We walked over to the Coca cola freestyle machine to pick out our drinks and before we’d even finished filling our drinks our name was called to come pick up our food.
Overall I’d say pdq is a decent quality chicken tender option. Although, I wouldn’t exactly say it stands out from the crowd. It remains to be seen whether pdq can make it in Jacksonville after the hype dies down.
PDQ – Chicken Tenders
Positives:
- Great house made sauces
- Fast friendly service
Negatives:
- Mediocre fries
- Mediocre salad
PDQ – Outside
I completely agree about the coleslaw..With blueberries. I thought how interesting…then realized I was eating coleslaw…With blueberries. The flavors did not blend in any kind of way. It was like it was an accident. But not a good one. On the other hand, I like the chicken and LOVE the ranch! Also their shakes. Mmmmm. My stepdaughter works st the one on hodges.
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