Turbo Chicken

• 5234 Portage Road
• Portage, MI 49002
• (269) 775-1322
• Website
• Menu

Chicken sandwiches really became all the rage over the last year. Popeyes did the world a favor with it’s somewhat overhyped crispy chicken sandwich. Their take was fine but it also seems to have launched a new trend in quick service restaurants.

It’s never hard to find a local burger joint. We have several in Kalamazoo. Nonla Burger, Lake Burger, Burger Bros. just to name a few. Most of those places have a chicken option too but now places are popping that put those chicken sandwiches front and center.

We’ve driven out to Gull Lake a couple of times just for The Chicken House. The food is really tasty but it’s a pretty good drive from where we live in Oshtemo Township. A few weeks ago, we got a chicken sandwich option a little closer to home.

Turbo Chicken opened on Portage Road near the Kalamazoo-Battle Creek International Airport. The restaurant is sandwiched by Pizza King and On The Wings on the corner of Portage Road and Byrd Drive not too far south of I-94.

J and I both took a vacation day last Friday and we really didn’t have anything to do. B still had school but L’s doing virtual right now. We just hung out at home and watched Schitt’s Creek most of the day.

We had really been wanting to try Turbo Chicken so I offered to go pick up once we got hungry for lunch.

The restaurant is take out only. There’s a fairly large order area which helps right now to keep people spaced out while they wait for food.

The menu is posted on the wall as you walk up to the counter. They have a lot of different way to order chicken and, like burger places offer a chicken option, Turbo Chicken offers a burger option.

I put in a fairly large order so we could try a few different things. I got a couple of chicken sandwiches, a burger, an order of Turbo Tots and a “Little Chix” meal for L. The cost came out to a little over $33. I paid with my card then hung out near the wall while my order was put together.

We broke into the foil wrapped sandwiches pretty quickly when I got home. J had ordered the Turbo Sandwich. This is their main chicken sandwich that comes either grilled or fried with pickles and Turbo Sauce on a brioche bun. The size of the chicken is almost enough for two meals. The large, juicy chicken is no match for the bun. J ate about half, loved it, and put the rest away for another meal.

We didn’t do the combo option on J’s sandwich because she wanted to try Turbo Tots as well. She picked the Bacon Cheddar Ranch Tots. Like the sandwich, the Tots portion was almost enough for two meals. The fried potato cubes came topped with cheddar cheese, a cheese sauce, green onion, bacon, and ranch. We asked to leave the onions off but they came anyway. J was able to pick around them.

I’m not a tots fan and there are no fries on the menu, so I decided to try two sandwiches so we could get a better idea of what Turbo Chicken was about.

I started with the Turbo Chicken but I got mine “Hot.” The sandwich is pretty much the same with Turbo Sauce and pickles on a brioche bun, but the chicken is prepared in a “Nashville Hot” style. The hot chicken is not super hot. It’s one of those hot chickens that have a nice, subtle heat with the pepper flavor. This is how I prefer Hot Chicken. You get the flavor and the heat without it frying your tastebuds.

My second sandwich was the Turbo Burger. I really didn’t need this much food (and for the record, I did not finish everything in one sitting).

The sandwich is two smash patties topped with American cheese, lettuce, tomato, onion, pickles and Turbo Sauce on a brioche bun. The burger was fantastically good…which isn’t much of a surpise considering Turbo Chicken is owned by Mark Nieuwenhuis who has a hand in Burger Bros. (and owns Kelvin & Co. BBQ which I also love.) I liked the Turbo Chicken sandwich but it’s gonna be hard not to order burgers when we pick up dinner from this place.

L got the Chicken Tenders Lil Chix meal. The deep fried chicken tenders come with tots, a juice box, and sauce.

L has been a little finicky with chicken tenders recently but she ate all of these. There were only a couple in the box so I didn’t get a chance to try one but they looked fresh made and very crispy.

The tots with her meal also came in a small paper cup but it was filled pretty full. L took them to the basement so she could play Animal Crossings during her lunch break. All I know is she finished them and that makes me happy.

Turbo Chicken is another great spot for a quick meal in town. I’ve been a pretty big fan of everything Mark Nieuwenhuis has thrown at us in Kalamazoo.

Turbo Chicken takes another simple concept, a chicken sandwich, and makes it craveable.