Slap N Chicken
3942 S. Westnedge AvenueIt’s been a while since I’ve eaten out. I just haven’t felt inspired really recently and while there are new places opening up in Kalamazoo, not a lot has really grabbed my attention to the point that I needed to be there right after they opened.
There is one exception to that though. I love chicken places and I’ve always been pretty disappointed in Kalamazoo’s chicken offerings. A place on South Westnedge is trying to change that though.
Slap N Chicken opened up recently in the South Westnedge neighborhood on Westnedge Avenue near Denway Drive. If you’re coming from downtown, the restaurant really sneaks up on you. It’s in the old Papa Murphy’s location which got infinitely harder to find when TNT Pawn Brokers expanded their building and blocked view of the sign coming from the north.
The small restaurant is counter service with the order counter right in front of the door when you walk in. The menu is hanging on boards behind the plexiglass separating the cashier from the dining room due to Coronavirus precautions.
The menu already changed slightly from when the restaurant opened. The new options are listed on a printed out menu on the plexiglass. The difference is they started doing wing dings instead of chicken wings.
I put in an order for the 10 Wing Dings Combo and picked fries as my side. There were a few orders already in front of me so I took a seat in the dining room to wait. Slap N Chicken is mostly a carry-out restaurant but they do have a couple of tables and some extra chairs along the wall to wait for your order.
It took maybe ten minutes for my order to be bagged up and handed to me. The combo also comes with a drink and I picked an Orange Faygo which I drank in the car. I was also pretty hungry so I dug in to the fries right away while I was driving.
The fries don’t do much for me. They’re simple frozen crinkle cuts with a little bit of seasoning on them. They’re mostly just filler and they did the job of holding me over until I got back to the office to eat the chicken.
The Wing Dings are really crispy breaded chicken wing pieces. Not only are they really crispy but they’re also really, really good. The chicken pieces having a seasoning on them that I couldn’t really place. It isn’t quite the lemon garlic pepper seasoning that is so popular but it is a really strong, salty seasoning that just enhances the natural chicken juices and the crispiness of the breading.
The cost for the meal was a little over $12 so this really comes in a tasty and filling meal for a really good price.
Slap N Chicken is the brainchild of a young Loy Norrix grad and one that they appear to be wanting to franchise. The menu is pretty limited which really lets them focus on the quality and putting out a good product. The option for quick, delicious chicken is something Kalamazoo needs more of. Slap N Chicken really fills a void that the chain chicken places have been trying to fill for a long time.
SW Michigan Dining 