There was one in the food court at Jamestown Mall maybe 18 years ago. This is North St. Louis County, Missouri. Mall is closed for a few years now.
Again, even the spicy chicken one at Wendy’s is nothing compared to the Ghost Pepper Chicken Sandwich they offered last year.
And did they really change the original one? I haven’t had it in…uh, a decade or more.
According to the OP, while it’s a new location, his area has had Chick-Fil-A’s for a couple of decades. I suppose part of it is hype and advertising, but the larger part of it is simply they make a damned good product people like and provide great service.
Now, like Five Guys and In N Out, there are a lot of people who seem to think Chick-Fil-A is all hype and just puts out an average product to their taste. Well, that’s fine. Obviously, the people who are forming those lines don’t think that. I think all three of those places put out a great product and deserve the volume of business.
I had the ghost pepper one and was thoroughly underwhelmed by it (I assume you’re talking about the jalapeno fresco chicken sandwich that came with the ghost pepper sauce?) , preferring the regular spicy chicken to it. I don’t know about the original chicken sandwich.
Hmm, if they were new to my area, I’d kind of be inclined to believe you. But, they’ve been building a steady presence in DFW for the entirety of my life. If it’s hype, it’s of a particularly long-lived, durable version.
Chick-Fil-A actually predates the food court in malls. Before there were any food courts around here, there were Chick-Fil-A’s in malls, and they were only in malls. I was surprised when I first saw a CFA outside of a mall, and was delighted that I didn’t have to get out of the car to scarf down boneless chicken deliciousness. The earliest, (and only), slogan I remember them using is The Taste Worth Shopping For (Chick-Fil-A ad in upper left). In retrospect, their move to having standalone stores was very wise. Malls are having troubles, these days.
I am surprised to learn that they have Texas Pete sauce available! I sometimes get their spicy sammich, but I don’t really like it’s mix of flavors. I’ll have to try some regular and spicy with a judicious application of Texas Pete.
There was a Chick-fil-A in a mall in Salinas, CA when I worked there, and that’s back in the mid-90s. It was always weird seeing that store closed on Sunday (California not being notable for super-religious types). Several of the malls here in the Charlotte, NC area have Chick-fil-A. The South Park mall has Five Guys as well, and that Five Guys has shakes. Yum. 
This is probably regional. The first few Chik-Fil-As in the New Orleans metro area opened in the late 1980s in malls (but interestingly, not in the same area as the malls’ food courts). Same also for the first Chik-Fil-A in Baton Rouge.
I’m not positive when Baton Rouge got their first standalone Chik-Fil-A … it was by 2004 for sure but it could have been some time earlier. The first standalone Chik-Fil-A in the New Orleans area was around 2010-ish.
I have seen a fair number in stand-along buildings on mall turf, just not inside the food courts.
I hadn’t been to a CFA until I was in some airport with a long layover. Now I’m an addict.
Their chicken is deee-lish. I’m partial to the strips with honey mustard sauce.
OTOH, I can’t stand waffle fries. Blech. But the fruit side is very good. Fresh blueberries, apples, strawberries, and mandarin oranges. Worth the extra buck to get actual fresh fruit.
Mmm mmm.
I’m still keen on hearing why some of you think Chick-fil-A is overpriced when compared to other fast food outlets. I went to Chick-fil-A the other day and a sandwich, large drink, and large fries came out to approximately $7.30. A spicy chicken sandwich, large fries, and large drink from Wendy’s will cost me a little over $9.00 in Arkansas. A 10 piece order of chicken McNuggets, large drink, and large fries will run me between $8.00-9.00 at McDonald’s. A burrito from Moe’s will run be about $7.50 if I don’t get a drink.
Not here in Cleveland, that’s for sure. i was about to ask him the same thing 
Wendy’s also depends on the quality of its workers although I’m not sure if it has to do with the style of assembly line. Many places are excellent but one place in particular which I don’t go to anymore screwed up my order on two separate occasions, one time I halfway saw them making the order wrong and tried to confirm what they were doing, and they reassured me and continued to make the sandwich in the incorrect manner causing me to send it back.
I boycott CFA due to the homophobia issue (as a general rule), although I adore their chicken nuggets. I have caved to the craving once in the past 4-5 years, just a few months ago, and felt horribly guilty. 
For me, it’s the breading. It doesn’t overwhelm the chicken flavor and doesn’t make you feel like you’re eating more breading than chicken.
I’ve enjoyed CFA since I was a teenager, and their only local location was in a mall food court. Fast-forward 25 years, and we now have a few standalone CFAs in the local area (but the one in the mall closed several years ago).
I enjoy their chicken sandwich, fries, nuggets, sweet tea, and milkshakes. Their ranch sauce is like crack.
As I’ve grown older, I’ve grown to really appreciate the politeness and caring of CFA staff, especially when compared to the IDGAF attitudes of the vast majority of other fast food chain staff.
When we were in Atlanta a few years ago for a business conference for my wife/vacation for me & our daughter, I made it a point one day to go to the first CFA location*, which was/is in the Greenbriar Mall… just to say we were there.
- Actual “Chick-fil-A”