Jollibee is this new chain of fried chicken restaurants from the Philippines that is newly opened here. Apparently, ever since it opened, many people, Philippinos especially, flocked to the place, and the waiting time is perpetually long. I went there last Saturday for lunch, and was in the queue for around two hours! It got to the stage where I wanted to give up queuing, but since I was already in the queue for so long, might as well keep queueing!
The restaurant currently operates on the sixth level of Lucky Plaza. The eatery itself is at one corner, but the queue started from the next unit, so I believe that whole section probably belongs to the restaurant.
Why is this place called Jollibee? Because it has the logo of a jolly bee. Why use a bee in a chicken restaurant I cannot fathom, but the bee attracts many young children who wants to take a photo with the mascot!
Logo of Jollibee
Statue outside the restaurant
As the queue is so long and it takes almost forever to finish the queue, there are notices informing customers to play fair and not queue for others. Each person is only entitled to six pieces of chicken. I guess this is to prevent someone from ordering in bulk or bringing their whole village to queue.
The queue was this long when I first started queueing
Flowers for their opening ceremony
After an hour and a half, I was here, but still outside the restaurant
The bee mascot
Finally, after two hours, I could buy the chicken set. I bought the Chicken Joy set consisting of two pieces of fried chicken, rice and a drink. While I was still in the queue, one of the staff came up and asked what I wanted. She then asked if I wanted to sit in or take out. Initially I thought of taking away, but she said there were still seats available, which is surprising due to the number of people in the queue. But I guess most people preferred to take away hence there were still many available seats in the restaurant. I find that a pretty good gesture so there would not be time wasted when it came to my turn to order.
What is so different about this chain is that instead of fries or potato. the side is rice or spaghetti. No chilli is provided, rather there is the sauce (which tastes like the potato gravy from KFC) to dip the chicken into and to spread over the rice. Trust me, with the sauce, the chicken and rice tastes so much better. I think the secret is really in the sauce and not the chicken.
2 pieces of friend chicken with the dipping sauce
The rice as a side dish
My verdict? The chicken is a normal fried chicken. It is crispy and the flesh melts in your mouth like what any other fried chicken is supposed to do. With the sauce, it really tastes much better. I can understand the hype about this. But would I go back there again? Perhaps after the craze died down and it becomes a "normal" chicken restaurant, so I can go back and order without queuing again!
Food : 4 out of 5 (with the sauce)
Service : 4 out of 5
Price : 3.5 out of 5
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