I won't be at the opening (sad, I know) but I did get one of them free sandwiches they've been handing out for the past week or so and I must say it was good. I'm not sure of the prices, but if it was under $5, it would be worth it. If it was on some kinda $.99 deal, it would be AWESOME!

I hate to be the cynic here (ok I'm lying), but how long do you think this place will last?

I've never been to a Chick-Fil-A before. Maybe after the craze dies down I'll go check it out. Hopefully it's better than those krappy donuts that all my friends over-hyped.

awesome!! now i can go back to Cabo Wabo to sit down and try their food since everybody will be at this new place.

I just drove by there on my way to work there were about 2 cars in the drive-thru. I thought "This is probably going to be the only time I could swing by there and not get caught up in the stupid Fresno Hypsters who flood these new places." But I just kept driving....

A word to the wise: avoid the whole area.

I tried to get some In N Out yesterday, and had to contend with morons camping out in tents in the parking lot (waiting for chicken, for crying out loud), in addition to road work on Nees (exits from that shopping area to Nees are closed). A two-minute trip home from Blackstone and Nees took me ten minutes because I had to go all the way down to Audubon.

neato......

cabo wabo then a chik - fil - a

what will we get next , cracker barrel? cosi' restaurants?

geeee

It's a bad location. In-and-Out does decently becasue it's a "destination" and relies heavily on the drive thru. Unless they can keep up the hype thru good word of mouth, I don't see the place being successful in that location.

Kenny Rogers Roasters had the same fate when it was located next to Fashion Fair.

Being in close proximity isn't the same thing as being in the mall itself and if you're simply a place to grab a quick bite as you're on way to somewhere else...you're never going to be successful.

Across the way, Hooters, CA Pizza Kitchen, Elephant Bar and Chuck E. Cheese (bleh!) do fine because they are destinations. You GO there to eat; its not a quick afterthought just before you hop on the 41.

I never like to see business fail, but somebody obviously didn't do their homework on that location. (I mean, if Krispy Kreme failed....)

I feel better about waiting in a drive through for chicken rather than doughnuts. Hope this place lasts a while.

Thanks for the traffic update, H-Mac. If those people think they're going to stop me from reaching the Dumb Drum Gettogether (PLUG!) tonight, they're gonna have an Impreza running over them. All Wheel Drive FTW!

I love Chick-Fil-A, and I am not a fast-food person. I went there when I lived in Colorado. It was in the mall and they used to give out sample nuggets. Yummy! I had to remember to go to the mall on Saturday because they're not open on Sunday.

word of warning for first-timers: they sneak a pickle in your otherwise plain chicken sandwich (unless you're into weird, mushy, thin slices of random pickle).

also, they annoyed me because they were closed on sundays (some religious thing, or something), but i dont know if that's still the case.

i'll check it out again the next time im on the north side. it's good stuff.

Will, they are still closed on Sundays. The founder is Baptist and it's company policy to have all stores closed on Sundays. Says something like if he needs to have a restaurant open seven days a week to make a living, then he should be in another line of work.

Um ok.

well, will gets hungry 7 days a week, so ...

Dude I hear ya. I'm hungry eight days a week.

How dare you impugn pickles Will?

Those people are idiots, also a lot of them looked over weight. Sorry but that is why you are over weight (sleep over for chick fila).

I tried chick fila at fresno state when it opened it's like any other fast food just chicken instead of beef. No big deal.

krispy kreme didn't fail because of location, it failed nationally. they closed a ton of their locations all over.

maybe it's just me, but i've never thought of california pizza kitchen, elephant bar, or chuck e cheese as a destination.

and brodie, i'll be seeing you later sir.

The girls at the end kind of make me sad.

We went to Chick-Fil-A today and it was really nice! The food was yummy, the services was GREAT!! I will be going back (after the fervor dies down, LOL!)

I have had some food at the Chik-Fil-A at Fresno State. It was good, but not camp over night yummy. I will try out the new location once it has been open awhile. Personally, i think it is a bit nuts to wait overnight for fast food. Except for In-N-Out. that is just awesome, and Chick-Fil-A is no where near In-N-Out good.

This Wouldn't make news in LA or SF and we wonder why people put Fresno down. People who made a big deal about this and stayed over night must lead boring lives. Its just another fast food chain, not that great anyway. How bout spending are money at locally owned business that'd be a novel concept in Fresno.

Ed - Although KK failed nationally, they closed stores that were underperforming, and anyone who visited that KK in the six months prior to its closure saw that one coming.

By "destination" I mean that they are locations that people typically plan ahead for. The are somewhat immune to the location issue because their patrons were planning to eat there anyway. That's also why I believe that Claim Jumper will succeed in that location.

On the other hand, fast food relies on its reputation. You can set up a McDonald's virtually anywhere and it will be successful. If it doesn't have a good reputation, it will fail. With the only nearby shopping being Jo-Anns, I just don't see people coming to that lot for anything else.

I'm just waiting for the day it closes just like Krispy Kreme did, and all those past chain shops that had opening day hype and then failed after a few years.

for the love of god, fresno already is the fast food capital of the free world, do we really need more places to get greasy crappy food? ( speaking of which if you go to cabo wabo on a sunday you can actually sit down and eat ummm yea).