Chicken Express

I eat here every once in awhile. The food is always delicious, fresh and served/​made quickly. As a bonus it’s also easy on the wallet! Portion sizes are generous, I frequently get the Super Chicken Burrito, the burrito is huge and is only about $ 6. Staff is pretty laid back and there’s quite a bit of seating. Needless to say that I’ll be back in the near future.

I was in the mood for rotisserie style chicken one day. My wife and I decided to stop off at chicken express. There were no other cars there when we arrived about 11:30 am. But we heard good things about this place. I had the four piece /​half chicken with two sides, slaw and mash, and a drink. My wife had the two piece with mash and rice. It was really delicious. Crispy and delicious. Better than the store bought rotisserie chicken. And one hundred times better than KFC! The salsa was tasty as well. The employees were very nice and courteous. The only thing I would change is the microwaved flour tortillas. But it wasn’t a deal breaker. We will definitely return again.

Wow, BEST Rotisserie chicken in town! Flavorful, moist and fresh tasting. You have to give it a try. Don’t be fooled by no people in dinning area. Lots of people drive through or take home orders. Great specials also! Very pleased.

hands down, the best Rotisserie Style Chicken in Watsonville. I visit this establishment quite often. I used to think Costco had the best rotisserie cooked chicken, but Chicken Express took the title in my opinion because of the gelatinous sticky chicken skin which makes it addicting. I recently bought a whole chicken to go for my work. My peers and I who are professional Chef’s were surprised on how good it was. Honestly, is it seasoned with crack?

This place is good, chicken is great, service is decent, staff should be a bit more friendly.
The one and major complaint on my end are the tortillas. These are heated in microwave which causes the tortillas to break, stick and get cold in «5.2 seconds».
Owner should change this, ill come back if they do.

Great juicy chicken! And for the price– great lunch and dinner! Nice and fresh and the service is great! I usually get the meal that includes a lot of chicken, fresh tortillas, guac and salsa and beans and rice!

The person that said this was better than El Pollo Loco is LOCO!!! What did we get Instant Mashed potatoes? Yuck! Spanish rice that was pretty bad. Came in at 1215 not One customer in the place. that kind of tells you whats up.
The Chicken was pretty good. But same taste I get from Nob Hill rotisserie chicken but cost a lot more.
Got the 4 piece combo cost me 9.32. I could have eaten at Cilantros for 11 bucks! Even KFC is better! KFC Mash is 100 times better!
next time you want rotisserie chicken just go to Nob Hill or Costco you get same chicken for half the cost.
** Chicken Express FYI for you. Create better SIDES!!! Maybe better cost value also. Don’t use instant Mash potatoes!!! Maybe have more on the salsa bar than just salsa… give us some Cheese and other things to make our own Tacos!
But I probably wont be back for years… maybe if I read that you guys are the Bomb and made some changes.

Had lunch here the other day. I ordered the two piece chicken meal. It came with rice, beans and a drink. My wife ordered two pieces of chicken and a side of potato salad. The chicken, rotissary style, was flavorful with a crisp skin. The potato salad was great. You could tell it was home
made by the way the potato was shaped, cubed. This salad alone will bring me back to this place. The atmosphere is typically Watsonville with no frills and plastic covered seats but more importantly it looks clean. Keep it up and this place may last longer than any previous tenants.

The food here tastes really bland and processed! The mashed potatoes are reconstituted and every time I’ve been here they have been runny! The chicken is cut in a weird way and I didn’t like the way it tasted. Coleslaw was pretty good.
Cheaper than KFC but not worth the savings in my book! Avoid it !

Delicious! Better than El Pollo Loco. I always get the taco salad for lunch. The lettuce is always fresh, the shredded chicken is good. Also, when I’m on a low-​carb diet I eat the taco salad with no beans and no chips, it hits the spot, is filling and keeps me on track! My favorite place in Watsonville for a quick drive-​thru lunch that’s fresh and not fried.

Love the chicken, don’t usually go here but when I do the 8-​piece family meal is more than enough for 3 people. Comes with rice, beans, tortillas, guacamole sauce, and salsa. Definitely the best fast-​food chicken I’ve had so far! Employees are polite and friendly, always a plus.

Chicken always good. I get a few chicken hard tacos and ala cart 2 piece chicken.

Always fresh and good!
My go-​to place for lunch. Other plus? They have a drive-​through window :)
Try the Chicken Taco Salad!

absolutely great roasted chicken! also the amount of food you get for the price is great! like others here mentioned I do not know how they stay in business because it looks empty all the time. sad because I hope the place stays open because its really good. my thoughts are that it looks commercial or Americanized and the local mex don’t want to go there or something maybe that’s why it’s always slow there. the place looks to be owned by a Mexicans so I don’t know why people are not lined up at this place as its good stuff and I been there 20 times at least without ever a disappointment. shop owners hang in there and maybe some more advertising or later hours? by the way the rice there is as good as my grandmother made.

Good. The rotisserie chicken is yummy — definitely worth a try. I would not waste my time on the burrito, though. Nothing extraordinary. Oh, good prices too. Well worth the drive.

Rotisserie Chicken Heaven!
I’ve always loved the rotisserie chickens at Safeway and Costco so when we tasted Chicken Express we were hooked. This is the in-​laws go to chicken spot in Watson. Wifey told me this location has gone through many tenants but I have a feeling CE will do just fine. The prices are reasonable and the portions are big. The best part is the juicy chicken with it’s yummy seasonings. You will notice lots of pieces of bones but those in the know, know that the best part of the chicken is the meat around the bone. The sides are somewhat limited but the salsa bar though small is good and always stocked. Free refills and spanish music is what you get here. When we drive by the place it’s empty but when we eat in, the place is bumping. Too bad their locations are far and few. We need a Chicken Express in San Jose! Can’t wait to return.
«!Quiero Pollo Espress!» (said in a spanish accent w/​an s not an x)
*3.5 stars

I really don’t know HOW this place stays in business. Every single time I drive by, there are no cars in the parking lot. .. OK, maybe the cars of the people who work there but none else.
I love Mexican-​style rotisserie chicken (something about the spice rub) and they do it really well here, some of the best I’ve had (the BEST was Rosa’s on Freedom Blvd, but it’s been gone for years now.)
Anyway, the peeps behind the counter are eager to please and are friendly enough but why when a whole chicken is ordered do they insist on butchering it into quarters? The warm tortillas are not as fresh as they could be and the salsa is anemic but I usually skip all that and just enjoy the chicken.
Like was said by Bradley O., I’d really rather go here than Nob Hill (or Safeway) for chicken-​in-​a-​box but Freedom Blvd is just too darn congested to justify going there. Not even with the drive-​thru. My chicken would be stone cold before I got it home! It’s too bad, it really is good and a really good price.

When I first started working in Watsonville, this was an El Pollo Loco. They failed. Before that, it was some other Chicken Rotisserie place. Failed. Before that, Long John Silver’s. Failed. Before that, Der Wienerschnitzel. Failed. See the pattern here? This business location has changed hands on almost an annual basis for the last 5+ years.
So naturally when Chicken Express first came to town at the beginning of ’07, I didn’t think they’d make it. Every fast food joint in this location seems to fail despite having a coveted drive through (very difficult to get new ones approved in the City). Personally, I think this restaurant must be a cursed location. It could be a result of proximity to the cemetery across Freedom Blvd. Maybe there are some haunted remains beneath the restaurant. At any rate, fast forward almost two years later and the place is still in business, and seems to be weathering the rough economy.
Now that the history lesson is over, how about the food? It’s really average. The dine-​in/​drive-​thru fare is mostly Mexican, with chicken combos, tacos, burritos and salads. Their tortillas are served in plastic wrap, probably because they don’t use fresh ones. All of this is forgivable because their rotisserie chicken is pretty darn tasty. And cheap. In fact I’d say this is the best whole rotisserie chicken you can buy for the price in Santa Cruz County.
So. Next time you’ve got a hankering for a rotisserie chicken, skip the safeway instant chicken in a box, and come here instead.