Whats this Honey chicken I read so much about?

[djneph]

Hey Everyone,

 

I keep reading about some honey chicken dish served in the windjammer for lunch? I have never come across this dish. How long have they been serving it? The only thing i can think of is that it is served on embarkation day and I would always board 30min before departure and missed it. :( hopefully I get to try it on my next RCI sailing.

[AirForce mom]

They do serve it on embarkation day. Tasty.

[megr1125]

it's only on embarkation day..in the WJ and it's basically just breaded, boneless chicken. If it's fresh, it's good (but really not the be all,end all of chicken....it is JUST chicken!)...if not, it is dried out yuckiness....

 

if you haven't found it, you're not looking as it is on several hot buffet food stations.....

 

(be really, you aren't missing anything...as it is made by, IIRC SYSCO food service and available comercially, and someone else said they sell it at Sams or Costco or BJs but i'm not 100% sure on that either..)

[John Henry on CC]

Its official name is "Honey Stung Chicken", and I agree with megr, it's just gloried chicken nuggets. Ok, the Perdue breast pieces, not the nuggets.

 

It can be very good, it can be ok, it can be limp and icky, it can be dried out and like shoe leather.

 

It depends on who prepared it and how long it has been sitting there, and even on how many other pieces are piled on top of it!

 

When it's good, it's pretty darn good, IMO. My luck has been about 40% good, 60% skip it.

 

Yes, it's a Sysco product.

[cruisin4kicks]

it's only on embarkation day..in the WJ and it's basically just breaded, boneless chicken. If it's fresh, it's good (but really not the be all,end all of chicken....it is JUST chicken!)...if not, it is dried out yuckiness....

Absolutely true! We just returned from the Vision. On embarkation day, went to the Windjammer, got a piece, and it was very tasty. Went back to get another and it was dry and as megr said, was "dried out yuckiness". Cruise still was great though.

 

Tim

[OHCruisin]

I've tried it on two cruises and both times it was blech! Dry and stringy. Yet one of my fellow cruises had a nice succulent piece. Luck of the draw.

[Craving A Cruise]

I thought it was overrated! On our recent cruise, we found it to be a dried out, tasteless piece of battered, deep fried, giant chicken nugget thing.... Very disappointing as we had read so much about it here on cruisecritic.........

...

Now the desserts were a different story. :)

[KMagz]

After reading about the Honey Stung Chicken for months on CC we were VERY excited to try some on our FOS cruise last week.

 

And so I did....

 

... It was far and away THE WORST THING I ATE ALL WEEK! The pieces I had were drier than dry. Somehow, I was able to not go hungry for the week though. :)

[Bakincakes]

Ditto.

 

Not anything to write home about.

 

It mystifies me why so many pax gush over it.

[Bookish Angel]

Also, the fact that most of the pieces were dark meat which I don't eat did not prompt a return sampling.

[AirForce mom]

I guess we were lucky with a fresh batch. We also got lucky as the batch was white meat (I don't like dark meat). I certainly wouldn't order it for dinner, but ours was very tasty at lunch when we boarded. It was good topped on a salad.

[podemos]

I tried a piece on embarkation day last week on FOS...and was severely disappointed. I think KFC is better. My piece was dry and fibrous =(

[mszula]

"Dry and fibrious" Yup, that was my impression also. I had read about here at CC and insisted that DH try it. We were both very disappointed; but then we were pretty much disappointed with all of the food on RCI.

[Bobal]

I'm sure someone will be along to sing its virtues soon enough but I have to agree with all the above - dry, boring and way way overrated :(

[silentbob007]

I generally can pick out good pieces and enjoy it because ... well ... it means I'm on a cruise. :)

[atanac]

I was told that the myth of "Honey Stung Chicken" was started by a tour group years ago. They picked one of the worst dishes any of them had then set about seeing if they could convince other saps it was one of the best. They all wrote about how wonderful this chicken was and then kept the myth going until it was picked up by others and perpetuated. It now has a life of it's own.

[East Bay Skiers]

I've tried it on two cruises and both times it was blech! Dry and stringy. Yet one of my fellow cruises had a nice succulent piece. Luck of the draw.

 

 

I tried it on two different cruises, different ships, I had to try it after having heard so many CCers raving about it, and I have to agree. I didn't care for it. It may be me, because I never eat fried chicken..

[don24]

no no no.it tastes like pina coladas ,it smells like fresh ocean air and when cut just right it sounds like a steel drum playing softly at dusk .the chicken is just chicken .but just like Alice in wonderland it says eat me and drink me .and down the rabbit hole we go, I'm first who's coming with me

[SailorJack]

it's only on embarkation day

 

Actually, they serve it more than once. Maybe it is only once on 7 day cruises, but on our last 14 day cruise it was served twice:)

[megr1125]

it's only on embarkation day

 

Actually, they serve it more than once. Maybe it is only once on 7 day cruises, but on our last 14 day cruise it was served twice:)

 

Hmm....my longest cruise was only 12 nights, and it only appeared day one!

[DrmnOfMaui]

I thought it was overrated! On our recent cruise, we found it to be a dried out, tasteless piece of battered, deep fried, giant chicken nugget thing.... Very disappointing as we had read so much about it here on cruisecritic.........

...

 

Exactly our experience!!!

[BND]

Tried it on Grandeur, not impressed. I'm not even sure where the "honey" name comes from. It was just chicken and not very good at that.

[struther1]

They serve it on embarkation day because after you have choked it down the food can only get better.

[hazeleyez3]

It all depends on your taste. I like the chicken. Actually, with the exception of the fruit and salad, its the only thing I like in the Windjammer. It's never been dry, has always had meat, and lucky for me...there has always been plenty of dark meat. I find any type of white meat dry and tasteless.

[Garyorient]

it's only on embarkation day

 

Actually, they serve it more than once. Maybe it is only once on 7 day cruises, but on our last 14 day cruise it was served twice:)

 

Was it a 14 night cruise or 2 x 7 nighters, in which case there would be 2 embarkation days?