Review: Pretzel Buns And Creamy Dijon Add A Tasty Twist To Chick-Fil-A's New Fall Menu

Summer is still going full steam ahead, but for fast food chains, fall is already the focus, with new menu items dropping and familiar favorites returning for more yum. Chick-fil-A already has a loaded menu (including some great hacks), but still has to try to bring something new to the table as the kids head back to school, and your favorite football team starts scoring touchdowns again. Chick-fil-A is hoping to run up the score with long-time fans as well as casual customers with some pretzel-bunned chicken sandwiches, an accompanying creamy Dijon sauce, and a drink remix with a new twist on the popular Cherry Berry flavoring, as well as some waffle-y innovations into the realm of potato chips.

Before these items see the light of day, and paper-lined trays, The Takeout was invited to a sneak peek and peck of this fall menu at a Manhattan location of Chick-fil-A. The team laid it all out for the taking, and The Takeout gobbled it all up and is now ready to tell the tale in the extensive chew & review. So, is Chick-fil-A's new menu coming in both hot and cold for autumn one to fall for, or perhaps should we leaf them alone? Here we go...

Recommendations are based on firsthand impressions of promotional materials and products provided by the manufacturer.

Chick-fil-A has a lot to offer this fall with a full menu line-up. It is headlined by the Pretzel Cheddar Club Sandwich, which comes in three versions — Original filet, Spicy, or Grilled. The filet is joined by lettuce, slices of tomatoes, a slice of cheddar cheese, and strips of applewood bacon, all housed in a set of toasted pretzel buns. It also comes with a packet of a new Creamy Dijon Mustard condiment. These items got a trial run in the Raleigh, North Carolina area from April to May 2024, and are now ready for the national limelight.

Around the same time the Pretzel bun sandwiches were being tested, the Cherry Berry-flavored drinks made their debut nationwide. Cherry Berry is a syrup mix consisting of cherry, blueberry, and cranberry natural flavors, and again can be enjoyed within cups filled with diet or regular Lemonade, sweetened or unsweetened Ice Tea, or the combo of the two with its Sunjoy, as well as with the chilled Frosted Lemonade. This year's return adds a new wrinkle with the Cherry Berry & Sprite libation, which naturally uses their classic lemon-lime soda as its base.

Last, but not least is a rejiggering of its potato chips. Wait, did you not know that Chick-fil-A even sold chips in the first place? I didn't, but apparently they've been kicking around as an option for a while, and are the sidekick that come with the sandwich in Chick-fil-A's bustling catering business. These new versions are to closely mimic the chain's Waffle Fries, and come in an Original flavor with sea salt, as well as a brand new one — Chick-fil-A Sauce Flavored Waffle Potato Chips.

Chick-fil-A's new fall menu debuts at participating locations starting on August 18. The Pretzel Cheddar Club Sandwiches, Creamy Dijon Mustard, and Cherry Beverages are arriving for a limited time only, while the Waffle Potato Chips are here to stay on a more permanent basis. All items are available for sale anytime Chick-fil-A is open for business (famously not on Sundays), and while supplies last.

The items can be ordered in-store at the counter, kiosk, or drive-thru where available. Advanced ordering for dine-in, carry-out, or delivery can take place with the use of Chick-fil-A's app or website. Additional fees may apply to orders placed for delivery or through third party sites. The items can be found on various places within Chick-fil-A's menu, from Featured Flavors, Entrées, Sides, Beverages, and Treats. Many of the items are customizable to add or remove ingredients, like replacing the tomato from the sandwich with pickles, or how much ice you require for a drink. Items may also be available for catering options, and customers should inquire with their local Chick-fil-A.

Prices may vary by location, but the starting prices for the Cherry Berry beverages are as follows: Cherry Berry & Sprite for $2.89, Cherry Berry Lemonade for $3.25, Cherry Berry Sunjoy for $3.35, and the Cherry Berry Frosted Lemonade at $4.75. The standard Original Pretzel Cheddar Club Sandwich starts at $7.65, the Spicy Pretzel Cheddar Club Sandwich for $8.05, and the Grilled Pretzel Cheddar Club Sandwich starts at $8.59. The Creamy Dijon Mustard only comes with an order of the Pretzel Club, and cannot be ordered à la carte.

Before my eyes appeared three versions of the Pretzel Cheddar Club Chicken Sandwich. All pretty much looked identical, with the glistening, cross-cut pretzel bun as the sandwiches' eye-catching centerpiece. Below it lay a lightly melted slice of cheddar cheese, the chosen poultry protein, and then a piece of leafy lettuce, which was more decorative than delicious looking. Hidden from sight, but included in the mix, were slices of mushy tomatoes.

Before taking a bite of any of the sandwiches, I wanted to get acquainted with the bun itself, which truly is the difference between this and the usual chicken sandwiches that dot the menu. Like most pretzel buns, this one didn't taste like a straight up soft pretzel, as it forwent any grains of salt, but did have the lovely cushiony consistency to it. I haven't eaten a ton of pretzel buns in my life, but Chick-fil-A's version had plenty to enjoy about it, and honestly had no drawbacks, other than the sandwiches seem heftier and denser than the usual ones. That's not necessarily a bad thing. It's just a thing.

I started nibbling on the Grilled version first. This is obviously a solid option for those looking for a lighter fare, as it nets 580 calories versus the Original's 730 and the Spicy's 759. The chicken is juicy, but with no condiment included, feels like it's missing a little flavor. The Original and Spicy filets work much better with the other elements, especially the soft buns, as their crunch creates a lovely juxtaposition that's a joy to intake.

I wasn't fully aware in advance that a sauce came standard with the Pretzel Cheddar Club Chicken Sandwich, but was happy to learn I was going to meet a new one — Creamy Dijon Mustard. Since this is a sandwich, the accompanying sauce eschews being contained within a dippable cup, and instead is in a typical squeezable packet, with a translucent preview window to showcase its attributes.

The sauce packet easily tore open, and I squirted it onto my plate to take a closer look. It initially could pass for an Italian dressing, or a less muddy Dijon mustard, with orange seasoning flecks joining the brown and black ones. Upon further review, it almost resembled rival Popeyes' Mardi Gras Mustard (now in grocery stores).

With the word "Dijon" in its name, I expected a really pungent, vinegary sauce, and was surprised that whatever the cream's job was, it made it a much more overall approachable condiment. While there were slight elements of Dijon at play, it almost tasted more like honey mustard, but not exactly like the one Chick-fil-A already peddles. By itself, the sauce was a knock-out, and thus proved its worth of existence. Since I already found the Grilled Pretzel Club in need of a little pep, the Creamy Dijon Mustard turned out to be a savior to deliver the lubricant it needed. For the other two sandwiches, it was an added bonus.

I was already well versed on Chick-fil-A's line of Cherry Berry beverages, and had already given thumbs up to Cherry Berry Lemonade, Cherry Berry Sunjoy, and Cherry Berry Frosted Lemonade in the first go around over a year ago. Each worked a different sort of magic with the Cherry Berry flavoring: The Sunjoy found a nice balance between the cherry, blueberry, and cranberry flavors, the Lemonade added a dash of tart and sweetness to the soiree, and the Frosted Lemonade leaned a bit on that cherry-ness to deliver a truly cool customer.

Since Sprite is a super-clear liquid, it showed the actual true colors of the Cherry Berry syrup. A vibrant, and almost glowing pink hue welcomed the eye of the holder of this beverage. Since Cherry was a more discernible fruit juice with the other drinks, I almost expected this to be Chick-fil-A's adaptation of a Shirley Temple drink.

Alas, it was not to be, as somehow the cranberry became the predominant flavoring in this soda remix. Admittedly, I am not a giant cran-anything kind of drinker, and yet I think anyone who encounters the Cherry Berry & Sprite may probably agree it's not exactly the smoothest of sippers. This is a little problematic, as a drink is essentially there to refresh the eater, between bites of these big sandwiches. Instead, this one is a curious kind of mocktail that kept distracting me from my meal.

Out of all the items offered up, I was perhaps most excited to sink my teeth into these 1 ½-ounce bags of Waffle Potato Chips. Chips are usually a given for sandwich shops, but chicken joints? Hardly. These new ones are engineered to be more like actual Waffle Potato Fries. 

I started with the Original flavor with sea salt. Some chips resembled the shape of Wavy Lay's, while others contained more thatches and holes, resembling the fries they are intended to ape. While they had a good crunch about them, what was most noticeable was how light and airy that crunch was. Next, I was overcome at how these didn't exactly come off as potato chips, and instead tasted like potato sticks, as if a pile of them were strung together and formed the shape of a chip. I had never experienced a chip like that before, and I was instantly a fan.

The new flavor added in this retool is Chick-fil-A Sauce flavored Waffle Potato Chips. Cracking open the bag, these ones had an orange dusting that resembled cheddar and sour cream chips. While I believe I had a strong handle on what Chick-fil-A Sauce tastes like, I knew right away these chips didn't hold up that promised flavoring. Instead, they were like lightly BBQ-flavored chips, which happened to be super-tasty as whatever they were, not what they were supposed to be.

The Pretzel buns are a welcome new breaded edition to house the three delicious chicken filets, and if you had to pick one, I'd say go with the Original and enjoy the bridging of softness and crispy crunchiness. While the Creamy Dijon Mustard is an optional condiment to come with these new sandwiches, don't overlook its greatness. I enjoyed it so much, I was worried I was going to run out of packets with my meal. Chick-fil-A has something quite good going on here that it could almost just sell the bun alone with a side this new mustard for dipping.

The nice thing about the Creamy Dijon Mustard is that it works with anything savory on the menu, and that even includes the Waffle Potato Chips. It's a shame one can't order this Mustard à la carte, or the fact it may be here for the long haul. Luckily there are plenty of other dips for the chips, and it's fun to try the Chick-fil-A Sauce flavored chips in the actual Chick-fil-A Sauce, even if they differ in taste. Before I departed my taste test, I was actually given a bag of the old version of the Waffle Potato Chips. They actually were really impressive, with a much thicker and deeper crunch, and I was wondering why they needed replacing in the first place. Still, I'm on board with the new version of the chips, and think they'll find new fans, especially when 7-ounce bags hit retail stores starting this fall.

While I like the idea of a seasonal soda, using Sprite as a base, I'm not sure the Cherry Berry was the best first option to experiment with. I assume this is not the last seasonal soda we'll see, and I look forward to giving try two a fair shake.