Edy's Chicken & Steak

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Obscurity/Location/Curb Appeal: Tommy

Off Route 7, in the Bailey’s Crossroads area, the curious passerby can easily stumble upon Edy’s Chicken & Steak. Set off from the rest of the strip mall, Edy’s boasts one of the two standalone structures in this area, the other being Olive Garden (I know, I know…you love their breadsticks). The large lit sign on the front of the building welcomes the diner to enjoy a fine selection of Peruvian cuisine. After all this time doing this blog, I still am not sure whether I’m supposed to rate a level of “obscurity” as a positive or negative, but if you enjoy dining at obscure places, you could probably do better than Edy’s. Edy’s loses points in the curb appeal for making us think they might have skee-ball and then pulling that fun-rug out from under us after we found out that it’s just chicken and steak. This restaurant appeared to be well-known, displayed in all likelihood the biggest crowd out of any Thurber dinner thus far, and even brought in a wide assortment of law enforcement who chose it for their dinner break. When you find a place that’s supported by cops and isn’t a donut shop, you know you’ve got at least a decent spot on your hands. Word to the wise, the decision to rant and/or rave about anything in this establishment could go down as the worst decision ever, as you’d most likely get tasered from 2 to 3 different directions. Just saying, if your chicken platter isn’t cooked the way you like it, smile, nod, and back away slowly.

Curb Appeal: 3 Thurbs

Food & Beverage: Matt

From the multitude of chicken-themed posters decorating the walls, to the tuxedo-clad cartoon chicken on the sign, to the massive rotisserie ovens cooking chickens in bulk, it’s no secret what Edy’s specialty is (it’s chicken, in case you’re still wondering). With that in mind, I can’t help but think we didn’t experience the best that Edy’s has to offer. First of all, as a vegetarian, I had to resort to a hodge-podge of side items for my meal – fried zucchini, fried yucca and a salad. Every time this happens to me, it somehow ends up costing me more than everyone else’s food and also somehow seems way less healthy. Lots of fried stuff, a pretty lame salad and the yucca alone (with a texture similar to foamboard) weighed about 5 pounds in my stomach. Everyone else got some form of sandwich with cheese and vegetables all over it. All sandwich eaters seemed to agree that their food was just “okay,” if a bit challenging to eat with a knife and fork. A few at least made some connection with Edy’s specialty bird by ordering chicken sandwiches. But as for straight up “rotisserie chicken,” we left that un-sampled. We did get a little more out of our cultural comfort zone in our choice of beverages, and Edy’s offers a large variety of canned or bottled “bebidas” to accommodate such curiosity. But all in all, unless eating their chicken in a whole rotisserie form drastically improves the dining experience, Edy’s really was just okay.

Rating: 1.5 Thurbs

Customer Service/Cost: Mark

Our meals were a steal. An orange cream soda, complementary ice water, and an entree rounded out a hair under $10. Well, it wasn't really a steal because the police officer would have tazered us in the throat had we actually been stealing. Customer service amounted to orders being called out in both English and Spanish. You pay, pick-up, eat, and bus your own table. Perhaps Peruvian rotisserie is going to make a move on McDee's.

Rating: 2 Thurbs

Ambience/Entertainment: Brian

When the name Edy’s is muttered most readers envision gourmet ice cream found in your grocer’s freezer. This would not be the case with our most recent stop on the Thurber Party of 4 dining circuit. Matt buoyed our hopes with fantastic talk of Hispanic skee ball and plastic ball pits prior to our departure. Unfortunately, Edy’s Chicken and Steak was not Carlos E. Queso. Similarly, Edy’s did contain an astounding amount of neon running lights on the interior and exterior and mirrors to simulate a larger space. Upon entering, we noticed the large number of tables and booths with Peruvian landscapes and idols adorning the walls. Overhead, order numbers were belted out in Spanish and English throughout the evening. I immediately noticed the lack of place settings or fancy napkin holders a la Taco Laredo, but what was provided would suffice for another largely self-service evening.

Contributing to Edy’s stellar atmosphere was the presence of Fairfax County’s finest. Was this due to disturbances or robberies? We believe not. It turns out Edy’s is a fan favorite of law enforcement officials the county over. Whoever said it only takes doughnuts to attract cops? Little to no music was played and what was became lost in the sea of patron chatter and order calling. Edy’s ambience is average at best and contained only one element missing from most other establishments we’ve visited: the din of conversation by fellow diners.

Rating: 1.5 Thurbs

Edy's Chicken & Steak

Overall Rating: 2.0 Thurbs

Guest of Honor Review: Lauren Keller

I was very excited about this adventure out, especially once we chose Edy's. One of the Thurber residents mentioned that they thought it was equivalent to a Peruvian Chuck E. Cheese. Visions of skee-ball and giant prizes were definitely swirling through my head. The evening started off well as the whole group was escorted in Mark's company car. (On a side note, the Thurber residents were ever the gentlemen, opening and closing all doors for me). Unfortunately, my dream of winning the boombox with my 30,000 tickets won from playing almost 30,000 rounds of skeeball were dashed when we walked in the door. In terms of atmosphere, I would put Edy's much closer to a Peruvian Boston Market--minus the large and varied menu--than a Chuck E. Cheese. I would recommend 2 things before you venture to this restaurant: 1) Bring cash because that's all they accept and 2) Brush up on your Spanish numbers because all order numbers were first announced in Spanish and then English. I opted for the numero 10--Chicken sandwich with cheese and onions. I chose this over the numero 9--Chicken sandwich. Both were the same price, so I am a little skeptical about the quality of the cheese and onions. As far as safety goes, I immediately felt secure once I spotted the fully armed Police Officer hidden behind a giant vase filled with fake coral and yellow tulips. My sandwich was a more expensive, heavier, more difficult to eat and less tasty version of a hot sandwich at Subway. If you are considering Edy's for a meal, I would recommend opting for Subway or Quiznos. The best thing about this restaurant was its proximity to Dairy Queen--where I ended the evening with a delicious cookie dough blizzard. And the company was delightful!