"This is a review of the Chicken Paprikash from the Parsnip Cafe part of this restaurant.So it turns out that the chicken used in this dish is an industrial formed, pressed together, small rectangular log of spent chicken.I've had this dish a few times. First at Parsnip's original location on York blvd, and a few days ago, from its current joint location at Lemon Poppy.The York Parsnip was so warm, friendly oozing of home cooked food. The chicken in this dish was always bone dry, like it had given everything into some broth, then made it into this dish. I had assumed it gave its all into THIS dish, and maybe this is just their style of cooking. The rest of the flavors are very good. Plus the polenta is good.Fast forward to a couple days ago when I ordered this to go. There was a full unmashed rectangular log of chicken in it. I should have taken a pic. But I just thought it was very odd, and it never crossed my mind that they didn't use fresh chicken. Then I realized, yes indeed, that log is an industrial pressed together log of spent chicken. The menu says chicken thighs. No fresh chicken thigh ever looked like this. This log, when you press on it, mashes into small pretty uniform sticks of dry chicken. The kitchen just missed smashing this log before serving it.This is completely insulting. They think so little of their customers that they would do this, use industrial unwanted chicken instead of fresh chicken. And charge $18 for it! This makes me sad, but mostly, it's truly insulting.When I arrived to pick up my order which I had paid for online, the young women up front made me wait forever, while she was doing something. I can't tell why she was so frazzled. She was just staring at a dish that should probably have been brought out to one of the few diners there. Then a young man who had been sweeping and generally cleaning came to help me. He hadn't washed his hands, but I didn't what else he was going to do after helping me with my pick up order. Well, it turns out my order was already packaged and sitting on a ledge near the door, getting colder by every minute that the frazzled women who had no capacity to multi task, kept me waiting."
