There’s a new chicken sandwich contender in town that could potentially rival the heavyweight fast food chains.

On Feb. 23, Isaac’s Poultry Market opened at 12163 Darnestown Rd in Gaithersburg, where Pizza Hut used to be. Isaac’s Poultry Market is owned by lifelong MoCo resident Rob Greshman. He came up with the idea during quarantine with his son and named the restaurant after Isaac Newton, who came up with groundbreaking best inventions while quarantined from the bubonic plague. This local gem offers a variety of chicken items, including a whole roasted chicken, wings, chicken salads and key menu item: six different chicken sandwiches.

There are four fried chicken sandwich options: Honey Butter, Buffalo, BBBQ (barbecue sauce and bacon) and a sandwich with Isaac’s sauce. There is also the BBQ Pulled sandwich-open face and chicken salad sandwich. All the sandwiches come on toasted potato bread and cost $11.25, except for the chicken sandwich, which is $10.85. There aren’t meal options for the sandwiches, so sides and a drink are extra. However, the family options, whole roasted chicken and 12 whole wings do come with a choice of three large sides. Their sides include mac and cheese, fries, roasted veggies, broccoli slaw and rice & beans all for $4.75.

I ordered the Isaac’s Sandwich, which consists of a fried chicken breast with Isaac’s sauce, crunchy dill pickles, broccoli slaw on sliced potato bread. At first glance, the sandwich is a decent size and the chicken breast fills up the bread. The chicken is crispy and an abundance of flavors hit the taste buds. The slaw and pickles are a perfect complement. I will say that it can get messy and sliced bread doesn’t do the best job of holding its integrity while sitting in extra sauce. “I like Isaac’s Poultry Market because it’s local, delicious and has a simple and complex menu at the same time.” senior Henry Zhang said.

The inside of the restaurant is spacious with a good amount of seating and outdoor seating available. Their menu is easy to read and the staff is knowledgeable about the menu items. The staff also is friendly and welcoming, which you won’t find as often with larger chain restaurants. “The cashier was able to tell me about the different flavors of chicken sandwiches and which I would probably like the best based on my taste preferences, which I greatly appreciated,” junior Matthew Repie said.

Most of the poorly rated reviews of Isaac’s Poultry Market complain about the price and that is understandable. For a lower price, I can get fries with a drink at places like Wingstop and Chick-fil-A. I understand that the ingredients are local and fresh, but the sandwich alone is barely a meal. For this reason, Isaac’s Poultry Market can’t exactly compete with larger fast food chain restaurants and goes into its own category of a sit-down experience. “The food came out fast and I loved how juicy the chicken was, but a high price like that doesn’t really make me want to be a regular customer,” senior Ethan Kuan said.