Sides

The company's own chief executive put it best when the first restaurant opened: "People will come in for the hype, but they'll come back for the food," and five years on nobody outside the business has published whether they do.

Why go

Seven YouTubers with, by their own account, billions of views turned a group chat about fried chicken into flights to Nashville and tastings across three continents (venue). What came back is a fast-food brand that says its chicken is Red Tractor Assured British, delivered fresh and cooked to order. No freezers. No shortcuts, and hand tossed in batter 120 times, across eleven heat levels from chicken salt to Carolina Reaper. Those are the company's words and no independent taster has tested them in print. Two facts here are not marketing. The chicken is halal, stated plainly in the brand's own FAQ, and this premises runs a menu the landlord describes as 50/50 vegan, with seven vegan-friendly sauces, so a mixed group with a vegan and a halal eater in it can all order. The brand is scaling hard: fifteen new sites planned in a year to a global twenty, five countries, Glasgow and Livingston arriving in 2026, and a supermarket crisp and ice cream line.

Order this / avoid

Order: what the company itself calls the standard first order, a chicken burger with loaded fries and a side of wings, and a shake with it. Loaded tenders otherwise. Pick a sauce off the heat scale rather than defaulting to the mild end.
Avoid: looking for the Dalston restaurant, because it is not there any more. And do not expect a quiet room: this is a counter inside a food hall on the walk to the stadium.

What locals & experts say

The chief executive, quoted by Hot Dinners as the first standalone restaurant was announced, 9 October 2023: People will come in for the hype, but they'll come back for the food. That was about the Dalston site, which opened on 26 October 2023 with 40 seats.2
Catherine Hanly, Hot Dinners, on what the move meant at the time: Up until now, YouTubers turned fast food giants The Sidemen have kept their food offering to food halls. But now they're about to step into fully fledged restaurants with the opening of their first standalone place in East London. An announcement, not a review.2
Wembley Park, the landlord, describing this counter: their menu is 50/50 vegan! First up pick your protein - chicken or plant based - in either a slider, salad or loaded up with your choice from seven different sauces.3
No critic has assessed the food. The approved press was searched on 30 July 2026 and turned up announcements, listings and creator videos. Everything anyone can tell you about how the chicken tastes comes from the company or from social media.

Good to know

Where: the counter at BOXPARK Wembley, 18 Olympic Way, HA9 0JT, on the walk from Wembley Park station to the stadium.
Timing: daily 11am to 10.30pm.
Booking: walk-in. Tables can be booked for six or more.
Diet: the chicken is halal by the company's own statement, and the menu at this site is described as half vegan with seven vegan-friendly sauces. Full allergen information is published online, in store and on the delivery platforms.
Hygiene: Food Standards Agency rating 5, inspected 16 July 2025 by the London Borough of Brent.4
Sites: this is the only Sides premises the FSA register returns in London. The rest of the register shows Manchester Arndale, Lakeside, Merry Hill, Bluewater (rated 4, March 2026) and a Glasgow site awaiting its first inspection. The Dalston restaurant is gone. It opened on 26 October 2023, the register carries no Sides at that address in 2026, and the ordering platforms and maps have listed it permanently closed since around April 2025. That last part is platform and social evidence rather than a published report, and it is stated here as such.
Ordering: in store, or through Uber Eats, Deliveroo and Just Eat depending on the site.

Verdict

listed — Worth a pin and not a journey. Seven YouTubers with billions of views flew to Nashville, tasted across three continents and came back with a fried chicken brand, and the honest summary of it belongs to their own chief executive: people will come in for the hype, and whether they come back for the food is the open question. The company says its chicken is Red Tractor British, delivered fresh, never frozen, hand tossed in batter 120 times, with eleven heat levels from chicken salt to Carolina Reaper. Those are its words and nobody outside the business has published a tasted verdict on any of it, which after five years and a planned twenty sites is itself the finding. What is solid and useful: the chicken is halal, half the menu is built to run plant-based with seven vegan sauces, and the Wembley counter holds a clean top hygiene rating from July 2025. What is not: the standalone Dalston restaurant that drew two nights of camping fans in 2023 has gone, and the register now shows an aparthotel at its address. So this is the counter you eat at before a stadium night, on a lane where the alternatives are the same kind of thing.