I tried fried chicken from 3 different grocery stores, and there's only one I'll buy from now on

Fried chicken is a versatile, crowd-pleasing lunch or dinner that's much easier to buy than make from scratch.

So I decided to compare fried chicken from three grocery-store delis.

Where I live in San Francisco, California, neither my local Costco nor Whole Foods had any fried chicken when I checked. Eventually, I scored options from Lucky Supermarket, Safeway, and Walmart Supercenter.

I tried fried thighs and breasts from each chain to see how both types of meat tasted.

Lucky Supermarket is a California-based grocery chain that's very similar to the popular chain Albertsons because it's operated by it.

A fried thigh cost $1.99 and a breast was $2.99.

The fried chicken had a crunchy coating with a nice bite, but the meat was still moist and moderately flavorful.

It wasn't overly oily or salty, and the batter stuck to the chicken instead of flaking off.

I didn't notice any obvious seasonings other than salt.

I paid $5.99 for four pieces — a leg, thigh, wing, and breast — from Safeway.

At first glance, I didn't think the chicken looked very appetizing. Instead of having a consistent, crunchy coating, it was patchy.

The crust looked like it was flaking off, and on some parts of the chicken, there was just a thin layer of batter that didn't have any texture.

This chicken was dangerously tasty.

Even though the batter was on the thin side and the thigh seemed a bit overcooked, the meat was still so moist.

I didn't think it was as nicely fried as Lucky's and the coasting wasn't the crispiest, but it still made a major impression for the incredible flavor of the meat alone.

After waiting for 20 minutes for a fresh batch to be brought out, I had high hopes for Walmart's fried chicken.

I paid $1.18 for a thigh and $1.98 for a breast.

The coating was super crunchy, but not quite crispy.

Even though the texture was still good, I missed having a crispy, oily crust. This chicken tasted like it was fried in bread crumbs instead of batter.

I also thought the coating lacked flavor since it wasn't particularly salty. Additionally, I didn't love the meat, as it tasted similarly bland to me.

Even though Safeway's option wasn't the prettiest, I kept wanting to eat more. Somehow, it reminded me of the deliciousness of a rotisserie chicken.

The meat was moist and perfectly salty. And although the fried coating wasn't very crispy and didn't entirely cover the chicken, the flavor was great.

If I was craving fried chicken, I would either go to Safeway or a tried-and-true fast-food joint.