This article could be entitled, “My $18.89 Chicken and Funnel Cake Experience at Busch Gardens Tampa Bay.” Let’s set the stage for you.

It’s a sweltering Tampa afternoon, the kind where your sunscreen gives up around noon and your socks start to feel like steamed buns. Naturally, we decided it was the perfect time to ingest an engineering marvel known as the Chicken and Funnel Cake with Mike’s Hot Honey at SheiKra Eats, conveniently located near the scream-powered air conditioning of one of Busch Gardens’ biggest coasters.

This dish—nay, this spectacle—costs a whopping $18.89. That’s right. Nearly 20 bucks for three chicken tenders tossed like souvenirs atop a double-decker funnel cake, drizzled with Mike’s Hot Honey, a sauce so sticky it could reassemble Humpty Dumpty.

Update: We visited Busch Gardens Tampa Bay on July 22, 2025, and noticed a price change. Thus, the Chicken and Funnel Cake with Mike’s Hot Honey is now $19.29!

SheiKra Eats: Worth the Wait?

But first, we need to discuss the wait…There was no line. Zero. Nada. So, we were the only ones there in the queue at ShieKra Eats—just us and a dream of fried food. And yet, it took over 15 minutes to receive our order somehow. We saw one Busch Gardens ambassador disappear into the kitchen like they were heading to Mordor to retrieve the One Funnel Cake. Another wandered by the register, looking like they were actively trying to solve a math equation.

Eventually, an ambassador materialized and asked if we had “ordered yet.” Yes…about 12 minutes ago. We had time to consider life choices and Google whether bees are harmed in the making of hot honey (they are not). In fairness, other people ordered chicken tenders after us and received their orders quickly.

And then it arrived. A plate so big it needed its own zip code. Okay, not that big. Still, the portion size of the Chicken and Funnel Cake makes this easily shareable.

At first glance, this dish is visually stunning in the way a carnival accident might be: towering, unbalanced, and unapologetically excessive. Two layers of funnel cake stacked like ill-advised pancakes, crowned with three golden chicken tenders that looked suspiciously like they’d just escaped the freezer section. A plastic ramekin of Mike’s Hot Honey also sat off to the side, as if it were reconsidering its life choices.

Chicken and Funnel Cake Taste at Busch Gardens Tampa Bay

Let’s talk taste…

The chicken was… well, chicken. About as thrilling as a weather delay. It wasn’t bad, but it also wasn’t whispering sweet nothings to our taste buds. Think: microwave tender but with a Florida tan.

The funnel cake, meanwhile, was sweet, doughy, and precisely what you’d expect from a theme park vendor that deep fries things until they stop resisting. Without the hot honey, the whole dish was strangely dry, a cruel irony for something that usually literally sweats oil through its paper plate under normal circumstances at a local county fair.

Enter Mike’s Hot Honey. This is the real star. It’s tangy, spicy, sweet—and it has the viscosity of tree sap in a Florida swamp. However, the moment we applied it, our hands began to resemble those of a toddler let loose in a syrup factory. Everything became sticky—our hands, our phone, and our sense of dignity. We are also relatively sure that we left a trail of fingerprints from ShieKra Eats to the flamingos.

Chicken and Funnel Cake: Not An All-Day Dining Option

Also, this dish is not included in the All-Day Dining Plan, because, of course, it isn’t. It’s too majestic, too sticky, too… impractical. This isn’t food you eat during a theme park day. This is the food you eat when you’ve given up on riding anything that spins for the next three hours and you’re ready to enter a deep-fried fugue state.

Final Thoughts

Is the Chicken and Funnel Cake with Mike’s Hot Honey worth $18.89 (or more)? Emotionally, yes. Financially, not even a little. It’s part meal, part challenge, part edible arts and crafts. Additionally, it’s the kind of dish that prompts questions like, “Do I eat this with a fork?” and “Should I have signed a waiver?”

It was a comical, chaotic mess of fried food and sugar. I wouldn’t rush to order it again, but I’m glad I did it once. Kind of like riding ShieKra: you survive it, you scream, and you walk away slightly sticky and wondering what just happened.

So if you’re at Busch Gardens Tampa Bay and feeling brave (or just really hungry), stop by Shiekra Eats and give the Chicken and Funnel Cake with Mike’s Hot Honey a try. Bring wet wipes. Bring patience. Most importantly, bring a friend to talk you out of it—or to split it with you when you inevitably regret ordering it solo.

For more theme park dining reviews, visit MSM News every weekday at noon Eastern Time. As always, eat like you mean it!

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