I Tried Dave's Hot Chicken, and I'm No Longer a Skeptic of Its Price or Heat

Dave's Hot Chicken is one of the fastest growing restaurant chains in the U.S., but I was skeptical that a big, celebrity-backed chain could pull off something close to the OG Nashville hot chicken in flavor, heat, or value. After just one visit to Dave's, though, I'm a believer.

The best fried chicken I've ever had — Nashville hot-style or not — was from Prince's, the place where it all started in Nashville. I'm not from the area, though, and many restaurants' renditions here in the Midwest are dismal approximations of the real thing. When I heard all the hype around Dave's, which opened in my area to much fanfare, long lines, and some griping about the prices, I had to see how it stacked up.

Friends, I'm here to tell you: It's probably the best Nashville hot chicken you're going to find if you don't live in Tennessee. That's because the Dave's Hot Chicken menu is very small, so they put all their effort into perfecting a few things, namely fried chicken tenders, french fries, and the crimson-hued spice mixes that season them both. 

The tenders (you won't find any bone-in chicken here) are pretty massive, which makes the $12 price tag for two tenders, sliced white bread, fries, pickles, and sauce easier to swallow. The meat isn't particularly juicy, but it's tender and fried to a deep brown with a craggy, crunchy coating that holds on to the seasoning very well. I was plenty full after a couple tenders and a side of fries, even though I wasn't sure if I would be.

I am not a wimp when it comes to heat, so I tried four of the heat levels offered: mild, medium, hot, and extra hot. There's also no spice, lite mild, and reaper, which requires signing a waiver to order (even if I enjoyed that much heat, I'm not filling out paperwork just to eat dinner). The seasonings were applied in a barely-liquid, oily paste — not a sauce — to ensure the tender stayed crunchy, something that most hot chicken places outside of Nashville get wrong. Overall, the heat level is below that of the real deal in Nashville, but not by much. The extra hot will get your sinuses clear, but it's a slow burn and takes a few bites to really build to that level.

When it came to plain tenders, the hot level was the sweet spot for me. Mild was noticeably sweet and tasted too much like seasoned salt, while medium didn't pack nearly enough punch. On the sliders, which are more like small sandwiches than true, tiny sliders, extra hot was the way to go since it was tempered by the creamy, orange Dave's sauce, fresh kale slaw, and pickle slices. Though it was $14 for two sliders, fries, and extra sauce, I was totally satisfied with the value I got for my money — especially since even the crinkle cut fries were crispy, fresh, and dusted with mild seasoning.

Gallery: The Best (and Worst) Fast-Food Spicy Chicken Sandwiches

Though it operates like a fast food chain, the attention to detail and quality of the food is light-years ahead of places like Popeye's or KFC. You can order each individual tender with different spice levels; when you do, they put a sticker on the paper or takeout box to indicate which tender is which. Small touches like that, along with chicken that closely resembles my experience in Nashville, means that I'll be going back to Dave's Hot Chicken whenever I need some heat.

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