When I discovered that there was a new chicken spot in town, I got a little excited, especially since it specialized in hot chicken. While the usual chicken joints are good, eating from the same restaurant eventually becomes a bit repetitive—so when I heard that Dave’s Hot Chicken was the newest chicken restaurant in town, I was ecstatic to try something different for a change.
My friend and I made a pitstop there after work one night just to check it out. When we looked at the menu, we thought to ourselves–gee, 12 dollars for a two-tender meal with fries sounds like highway robbery–that is, until we saw the size of the tenders and realized instantly why it was so expensive.
On our plates were two huge, spicy, heavily seasoned chicken tenders with a slice of plain white toast and french fries on the side. Apprehensive of how spicy the tenders were, we took our first few bites cautiously. Fortunately, the chicken wasn’t unbearably hot. In fact, the spiciness factor was not what made the chicken unenjoyable for me but rather the absurd amount of seasoning that was added to it.
With no knowledge of how much sodium each tender contained, it would be safe to assume from just one bite that the amount was absurdly high. I mean, it only took about two bites before I paused and squinted my eyes from how intense the flavor was. There was so much seasoning that I practically tasted more spice than chicken at one point. With all of that being said, the tenders weren’t bad but instead just packed with way too much sodium.
Although the fries were also heavily seasoned, they ended up being pretty tasty. The bread was a good side item to help neutralize the heat from the tenders. I’d rate the meal, as a whole, a 6 out of 10.
Astonishingly, the trademarked chicken was the least admirable part of the dish.
The best way to describe the tenders in one word—-is overwhelming. The flavor itself was not bad, and the degree of spiciness was manageable—-but the amount of salt and seasoning in one tender alone had to have broken one of the ten health commandments—-and no, that’s not a real thing, or at least I don’t think it is. If you look up how many grams of sodium just one Dave’s Hot chicken tender contains, you’d find out that there are approximately 1,210 milligrams of sodium in one tender. That means that a two-piece tender meal offers about 2,410 milligrams of sodium in just the chicken itself, a number that exceeds the recommended sodium intake per day.
No wonder why I went home that night with a pounding headache. The salt was far too much for me and completely turned me off from the meal. Putting that amount of sodium into a meal is just a ticket to a hospital visit for anyone. However, the chicken spot does have a lot of potential, and some of the other items on their menu seem promising. I am definitely open to giving the restaurant a second try, but for right now, I think I’ll pass on the blood-pressure-raising dish for the sake of my own health.
