Dave's Hot Chicken — Restaurant in El Cajon

I've never been on the Dave's Hot Chicken obsession train but I decided to study at this place just to try something different. There are positives and negatives about this place which I will list below.

Positives:

The service is good! The employees were all friendly and my food came out fairly quickly. They also gave me more than enough sauce. However, it was also pretty dead when I ordered. The restaurant is in a good location and I didn't have much trouble finding parking.

The chicken was fantastic! I got the second spiciest and third spiciest options and they were delicious. The fries were also decent albeit being slightly under-seasoned and the Dave's sauce was great.

Negatives:

There is FAR less seating than there needs to be. I truly don't know what they were thinking when they put only a few tables into a restaurant this large, especially one that gets extremely busy. And it can get EXTREMELY busy, as it did right after I ordered my food and sat down. I was very lucky to have gotten a seat. The dining room here is huge; they could probably double the amount of seating and there would still be enough space to move around.

I've never understood the plain, unseasoned piece of white bread that they include with the chicken (obviously this isn't this location's fault). I guess the point is you can make a sandwich, but I feel like it's just a cop-out to avoid including good sandwich bread. I didn't eat it.

Overall this place is decent, and I definitely prefer it to the Pacific Beach location due to the ease of parking. But I don't know if I would return due to the uncertainty of seating unless I'm getting takeout. The price isn't super heinous, as I've seen chicken tenders go for way more (and these include fries and are quite large and nicely seasoned) but they should probably fix the issues they have. Obviously the white bread thing won't be fixed but PLEASE put more seating into this...

First time after hearing great, in person, reviews.

Got a number 3 in mild (1x Slider, 1x Tender) and added 1x tender in medium. Was expecting some heat so I started in the middle.

Food presentation is great, slice of toast, sauce, some crisp pickles, and seasoned fries, all delicious.

The breading on the chicken was crisp and the chicken inside was moist. If you like spicy food, I'd say medium will be "light" for you.

The "slider" is a sandwich. It is not small. Has sauce, slaw, and a couple of pickles. Delicious.

Price is on the higher side for this type of food but the quality is definitely there.

Ignore the soyboy and snowflake crowd complaining about the heat of the spice. There's a level for everyone.

The only downside, and this is no fault of Dave's, is the parking lot situation at this location (El Cajon). It's near the new In-N-Out. The setup and action in this lot will raise your blood pressure. Plan ahead and order so you can have someone run in and get it while you snake around the lot. If you don't, you'll likely never find a space, or if you do, you'll be trapped forever by the never ending In-N-Out drive thru traffic.

I WILL be returning and going hotter next time. I have nothing negative to say about the food or experience. Glad I went and can't wait to return and add some spice. Definitely worth all the parking lot headaches.

Would...

Fresh new style of chicken to try, I've never tried Nashville fried chicken, but I'm glad I did... Feel free to zoom in on photos. Similar menu to canes, but the chicken is about 10x better and the length of your hand and the thickness of your wrist. The chicken outside is nice and crispy. Not like canes or KFC where you get a crunch or two in-between the soggy skin, but a full on crunchy shell that leaves delicious spices and sauce on your finger tips just like eating Cheetos. I got the Mac n cheese along with their slider and strip. Unlike canes they are not stingy on sauce, for our two meals we had 4 sauce cups which was more than plenty. The Hot, was indeed hot, and I usually hose my food in tapatio, cholula's, Valentina's or whatever isn't tobasco around. All in all expect about $30 for two people and to have left-overs for the next meal. We ordered Mobile pick Up and we're in and out in about 2 minutes, just walk in and go to the rack with the bags and let em know your name. If they could some how lower their price about $5 a person (Maybe remove the decals from the 2 napkins they gave us, as the utensils packet already had napkins), I can see them being a Cane's killer locally.

TLDR: Better than Canes and KFC, Crunchy shell, Seasoned well, quick service, about...