Joella's Hot Chicken - St. Matthews — Restaurant in Louisville

We had family in town and decided to take them to Joella’s. My family was a party of 8. The restaurant had 4 people inside eating no crowed at all. We went up to the desk to place our order, the young lady was not friendly at all. We placed our order 8 meals totaling $140 and was leaving at a tip so a total of $160. My party walked over to the drink machine to get drinks and I see the cashier go into the kitchen. All I could hear is someone from the kitchen staff say “Are you serious?” And I could hear mumbling. I looked around to see if they were closing earlier and we didn’t see a sign. I was confused at what the problem was. Then the cashier walks out from the kitchen and takes the person standing in lines order and then walks back to the kitchen to talk. We finished getting our drinks and went to look for a seat. Son as we sat down 2 of the orders was coming out. It haven’t been 10 minutes from putting the order in. I thought man that was fast this food should be fresh. My husband walks to the kids table to check the order and he says the food is cold. I got up to check and the chicken strips and waffles were cold. The cashier was coming in to bring another meal and we told her the food was not cold. She proceeded to be argumentative stating the food is fresh they just cooked it. I said the chicken is not hot there is no steam coming from it and it’s cold to the touch . She places the food down saying it’s fresh and walks off. I am confused at why she is taking such offensive to what I am saying and not even checking. I gather the meals and go the desk and ask for the manager. The assistant general manager Mickey ask what the problem is and I let her know that the 3 meals she brought out so far are cold and the way the cashier acted we just want a refund and leave. She states the chicken is cooked first then the waffles so it probably sat there and did get cold. The chicken was not freshly cooked it was old and they didn’t even try to heat is back up. I don’t want to patronize a place where I am being yelled out telling me I am wrong . I am glad I took my business elsewhere and had a great time. I will not be eating at this restaurant again. Customer service needs to...

My wife and I went to Joella's based on a recommendation from the lady who opened our account at a local credit union. We asked where we should go for lunch that was local and Joella's was the place she recommended. I believe her exact words were "If you like chicken, there's Joella's just down the road. The food is great, but it's always ALWAYS busy".

We were sold.

As soon as we walked in we saw that "always ALWAYS buy" was true. The line was about 6 deep, but the order takers (in fact, all of the employees ) were hustling to keep things going. Since this was our first visit we had some questions, but they were answered by the very knowledgeable order taker. They offer a variety of chicken options with varying level of heat.

Jim likes heat. Jim can take heat. Jim ordered the wings (three, very large) at the HOT level.

As much as Jim likes heat and can take heat, these things were s-p-i-c-y!!! (with three exclamation points). It tasted great, but I wasn't expecting THAT level of heat. I was surprised more than anything. For my side I had the macaroni & cheese and their slaw. (both were very good).

Their fountain drinks are not branded. No Coke® , no Pepsi® , no Dr. Pepper®. The soft drinks are Boyland Brand soft drinks. I had the Birch Beer soda and it was really good, and tasted not entirely unlike Faygo's Rock & Rye.

They have Nutella® poppers.

Let me say that again: They Have Nutella® Poppers!!!

(and, yes, they were incredible (I wish I could underline the word "incredible"))

The dining room was really crowded, so we had to sit outside. At less than 50° outside it was a bit chilly for outside dining, even though they had the ceiling heaters. After a while a table opened up and we were able to move inside.

Joella's also offers glasswear and craft beer.

My thanks to Bethany, who recommended Joella's to us....

First, I have to say: the side items we got were pretty darn amazing. Broccoli slaw, mac and cheese, even French fries which are pretty standard everywhere were incredible at Joellas. The layout and decor were better than most places of this nature. They have Boylan brand sodas--if a Pepsi or Coke is mandatory for you, you won't find it here. As for the chicken: the quality is good. Not as good as the sides, but still good. They have multiple levels of heat for the sauce. It's called Joellas Hot Chicken, and if you order your chicken hot, that's exactly what you'll get. I decided to err on the side of caution, so I got their hot sauce, but asked for it on the side. The chicken comes fried very dark. It's also not those giant GMO steroid induced fast food chicken pieces you may be used to. It's normal sized for a real chicken--which may be disappointing to some.

The sauce: if you do not like hot, be careful. Joellas is. It the place to show off how courageous you are when you own up to "I like my food as hot as possible". You've been warned. I dipped my plain fried chicken into the hot sauce which it's normally tossed in--I want left coughing for the first half dozen bites until I got accustomed to the heat level. Afterwards I still applied the sauce in such a sparing amount that I realized I could probably never order this sauce as it's intended with the entire chicken drenched in it. The service was good, food was good and the only real drawback was parking...