Dave's Hot Chicken — Restaurant in Minnetonka

UPDATE: Decided to try this again as a while has passed. Service, wait time, and spice level has improved a lot since my initial review. I decided to order "hot" vs "medium" and this is what I was expecting last time. Food came out minutes later and was as good as I remembered initially. Due to my previous experience, I still am leaving it at 4 stars as I read others more recent posts sometimes orders are still messed up or longer waits than expected, but all in all it seems they finally have their act together as I do see their overall star rating has increased as well since their original opening months! Well done.

Original Post: Came here over lunch to try it out since there finally wasn't a line out the door. Ordering was quick. Then came the star reduced review. Waited over 30 minutes for this "fast food," watched a person grab their order from the counter and walk out. My number still hasn't been called. The person who just went outside came back in saying they got the wrong order. The order sits on the counter. Several minutes later a new batch of numbers is being called and mine is skipped. I waited a few more minutes before going to the counter to ask if my number has been called, (knowing it hadn't been) and the server looked at the to go bag the person brought back inside saying it wasn't their order and tried handing it to me. I told them I watched someone take this out of the restaurant. The only saving grace is I was met with an immediate realization and pivot to rush order my ticket. Came out in a few more minutes. Food was good but spice levels are way off. Medium was more mild. Got a slider and fries which made me think I'd give them another chance, but will wait longer until they get their service figured out. Anyone going, pay attention to everything going on around you so this doesn't happen to you...

This is the first location here in MN that opened just over two weeks ago. I have been to this location twice so far and both times have been rather chaotic. Granted, they are still new to the area and trying to get things figured out.

By the time the place opens at 11:00, there is - as of this review -a line already wrapped around the building. Once open, they let in maybe 5-10 people at a time to place their orders. Once those people have gone thru, they will let in another group even though the group before is still standing around waiting for their food. The first time I went, they were only taking in person orders and - arriving 15 minutes before opening - it was 45 minutes until I had my order in hand. About 2 days ago, they started taking online orders. When I went to the establishment - again 15 minutes early - I was one of the first 5 in line. We went in at 11:00 - placed our orders - but then stood around for another 20 minutes before the 1st guy in line received his order. It seemed that they were prioritizing online orders for some reason while the place continued to fill up with patrons ordering and waiting for food. Again - even being one of the first 5 in line - it was a 45 minute process to get food.

While the food is good - my order has been wrong both times. First time there was no cheese on the sliders I paid extra for and the next time, one of the sliders I ordered was just under the reaper level (as opposed to the mild one I had ordered). After driving away, there was no way I was going to go back and hassle with trying to get it swapped out.

I suspect the 'issues' mentioned above will get ironed out over time once they have been opened for a while and the hype dies down. I'll give it a month or so and will go back. Good chicken - better...

I lived in California for a couple years so I was stoked hearing that they finally came here. Finally went and here's what I have to say. The food is delicious, and the prices are great, but the experience was awful. It was so busy everyone was shoulder to shoulder with people waiting for their orders to be called out. The food was taking absolutely forever to leave the kitchen and get called over the microphone. I immediately asked for my pickup order (ordered online and arrived 15 mins later) and they said it wasn't ready and it was coming right out. I waited and asked again about 10 minutes later, still not ready. I was in there for 45 minutes (my food was ordered 15 mins before i got there!) waiting for my food.

The worst part is once I got my food and looked at the receipt, the time on the receipt was from a half hour earlier. They had cooked my meal and sent it onto mobile order racks out of sight and it was never called out or brought to me despite asking twice about it prior to it being ready. There didn't seem to be any communication between the kitchen and front end. They remade it for me for free though since it wasn't warm anymore, which was nice. I was not the only person this was happening to that night. I was standing next to a bunch of the same people for 40 minutes.

I feel bad for the place, it truly is amazing food but I cannot see myself going again until they streamline their process or are able to meet their demand better. Food wasn't ready, was had to stand (no room to sit, the building is way too small) for 45 minutes, and then it was given to me cold. The wait and chaos of it all drops my usual 5 star opinion of Daves down to...