Bolton's Spicy Chicken & Fish — Restaurant in Nashville-Davidson

PSA: If you go anywhere near Bolton's, walk don't drive. If you do drive, do not park in the lot that they rent next door. There's a high likelihood that your car get’s towed, no matter if you're a customer of Bolton's or at Hawkers next door. Here's what I know:

1. Bolton Matthews and his wife Dollye opened Bolton's Spicy Chicken & Fish in 1997. They earned and grew the distinction of quality hot chicken and hot fish over the following ~24 years.
2. Bolton was named after his uncle Bolton, who was a staffer at Prince's Hot Chicken. Now that's a lineage to grow from, the OG Hot Chicken king.
3. Bolton Matthews passed away in 2021, and his wife, Dollye, started a couple of new ventures during the pandemic, including Bolton's Spicy Cafe (Bell Road) and an establishment in Midtown Foods near Marathon Village (*from Nashville Scene)
4. This original Bolton's Spicy Chicken & Fish, appears to be managed (perhaps owned) by people who are not maintaining the original vision and customer service. Here's our experience, with the management, not the food.

We recently met a friend for lunch at Hawkers, next door to Bolton's. While the small Hawkers lot was full, there was room in the parking lot adjacent to Bolton's, a short walk over to Hawkers. We proceeded to park in an unmarked parking spot. The others, along the Bolton's property were each marked by the sign you can see in the pictures below. Our spot (now occupied by the charcoal Hyundai) was not marked at all.

Upon returning to our car, it was missing and towed to Copeland Towing's impound yard. I went inside Bolton's, waited about 15 mins for the group in front of me to order their food. When I asked about our vehicle and expressed that it was not in a marked spot, the person behind the counter said, "Take me to court," and walked away.

Copeland's tow truck returned to the lot as we were arranging a rideshare to their yard, and they actually seemed a little embarrassed, or sheepish, at best. The proprietor of Bolton's came out during that time to identify more cars to be towed.

To conclude: a) We retrieved our vehicle for the $231 mentioned in prior reviews.($210 plus 10% fuel surcharge or $21) b) Overall, Copeland's was pleasant to deal with despite our frustration with the situation. c) I do understand that mis-use of personal/business parking can be a challenge. I'm sure that Bolton's has some arrangement (lease) with the parking lot owners (nearby church), but the tenacity of towing customers, innocent parkers or intentional parkers if excessive. d) This appears to be a revenue generator for Bolton's, given how much energy they put into getting cars towed. Some commission, or kick-back, perhaps. My speculation of course. e) While originally enticed to try Bolton's Chicken in the future, given it's history of quality chicken, we will not be doing so. No need to pad the pockets there any more than we already have.

R.I.P. Bolton Matthews. God...

We were in town visiting and this place was a STRONG suggestion by the friend of a family member. Because I am a catfish eater we decided to give it a try on our last day, on the way home. And man-o-man, it did NOT disappoint. I know this place is better known for it's chicken but the CATFISH is where it's at. This has got to be the best piece of fried fish that I have EVER had. We walked in and immediately knew that this was a spot for the locals and we had voluntarily by reference, struck gold. We waited in line for about 15-20 minutes before we were able to order and we waited another 70 +/- for our food, it was well worth the wait. We weren't bothered by the wait at all because folks that were trying their luck with the extra spicy seasoning made for quite the entertainment. The french fries however, weren't best but I don't know if I can honestly say that they wouldn't have been good if we ate them as soon as we got our food. Steam did have the chance to rest on our fries so I won't place this fault on Bolton's as that wouldn't be fair, true or accurate. I would only suggest that you eat your food while it's hot, don't let steam get to it because it does alter what I think would be fries with a bite and fish with a crunch. Though steam sat on our fish, there was a little crunch still present but we are 99.9% sure that it wasn't what it would have been had we openend the box immediately to enjoy our freshly made meal. I'm no local but it doesn't take long to see that this place is not a quick bite to eat, your food is hot, fresh and prepared when you order and I can appreciate that. I ordered mac-n-cheese and that was probably the only mistake I made as it wasn't tasty at all. I brought it home and tried to doctor it but nothing made it better, it was too watery and didn't taste like cheese. It is for sure the one thing on the menu I wouldn't ever order again. As for the meal, this was the first time I have ever eaten onions, and pickles with my fish and darlings, it's a treat on the tongue.

When we visit good ol' Music City again this is a sure fire stop for us. As well, the only downside was everything that is offered on their website wasn't availabe in store (in regards to sides, I wanted Mashed Potatoes but that wasn't on their store menu ....see photos below), but that will NOT keep us from coming back.

My husband orderd hot and I, the wimp, ordered no-spice. See the pictures below of the inside and my meal, I don't what happened to the photo with the spices on it but something is better than nothing right? S/N the restrooms are pretty weird but it's a hole in the wall/ diamond in the rough type restaurant so we didn't expect anything fancy but please,...

When they call this hot chicken, they mean HOT.

I ordered “light mild” after their warnings. My mouth was on FIRE. Not just my mouth actually, but anything any microscopic remnants of spice touched, like my upper lip and nose (everyone at my table was sweating, noses running, tearing up. One guy had to take a lap outside. I thought they were punking us or something, ha). It absolutely radiates. Just don’t go in expecting that anything except “no spice” will be mild. I can handle some spice and I’ve never had anything comparable. I then ordered the “no spice” and it was totally bland and didn’t eat much of that, would not recommend this place at all if you don’t like or want to try a LOT of heat.

I think they may have made a mistake on my order because it looked almost the same as the medium or hot. Apparently that’s the norm. Once you get over the initial burn though, I guess you numb up and then it starts getting pretty tasty. I thought I couldn’t take another bite but then I did about 30 min later, and it was totally different than that first one.

I’m not rating this place based on the heat, since that’s a matter of opinion. But the floor was so sticky it was hard to walk with flip flops. The worst thing is that they were out of water bottles when we were eating (absolutely necessary to have something to drink when eating that level of spice!!) and they didn’t even offer a cup of water to replace it with, which was the one thing that made me kind of shocked and pretty peeved. All they had in the case were super sugary drinks (no Diet Coke) so I had to drink Coke with 65 grams of sugar in it. If you’re diabetic maybe bring some water. I ordered turnip greens and they weren’t great, the corn was average. And it’s not just the chicken that’s hot- they didn’t seem to have any air conditioning, it was the same temperature inside as out in mid-July, which didn’t help with the spice.

They were super nice though, made us feel welcome and the owner came out and talked to us. It was a great, authentic, no-bones-about-it kinda vibe, and a great time with friends, a bonding experience. Will probably bring out of town guests so that I can see them freak...