Dave's Hot Chicken — Restaurant in Town of Guilderland

Finally got around to trying this place out. I originally set out to grab a sub at Jersey Mike's, but changed my mind when I saw this place's cool interior and large number of positive reviews on google.

4.7 rating with 1,200 reviews. That's suspiciously high for a fairly new fried chicken spot in the city. However, I'd been getting around to giving this place a shot for quite some time.

Decor was nice, exposed ventilation, pseudo graffiti all over the walls, colored incandescent bulbs and pop music playing. Trendy, urban theme.

I approached the counter, looked at the menu and saw chicken and fries. That's about it. Chicken and fries. I ordered the #2 which consists of two tenders and a serving of fries served over white bread with pickles and sauce. No drink . $12.99 plus $3.59 drink. Chicken comes in 7 different heat levels.Total came to $17.54 , and I was prompted for a 20% to 25% tip. That's like $21-$22 for a fast food chicken tenders. Hmmm...

I received a buzzer to let me know when order was ready. Only waited about 3 minutes. Got my box. Tasted the fries. They tasted strange with a weird seasoning blend. Next the chicken. The chicken is heavily coated in this weird smoked paprika based dry rub. I can't really compare it to too much. Kinda like Dorito sweet chili, a little like old bay. Simply tasted strange. Not something someone with culinary knowledge would create. Tasted paprika, sugar, salt, msg.....Likely someone in marketing picked this stuff because it's supposed to be cool and trendy. Chicken itself was , shall we say, "well done". Dry and stringy. Nothing special. Fast food.

I'm certain this place uses professional marketing services to boost their ratings. They really only serve one meal: chicken and fries. It's not a very good meal. Limited market a best.

Bottom line: You can get a better meal at KFC for less than half the price, or go to many full service restaurants like the 99 or cracker barrel and get a better meal and service. This place is just some hyped up clip joint designed to extract dollars from unsuspecting...

I always wanted to try this place out. I drive by it all the time. It's usually pretty busy, so I thought today. I would give it a shot, I stopped in for lunch. the inside was clean with nicely decorated walls, which gave me a graffiti vibe. surprisingly, I was first in line when I walked in I stood there for a couple of minutes while the young man behind the register had his head down and was on his cell phone a co-worker said to him we have a customer he looked up at me I smiled and said hello I got no smile back or an apology for making me wait. In fact, he seemed very annoyed I was there he then said, "What would you like?" kind of rudely You can tell he didn't want to be there there was also a young lady with him behind the counter she was OK but you can tell she didn't want to be there either by the way she responded when I spoke to her about my missing soda I ordered. This bad excuse for customer service already turned me off to this establishment and I would not come back just because of how I was treated but since I was already there I just ordered for the first and last time. I got a daves #3 one tender and one slider with cheese and fries. The fries were the best thing in the meal, very crispy on the outside and soft on the inside and very well seasoned. The tender was OK it came out hot but was a little dry. I wasn't much for the seasoning, though it had an off-putting sweetness to it that I didn't like. The slider was not that good, but also, a little dry inside, the kale slaw was watery and bland, and the daves sauce on it was just OK, nothing special. This combo meal came out to $19.59, which is very expensive for lackluster customer service and not very good food. This is a one-time try for me. I will not...

I cannot write a review without bias towards my personal tastes. So with that, this review goes towards my tastes, yours may differ.

That out of the way, let's talk about the food: I went with my spouse, who ordered the same thing I did, in different spice levels. We ordered the #2: Two sliders and fries meal. I ordered mild, my spouse ordered medium. The first thing I can say is thats a lot of spice! Mine was perfectly mild in the "hot" scale, but there's so many other spices that it is bursting with flavor every bite. And there was a noticable difference in heat levels between mild and medium. If you're unsure where to start? Try medium, it's got a kick but won't burn. The food? Great stuff!

Service: The service was good, but could use improvement. The staff were very courteous, and humble. They listened well, and worked like a well oiled machine together. The only issue I had, was a general lack of knowledge about the restaurant, or the food. There should be some form of help when one asks "How hot is x", even if it's some script that's been memorized. Other than that? The staff were superb.

Finally, the atmosphere: I love the graffiti, unfortunately the inside as a whole goes for that huge warehouse feeling so many places are going for these days, when I prefer some close and cozy booths, or nooks. There was simply too much space, and left me feeling a little too exposed. More like a messhall rather than a nice restaurant.

All in all, I wouldn't prefer to eat in. But for take out? It's delicious and totally worth a try. I'll certainly be a...