So I tried Dave's Hot Chicken, which you were referencing above, today.
I had the slider combo, which comes with fries, and ordered a soft drink.
The slider is, in fact, a full-sized chicken sandwich, served with pickles and some kale slaw and spicy, creamy sauce to your level of prescribed heat.
Heat levels are listed as:
I ordered 'Hot'; staff seemed to feel this was pushing it, LOL. I enjoyed the heat level which had some sinus-clearing capabilities, but I would call it medium.
Which is all good, but hotter and you start to lose the taste/flavour of everything else.
My overall take on the sandwich:
- Good chicken, reads as prepared in store, not from frozen, doesn't feel like franken food, nice crunch on the batter.
- Sauce was at the heat level I expected which I would call 'blow your nose'; LOL; I would then logically assume the heat levels above are sweat a bit, and OMG it burns.
That said, I found the modest amount of Kale slaw brought no value. I like coleslaw on a sandwich such as this to cut the richness/offer some acid and different non-fried, crunch. The 2 tablespoons full of leafy slaw misses the point as it more or less wilts into the bun and doesn't taste like anything.
The pickels were you standard fast food variety, small, thin, crinkle cut and franklly under-flavoured. Too bad.
I think this sandwich would really benefit from a more meaningful, cabbage-based coleslaw, with a refreshing hit of acid like Lime, or Cider vinegar. The pickle should be thicker and larger to hold up to the sandwich and should be either extra garlic or full sour.
****
The fries are from frozen, sadly, but that said, are among the better from frozen, fast-food fries I've had.
Crinkle-cut, extra-crispy exterior and light, fluffy interior.
- 2 point off, they only offer ketchup for your fries no vinegar or alternate dips.
- The nice staff did mange to find a packet of mayo, which was preferable to the Dave's Sauce or Ketchup (both too sweet). But vinegar or an aioli of some kind would be preferable.
Lime Aioli might be quite nice; or in the alternative, perhaps smoky ancho.
- Order turn over time was a bit pokey, they got slammed just in front of me, so about 7 minutes, not terrible, not ideal for 'fast food'; at $12.99 for the combo, plus $1.99 for the drink, the meal was
$14.98+ tax (the machine also solicits a tip).
$16.93 all-in.
Ambiance is meh, but fine.
Overall, quite pleased for fast food; consider it decent value for money with the ability to get some decent heat.
Some relatively minor tweaks and it could be very good.