Last week I was really in the mood to give Dave’s Hot Chicken (McKinley Mall area location) a crack. I pulled up to find a sign on the door saying closed until further notice. Thought that may mean “for good” but turns out it was literally for maintenance reasons over 48 hours.

Anyway, I made my way there on a Sunday afternoon and this time they were open. I stuck with chicken fingers/tenders, now having a recent base of comparison between the Potter’s Field and Wingstop I’ve had over the past week.

Dave’s Hot Chicken comes with considerable hype----and considerable price. Was it worth it? Here’s my thoughts.

PROS

· Good tasting chicken

· The tenders are big. An order only comes with two and I ordered a third. I probably didn’t need to.

· Plenty of crunch if you like them on the crispy side.

· When you get a bite with ample medium dry rub on it, it’s a unique taste you won’t get at many places.

CONS

· Personally, I like my tenders/fingers plenty saucy and these are anything but, at least the medium I ordered.

· French fries were very ordinary and portioned on the smaller side.

· Perhaps an unpopular opinion but the Dave’s dipping sauce did nothing for me. Not even in the same league as the Chick Fil-A dipping sauce.

PRICE

· Borderline outrageous. To be fair, two tenders with fries for more was enough to get filled up for me and probably most people, at least by fast(ish) food standards. However, if you want sit down restaurant equivalent portion chicken fingers/tenders meal, ordering the third tender felt necessary.

· The two tender combo plus a third tender on the side, with fries and a medium sized drink was $22.77 before tax. If you stuck with two tenders it was $16.78 pre-tax. Either way that’s obnoxious pricing for this caliber food.

· I did leave a 10% tip that somehow turned into a 20% tip unbeknownst to me, which I typically don’t do at “fast food” style places and won’t be doing again.

RANDOM OBSERVATIONS

· I’m not one to throw shade at employees unless service is really bad but this needs to be said---- no one on shift was in any rush to clean off tables during the 40 minutes or so I was there. This is a busy joint with plenty of turnover and I didn’t see a single table get cleaned off---and I know firsthand because I found myself searching for the table with the least amount of wear on it.

CONCLUSION/SCORE

· Dave’s Hot Chicken is a straight up tweener spot. It’s too expensive and too long of a wait time to be considered fast food and while the chicken is good by similar style comparisons (Wingstop, Chick Fil-A, Popeyes), the quality and dining experience aren’t good enough to be sit down restaurant caliber either. Like, I said, a tweener spot.

· If I’m spending $23.00 before tax for three large tenders and run of the mill fries, I’d rather go to a real restaurant. I got fingers (which came with four) with fries at Potter’s Field last week, literally cheaper than Dave’s and significantly better.

· I don’t think the tenders at Dave’s Hot Chicken are bad, in fact the chicken itself was quite good.

· My big issue is it simply represents very poor value for your money. I tried it, I don’t regret it---I just see no reason to go back again. If I want to get filled up some tenders/fingers, there’s many better places similarly if not better priced. The thought of taking someone out to eat at a borderline fast food joint and spending $45-50 to do it doesn’t work for me.

· Score: 5.9 out of 10.

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RECENT TALKING BUFFALO REVIEWS:

POTTER’S FIELD (FINGERS)

WINGSTOP (FINGERS)

Truthfully, I spent this Thursday night trying to go eat chicken tenders at Dave’s Famous Chicken. Needless to say, I was shocked to pull up to the door and find their suddenly closed until further notice.

Dejected but no less hungry, I said screw it and decided to give Wingstop a try---partially because I’ve already been meaning to but also because its literally less than six minutes from my house in West Seneca.

For this specific visit, I did decide to keep it to chicken tenders only. I do plan on trying their wings (traditional and boneless) another time, but I’ll be doing that with a friend. For these tenders, I went riding solo and here’s my honest review.

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PROS

· Plenty of enjoyable tenderness on the inside of the tenders.

· Personally really enjoyed the French fries, well cooked.

· Cajun sauce I got on the side was fire! If it’s heat you’re looking for you’ll find it there.

· Mango Habanero had a solid kick.

· I didn’t wait long at all for my food (though observing plenty of others makes me think I got lucky)

CONS

· · The original hot sauce is bland and boring. Blah

· Louisianna Rub had potential but not nearly enough on the tenders to feel anything.

· Even if the flavor was good, they weren’t saucy enough.

· Terribly small eating area for anyone looking to dine in. Just five tables in total and four are two seaters. This place is clearly geared towards takeouts.

· Saw some people picking up food and one person waiting to dine stand around for an extended period of time (like I said, I think I got lucky).

PRICE: Five tenders (up to two flavors) with fries and a 20-ounce drink at just $14.14 is elite value. That’s literally cheaper than most McDonald, Wendy’s and Burger King combo deals.

RANDOM OBSERVATIONS

· Location is literally brand new, just a few weeks old.

· Nice, clean and sleek interior. I was impressed.

· Most definitely busy, especially with the pickups and Door Dash/Uber Eats.

· Subway is directly next door, Not sure I saw a single person go in there over the course of 40 minutes. Poor Subway.

CONCLUSION/SCORE

· As said previously, I’m saving the wings for another time, both traditional and boneless. I don’t have any expectations for those, though I didn’t have any for the tenders either.

· Wingstop’s tenders exceeded my expectations in that I had already written a shitty review of them in my head when ordering. In that regard, I was definitely wrong.

· Truth is franchise places almost always going to pale in comparison in places like Buffalo in terms of quality simply because Buffalo’s a staple for this kind of food--- wings, pizza, beef on weck and finger food. Wingstop competing with places like Bar Bill, Nine Eleven Tavern, Adolf’s, Kelly’s Korner, etc is bringing a knife to a gun fight—like, what are we doing here? Hell great food spots along with shitty weather and sports teams that rip our hearts out is all we have.

· So yeah, Wingstop probably ranks a lot higher on the quality scale in places like Florida than regions like here but again, I don’t think the tenders were really bad at all and I’m not going to crucify them for setting up shop in Buffalo.

· I probably won’t have them again but that’s only because of other high quality options within a short drive. It’s not you, Wingstop---it’s me.

· Score: 6.1 out of 10

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