Dave’s Hot Chicken - 300 Mishawum Rd, Woburn, MA 01801
A few months ago in spring 2022, Danny sent me a post on Instagram for Dave’s Hot Chicken, a new fast-casual chicken restaurant in the Boston area. Danny had been in the habit of sending me interesting looksing restaurants with fried chicken sandwiches, likely hoping I would finally get around to reviewing them. But I put it off, saying I’d get around to it eventually. If I’m honest, most of the time I say this, I’m never going to do it.
But that changes now. I was out and about north of Boston today driving around and enjoying a nice almost-Fall day in my Fiesta ST. I was about to head home when I had the urge to treat myself to dinner. I remembered Danny sending me a couple posts of fried chicken sandwiches to try, and Dave’s Hot Chicken was the first one I found.
The Dave’s Hot Chicken location I went to in Woburn is one of two locations near Boston. The other is in Newton. The Woburn location is located in a strip mall near a busy shopping complex. When I walked up to the restaurant, I saw it was very busy. What I didn’t know was whether that was because of its food or simply its busy location.
Inside the restaurant, things were loud and didn’t seem particularly well-organized. Neither of these elements were too bad though, just notable compared to something like Chick Fil A.
I got in line to order and looked up at the menu. I was struck by how simple it was. Dave’s menu pretty much consists of two things: chicken tenders and chicken sandwiches. Both of these items are pretty simple as well, the only varieties being the choice of 6 or so different levels of spiciness. There are sides like crinkle-cut french fries, mac & cheese, and kale cole slaw, as well as some milkshakes but the clear focus is the chicken.
Dave’s offers 3 different combo meal options. One option consists of 2 chicken tenders, a slice of bread, and fries, another option consists of 2 chicken “slider” sandwiches and fries, and a third option is 1 chicken tender and 1 chicken sandwich and fries.
Wanting to get a good idea of Dave’s chicken on my first visit, I chose the option for 1 chicken tender and 1 sandwich, both with the spiciness level of “Hot,” which sits below “Extra Hot” and “Reaper.” I didn’t realize until after I ordered but the meal combos don’t include a drink. I wasn’t bothered by this as I had a water bottle with me, but it’s a detail worth noting. The total cost came to $13.69.
After ordering, my experience wasn’t smooth. The restaurant was loud and there were a lot of people waiting for dine-in and takeout orders. It was difficult to hear order numbers being called at times, and the restaurant itself isn’t laid out to let people wait for their orders without feeling in the way of others. Worse than this though was that the staff seemed to have lost or cleared my order without making it. I was order #202, which I’m pretty certain was never called. After about 10 minutes, I noticed people who ordered after me getting their orders so I walked up to the counter to ask. The person I talked to asked her coworker about my order and neither could remember bagging it. What I think happened is they cleared it off their order screen accidentally. That happened occasionally when I worked at McDonald’s in high school so I wasn’t too bothered. They took my receipt and expedited my order so I got a fresh chicken tender and sandwich combo eventually.
My meal came in a pretty standard takeout container. I didn’t realize until I got mine but the chicken “slider” sandwich is basidcally a large chicken tender on a too-small bun, covered in cole-slaw and Dave’s sauce, which is a pretty standard fried chicken sandwich sauce, similar to that at Raising Cane’s and others. It tastes like it is mustard based but sweet. The chicken tender was actually two smaller ones sitting atop a slice of doughy white bread. I’m not sure if that’s how they usually come or not but the overall amount of food was appropriate.
The chicken itself was very good. The “Hot” spiciness level I chose had some bite but wasn’t too hot. It reminded me a lot of a “Nashville Hot Chicken” sandwich Applebee’s had years ago. It was hot enough for me to taste and appreciate it, but not so hot that the average person would complain. The heat was due to oil added to the chicken, which I prefer to a traditional sauce since it doesn’t dominate the chicken or make it soggy. Apart from the heat, the chicken was relatively crispy and very juicy. On its own, I was very happy with it.
I wasn’t thrilled with the chicken “slider” sandwich as a whole. The bun was much too small for the length of the chicken tender, but it was also twice as wide as the chicken. What I ended up doing was cutting the tender in half to make the most use of the bun. This turned out pretty well, but it didn’t leave me feeling like I had a great sandwich. Instead, I felt like I had some good chicken stuck on some bread.
The chicken tender atop the white bread was also good. I preferred it to the sandwich since it seemed more honest about what it was, which is a good, hot piece of chicken. I enjoyed this a lot.
Dave’s fries were surprisingly good. They were crinkle cut fries like Shake Shack, but I liked Dave’s a lot better. They were hotter, crispier, and had a tasty cajun style seasoning on them. I enjoyed them a lot dipped in Dave’s sauce.
All things considered, I enjoyed my meal at Dave’s Hot Chicken. I wish my order had gone more smoothly but things happen. I would go again, but I think I’d rather have the combo with the two chicken tenders, and I’d probably try the “Extra Hot” option.
Dave’s Hot Chicken: 7/10
(Sorry for not having an actual picture. I’d taken one of my meal but apparently my phone was out of storage….. A bit embarrassing).
