414 S Mill Ave Ste 101, Tempe, AZ 85281
Review Highlights
Twist Hot Chicken Restaurant Review
For this review, I went to Tempe to try Twist Hot Chicken on Mill Ave (right next to Starbucks). The restaurant primarily serves Nashville hot chicken tenders, wings, and sandwiches.
But there’s a twist: The food is more elevated than the competition, and they offer other traditionally “hot” flavors like Caribbean jerk and hot honey.
What does elevated mean? Well, the “Twist O’riginal” chicken sandwich, for example, has tangy mayo, dill pickles, romaine lettuce, and a lemon honey poppyseed drizzle.
To get to Twist Hot Chicken, you will most likely have to pay to park. Once inside the restaurant, you will notice that the dining room is considerably larger than it appears from the street.
The menu is fairly straightforward. Fries are included with tenders, wings, and sandwich entrees.
Additionally, they offer “loaded plates,” which have a base of either fries or mac and cheese, and are then topped with tenders, house sauces, pickles, and cheese.
I ordered two entrees: Twist Hot Chicken (Sandwich) and Hot Nashville Mac (loaded plate). To complete the circle, I also ordered beignets.
Twist Hot Chicken Sandwich Review
I chose the “hot” spice level. BEWARE: The heat levels of the Nashville-style restaurants will probably run a bit hotter than normal.
Do not try to casually roll up asking for “hot” or you might regret it. I suggest starting with “medium” heat to be safe.
By appearance, this was a well constructed plate; similar to what I’ve seen in the past from other competitors. The crinkle cut fries were huge.
The fries were seasoned and tasted exactly like the ones at Dave’s Hot Chicken and elsewhere. They were also equally as crispy.
My first impressions were that the Twist Hot Chicken sandwich was probably one of the largest breast patties I had ever seen. This thing was sticking out roughly 3 inches past the bun one one side, and about 2 inches on the other side.
To tame the heat, the sandwich includes coleslaw, twist sauce, and dill pickles. This was a Justin Leonard Approved chicken sandwich. One of the better ones fo’ sho.
Hot Nashville Mac Review
The Hot Nashville Mac looked like a work of art, which is why I wanted to try it. The dish begins with a base of mac and cheese.
They then add two monstrous Nashville hot tenders. Yes, you can choose your heat level. I chose “medium.”
Finally, they top it with pickles, creamy Nashville sauce, and cheese crumble.
At times, I felt the combination of sauces, pickles, and cheese crumble made the mac taste almost like a deconstructed thousand island dressing. I think I would have done a few things differently.
That said, it was definitely a solid dish and I recommend it if you are looking to try something different.
Beignets Review
I believe this was my first time trying beignets. They were basically five warm mini donuts tossed in powdered sugar (oh lawd).
Twist Hot Chicken serves them with a side of chocolate dipping sauce (oh lawd, again). As far as I’m concerned, every restaurant needs to serve these things.
I figured the beignets would taste exactly like donuts. But what I wasn’t expecting was the slightly crispy exterior; and they were soft in the middle.
Translation: The beignets are a must if you decide to visit.
Overall Review of Twist Hot Chicken
This restaurant is highly recommended. I really enjoyed the food. The name, Twist Hot Chicken, is fitting because that is literally what you will get.
The food is on another level and the flavors are undeniable. Also, because their flavors were a bit more sophisticated than usual, I found it difficult to compare them to other “hot chicken” spots.
When I return, I will try maybe the Twist Hot Tenders to see how they compare to the competition (Dave’s, Daddy’s, Fly Bye, etc).
And while the Hot Nashville Mac did include tenders, it had special sauce and other toppings on it, which made it difficult to assess the flavor profile of just the chicken.
Overall, Twist Hot Chicken is Justin Leonard Approved.
