Ricky's Hot Chicken Continues to Slay the Nashville Hot Chicken Scene

Have you ever eaten something so good you opened your own restaurant for it?

According to its website, the concept for Ricky's Hot Chicken started after its founder, Ricky Tran, had hot chicken for the first time. After some serious fieldwork in Nashville, he started giving away samples to as many people as he could from his apartment. The operation eventually snowballed into sold-out days and a full-on cult following.

The first brick-and-mortar location opened in 2020 and there are now three locations in North Texas: Plano (8400 Preston Road), Richardson (100 S. Central Expressway) and Arlington (3810 S. Cooper St.).
The menu has a nice balance of the essentials with a few interesting twists. You can order your bird boneless or bone-in, on a sandwich, or Bird's Nest-style, which is a dirty fry plate with chopped tenders, vinegar slaw, comeback sauce and pickles on a bed of fries.

For sides, there are Fireballs for $5, which are like mini mozzarella sticks, $3 banana pudding and even a glass of milk ($3) to cool palates. On Saturdays and Sundays, there's chicken and waffles or waffles a la carte.
Follow Instagram for limited-time specials and off-menu items, which has included a tiramisu cake shake and cheese nests (like the Bird's Nest, but with mac and cheese).

There are six heat levels for the chicken, and make no mistake, they're true to the descriptions. The hot is HOT. If you're feeling adventurous, you can order a flight of six nuggets served kabob-style with pickles in ascending heat order.

As per the website's FAQ section, the heat levels are not created equally, and all have slightly different taste profiles. The first level has no heat and is suitable for a 2-year-old. At the other end of the spectrum is the A-BOMB, which is a menagerie of levels 2-5 (spices, jalapeño, habanero, ghost pepper and scorpion pepper), plus reaper.
We ordered The Sando, which is your standard Nashville hot chicken sandwich with a thick chicken breast, vinegar slaw, comeback sauce and pickles between two buttered buns.

To err on the side of caution, we chose medium heat. It had a nice lingering kick but didn't cause us to break a sweat or need a water refill.

More restaurants should stick to a heat scale like this one. How many times do you order your food hot and it's mild? For us? Too many, but that's no issue here. This is a place for the heat lovers.

Every sandwich is made to order, so the chicken is hot, juicy and fresh. The seasoning blend is packed with flavor, and the pillowy buns were our favorite part of the sandwich. We missed just a touch more coleslaw on ours, but the ample pickles made up for the slack.

For $12, the sandwich also comes with fries and a drink. The fries are well seasoned, nicely salted and have a soft center. Grab an extra side of comeback sauce for $0.50 for a great little combo. 

Every Monday, you can get 15% off your order just by coming in and dining with them. That's a cure-all for any bad case of the Mondays.

Ricky's Hot Chicken, 100 S. Central Expressway; Tuesday and Wednesday, closed; Thursday - Sunday, 11 a.m. - 2 p.m. and 4-7 p.m.