The OC's New Nashville Hot Chicken Restaurant Plays All the Millennial Cards

There’s a big, bold new name in Nashville-style hot chicken these days, as the upstart Hot Chicks Waffles & Co. has opened in Westminster. The restaurant is still doing soft-open dinner-only hours from 5 p.m. to 9 p.m., but has a big grand opening slated for July 15.

Taking a look at their oversaturated Instagram account, it’s easy to see the Hot Chicks business model laid plain: Sell big pieces of bird — either as massive fried chicken sandwiches or alongside traditional waffles or waffle fries — that practically glow red, then wait for the lines to roll in. It’s a photo-first approach that is likely working well, drawing crowds from south Los Angeles County as well as all over the OC.

The Hot Chicks menu doubles down even further on the millennial madness. Baked chicken options fall under the Side Chick header (no relation to the Hainan chicken whisperer) and carry names like The Mistress and Homewrecker, while the a Main Chick order of fried bird could be ordered as The Bae (a half-chicken) or Wifey Material (a whole bird). Heat levels move from Chill to Lit, Turnt, and Fire, and most things come with Bro Sauce.

So far, the lines for Hot Chicks haven’t bordered on downright impossible like at Howlin’ Ray’s, and there’s less hype happening down in Westminster than, say, at Dave’s Hot Chicken in East Hollywood. But it’s not hard to see a world where Hot Chicks — which currently carries some pretty mixed reviews on Yelp — becomes very popular, very fast, thanks in no small part to their social media presence.

Hot Chicks Waffles & Co.
8544 Westminster Blvd.
Westminster, CA

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