Carla Hall’s Southern Kitchen
“I've had Nashville hot chicken in Nashville and was extra cautious this time around of not getting anything too spicy.”
“When entering the restaurant they take your order, you take a seat, grab your drink and tableware and they deliver the food.”
“I am someone that can handle heat, I killed my fried chicken but oh so hootie hoot!!!”
Carla Hall’s Southern Kitchen
Delivery: Yes
Take-out: Yes
Accepts Credit Cards: Yes
Bike Parking: Yes
Wheelchair Accessible: Yes
Good for Kids: Yes
Good for Groups: Yes
Waiter Service: Yes
Caters: Yes
PokéStop Nearby: Yes
Price range.
$$ Price range $11-30
6 reviews
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Yaaassss to hot chicken that doesn't require a trip to Nashville! My husband and I swung by Carla Hall's Southern Kitchen as part of an informal Brooklyn wing tour. As this was stop three of the tour, we kept things pretty simple and ordered two hoot wings (level 3 of 6 total), two hootie hot wings (level 4), mac and cheese, a biscuit, and a couple beers to wash down the fire.
Seating is first-come, first-served but the turnover seemed to be pretty fast and the friendly employees were helping people find seats. We received our food soon after sitting down.
I started with the hoot wing which was just perfect for me. It had great hot chicken flavor with a little heat. Next up was the hootie hot wing and DANG was that hot! I can't even imagine what a level 5 or -gasp- 6 would taste like! I chugged my beer and crammed bread into my mouth to fan the flames.
My husband absolutely loved his biscuit and especially the homemade jam that came alongside. I was all about the baked mac and cheese, which was extra cheesy and had a great chew which I loved.
Until next time, Carla & Co.!
+++
– Portions are verrrrry filling
– I enjoyed number 2, not hot whatsover
++
– Banana pudding is better than magnolia's
– Really liked the cheesiness of the mac n cheese. It's one of my favorites out
+
– I enjoyed the sweet potatoes. The are extra nutmeggy, in case u care about that sort o thing
– Potato salad was good, not to mayonaissey
– Service is extra great
–
– Seating situation is trash
– number 1 was kind of bland
– Although portions of big, the chicken re-heat value is really low
TIPS:
– If you come with a group, you best have somebody lock down some seats
– I can imagine the lines at this place during prime hours. I would stay away
After much anticipation, Carla Hall's Southern Kitchen has finally arrived, the only place really doing Nashville style hot chicken.
I've never had it before, and it made me suffer a little bit at first. You can order different levels of heat, from 1 (no heat) to 6 (extra heat). When you order a 6, the kitchen rings a bell and everybody in the restaurant yells "Boomshakalaka".
I tried a few bites of 1 and 2 first, which were fine, but then I had some number 4, and the burn started to set in. I started sweating and my whole mouth felt tingly. At that point I was a little scared to try the 6, but I did, and it wasn't too scary, but it made me sweat even more.
The sides were just ok, and the Mac & Cheese was a little disappointing, but I'll be back once they tweak some stuff and get the full menu up and running.
The positive headline about Carla's Southern Kitchen would be that the food was uniformly excellent. The level 4 (hot) chicken was right at the perfect level of spice, with crispy skin and juicy meat. Yams and collards were both very good, and the biscuit was unusually light.
Beyond that…it's pretty bad. The overall concept — ordering at the counter and sitting with a table flag to wait for your food — is good, but the execution is a nightmare. (Side note: one reviewer said something like "this is the only place around doing hot chicken," which thankfully is highly inaccurate. Head a little further into Brooklyn on the A/C and go to Peaches Hothouse — you will thank me later.)
Anyways, back to Carla's:
– Ordering at the counter can be overwhelming, given that you can't see the menu until you get up to the counter, when you're presented with a wide range of chicken piece and side combos and a huge drink menu, with a line of antsy people waiting behind you.
– After ordering, you are immediately confronted with the fact that there are very, very few seats — two six-person "communal" tables inside and two small tables outside. There's maybe 8-10 more counter seats, which are useless if you come with more than two people, and most of them are of the annoying six-inch-deep rail variety. So at prime times, it's difficult to find somewhere to sit.
– Annoyingly, there's big displays of branded merchandise (which no one was looking at) and a huge fountain drink machine (which could easily go behind the counter with the rest of the drink setup) taking up space where there could be seating.
– Service is extraordinarily slow, despite the fact that there seemed to be 10 people working the floor (unclear why since all they had to do was run food out and bus). The people working there seemed pretty miserable. This also doesn't help with the seating, because once people get a seat, they're there for a while to both wait for the food and then eat it.
– The pricing is outrageous, especially considering this isn't table service. Two pieces of chicken with sides and a cocktail (surprisingly small) was about $30. The drink costs were especially egregious — the biggest shock was a draft beer (smaller than a pint) at a ludicrous $10.
The prices, combined with the oddly self-aggrandizing marketing/merch approach for a new restaurant without history or cachet, made me feel like this place is intended to take advantage of the stereotypical Bobo Brooklynite with money to burn and Top Chef on his/her DVR. If I lived nearby, I'd still add Carla's to the takeout rotation because the food is quite good. But sitting down to eat here was just kind of a drag.
So glad this place finally opened! The restaurant feels like heightened fast food, with a communal table set up, and counter ordering. It certainly seems like the test site for what could be a national chain (if so, I want to invest!) That said, it is a very good concept and it was very fun to see Carla there and try her hot chicken.
My wife lived for a year in Nashville so she had a lot of hot chicken then, and we both agreed this chicken stacked up nicely, although it was not the best we've ever had. that said, the chicken was very well cooked and I loved spice level 4 (hooty hoo!–catch phrazzze). I also liked the candied yams, but the rest of the sides probably need a few tweeks to be really tasty. That said, the cornbread is excellent! I also liked the banana pudding.
One other note is that the staff are all amazingly nice and I enjoyed the experience of being there alot!
The one knock on the food was that the slushie cocktail was too sweet, i think they should tone that down a bit.
Tl; dr: nice, casual neighborhood spot with a great concept and tasty and delicious chicken!
Carla Hall dishes some fine, hot chicken on a Columbia St corner on the waterfront. Soft opening & Carla was there- super friendly, some sides were still being worked on & not on the menu. Make no mistake this is a well thought out food venture right down to the clever levels of hotness like hootie hoot & boomshakalaka the hottest. There is also great value here and a two piece meal & two and bread can be had for under $15 bucks.
Ate:
The Jefferson with sweet potato bread, collards, yams $13.35
I ordered my chicken with the medium hot- hoot sauce which was ideal for me. The chicken from an upstate farm is off the chain- crunchy exterior and moist flavorful bird, brined overnight. The sides were tasty as was the bread, but that chicken set my mouth on fire in the best food sense possible. Take the F or G to Bergen and walk 10 minutes.
PS Ordered a salad to go that was packed in cardboard and a bag. Work on that. Also, prime time means family time Lots of kids if that's your jam.
PPS This is the second Nashville hot chicken in Brooklyn- the first is Peaches Hot House in Bed-Stuy.
PPPS- The Yukon gold & sweet potato salad I took to go, while a clever concept had un cooked crunchy sweet potatoes & I doubt that was the intention.