Nashville Hot Chicken Restaurants: Locations & What to Know

Nashville hot chicken is one of the city’s signature foods, but the restaurants serving it are not interchangeable. Some focus on traditional bone-in chicken and simple sides. Others build full-service menus around sandwiches, brunch or cocktails. Heat scales also vary from restaurant to restaurant, so “medium” at one place should not be treated as a universal standard.

This guide focuses on active Nashville hot chicken restaurants with clearly different formats and locations, including the restaurant tied to the dish’s origin story, multi-location local brands and airport options.

Quick Answer

Prince’s is the historic starting point for Nashville hot chicken and currently operates a South Nashville restaurant plus locations at Assembly Food Hall, Tanger Outlets and BNA. Hattie B’s has several Nashville locations and a broad heat scale. 400 Degrees has a Clarksville Pike restaurant and a BNA outpost. Party Fowl combines hot chicken with a full-service restaurant and brunch format, while Red’s serves hot chicken from a smaller Midtown-area location.

If barbecue is also on your Nashville food list, use the Nashville BBQ restaurants guide. For a wider city overview, start with Nashville restaurants.

Prince’s Hot Chicken

Prince’s is the restaurant most directly tied to the origin of Nashville hot chicken. The business describes its recipe as nearly a century old and currently operates several Nashville-area locations.

South Nashville

The South location is the most traditional standalone Prince’s restaurant on the current location list. It is open Monday through Saturday and closed Sunday. Prince’s official locations | Address: 5814 Nolensville Pike, Nashville, TN 37211.

Assembly Food Hall

The Assembly Food Hall location puts Prince’s directly in the downtown Broadway area. It is a practical choice when you want to try Prince’s without leaving a Lower Broadway itinerary. Prince’s official locations | Address: 5055 Broadway, Nashville, TN 37203.

BNA Airport

Prince’s also operates in the C/D connector area at Nashville International Airport. If you are deciding between airport hot chicken options, our Nashville Airport restaurants guide maps out the BNA choices by concourse. Prince’s official website | Airport: Prince’s Hot Chicken BNA, Nashville International Airport, 1 Terminal Dr, Nashville, TN 37214.

Hattie B’s Hot Chicken

Hattie B’s opened in Nashville in 2012 and has grown into one of the most visible modern hot chicken brands. The menu is built around several heat levels, from no heat through increasingly spicy options, with Southern-style sides and desserts.

Current Nashville location choices include Midtown, Melrose, Lower Broadway and Nashville West, plus BNA. That makes Hattie B’s one of the easiest hot chicken restaurants to fit into an existing itinerary rather than planning a cross-town trip around one location.

Midtown

The Midtown restaurant is close to Vanderbilt, Music Row and several Midtown hotels. Hattie B’s official locations | Address: 112 19th Ave S, Nashville, TN 37203.

Lower Broadway

The Lower Broadway location works for visitors who want hot chicken in the downtown entertainment district. Hattie B’s official locations | Address: 5069 Broadway Pl, Nashville, TN 37203.

400 Degrees Hot Chicken

400 Degrees is a Nashville hot chicken specialist with a neighborhood restaurant on Clarksville Pike as well as an airport outpost. The Clarksville Pike shop is a useful comparison with the city’s larger multi-location brands because the menu stays closely focused on hot chicken and a numbered heat scale built around the 400 Degrees name. Current Nashville tourism and business listings continue to identify the restaurant at 3704 Clarksville Pike. 400 Degrees Hot Chicken official website | Clarksville Pike address: 3704 Clarksville Pike, Nashville, TN 37218.

400 Degrees also operates at Nashville International Airport in Concourse C. BNA’s current listing says the airport location serves hot chicken along with flatbread pizzas, Angus burgers, craft beer and cocktails, so the airport menu is broader than the neighborhood shop. BNA listing for 400 Degrees | BNA location: Concourse C, Nashville International Airport, 1 Terminal Dr, Nashville, TN 37214.

Party Fowl

Party Fowl turns hot chicken into a full-service restaurant experience with a larger menu, weekend brunch, bar service and a wide heat range. That makes it a different choice from a counter-service hot chicken stop.

East Nashville

The East Nashville restaurant is on Woodland Street and serves lunch, dinner and weekend brunch. It fits naturally into a neighborhood day around Five Points and is also covered contextually in our East Nashville restaurants guide. Party Fowl official locations | Address: 1016 Woodland St, Nashville, TN 37206.

Vanderbilt / Midtown

Party Fowl’s Broadway location near Vanderbilt is useful for Midtown, Music Row and university-area plans. Party Fowl official locations | Address: 2031 Broadway, Nashville, TN 37203.

Donelson

The Donelson location is east of downtown and can be more convenient for airport-area stays or trips that do not center on the tourist core. Party Fowl official locations | Address: 2620 Lebanon Pike, Nashville, TN 37214.

Red’s Hot Chicken

Red’s is a smaller Nashville hot chicken restaurant near Centennial Park and Midtown, led by Nashville native and classically trained chef Eric “Red” White. The current menu uses a five-level heat scale running from Southern through Nashville Fire and includes tenders, hot chicken sandwiches, chicken and waffles, a mac-and-cheese crunchwrap and other variations. Online ordering is available, which makes Red’s a convenient stop when you want hot chicken near Vanderbilt or Centennial Park without building the meal around a larger full-service restaurant.

Its location makes it especially practical for a Centennial Park or Vanderbilt-area day. Red’s Hot Chicken official website | Address: 115 27th Ave N, Nashville, TN 37203.

How Nashville Hot Chicken Heat Levels Work

There is no citywide standard for mild, medium or hot. Each restaurant builds its own spice blend and scale. If you are new to hot chicken, choosing a lower heat level still lets you compare the seasoning, crust and chicken without turning the meal into a heat challenge.

The restaurants also differ in format. Prince’s and Hattie B’s are useful for the classic hot-chicken meal structure; Party Fowl builds a broader full-service experience around the dish; Red’s is a smaller neighborhood stop; and airport locations trade menu breadth for convenience.

Bone-In Chicken, Tenders or Sandwiches?

Traditional Nashville hot chicken is closely associated with bone-in fried chicken served on bread with pickles, but modern restaurants now offer tenders and sandwiches alongside it. If you are specifically trying the dish for the first time, look at the menu before ordering so you know whether you are comparing the same format from one restaurant to another.

Where to Get Hot Chicken Near Broadway

Prince’s at Assembly Food Hall and Hattie B’s Lower Broadway are the most convenient choices on this list for a downtown Broadway itinerary. For other downtown food options before or after hot chicken, see Downtown Nashville restaurants.

Hot Chicken at Nashville Airport

BNA currently has several hot chicken brands inside the airport: Hattie B’s and 400 Degrees in Concourse C, Prince’s in the C/D connector and Party Fowl in Concourse D. That gives travelers a real hot-chicken choice even if they never make it to a neighborhood restaurant.

Frequently Asked Questions

Locations, hours and menus can change. Use the official restaurant links above to confirm current details before visiting.