The Background

Nashville Hot Chicken is a spicy take on fried chicken that seems to get more and more popular with new restuarants opening up every year. 10-15 years ago I can’t really recall seeing too many Nashville Hot Chicken spots in Orange County. These days there seems to be quite a few.

Burnin’ Mouth at the Irvine Spectrum is one of the more recent Nashville Hot Chicken restaurants to open up in the area.

The Experience

Once you enter the restaurant you’re greeted by a few digital menus to order off of. The touch screen itself is easy enough to navigate through and select what you want. There’s no actual human interaction. That’s fine for most people but I could see it being problematic. If people have any questions about the menu there’s only one person manning the front.

Anytime I try a Nashville Hot Chicken spot I have to go with the chicken sandwich. I feel like that’s generally the item on the menu the restuarant is going to be most known for. Burnin’ Mouth calls their chicken sandwich the Coo Coo Sando. I grabbed the combo which comes with fries, and no drink which is kind of weird ($13.90).

There’s five different spice levels to choose from ranging from the lowest (Simple) to the hottest (Insane). I love me some spicy food but places are always different with how they define “spice”. So I played it safe and went with Ugly, which is the second hottest spice level.

The food came out pretty quickly and is a fair amount of food. The sandwich is a pretty decent size. It’s packed with coleslaw, crispy onions, a few pickles, and a large piece of fried chicken coated in spices and seasonings. The entire sandwich is oozing with a thousand island type sauce. It’s a really great presentation.

The piece of chicken had a nice crunch and had some spicy kick to it. Not overbearing heat but definitely a kick that I was a little surprised by. There were parts of the chicken that were a little dry and stringy though, which did take away from the overall enjoyment.

The brioche bun was nice and fluffy, the sauce very tasty, and the different textures with the cripsy onion, coleslaw, and pickles, all adding a diffent type of crunch and flavor with each bite. Overall a pretty delicious sandwich!

The fries were crispy with cajun seasoning sprinkled over the top. Definitely quality fries.

The Verdict

Burnin’ Mouth is a solid Nashville Chicken spot if you’re craving a spicy chicken sandwich. However, I can’t say it’s a place I’d go out of my way to go and get. While it’s pretty tasty, the dry, stringy parts of the chicken stood out to me. But if you find yourself out shopping at the Irvine Spectrum, it’s a solid place to stop by for a bite.