Hotties Nashville Hot Chicken-Closed

Hotties Nashville Hot Chicken
13865 City Center Dr
Ste 3080
Chino Hills, CA 91709

Hotties Nashville Hot Chicken is located in the same shopping center as Bruxie and Pacific Fish Grill- I bet that the back of each of those three restaurant share a same wall!

Anyways, I was actually walking to Pacific Fish Grill one day, and saw some people eating fried chicken at one of the tables.  I asked where they got the chicken and they told me about Hotties.  It's a small place, with a few high top tables, and two small counter spaces at the window, on each side of the door.

Yes, in 2017 I ate fried chicken about 8 times that year.  But, since then I have been a pescatarian!  So, lucky they have fries and a truffle mac and cheese that I can eat.

Truffle mac and cheese-$4.49!  This was great!  A huge portion of mac and cheese made with cheddar, mushrooms and truffle oil and topped with bread crumbs.  The mac was very well cooked.  The cheese sauce was flavorful, and mixed well with the mac.  There were plenty of mushrooms and the breadcrumbs added a crunchy bite.

Service is pretty good.  The people are really nice.  But, it does take forever to get the mac and cheese!

I would go to Hotties again.  Everybody who eat chicken, loves their fried chicken.  They only have dark meat.  If you want white meat, you have to get their tenders or a tender sandwich.  Many said maybe not as good as Howlin' Ray's but you don't have the two hour wait.  Or the hour drive!

Elbows Mac N Cheese-Closed

Elbows Mac N Cheese
215 W Birch St
Brea, CA 92821
714-784-6613

Elbows Mac N Cheese might be where Berkeley Dog used to be.  Anyways, a new restaurant in the ever changing Birch Street dining and entertainment center.  There was a Red Brick Pizza and a Fatburger that also called this address home.

It's a fairly small restaurant with counter service.  There are tables as you walk in and the counter is along the back of the building.  There are also about 3-4 tables outside.

Regular sized blue box mac and cheese-$7.55, with American and cheddar cheese.  This is a huge portion size.  The macaroni was cooked perfectly!  The cheese sauce was kind of bland but it did cover the macaroni.  Now that well done cheese topping kind of threw me off.  But, overall an ok dish.

Greenbean fries-$6.95.  I don't know why greenbean fries aren't the new thing!  They are so good.  A nice batter covering the greenbeans!  I'm betting it's frozen, but these were very good.

Service is ok.  The girl who helped us was nice and friendly, but when we walked to the counter she just disappeared to the back.  She made eye contact with us, but still went to the back.  Not sure why, but at least say something before leaving us hanging at the counter.

But, what I found unsettling Elbows, is that the staff treated their job as if they were at home.  I saw staff members eating while on the job.  I saw staff members just sit at tables meant for customers and talk as if they were sitting around the dinner table. Whoever the manager is, they need to get their staff members to treat their jobs as a job, not a social network.

I wouldn't go back to Elbows again.  The main draw, the mac and cheese, was ok.  But, nothing outstanding.