Joella's Hot Chicken - Lexington

This place was recommended by a local as my hubby and I just moved into Richmond a couple of months ago.Right from the start was very warmly welcomed right when we walked in the door. Like coming home to family.... The worker was super nice and very helpful. If you ever go there and Melinda is serving, just know you will feel loved.After learning we were new, she gave us a few pointers about the menu and told us how to get the best bang for our buck. We tried the 5 jumbo tenders (enough for 2 people) with a side/drink. We opted for the slaw and sweet tea with a couple of sauces so we could try them.The tenders were large and moist with a nice crunchy breading. No weird or chewy bits here, all nice white meat tenders. We went with southern style, which was no sauce to start with. We dipped into ranch (great flavor), bleu cheese (nice chunks/great flavor), tweener (the bits in it were spicy, but the sauce itself was not too spicy with a nice mild chili type flavor), the JoJo Sauce was really unique and good (cross between Honey Mustaard/BBQ). The sweet vinegar slaw was the only miss here. It was super dry and lacking on any flavor at all until I hit that one bite that had some sauce. That bite was really good, but then it was back to dry again with no flavor. Maybe it just wasn't mixed up very well or had enough of the slaw sauce. Too bad, because that one bite rocked, lol!The sweet tea was excellent, just like I'd expect in the south. (I come from up north, to me this is as south as I want to live, lol)Price was reasonable, under $25. We will definitely be back. Way better than the major chain places.

Since my son and I were coming out to Lexington from SoCal to visit UK, I wanted to find some good places to eat during our short stay. On TikTok, I saw a video on Joella's Hot Chicken and decided to give it a try. I have to say I was NOT disappointed.Right from the start, we received a very friendly greeting. We told the young lady that this was our first time here and that we were from California. She walked us through the menu and suggested the popular items. My son had the Jumbo Chicken Tenders with Waffles, which he really liked. I had the 3-piece Jumbo Chicken Tenders with a side of Mac & Cheese, choosing the "hot" spice level. The level of spice was perfect - not overbearing, but also not weak like other places I've tried. The chicken tenders were cooked to order and came out juicy, tender, and just perfect! The mac & cheese was also very good, though the portion size was a bit small. I would probably ask for a larger size next time. We couldn't leave without trying the cake in a jar. We got the cookies and cream, and the strawberry shortcake desserts. Both were good, but not great.When you pull up to Joella's, from the outside it looks sort of abandoned, but that may just be the style/theme of the restaurant. Inside, the restaurant was a different story. The interior was decorated perfectly to match the theme of the restaurant.Overall, I was very pleased with our experience at Joella's. I'll definitely be back when visiting my son at UK.

We pick up lunch here often. It's always fast and good service and delicious hot chicken! I love the ghost pepper flavor! Oh and you have to try the Mac n cheese!

Let me start by saying the food is great so that is not what drives my 3 star review. They must be really tight on cash because the charge for extra ranch (which is fine) as long as the ranch cup they serve you is at least full or even close to full. Ours barely had any on it so I had to pay $1 to get more ranch. Then one of our tender meals was served on a heel bread. Come on, just open a new loaf...I hope they take this review and double their ranch price so consumers can get a 3/4 full side of ranch. Guy at the register was great though.

top shelf, good got chicken, they need more words but I have none, just try this chicken, it's delicious

Such a warm welcome from Melinda .... Definitely a great place! Highly recommend! Very clean with fantastic food and staff!

Love the Ella's fav spicy level for the chicken! The jumbo thigh is boneless. Got my daughter the 2 tenders and waffle meal. Maybe because it's been waiting for us in a box, the waffle tasted very normal. They do give you butter n syrup for them though.

Very fast and good food. Workers was very nice and atmosphere is always good. I can't wait to eat here again.

Below average chicken and the place is disgusting.The chicken is dried out from sitting under a heat lamp for hours and the green beans are flavorless. The entire floor is slimy and the bathroom door handles are falling off. For what its worth, the fries are decent and the kale salad was very large and tasty. If you're still interested, go soon before this place closes.

Not sure what happened to this place but I ordered 3 big wings and a side of kickin mashed potatoes, what I got were three tiny intact wings that you would get at any chain wing place and one that I couldn't really tell what it was. They used to serve big ol wings and even the quarter my wife got was tiny! The mash potatoes were ok but certainly not kickin mash potatoes. I've noticed that this place has really really changed over the last few years and I'm sooty to say I will not be back. Sorry