Excerpting the Hotville Chicken review from the longer Fried Chicken thread:
I don’t want anyone else to suffer or be fooled like we were by the suspect news, and in case some people don’t read through 71 posts to get to the news update…
Update: I just got off the phone with Prince’s Hot Chicken in Nashville, Tennessee. I spoke with the owner who confirmed that it is their niece, who is running Hotville Chicken, but the owner said, “No, no, it’s not the Prince’s Hot Chicken. She’s got her own thing and recipe. There’s only 1 Prince’s Hot Chicken, right here in Nashville…” 
Original Post: Thanks to a report on Eater LA, it looks like a relative of the owners of Prince’s Hot Chicken in Nashville (the supposed creators of Nashville-style Hot Chicken) has opened up a place in L.A.
While initially exciting-sounding news, it also seemed suspect in a way. Why wasn’t it called “Prince’s Hot Chicken”? The answer given by owner Kim Prince (that the “Prince’s Hot Chicken” name isn’t known here, so they called it something else equally unknown by Angelenos “Hotville”(?)) seems like a copout. But regardless, the important thing is in the taste, so off we went.
While they are just starting out (they’ve been open a few weeks), they are currently an exercise in futility: We were the 10th people in line (granted some of the people ahead of us placed orders for their friends), but it took us 51 (FIFTY ONE) minutes to finally place our order! 
As we got closer to the order taker, it was clear why it was so bad: They take all the orders by hand, writing down and spelling out the entire order by hand (“Breast Plain” “Leg Medium” etc.), instead of abbreviating.
In addition, they manually type in the credit card # for each order. Some people ahead of us wanted to split their check, so she was manually entering in 5 credit cards for one of the orders! 
AND, if you wanted a receipt (text, email), she asked for your email address, or phone number for text, and it was a painfully slow as it sounded: “Blah Blah Blah (Underscore)” “Wait, underscore?” (shuffles through her small smartphone to find it and enter it) “at Gmail / Yahoo Dot Com”. 
And the order taker was also the Dessert cutter! So every time one person ahead of us ordered a Dessert, she stopped everything she was doing, put on gloves, took out the Cake, carefully sliced a piece, plated it, delivered it to the customer, took off the gloves and then proceeded to take another order!
And there were no busboys. She she would stop, run back to the kitchen to hand off the actual handwritten orders to the kitchen, and then had to come back again.
I understand that they’re just starting out, but seriously, 51 minutes from when the doors opened to take our order was absurd.
But then it got worse.
Herbal Lemonade:
The name sounded intriguing, but it was just Lemonade, with them throwing whole sprigs of Herbs (Rosemary, Mint) in at the end, so none of those Herbs’ flavors ever got into the drink. 
So, 2 HOURS later (I’m not joking)…
Fried Chicken Breast - West Coast Plain Heat Level:
A Boneless Chicken Breast arrives. While it’s less hassle with Boneless Breast, you lose some of the flavor without the Bones. Their Fried Chicken Breast was a completely salt bomb! 
I can’t believe we waited over 2 HOURS for this!
The crust is super thin, only slightly crunchy, but you’re punched in the face by a wave of pure Salt! It was awful. And it was completely overcooked! Dry.
Fried Chicken Leg - Cali Mild:
This is their Level 2 heat, “Cali Mild,” and it already had some real heat to it. Mainly a Cayenne Pepper punch, it’s spicy and probably about a Level 3 at Howlin’ Ray’s.
This was thankfully not as salty as their Chicken Breast, and it was juicy. But their crust is almost non-existent in places (like on the Leg):
It’s also a bit soft / soggy. There’s no crispiness at all.
Fried Chicken Wings - Music City Medium:
Their Level 3 (out of 4) is “Music City Medium.” It’s extremely spicy, much hotter than Level 3 “Medium” at Howlin’ Ray’s, but it’s an immediate heat. It burns you really fast, but it doesn’t linger. (Our mouths stopped burning after a few minutes of stopping, whereas Howlin’ Ray’s heat stays with you much longer.)
Like the other pieces, the Wings have a very thin Batter (almost non-existent), but what was gross was the inside: Undercooked Wings, with major Blood splotches in all 3 Wings! 
Creamy Potato Salad:
Their Potato Salad was awful. Tasted like store-bought, mass-produced, one-note Potato Salad.
Mac ‘n Smokin’ Cheese:
Their Mac 'n Cheese was even worse. Lukewarm, chunky, not cheesy, nor creamy. It was one of the worst Mac 'n Cheese we’ve had in years.
We chatted with one person who had been to the real Prince’s Hot Chicken in Nashville, and they said Hotville wasn’t even close to being like Prince’s Chicken.
At this point, someone in this kitchen might have gotten the recipes from their relatives at Prince’s Hot Chicken, but it takes more than a recipe to get a generations-old dish to be done right.
By the time we finished it took us OVER 3 HOURS from waiting in line (only 20 minutes in line before they opened) to finishing our meal (and we ate fast). The kitchen and the operations are simply a mess right now.
Multiple people were asking for refunds (after waiting over 2 hours, similar to us), and the quality of the product and execution isn’t there. We’ve never been to Nashville to try Prince’s, but currently, Hotville Chicken is pretty mediocre Fried Chicken. Avoid at all costs.
Again, it’s been confirmed by Prince’s Hot Chicken in Nashville that this L.A. shop “Hotville Chicken” is not Prince’s Hot Chicken, nor is it their true recipe.
Hours:
Saturdays Only, 12 p.m. Noon - 9 p.m.
Hotville Chicken
643 N. Spring Street
Los Angeles, CA 90012
Tel: (323) 335-0373
