NH restaurant requires you to sign a waiver before eating this hot spice

Dave’s Hot Chicken, Portsmouth, New Hampshire

This is my first experience with Dave’s Hot Chicken, folks. (I’m not a Southerner, but I think this fits here.) There are two locations in New Hampshire, one in Manchester and one in Portsmouth. They also have 9 locations in Massachusetts, including 2 in Boston.

Dave’s has absolutely delicious chicken for all kinds of people and they especially cater to those who like it spicy, but before you run into the restaurant, you might want to consider that they sign a waiver that it was YOUR CHOICE to order the “REAPER” level of spiciness. Basically, consume it at your own risk, that’s how spicy it is.

Davie Wick from the Portsmouth, New Hampshire location brought some delicious chicken nuggets, also known as Dave’s Bites, with mild sauce. These nuggets are relatively new to the restaurant and they were absolutely delicious. There were a lot of them and I didn’t even want to share them. (I ended up doing it with my coworkers, but it took some persuasion.)

Davie then served us a chicken with a sticker that said “REAPER” on it. I was about to take a big bite, but Davie said maybe I shouldn’t take too much to start with because it was really, really spicy. I’m not a wimp, but his look was serious, so I heeded his warning. My colleague Ryan Sheehy, however, did not.

Ryan took a big bite of the “REAPER” flavored sandwich and at first it looked OK. But about 30 seconds later, his eyes started watering, he got hiccups, and his lips burned. He said it was “inedible.”

Davie, not the Dave from Dave’s Hot Chicken, then said that they have their customers sign a waiver before eating anything with REAPER seasoning. Yes, you have to sign a waiver stating that if you have a reaction to the seasoning, it’s your own damn fault.

After seeing Ryan’s reaction, I decided to take a much smaller bite. I seemed to be fine. My tongue was burning, but I was going to be fine. I might get another small bite, but if I’m being honest, I’m sticking with the boneless chicken nuggets.

What I really could have done without was when I accidentally touched my eye after that one bite. Here I am with our friend Rachel, who loves Dave’s Hot Chicken, relaxing.

Next time I go to Dave’s I think I’ll get this bad boy…mildly seasoned.

I’m not sure why anyone would enjoy that much spice. The food at Dave’s is delicious, why would I want anything to detract from that, but as I always say, I’m not your boss. Do your thing and good luck after all that spice goes through you.