Seoul Fried Chicken Mission — Restaurant in Calgary

23 June 2024. Tried it again. Still unimpressed. The combo now only comprises 4 pieces of chicken. I got it with fries this time and kimchi. Service was not as fast as the first time so presumably everything was fresh. The food was passable. Kimchi was the highlight but the chicken was four "pieces" cut into bizarre shapes- I think that two were one breast cut in half, one leg and one, maybe a thigh? It wasn't very juicy (the white meat was quite dry) and not as delicious as my new favourite KFC in Calgary which is at Asadal. The real disappointment was the fries, a big pile that was weirdly dry (if you're sensing a theme here, it's .... dry) with several pieces undercooked. Considering how epically delicious the fries are at I M Chicken, this is really poor.

I'll not come here again.

Here's my first review:

We are blessed with a plethora of good to great Korean fried chicken in Calgary, so Edmonton's Seoul has big shoes to fill, and my experience was...just okay. I got the Big Seoul combo, which comes with your choice of salad and side. It was supposed to comprise 5 pieces of chicken too. I say "supposed to," because it was actually 7 pieces, but four were wings. Five thighs or drumsticks would've been a much better deal. At the PBTC's suggestion I chose corn fritters (note "fritterS") for my side as well as kimchi for my salad. It was ONE corn fritter. ONE. The same sort of deep-fried dumpling with a few corn kernels that is the only edible thing at Chicken on the Way. So I felt a bit ripped off, especially when I see the photos of other customers' Big Seoul combos with a mess of fries.

The chicken wasn't bad (I got the spicy bbq flavour), but I can't not compare it to I M Chicken, Ogam, bb.q, and other KFC I've enjoyed here, and it was just not in the same league. My favourite KFC is at I M, which is big, meaty pieces drenched in many options of glorious sauce. This wasn't that. I'm not writing off Seoul just yet, but I can't not think about how often we've been hoodwinked by something from Edmonton opening here and for it to be a big disappointment. Oodle Noodle and Julio's Barrio are two examples.

Service was fast- too fast, as the chicken was very obviously not freshly-fried. When I get the fried chicken at, say, Cluck 'n' Cleaver, I have to wait a good 10 minutes to eat it unless I want to blister my mouth- it's FRESH. This...

Tuff review to do as it was such an interesting experience. Food was good; some great sides, and the gravy was my highlight. The chicken was just let’s say “standard”. Since I have cooked friend chicken before (KFC in high school) I feel they need to change the flour as it was basically just flour with zero seasoning or salt (good crisp). If that what is always supposed to be like because the sauce they apply to some chicken that’s cool, but knowing you get normal chicken it might be bland. My other problem was the chicken cutting. Do not expect normal cut chicken, not saying anything bad about it but the cuts are not conducive to even juicy always juicy chicken, due to uneven cooking. Smaller pieces compared to other chicken places, as they do not follow the 8 pieces cut chicken standard you might see at other chicken places.

The service was very friendly but hot and cold. Not sure they might have been having a bad day, but they missed are order (they did make it up to us with free chicken) but we watched two groups of people walk out because no one noticed them.

So would I go back? Yes, but it’s not my favourite Korean chicken place in town. They have the best sides by far, the big benefit is the chicken is crispy. Will you be disappointed? Probably not, but if you like saucy chicken you probably will be in heaven.

If I just wanted chicken again I would 100% go for the tenders, they were much more evenly cooked. I would say my partners dish was 10/10 my dish was 8.5/10. Once again the sides are what sets this place...

The wait wasn’t long for takeout, there dinning room wasn’t open yet. I ordered 10 piece bbq, 10 piece cilantro lime, fries and soy garlic sauce. Also confirmed my order at the window to make sure it was correct as they had issues with previous customer. 10 pieces a lot, 20 can feed a family. They had a person waiting nearly an hour, gave him a 20 percent discount, almost their minimum tip option. After opening my first box, the cilantro lime, i was pleasantly surprised with a batch of cilantro placed on top of my crispy chicken. Not sure the purpose, because eating raw cilantro and taking a bite of chicken wasnt tasty. If you dont fill your mouth with cilantro and bite the chicken, the chicken as NO Lime or cilantro flavor. I actually think there was no lime because there was no trace of it The fries were good, just how i like them, home made fried with good amount of salt. I then opened the soy garlic sauce i purchased only to find out its just honey mustard, its yellow and has no taste of soy or garlic. Just the label marked soy. Yum. The best part of the meal was the bbq chicken. Very different than the usual kbbq flavour which is usually too sweet, too sticky. These however, were a nice change it had a nice mix of korean bbq with western bbq in a slightly lighter sauce than traditional k bbq sauce.

I got tons of left overs for the next two...