bbq Chicken — Restaurant in Toronto

bb.q Chicken Lemon is a new restaurant that specializes in Korean fried chicken as well as other Korean dishes, many with a refreshing lemon twist. While the bb.q chicken chain of restaurants restaurants (popularized in recent Korean dramas) are well established north of the city, this is the first location that has a more upscale vibe and intended for the customer to have a more refined dine-in experience.

The staff all wear masks. As per current guidelines for indoor dining, the staff were vigilant about checking proof of double vaccination. I also appreciated that front of house person was persistent in reminding patrons to sanitize their hands before entering the establishment.

This location of bb.q chicken has a more refined decor and vibe, complete with faux flowers on the tables and more contemporary mood lighting. The menu was accessible by scanning the QR codes placed in an acrylic cube on the table. Hubby and I came for an early dinner on a Thursday around 4:30pm and had the restaurant essentially to ourselves. Complementary bottled water was provided upon request.

We were interested to try some of the unique items that this location offers so we ordered the following:

Lemon Cheeseling Chicken: boneless chicken with powdered mascarpone and cheddar cheese with the signature lemon sauce. The chicken was crispy, cheesy and creamy with a sweet lemony brightness from the lemon sauce. This was a unique change from our go-to Korean fried chicken flavours of soy garlic and special spicy.

Seafood Gambas Al Ajillo: bb.q style gambas with shrimp and calamari served with sourdough garlic bread. While the dish was good, we were not particularly wowed by this dish which was served in a lemon butter sauce. Perhaps we expected more shrimp for the price, and more pronounced garlic flavour.

Tteokbokki: with a slightly sweet and mildly spicy sauce , the rice cakes were perfectly chewy and there was a generous amount of fish cakes in the dish. Delicious!

They carry all of the usual bb.q Chicken fried chicken and menu offerings found at other locations. Parking can sometimes be challenging on Elm street but there is limited street parking as well as several parking garages within a short walking distance of the restaurant.

I would definitely return to bb.q Chicken Lemon to enjoy Korean fried chicken with a touch...

This was my second time delivering from BBQ chicken. My first experience wasn’t that great so I never got back to them but I saw the cheese ball(they are so good!) promotion and I decided to give it another try. I didn’t expect the perfect quality because I ordered a delivery but I was still really disappointed again.

First of all, the size in general is very small. I ordered bone-in option and some pieces were like jokes, that small.

Second, it was super dry that it took me time to cut it with my teeth. You can see meat is hard and it’s separating. And the piece behind didn’t even have batter, I guess it fell when packing.

Third, same as the first time I ordered, I chose the option to receive pickled radish and they forgot it again. Two times in a row.. hmm…

Fourth, I still gave two stars because the sauce was tasty but they do not put enough. I literally scraped the bottom of the box to have more flavour.

Lastly, this doesn’t bother me too much but I will mention it because my experience was very disappointing and it was added on. I can’t eat chocolate so I asked them to not put chocolate flavour in assorted cheese balls if possible but they ignored it and I couldn’t eat 4 cheese balls and threw them away. But again, I understand if this request couldn’t be accepted because it’s “assorted”.

I never write this long review, maybe I should dine in one day for a better experience but not sure I will...

I don’t think a lot of people know about this new joint in town but definitely worth it! Food: The food at this restaurant was amazing! So many different flavours of fried chicken which were all amazing to try. The special cheesling chicken was just so good. All the chicken was fresh and tender which I appreciated. I really enjoyed the Rose mac & cheese as well! Must get. The Maala chicken was probably my 2nd most favourite. We got the galbi chicken wings as well which were a very unique and amazing taste Got the hot spicy chicken waffles and it was really spicy so try at your own will! The cheese balls are a great appetizer to try too. The lemon fries were interesting but not my favourite, would recommend the chai chak fries over that.

Bonus: tell them to get you the Maala + Mayo sauce!

Vibe: For a fried chicken place this has a very casual fine dining vibe which was awesome to see and I loved that! Service: The service is where I feel there are some gaps to be filled as the servers are really nice but it was really hard to communicate what we wanted and even got extra dishes cause of that. We were made to move tables and got a free dish cause of that so that was really kind! Value: We got an insane amount of food with taking 1.5 portions as takeout and paid about $34 only. Drinks: Didn’t try any but will be back for that.

They have great takeout boxes as well which was definitely under...