Bonchon Ann Arbor - S. Main St. — Restaurant in Ann Arbor

I honestly don’t know here to begin with this experience. We walk in, we ask if dine in is available and are told no, because of the Super Bowl. No worries, I can understand this decision if carry out is going to pop off. We step up to the register, we order the bulgogi fries because the picture of them on their menu looks absolutely amazing! We ask for an order of chicken bao buns and an order of bulgogi bao buns…the cashier says “we aren’t offering those because of the superbowl”…strange but okay…we will take the Korean tacos instead…”sorry, we aren’t offering those because of the Super Bowl” let’s just do the bibimbap bowl then “sorry, we aren’t offering that because of the Super Bowl” are you offering fried rice? Yes we have that available, okay we got an order of that. Are you guys serving the bulgogi? “No, because of the Super Bowl” what about the chicken sandwich? “Yes, we have that available”. We ordered a 10 piece boneless wings and then we wanted to try the Korean donuts…you guessed it, not available because of the Super Bowl. We waited for about 15-20 minutes for the food and got home…the bulgogi fries are in a tiny little container for $13.99, cheese not fully melted and missing the spicy mayo. The chicken sandwich was supposed to come with slaw on it, there was none. I was asked by the cashier if I wanted slaw or pickled radishes with my wings, I opted for slaw…you guessed it, didn’t get that either.

I really want to like this place, I truly do. Tonight’s sample size was not a good one. I don’t blame the staff, they did what they were told to do (hopefully). To pay $75 for food, leave a $10 tip and get home to this type of product is frustrating to...

The good: Good flavors, ingredients are good, really cute decoration, wayyyy better customer service and wait time than the “BBQ” korean fried chicken place near Sylvan Factory.

The needs work: Really expensive for what it is. Fries not included? Weird!! Normal serving of fries costs normal restaurants 25 cents - what kind of from-scratch process is making them charge over $8 a serving of seasoned fries? The flavor is not even good? Huge pieces that are messy and hard to eat. I’m used to Los Angeles Koreatown fried chicken - they make the bites small so the flavor is stronger and you can eat with chopsticks or dip it into sauce as you wish. I’ll try the strips next time if I ever feel like going again, but damn, the price is huge. Took forever to make, a little over 20 minutes- again, if you make smaller pieces a central prominent part of your menu instead of huge chunks, it’d cook faster Inside is not really dine-in friendly. Very uncomfortable, and there’s not enough space for a standing line while people are waiting for their food. -Fries are crazy meh for the high price -Bibimbop is really, really subpar for bibimbop...

With so many really good traditional Korean food places around, this is one that I would not recommend going to. You’d be better off going to any of the other Korean fast food style restaurants. If you had any Korean food before and liked it, this place does not provide Korean food with traditional taste. We ordered bibimbap and it does not taste like the other bibimbap that we’ve had countless times before at other places. The veggies, eggs, condiments were served refrigerator cold and the traditional Korean hot sauce cost extra. It certainly did not come with some side dishes as other Korean restaurants/diner would serve along with the Bibimbap and it costs more than at other places. Personally I would not recommend this place to anyone looking for a great Korean food places to eat. Just drive over to Arirang which is a couple of minutes away by car and you’ll find a much better food experience. Or even Bell’s Diner on Stadium Blvd. You will not be disappointed...