KoKo Chicken & BBQ — Restaurant in Buena Park

This review is for the customer service.

I usually take my own lunch to work. However, today I didn’t bring lunch and instead I came to this place because it’s close to my job. It has a pretty good rating as far as reviews go and I decided to give it a try. I walk in the hostess is nice. She greets me and sits me a table as soon as I walk in. Takes her a few minutes to bring me a menu and then a few more minutes to take a drink order.

Here’s where it took a slight turn.

In walks an Asian family, and she sits them right away. Walks to the kitchen, comes back a few minutes later with a pad and pencil to take their order their order first, to which I say, “ I know you know I was here first.” She ignores this. Finishes with them and takes my order. I order the original chicken with a side of fries. About 5-10 minutes later she brings them their food, AN ORDER OF ORIGINAL CHICKEN. Now I’m annoyed. I haven’t got my food yet and I need to get back to work pretty soon. she bring me my fries and I tell her to make the whole order to go. About 5 minutes before I have to clock back in I go up to the counter, I see my fries sitting out in the open and she scrambles, unsuccessfully, to cover them. I tell to just let me pay for my drink. Because I have to go back to work. She tells me, “chicken takes time”, to which I reply, “not really, because they came in after me and you took their prefer and served their food before me.” The man who I assume is the owner walks over and asks if I have cash because they don’t charge cards if the bill is under $10, which is only because they get charged by the credit card company per swipe. I tell him I have no cash so swipe so I can leave. The last thing I say to him is that they should treat all their customers equally and be on my way.

Very unfortunate to have to go through that. But it is what it is. Shame on...

If I could give negative star ratings I definitely would. I went there with my family and everything was bad experience overall. The food was bad but edible. The food wasn't even the problem. The main problem were the servers (all of them that worked at the time). First of all, they talked in a very rudely manner. I asked one of the girl server what kind of draft beers they had, because we didn't have the menu for the drinks. That server didn't even say a word and just literally turned around in such a sassy way and got us the drink menu. Whenever we tried to order they were just plain rude. Second, was because of tipping our check came out to be $80 and we paid with a card. We don't tip with a card because the taxes get taken out, so we always pay tip with cash. We tipped them $10 (CASH (my husband said only to pay them $5, but I at least wanted to tip them 10%)) despite the horrible customer service from the servers. We got in the car and were about to leave, but this girl server came out to the parking lot waiting for us. This girl had the AUDACITY to tell us we didn't tip them with a card and there was no cash at the table and asked us if there was something wrong. I told her we did leave a tip with cash on the table, why didn't you check first before coming to us and have the audacity to tell us we didn't tip. I also told her even if we didn't tip is that something to come out to the parking lot waiting for us, and asking us why we didn't tip? She then say well you guys ate $80 worth of food so. Like the AUDACITY this girl had. We didn't even had to tip because the service was horrible. Never ever...

OK, why the rare 5 star rating? It is because I have tried so many of these places and finally found a place that nails it. If I would have visited this place first, before all the other places, it would have gotten a lower rating. You have to benchmark these places against the rest and truly this is as good as it gets.

I love the chicken at BBQ Chicken in Diamond Jamboree Center in Irvine, but as you can see from the review, the service sucks. So much so, I hesitate to go there even though I love the chicken.

I have tried many others (Love Letter, Chicken Plus, Past Memories to name a few) and the texture of the chicken is that "smooth" batter.

KoKo has similar chicken to BBQ Chicken. Its textured and more crunchy than many other places. It has that layered intricate batter. Pieces are bigger than most places. a couple dollars cheaper than the places in High Rent areas of Irvine. The hot sauce you can ask for an the side is really good too. Very balanced and slightly sweet.

Service is so good. I only appreciate it so much because I have had such bad service at other places. If you are one of those white guys that love Asian women, you will love it. I was told that the girls are super cute. I'm not into this breed of women. But they are very nice, speak great English, fun, bubbly and efficient.

We finally found a place that has everything. Awesome chicken, great price, great service. Only thing I wish is that it was closer to me (even though it is right off...