The Chicken on Fire — Restaurant in Castro Valley

The restraunt is small, simple and very neat and clean. Wait staff is friendly and attentive. It appears most of their chicken is to go orders. This is the BEST fried chicken I've had in my entire life. I managed a KFC in the late 60s when their chicken was good. Not this good but good. I like to cook and have tried various fried chicken recipes. I get very close to The Chicken on Fire chicken. But their chicken is as good if not better than mine and always perfect. I only get wings. These wings are extra large and fresh. The drumsticks are very good and it isn't that I don't like them, I do! I prefer wings as my favorite piece of chicken. The chicken comes to your table hot, perfectly cooked with a crust that that shatters when you bite it. If your a first timer I suggest getting the sauce on the side so you can try each type that is of interest to you. It's best if you let the chef sauce the chicken in kitchen if you know your sauce preference. Its coated better and the flavor is evenly spread across each piece. So if you know the sauce you want just order it with the chicken. The sauce does not bother the crackingly crisp skin. I always order enough chicken to have leftovers. Just reheat on low power in the microwave (high-power over cooks and drys the meat). It's still crispy or enjoy cold from the fridge. I was in the restraunt a few months ago and there were 3 people dining on their chicken order. As they were preparing to leave the waiter gave them two large bags with chicken to go. I asked them if they were having a party. They said no they came in the day before while staying in CV, liked the chicken so much they came in the next day to have more and were now taking chicken back for friends and family in Washington state. They laughed that they got 2 large orders hoping at least one made it all...

Chicken on Fire is a monthly go to. Was so saddened Covid-19 impacted its hours bc now I can only frequent establishment on Fridays while in the area. However, I have made the 40 mile one way trip on the weekends when the craving was at a 10.

Chicken flavors are delish my favs being Soy Garlic, Sweet and Sour and Spicy. The chicken is cooked throughout with a slightly crunchy texture and sauces equally coating each wing 🤤. I believe they have fullsize and party wings although I've only had party size. Order for one has approx 15 wings and for two 30 wings. I love having extra for the late nite binges. Leftovers at room temperature or tossed in the air fryer on reheat is a beautiful 12:32 a.m. "ewww weee good eatin" experience. The coleslaw is the absolute best. It is chilled and shredded with a slightly sweet dressing which the proprietor will not share the recipe even after 4 yrs of our asking 😄 I usually forgo the rice which comes with it and I double up on the slaw🤤 oh and the chilled pickled radish or jicama (my colleague and I always ask which it is and forget as soon as we are told) is actually rather tasty and...

Apparently there are two Korean style fried chicken establishments on the same block on Castro Valley Boulevard, Vons and The Chicken on Fire (CoF...sorry too lazy to keep typing the full name).

Whereas Vons has more variety, the CoF focuses on "pre-sauced" fried chicken. In my opinion, CoF's version is better.

The drumsticks are juicy on the inside even after being fried extra crisp so that the crust can absorb the sauces. The legs themselves are fairly large. Their drumettes are almost size of a smaller fried chicken leg at Popeye's or KFC.

We tried the soy garlic, smoky onion, sweet sour and medium spicy flavors. The medium spicy and smoky onion flavors were my favorites. The gochujang shines thru with the medium spicy flavor. We didn't try the spicy hot flavor but I think it would be too spicy for us.

A meal comes with rice and shredded cabbage. Their house dressing wasn't that good, but that's just an opinion

Korean fried chicken isn't cheap but the flavors are unique and it's way better than Popeye's and KFC. I recommend giving it a try. Besides, it's hard to go wrong when you're eating fried...