bb.q Chicken Cincinnati — Restaurant in Cincinnati

I don't normally review a lot of stuff on the Internet. I mostly use it to find recommendations for places to eat when I'm not in my home city, but I felt it was necessary to let people know of my experience today.

I and three other co-workers entered the restaurant around 11:30 a.m. We waited in line for about 5 minutes to get to the counter, where we were informed we had been waiting in line to place a to-go order, when we could have just sat down anywhere. There wasn't a person at the door to tell us that or anyone to inform us, so we didn't know - we've never been to this place before. It just opened.

We sat down at a table with a booth seat, and waited almost 15 minutes for someone to come over and ask for our drink orders. We ordered four waters, then waited another couple of minutes for the waters to arrive. They were room temperature with a tiny amount of ice in them. The server then took our order: 8-piece boneless spicy galbi with fries; 8-piece boneless gangnam style with fries; 8-piece boneless hot mala with fries; 8-piece boneless honey garlic with rice.

After 19 minutes, two baskets of chicken made their way to the table: 1 8-piece boneless soy garlic (We did not order this) and 1 8-piece boneless honey garlic. So after a total of nearly 35 minutes, one person received their food. This pace continued as we waited anywhere between 5-8 minutes for other folks to receive their food. The only person who's order was correct was my co-worker with the honey garlic boneless wings and rice.

My order was hot mala, boneless with fries. The first time they came, they brought another honey garlic instead of this. The second time they came back, they gave me hot mala, but they were bone-in. The third time they came back with another honey garlic. At that point, I asked them to cancel my order as I wasn't interested in waiting any longer for food. After all of my co-workers had finished all of their chicken, they brought the fries, which were room temperature, soggy and unseasoned. The cups of ketchup they brought with the fries were also oddly only filled about 25 percent, which just seemed weird.

When time came to pay the bill (We waited another 10-11 minutes for this, during which I had walked up the street to Saigon Subs and Rolls, ordered and received a banh mi), the server told us she would need to take one credit card at a time up to the terminal because their system doesn't allow them to split bills. We just decided to have one person pay and send that person money via Venmo. When the bill comes, the food I never received and asked to be cancelled was still on there. They tried to charge us for food we never received.

All of my co-workers' chicken was overcooked, the fries were unacceptable, the pickled radish was excessively sweet and top to bottom, this was the worst restaurant experience I've ever had. As we were getting ready to leave, I heard the woman at the to-go counter inform several folks looking to place orders that there was a 1-hour wait for food.

The people who are going to visit this restaurant are generally folks who work downtown - they simply don't have the time to spend waiting this long for food that isn't even good. I can't stress enough - do not waste your time with this place. We have a local Korean-style fried chicken place called Decibel that is incredible and deserves...

I’ll start off with the good portion because it’s a pretty quick portion of the review. The sauce on the wings were tasty and the breading had a nice satisfying crunch.

On to the bad. We arrived as a group of 3 at 7:30PM and weren’t seated for 5-10 minutes because there was no host at the host stand. We ordered relatively quickly but then we waited for food to arrive for over an hour (and some was never delivered). The first food item that arrived were wings that were cold approximately 30 minutes after placing the order. Approximately 15 minutes later we received an order of fries and another 15 minutes after that we received another order of wings (at least these were hot). We never received multiple items that we ordered before deciding to leave after 9PM. This is after repeated attempts to ask our server for napkins and water that were repeatedly forgotten. We had to go up to the to-go stand to pay for the food we had received after being unable to flag down any staff.

This location was extremely understaffed and underprepared. The soda machines didn’t work so they sold individual cans of soda. Half of the TVs didn’t work. We got one refill of water over the 1.5 hours we sat there even after asking for refills no less than 3 times. It is clear that they opened this location before they should have.

I would be willing to try this again in 6+ months but not until other reviews show that they have fixed...

Killer Fried Chicken, Awkward Dine-In Vibe

bb.q Chicken delivers where it matters most—the food. The Korean fried chicken is crispy, juicy, and packed with flavor. But if you’re looking for a lively dine-in experience, this spot doesn’t quite hit the mark.

The Food

The Golden Original is a classic, light, and perfectly fried. The Soy Garlic? A solid balance of sweet and savory. Hot Mala? Bring the heat—it’s got that slow burn that keeps you coming back. And the Gangnam Style packs a nice black pepper punch.

The kimchi fried rice is solid, but the overcooked egg on top? A small miss that takes away from what could’ve been a great dish. The ginseng wings are a must-try—earthy, slightly herbal, and different in the best way.

The Experience

Here’s the weird part: the place looks like it should be packed, but it’s almost always empty. Meanwhile, the kitchen is cranking out takeout orders non-stop—Uber Eats and DoorDash seem to be their real focus. Service is inconsistent. Some days, it’s quick and smooth. Other days, you might feel like they forgot you were there.

Final Verdict

If you’re looking for top-tier Korean fried chicken, this is one of the best spots in Cincinnati. Just know that dining in feels a little off. The space is too big for how empty it usually is, and service could use some tightening up. But if you’re grabbing takeout? This is...