CM Chicken & Ssong’s Hotdogs — Restaurant in Creve Coeur

We were very disappointed in our experience here. The name by nature is misleading, with Hotdog in the business name you’d expect to be able to order a hotdog but if that’s what you’re looking for don’t waste your time. What is served are corndog-esque creations. I ordered a “new” item on their menu which was a Potato Mozzarella Sausage Hotdog, expecting to get a sausage coated in cheese wrapped in a coating of potato chunks was the expectation based on the name and a “demo” item they had displayed on the counter. Vastly disappointed after receiving it, what I did receive was a stick with 2 chunks of what seemed to be hotdog, not a full sausage or even full hotdog. It had runny cheese (not stringy mozzarella type cheese) covering it wrapped in potato chunks. The display item showed a pretty good size sausage and appeared it would be a full stick of meat not just 2 small chunks. Horribly miscommunication in the marketing, to top it off it was bland and definitely not something to order again. Along with the fact when addressed with a worker there all I got was “sorry you’re disappointed, that’s what we sell”. My wife ordered a Mozzarella stick which seemed to be actual mozzarella this time. But again bland and disappointing. My kiddos had the Premium Hotdog, again not a normal hotdog you would order but more of a corn dog that had a bland coating not to mention for the price the hotdog was tiny. I ordered chicken tenders in Spicy Garlic flavor as well. This was the only item I remotely enjoyed but $19 for 5 chicken tenders and no side is way past overpriced for what was delivered being chicken strips with sauce poured over them, again misrepresented in their marketing on the menu. Needless to say this isn’t an establishment I’d recommend. Makes me extremely disappointed because I saw social media marketing that made me want to try it out, once again something that didn’t live up to its social...

The people of Korea are known for making exceptional fried chicken. Went here tonight to try this place after hearing about it through the grapevine. I ordered the 10pc wings which was $18.99. I asked if I could get them in two different sauces and I was given the most unapologetic “no” you could get. It’s a huge pet peeve of mine when places refuse to do two flavors in an order. I would understand if I was trying to split 4-5 wings into two flavors but this was a big 10pc basket. The only explanation for this is sheer laziness. If huge restaurants, that have 100+ customers in the building, can accommodate multiple sauces then so can a place like this whom are only serving 15-20 people at a time max. The chicken itself was crispy and, according to my Korean girlfriend, extremely close to authentic. The meat was juicy and the batter had a mild spiciness which I enjoyed. Like I said they refused to do two flavors so I just got the wings naked with two sauces on the side. They charged $2/ea for the 3oz condiments. You’d think one of them would be free considering the chicken would have been tossed in at least one for no additional charge. I believe that was just the incompetence of the cashier so I can’t hold it against this place. Getting them on the side turned out to be a blessing in disguise because one of the sauces, curry, was so sweet that I couldn’t even eat it. It was literally cloyingly sweet. Like candy. The other one I tried was their most popular sauce - spicy garlic. This was a typical Korean yangnyeom sauce with gochujang, sugar, garlic, and pepper flakes. This one was fantastic. Nothing original but well made nonetheless. The chicken itself was so well cooked and high quality that I would still recommend this place despite the tiny, albeit many, flaws....

The chicken is absolutely delicious! The hot dogs are also amazing, and if you get one with cheese, it’s stretchy and stringy like you see in pizza commercials!

So why did I give 2 stars?

The service is passive aggressive, the front line workers looked like they didn’t want to be there, and they won’t replace your orders once it comes out.

If you dine in, BEWARE of the red buttons on all of the tables if you sit down and eat. We had a child with us and played with the button, and the Asian lady with the blonde highlights YELLED at us to only press it if we need help. Please allow options for guests to sit in tables with NO buttons or an option to TURN OFF the button, so that you will not be alerted accidentally. The attitude displayed by the worker was horrendous and traumatizing.

Another thing to BEWARE of is the hot dog menu just has one sentence description of their items, price and pictures at the bottom. No where on the menu does it include or say that ketchup and mustard WILL be included in your order once it is placed.

When I received my order, I was disappointed that it did not look like it did in the picture, and that there is a sign on the cash register that hot dog orders will not be replaced once they come out.

The service refused to replace my order, even though on the menu there are NO signs or indications of condiments being AUTOMATICALLY included.

Very upsetting experience. I love the food, but I hate the service, the dining experience, and the attitude of the workers / possibly management. Please include ON THE MENU itself of all details that comes with each order. This will avoid any misunderstanding and set clear EXPECTATIONS....