Kong Dog — Restaurant in Elk Grove Township

Upon entering the establishment, I was eager to experience the offerings of “Kong Dog.” However, I must express my disappointment with the subpar service and lackluster meal.

The customer service was unsatisfactory, as the staff seemed uninterested, giving the impression that our presence was an inconvenience. There was no greeting or acknowledgment upon our arrival, which left my family of four feeling unwelcome. Moreover, we encountered significant difficulty while placing our order, compounded by the absence of guidance on menu items or popular choices. This reflects a notable deficiency in hospitality.

The interior design of the restaurant was modern and visually appealing; however, this was overshadowed by issues regarding cleanliness. Specifically, the tables were unkempt, and debris was present on both the floors and the surfaces. I observed an employee at the entrance, dressed in an apron, who appeared to be engaging in idle behavior with a cleaning rag. Additionally, another individual was seated in the lobby closest to the counter, which detracted from an atmosphere of professionalism, as it seemed she was merely there for companionship, distraction etc.

Although I would consider revisiting, I would choose a different location for this experience. The condition of the restrooms was also concerning; the men's restroom had an out-of-order urinal, and the women's restroom was in disarray with toilet paper scattered throughout.

Lastly, throughout the payment and order retrieval process, we did not receive any expressions of politeness such as "please" or "thank you” but was expected to...

Waited over 25 minutes for 3 kong dogs and an order of fries. There were 2 other groups of 2 at the restaurant. We were there 10 minutes after they opened. The 3rd order of their day… The cleanliness of the restaurant is disgustingly. Floors were sticky, and as mentioned in other reviews, the are was smokey! Tables were gross too. We ordered 2, #1 dogs and then my kid ordered a mozz, fruity pebble dog and I ordered a side of fries. They don’t have a soda machine…. So we ordered 2, 12oz bottles of Fiji water, that cost $2 each…. And they gave us ice mountain. There were Fiji bottles in the cooler, but the cashier told me those cost extra. (So weird) After waiting 15 minutes, I asked if our order was almost ready or if i missed being called…. Nope. They hadn’t even begun it yet. Why? Bc the other employee s was at Walmart buying snacks. How do i know? He walked by us as we sat at the window waiting. He bought some Pringle’s and jerky… which was a wiser choice than eating at Kong Dog! Please remember there were only 2 other groups in the restaurant. 1 couple who had their food, and the other was a mom and her kid.

10 more minutes go by (for a total of 25 minutes now) and our food came out. Which we picked up at the counter. After tipping the employee. I prefer a carnival corndog over this ANY day, but it was edible. My mouth is cut up from the coating and my son fully agrees that we will NEVER be back.

We went here 1 other time when they first opened and had hoped that the place figured things out… they have not.

Lesson learned....

I don't often review a place until I've been there a bunch of times, but I was particularly happy with how good Kong Dog's Korean-style gamja hot dogs and boba drinks were. So far, these are the best gamja hot dogs I've had in the area, with awesome beef franks and perfectly cooked coating. The dude working the counter was friendly, the rest of the crew was cleaning (presumably right after a lunch rush), and the place was in good order for 1 pm on a Saturday.

Our drinks were made super-quick, and both looked great. I really enjoyed my blueberry-lemonade with blueberry popping boba. After a few minutes, our hot dogs were ready and nuclear hot, fresh out of the fryer. I loved that the batter of my plain Kong Dog was fried to perfection, and not too oily. The franks they use are delicious, and quite savory beef hot dogs. Once they were cool enough for consumption, I wolfed my dogs down. It was a really good and relative-quick lunch, that was super satisfying.

The restaurant was nice and clean, with a decent sized seating are given the modest size of the restaurant itself. The ADA accessible bathrooms were clean, and in perfect working order. There's tons of parking in front of and to the side of Kong Dog, in a shopping center that can get pretty busy in the daytime.

I'll be sure to update my review as I visit Kong Dog more often, but I enjoyed my lunch way too much to resist posting my initial thoughts. I'm looking forward to trying their other gamja style fried hot dogs, and a lot of their sides looked...