Choong Man Chicken — Restaurant in Houston

If I had to describe this restaurant in one word it would be "lazy".

We walked through the door and no one greeted us. There was one young woman seated on the other side of the restaurant reading a book who didn't notice us. We walked across the restaurant to her and she seated us.

I tried to order korean beer to go with the spicy food that I planned on ordering but they couldn't sell beer for some reason. Everyone brought there own beer but I didn't know that i had to bring my own beer. I was jealous of other people that i saw bringing in beer. I ordered a coke and looked at the menu. There didn't seem to be much in the way of vegetables, almost all fried chicken and you could order half a chicken or a whole chicken. We picked one flavor and asked for the whole chicken and she informed us that if we wanted she could give us two flavors and charge us for the one chicken so we picked another flavor.

She brought us a can of coke, for me, a water for my girlfriend without ice and some pickled radish by itself as an appetizer. When I say that she brought us a can of coke, I mean that she brought us only a can of coke and a straw. The chicken took a long time and when it came out one of the flavors was hot and the other was cold. The flavor of the chicken was nice but there wasn't any side. The entire meal was just fried chicken and some pickled radish as an appetizer. The chicken was very sticky and when I went to wipe my fingers off on the napkins that were at the table bits of the napkin would stick to my fingers and I couldn't get them off.

Eventually I went to the bathroom to wash off the napkin from my hands. The bathroom wasn't the worst I'd ever seen but it wasn't exactly clean. I had to walk to the other side of the room to ask for the check, we didn't get a lot of attention at our table.

Once we had left my girlfriend asked why the check was so expensive. I didn't think about it when I signed as I was anxious to get out of there but we figured out that they had overcharged us probably because they charged us for two half birds instead of one whole bird. Overall it was a very disappointing experience.

Dear owner, if you ever decide that you want to make your restaurant a good restaurant, here is what you should do. 1. Paint the restaurant. The color is ugly and the paint is missing in places. It looks sloppy and cheap and ratty. 2. greet people at the door, install a bell that will alert the worker that someone has walked into the restaurant. 3. Fix the broken door. 4. Peel the stickers off of the chairs. 5. Put ice in your waters and offer lemon and bring water to everyone whether they order a water or not. 6. if someone orders a soft drink, also bring a cup with ice, maybe even pour their soda into the cup with ice for them. Actually, there's a lot of money in selling soda if you go ahead and buy a machine it will pay off over time. 7. if you are going to bring some sort of appetizer, don't just bring pickled radish, bring at least 4 small dishes or save the picked radishes to eat with the chicken so that there is some variety of flavors, not just chicken. maybe some white rice with various possible toppings alongside the chicken would be good as well. 8. You don't need a million different kinds of fried chicken flavors, just a few but you should have more vegetable options. Fried chicken is very heavy and it's nice to have something light to go along with it. 9. Clean your bathrooms regularly. 10. Put a container with disposable wet wipes at your table so that people can clean their fingers if they need to. 11. Pay attention to your customers needs. Bring the the check when they are finished. 12. Be careful that you charge people correctly. Don't undercharge them or overcharge them like you did with me. 13. If you finish cooking one chicken early, bring it out early if they ask for the food to be brought out as it's finished or keep it warm so that all meals are warm when they get to the table. 14. Get your beverage license so that you...

Gosh, what can I say. I went to Choong Man Chicken once and I haven't been a returning customer to many other Korean Fried Chicken places since. Let's just start off, my first visit ever was the Summer of 2020. And yes, I have been procrastinating on writing my reviews. So, I am making my dues now. I would still rate Choong Man Chicken 5 stars today because the flavors and the taste are so amazing and consistent. We often do togo, but today we actually ate in for once. And it is still just as good and delicious. My favorite flavors are Soy Garlic, and Spicy Soy Garlic. And the spicy is actually pretty spicy. The best Bothing about the spicy at Choong Man Chicken is that you're not giving up the flavor for spice. In fact, I would say that the flavor is enhanced by the spice which make it amazing.

The daikon side dish is also delicious as well, and each time we have come it has always been quite good. We tried their Fried Calamari for the first time as well, and we ordered the Soy Garlic one. It was pretty good too but I mean.. When you're here, you're here for the Korean Friend Chicken.

If you want super crunchy chicken, order from the Tukkudak side, if you want just original crispy then just order from original.

Bottom Line: When we want Korean Fried Chicken, there is no other place that we would rather go get it from is CHOONG MAN CHICKEN. IS THE BEST CHICKEN.

Tip: You need to eat these as soon as you get them. When you order ahead/takeout, order when you're 15 minutes away and then eat in your car. It will prevent the crispy from getting soggy from the condensation/heat of the fresh...

Choong Man Chicken is consistant and very flavorful. What I really appreciate about this place is that they don't overcook the white meat. And unlike other chicken spots the tender are legit to, and not an overly thick with batter.

Generally the chicken is wonderfully crispy and puts fast-food chains to great shame.

(The whole chicken easily feed 4-6 people respectfully, perhaps 8 for small appetites.)

As far as flavors we have tried (Heat rating 0-10, 10 being unbearable and 0 being nothing)

Garlic Soy- a safe bet, savory with a balanced garlic flavor. The site indicates a small (level 1) of spiciness, but was not that hot wasn't noticeable (heat 0.5, bearly none i would give it to a child comfortably)

Curry- love this chicken, a lot of flavor and with a noticeable heat that is mild (heat 2, little but would not give to a small child to be on the safe side)

Red Hot Pepper- it's hard to beat the flavor of a good gochujang sauce and this will not disappoint, but the heat will creep up on you quickly and will make you sweat (coming from someone with a moderate heat tolerance). Just sweet enough, followed by a great unmami flavors with the heat not far behind. (Heat 7, it won't burn a whole through your stomach. But if "spicy" intimidats you, you might have be uncomfortable and have difficulty. If you like spicy, by to 2nd piece you might feel sweat building)

P.S the complementary sweet pickled Daikon is a nice...