The ToreOre — Restaurant in Houston

Used to be my go-to place for Korean fried chicken but something has changed since COVID. Not sure if it’s new owners, new cooks, new recipes or what but it’s definitely gone downhill

Pros: easily accessible (it’s in Hmart), it’s quick (they say 20 minutes but usually slightly less), cooked to order (comes out piping hot and crispy), on the inexpensive side (compared to traditional fried chicken places), offers boneless thighs (so much more superior to breast)

Cons (recently): way way way too much sauce (it’s almost soupy), most sauces are totally uninspired (soy garlic was ok but rest were blah), spicy chicken was not really spicy (maybe 2 out of 10)

My biggest issue sadly remains the same. For takeaway, they use pizza boxes for the chicken. Terrible idea. The chicken ends up steaming (so looses its crunch). Really needs a better answer than pizza takeout boxes

I no longer frequent ToreOre. Tried asking for on the side sauce (to address the overkill on saucing) but the flavor is still garbage. Sorry. Better...

It saddens me to write this post because this has been my favorite fried chicken spot for years. There has to be a change of ownership to explain the decline in quality. The garlic chicken used to be drenched in a sweet garlic sauce, sprinkled with sesame and dried garlic pieces. Crispy on the outside and juicy on the inside. Today, I drove here from Tomball/Magnolia for my favorite chicken to only be highly disappointed. The chicken tasted like boiled chicken instead of fried crispy chicken! There are several other flavors now unlike before so I think the chicken isn’t marinated in the sauce. It was bland inside and barely saucy on the exterior. The rice isn’t even the Asian Jasmine rice. It taste like the white rice from Walmart, the one you use to make red beans and rice. The cashier isn’t even the Korean guy any more, it’s a Hispanic dude and making me wonder who owns the place now. I’m so sad about these changes and now I’m on to find the next best fried chicken….as this is no longer a good...

This has been my favorite fried chicken place for years. Lately, because I’ve been busy with school, I finally had the chance to stop by and get some chicken, expecting to have some crispy fried chicken and some alcohol to celebrate the end of the semester. Only…to be not only disappointed, but also irritated.

They changed the whole menu, they don’t offer Korean fried chicken anymore but just regular American fried chicken menu. What’s the point of being in H-Mart and advertising to be a Korean chicken place. I could’ve gone to Buffalo Wild Wings instead since they the same menu anyways.

The chicken wasn’t crispy, it doesn’t seem like it was fried more than once. I paid $2 for 5 pieces of rice cake when it used to be so much more without having to pay extra. They took away Gang Jung chicken so now it’s just basic flavors. The spicy sauce doesn’t even exist anymore, just regular spicy flavors that you can get from general...