bb.q Chicken Castleton — Restaurant in Indianapolis

Fried Dumplings: The paper and virtual menu provides no details to what kind of dumpling this was, but we still went with it. My notes claim it was filled with pork, cabbage, and green onion. They made for a great appetizer. The plate was piled high with 8 golden brown dumplings. The edge was crispy while the center was puffed up like the perfect pillow.

The Chicken: The mountain of drums and flats were golden brown and piping hot. All with the thin but surprisingly crunchy breading. Both orders also came with a small side of pickled radishes. The radishes provided a great flavor contrast from the wings with their acidic notes, but they weren’t for me.

Without any sauce, it’s hard to say I loved the wings. They are easily better than several other places one may get fried chicken, but I’m here for the sauce. If you prefer a plain piece of fried chicken, you’d still enjoy your meal.

Spicy Galbi: This sauce is the extra spicy and smokey version of “Galbi”. Galbi is a Korean classic. The menu describes it as “sweet, savory, and smokey”. While doing some research, I learned that “galbi” can be translated to “rib”. From what I can tell, this is essentially a really popular sauce for ribs that has been used on the wings. The sauce typically includes ingredients like: soy sauce, garlic, sugar, ginger, mirin, and then a fruit. For the fruit, a pear, apple, or kiwi could be appropriate.

The “Spicy Galbi” sauce was addicting. It had the steady notes of sweet and smoky flavors. Then at the back of your mouth, you’d start to notice the heat. It lingered and slowly grew stronger, but never overstayed its welcome. I’m already trying to figure out when I can go back and get more of these. I should honestly figure out how to make it myself to save my wallet.

Final Thoughts: Bb.q Chicken has 14 different wing flavors. I want to go back and continue to try them. From what I experienced, they have boldly flavored sauces that are eagerly applied. Your hands will be a mess and your lips will be a bit tingly. To me, this is the best wing eating experience.

Overall, the restaurant felt a bit unpolished. The good news is that none of these would be arduous to correct.

Get a soda fountain and stop selling cans. Don’t be out of your “secret sauce”. Calling something your secret makes it seem important which makes it frustrating when it’s unavailable. Allow split sauce orders for the larger wing sauce orders or don’t provide a discount for ordering more wings. Have the servers drop off the moist towelettes as the meal draws to an end instead of with the check at the end. I had already excused myself to wash my hands several minutes before the towelettes...

We have been waiting for so long for this place to open. We finally had a day off and was able to visit them today!They were not very busy when we came (about 3pm) When inside,we were cheerfully greeted by the host and we were promptly seated at the table,and were immediately served with our requested drinks. However,when it comes to ordering the food and you have question,the servers shows not familiar with the MENU. Went ahead and order 1 dumplings,1 classic boneless chicken,1 more boneless chicken with sauce (I could not remember the name) and side of steamed rice. The first order came:DUMPLINGS Tasted good but sauce is Kikkoman soy sauce in (2pcs)packet that you have to open yourself. After 10-15 minutes the classic chicken came ,it comes with a side. We asked servers what was that and they said they dont know what it is😅we tried it and was very good. Later we found out it was actually a pickled radish. We have been waiting for awhile and the rice and the other chicken is still not there,my husband had to ask a different server about our order😅because the first server that we have is nowhere to be found. Finally side of rice was served and the last chicken. The classic chicken is good,I got curios for the sauce and we bought 2 sauce for $1.95 each small container.(special sauce and spicy sauce) They are okay,nothing special about it. In this visit we had like 4 or 5 servers in total,we ask why different people attend to us and we found out that they actually help each other and share the tips. In this place You could tell all the servers were young and never had experience before,they didn't know anything about their Menu and how restaurants servers usually work. They need a little help from management to...

Update a few months later:

I love bb.q chicken’s Gangnam Style wings. The medium order is $30 and comes with 16 wings. My boyfriend and I split it and we are STUFFED. The flavor is sooo good and the skin is very crispy and airy.

In my last review, I tried sauces that were not half as good. Too thick. Also, the wings are where it is at. CM does a better job at full and half chicken, whereas bb.q does better with wings.

Old review:

I love Korean fried chicken, and have had bb.q chicken in Korea before, so was so excited to have a location in Indiana. It wasn’t as good as I was expecting.

Normally, you order a half or whole chicken and you have a variety of interesting sauces to choose from. Was excited to try their soy garlic and spicy galbi flavors, but apparently they only allow basic, secret sauce, and spicy on the whole chicken. In order to get the other interesting and classic Korean chicken flavors, you have to either get wings or boneless. I even asked for the sauce on the side, to which they denied. Why gatekeep 75% of your sauces to only certain cuts of chicken? No other KFC place I have been to does this. Also, the secret sauce was interesting, listed as sweet and tangy but it was more cumin-y and savory than tangy. A little too thick consistency as well. The spicy sauce was also thick. The golden classic (bare chicken) was crispy but it didn’t have much flavor in the breading. Popeyes chicken has more flavor.

It was interesting and I knew I was going to try this location at least once, but CM chicken in Fishers will...