bb.q Chicken Johns Creek — Restaurant in Johns Creek

Edit from 5 star to 3 star: They don't offer any way for one person to eat less than a whole chicken outside of lunch hours on weekends. I work weekends in this area in the evening, so while the lunch menu is great, it doesn't do me any good in the evening when I am at work. It's still 5 star quality chicken, but if they refuse to sell it to me unless I buy whole chickens for lunch, then it is useless to me, so 3 stars. The low service score is for the same reason. They offered a solution the last time I was here in offering the lunch menu all day, but then they took that away for weekends. I got my hopes up for nothing. The people are nice. It's not the employees. It's the owner who won't allow people to buy less than a whole chicken for one person's individual meal.

Original Review: There is a bit of a wait, because it is all cooked to order, but the wait is reasonable and you are rewarded for your patience with chicken that has never seen a warming light. The food is 5 stars all day. I got the classic golden chicken first as a test, because chicken restaurants hide a lot of sins in sauce. This Korean fried chicken went beyond the expectations I had from other Korean fried chicken restaurants that I have visited. They were very crispy, but still very plump and juicy. Perfect fried chicken is usually cooked to an internal temp of 170-173 and I think that'swhat this was. It was loaded with classic fried chicken taste! I also enjoyed dipping some of the pieces in their secret sauce, which tastes like a light barbecue sauce with a pronounced apple taste. It was fun to go back and forth between the different flavors.

I also got So Ddeok So Ddeok (So Tteok So Tteok), which is 2 skewers of alternating small sausage (So) and rice cakes (Tteok) fried, then covered in that same apple-tasting secret sauce. This is one of my favorite items on the menu. It's a great snack that I could make a meal out of if I am in a hurry. The chicken takes a while to eat, because it is so hot coming fresh out of the fryer, but the So Ddeok So Ddeok can be eaten right away and it's basically meat and rice, so it is very substantial.

The Hot Spicy Mayo Rice Bowl is HOT! It is significantly hotter than what most American restaurants call hot. I like heat, but it's not for everybody, so you should expect that when ordering it. That said, they didn't just drown it in hot chili powder and call it a day. It has a legitimately good flavor balance and there is a variety of textures. The chicken flavor comes through and doesn't get buried. The sweet and savory flavor of the Korean mayo complements the tangy sweet and slightly earthy chili sauce on the chicken. There is also a wide variety of textures from the crispy chicken, fluffy rice, fluffier creamy eggs, and the velvety mayo and sauce on top. If you don't enjoy spice quite a bit, then I'm sure their teriyaki option is also good. I will try it later and edit my review. The rice bowl was roughly the size of a large ramen bowl. I didn't think to put something next to it in the picture for scale, but it was very big and satisfying.

After the first time ordering dinner here, I was going to rate it 4 stars, because you could only order whole chickens cut into 16 pieces, or similar amounts of boneless chicken. They did not offer reasonable individual meals for my lunch break on the evening shift at work. The second time I came back they said they were going to offer their lunch menu all day and I got a chicken rice bowl!

For drinks, they sell individual sodas and juices and they have unlimited free ice water that tastes clean and cold. They might actually filter their water, which most restaurants don't. The size of the meals here is designed for someone to be able to pick chicken up and bring it home for the family, but making the lunch menu available all day fixed the only thing that irritated me and brought my rating back up to 5 stars! I plan to be a regular here while I have clients...

tl;dr - They are awesome, their chicken is addicting, give them a try!

Full Review: Yes! This is the chicken from Korean Gentleman's "British Highschoolers try Korean Chicken for the First Time!" on YouTube!

We only stumbled onto bb.q a few months ago (unrelated to the video!) and they are fantastic! I prefer the Johns Creek location to the Duluth one because its closer, on a lovely little strip, has excellent customer service and the resturant layout/cleanliness is very good. I LOVE that this location has a sink next to the exit to wash all those delious sauces off your fingers!

My husband's favorites are the Galbu, Gangnam and Cheesling, while I always order the Golden Original Wings (SOO juicy and flavorful - perfection)! Occasionally, he gets a glazed-over look in his eyes and I know a chicken run is about to hit! He's a homegrown Georgian but has quietly admitted (with no small guilt/shame) that Korean fried chicken is superior to southern fried chicken (but I showed him the history of it and he felt better again)! He really goes have a problem! Also, we will try the sides one day, but right now we save the calories for the chicken.

If you haven't had Korean chicken before, this is a GREAT place to introduce yourself! Ask questions if you go in, don't assume you can handle 3-4 "spicy heat flames" - start low and work your way up! Try it plain with the sauce on the side if your unsure. But TRY IT! As far as chicken goes....its a bit of a tastebuds-changing experience!

/End Full Review

There are a number of excellent Korean Fried Chicken in the vicinity. So many in-fact, that I decided to do blind taste tests for my husband each weekend. We figure, we can log his favorites and know which chicken joint we want to hit depending on what he's in the mood (this is mostly for him, its just fun/amusing for me. The chicken is great but I'm not 100% OBSESSED like he is lol)...

We chose the businesses based off of general vicinity (takes 20 mins to get to the furthest one out from us) and overall deliciousness (absolutely cannot go wrong with any of the four). We choose the themes based off my husband's tastes and my love for over-dramatic titles!

The Fighters... bb.q Chicken - Johns Creek Pelicana Chicken - Duluth Choong Man Chicken - Duluth Kimchi Red - Alpharetta

The Themes... ☼ Cheesiest Chicken Challenge! ☼ Crispy Chicken Sandwich Championship! (CCSS) ☼ Take Flight Chicken Wings, Fight! ☼ Super Crunch Battle Royale! ☼ Signature Sauce Showdown!

Stay tuned for the results (insert dramatic cliffhanger...

Group of our friends came for lunch and we had several issues - horrible service.

First issue came up when we ordered our food. The server came up and said they needed a pre-payment, which we were kind of confused. But we thought it could be their new policy, so we paid for drinks (soda) first. Then we asked for a receipt but then the cashier said he will just go ahead and charge rest of the food and get two receipts. We didnt get the point. Why not just charge the whole thing in one ticket ? Well, so we ended up paying twice for one table.

The second issue was food. we ordered 2 chicken, rose tteok bokki, fries, and kimchi fried rice. Everything else was fine, but when all 5 of us tried the sauced chicken (spicy sauce), it tasted like alcohol, or something that went bad. It was definitely not edible. When we told the server, the manager came and just said, “i tasted the sauce and it is fine.” There was absolutely no suggestion for something else or an apology. She just said it is okay. We politely explained that we all taste something bad and we cannot eat it at all. Then she just walked away saying she will check. We were shocked at her attitude and service. When she came back she said the restaurant cannot process refund. We were confused, why cant they process refund? I worked at a restaurant for years as a chef and an owner, and there is no way they cannot process a refund. What a shame.

She then suggested giving us 5 coupons ($5 each) that we can use on future visits. The crazy part is that we have to use on this location only and we cannot combine the coupon either, so she just gave us something that will work for us only when we come 5 different more visits.

This place used to be my favorite chicken place but not anymore. I am guessing the owner changed as a lot of policy and restaurant features changed, but this is not how they should treat the customers. Making people pay first when this is a dining in restaurant (not a kiosk or anything), food is not fresh and not sellable, and the way the manager deals with customer is inappropriate.

I will NEVER come back to this place. DO...