J&G Fried Chicken - Hacienda Heights — Restaurant in La Puente

This place is confusing. Here’s why.

The atmosphere, or at least the setting, with the open kitchen and cleanliness, isn’t bad. But honestly, that’s about all this place has going for it.

I ordered three combos: the Deluxe Chicken Sandwich Combo, the Chicken Leg and Thigh Combo, and the Large J&G Popcorn Chicken Combo. I also ordered the chicken knee. All of that came to around $55, which is quite pricey. Strangely, none of these combos come with drinks, which is really odd for a fast-food spot.

When I went to pick up my order, the food was just sitting there on the counter with no one around. The staff seemed too busy to notice, let alone care. I had to check the number and grab it myself.

After about 10 minutes of eating, something felt off. First, none of the combos included drinks—I’m still not sure if that’s how it’s supposed to be. Second, the Deluxe Chicken Sandwich was missing. We double-checked the order several times, and it just wasn’t there.

So, I went to ask the server. After a few minutes of trying to explain the situation, the older lady seemed annoyed, almost angry. She grabbed a chicken sandwich from the back and tossed it at me. Not exactly the kind of service you expect.

Honestly, it’s a good thing they use kiosks for ordering, because if I had known how bad the service was, I probably would’ve left sooner.

As for the food, the taste wasn’t great. The curly fries, popcorn chicken, and chicken knee were all soggy. I mean, the food came straight out of the kitchen—how did it get soggy so fast? There was no crispiness to any of it, and most of the fried items had a strange sweetness to them, which was unexpected. Maybe that’s the flavor they’re aiming for, but sweet fried chicken? Okay...

The salad was decent. It tasted fresh, but there’s not much more to say about it. Surprisingly, the Deluxe Chicken Sandwich—when we finally got it—wasn’t bad. The flavor was good, but the chicken was just too soggy, like this place doesn’t know how to fry food properly.

Spending over $55 for three combos without drinks is steep. We even had to ask for a cup of water, and they only gave us one small cup for three people, reluctantly. It felt like they didn’t want to be bothered.

I’d never heard of this restaurant before. It seems like there are a lot of fast-food chains popping up in the U.S. from China, but I’ll be staying away from them. It feels like they come here without doing any research or marketing and expect to make a quick buck with subpar food and service. There’s a reason that, in the land of fast food, places like McDonald’s and Taco Bell still reign supreme—even though we know their food isn’t the best. At least they try. Unlike these new pop-up restaurants, which treat us like cash cows to be milked.

I will avoid this place and its brand until they make significant...

Kinda pricy but solid overall. Once the hype is over I can see this sticking around for a little while. I went for the old standards this time but will try the new stuff (the sandwiches) next time.

The chicken fillet was probably the winner today: not “shi giam (deathly salty)” and the meat is very generous and well-fried; there’s a hint of sweetness and nice chew to the crunchy coating (typical of Taiwanese fried chicken that uses sweet potato starch). They have pretty cool dipping sauces as well.

The actual signature chicken nuggets was serviceable but scored mostly nostalgia points; I can see people who haven’t had it before liking it. I personally am a sucker for the fried cartilage nuggets, and just for being a relatively rare offering in other places, I can see this being a unique attractor.

Definitely have to try their chicken sandwiches next time though; these seem to be where they wanna try some innovations.

Service wise, the line moved pretty quickly and smoothly, but they did forget to add one of the dipping sauces I asked for, and the wait for the food after ordering is a bit on the long side. I give them the benefit of the doubt though, and hopefully after a few weeks things...

Extra star for the childhood memory 😔

I finally decided to give this place a shot, but the food quality left me disappointed.

The service was excellent, and the flavor reminded me of childhood—which is the only reason this isn't a one-star review. BUT...

The chicken tasted like it had been re-fried from who-knows-how-old leftovers. It was dark in color, not from seasoning, but from what looked like over-used oil. The buttermilk sauce tasted off—almost like it had expired. That might explain why the server was pushing it so hard. Honestly, both sauces should be kept refrigerated, especially in this kind of weather.

It was over 82 degrees out, and they had both front doors wide open. I ended up ordering to-go just so I could eat somewhere with AC.

To top it off, the menu is overpriced. (Over $10 for one chicken; see my picture)

If you're still curious, maybe try coming on a weekend when turnover is higher—I went midweek. But this isn’t how a place should be run.

For first-timers, I do recommend trying the bone-in chicken with the house sauces, especially the JG sauce. Just be aware there’s an extra...