Bonchon Maple Grove — Restaurant in Maple Grove

•PORTION SIZE: small-medium

VALUE: •LOW, with nearly 3 dollars extra chicken it looked like there was barely anything there. I got barely a medium bowl of fried rice with extra chick and if you look at the photo, the spoon size can show you what you get for nearly $20 dollars. Its just too expensive for what you get. Asian food is historically known for larger portions and you feel full in most places, but NOT this place.

TASTE: Great, it was really a good flavor, however it really felt like it was missing something. What they should have done is have small torn chicken pieces or large shredded chicken that has been pan fried with some char to give the food a texture. The fried rice here is so basic in its texture and to be honest the presentation is very lacking, it looks like the most basic simple bowl of rice and you absolutely do not taste “extra” chicken. If you go to Lotus and get pork fried rice you will see a good helping, if you pay extra you get extra and taste it.

DECOR: this restaurant pays for a beautiful web site, nice visual menu and then looks like a 1990’s strip mall inside. They clearly did not use a modern American interior decorator or a modern Korean style… again think 1990’s strip mall.

STAFF and SERVICE: Too many staff up front, no need for 4-5 people in such a small space. The service was fine, but i was a server and i know the business a bit; there was no real personality or flare so why the hell would anyone tip? Tip so I can supplement their income? No, tipping is for good products and good service. There was only 4 tables taken but i was shown to a small table right next to the back hallway near the register when there was plenty of open tables in the main dining area. People want nice experiences not efficient seating for the restaurant.

Overall, I would not recommend this to catering. Ironically I have input with the company i work for which has a staff of about 5,000 per shift running all 3 shifts. We go through Lotus and Jets pizza and Olive Garden often. I would say this places lack of extra chicken and lack luster look for fried rice and other factors probably cost this place business with us for catering (if it even does that).

Do better. Taste was great though, but Maple Grove citizens deserve to be well fed for their money and you either need to give larger portions, lower prices or nearly double the protein when people pay 3 dollars extra. Also the staff needs to be more social and fun. Why tip anything if you dont get alot of food and feel like a stranger placed you off to the side to quietly give you a small portion of food?? Why? But i did tip $1.75 just to bring the total bill for a bowl of rice with extra chicken to $20.

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Update 2022-Jul-28:

The restaurant owner responded to my review, read it below. As you can see, they promised "it should not happen again". At least they read these which is more than a lot of places do.

Original review follows:

I don't like to leave negative reviews, but my experience at this Bonchon location was pretty poor. I'm hoping my experience was an anomaly.

I placed a curbside to go order. Shortly before arriving I received a text message instructing me to "click here" when I arrive. I parked out front of the restaurant at the curb, under the sign out front and then clicked the link. The screen I was shown said "your order will be ready soon", so I waited. After about 15 minutes I called and was told my order had been ready, but they couldn't find my car. In the time I was parked, I saw no one come out carrying a Bonchon bag, looking for a customer so it seems unlikely they couldn't find me, but maybe. I can accept it. But, if they got my "I'm here" click, and they couldn't find me, why didn't they call? Or come out and try again?

The food was good, my order was accurate, the young man who brought my meal out was friendly. I'm not trying to convince others to avoid patronage, but I wanted to share my experience in case the restaurant owner is reading this and finds an opportunity to improve their processes.

For potential customers, the take-away is this: don't bother leaving a generous tip. It does not insure service above and beyond minimal effort. I regret my generous tip.

I'll update my review if I hear back from the restaurant and if they...

Today was my first time trying bon chon. I wasn't disappointed. First off we had the pork underbelly, with a soft bun. The pork belly was slightly over cooked. But with the coleslaw and dressing made it decent. So 3 out 5 for me but Still tasteful. Then I went on to order the chicken fried rice. That turned out pretty good. it had a nice balance of vegetables to rice ratio. A little on the greasy side but still had fun eating it. I give that a 3.5 out of 5. Then we ordered what the main purpose of what we came for. The CHICKEN!!!!!!! Now we order 10 drum stick. We got half soy garlic and the other half spicy I believe. But contrary of what I've been hearing. The chicken drum sticks were larger than I was expecting. Also look at the plate people. The chicken looks like a movie prop. Each bite Had an unbelievable crunch. Cooked to Perfection. Not greasy and the flavors actually compliments eachother. I'm almost at a loss of words (in a good way) about the chicken. It's a must have and I'm mad I didn't go sooner. Will definitely be going back. They have a decent amount of other dishes you can get. I'm sure their decent. But the rave is the chicken and there was no let down. It felt like my first time going to rays js over south east. And the huge home style wings came out on the plate. It was that feeling when the drum sticks approached the table. Definitely will...