Bonchon Glenview — Restaurant in Northfield Township

I feel conflicted writing this review because I really wanted this to be a consistently great restaurant but unfortunately it has not been so. After 3 visits, I am disappointed to say that I have not had a consistently positive experience. First time I had their japchae which was just ok but I had the most amazing fries ever so it made up for it. I love French fries and these instantly became my favorite so I knew we would be back. Next visit the fries were exceptionally horrible. They were not the same product at all… literally felt they were Walmart frozen fries. I never complain to the waiter about the food at restaurants but I was so disappointed that i had to say something. Told the server that the fries were clearly not the same as last time and not in a good way. He said he would let the back know. Honestly, it would have been better if they said they didn’t have fries vs giving out what we got. I also had the bibimbap this time and wasn’t that great, felt things were too sweet and felt the flavors didn’t go too well together. I was so sad that I didn’t have the same fries so I decided to give them the benefit of the doubt and write it off as an off day. Came back a third time and interestingly enough, the fries were literally a mix of the good fries and the bad fries. I don’t know if they get premade fries they just fry or if they’re made fresh from raw potatos. If it’s premade and there is an issue with supply, I understand it’s not necessarily their fault but if it’s all made fresh then there has been a serious decline in the quality of product. I will say, my husband has gotten the chicken every time and he said it’s been consistently good. Which means to me that their strong point is their fried chicken. My brother went to a location in the Mall of America that only serves chicken and fries and it is consistent every single time. Unfortunately, sometimes expanding the menu means a deteriorating of quality. The picture I posted depicted the first and the second time I got their fries. You can clearly see they are drastically different products. The one on the right was the first time when they were good and the one on the left was when they...

I came from Milwaukee about an hour away. Before coming I CALLED. I asked, "what are your hours, and, is the soy chicken vegetarian?" She said "we are open until midnight" and "yes it is!" So I replied "great!" I'm always double and triple checking if food is vegetarian because , well, just wait you'll see. So as soon as I ordered I again mentioned about it being vegetarian and the response from the waitress was all cheery. But part of me knew in her rush that what I had said did not register. Then over an hour passed. I thought, hum this is a fried chicken restaurant, I wonder what's the hold up. Maybe because it's a vegetarian order. Finally I get her attention and ask, is the food on it's way? And she said, "ohhh my goodness did you not get your food yet? Just wait let me take your order again". They had completely forgotten. And so again I asked for two orders of the soy chicken, chicken made of soy. Or so I thought. 20 minutes later it comes, at least one of the orders. And it's definitely chicken-- like chicken that used to be alive. Not soy chicken. So I think there must be a mistake, that maybe the other order will be soy. So we wait. And we wait so long that I suggest we just cancel the order. So the other member of my party goes inside and tries to do that. It's becoming clear to me that soy chicken is actually real chicken with a soy sauce glaze. And after checking inside the manager, not the rest of the order, comes out. He acts like we wanted to make a complaint. Really we only wanted to cancel the order because it was taking so long. And I mention that I had expected it to be vegetarian. He makes it seem like it's our fault, saying "what makes you think chicken would be vegetarian?" and in front of other guests he lectures us on what Bonchon is about, their flavors and how they will be opening a liquor section. He does acknowledge the lateness and offers a mere 20% off on that one entree. Then the waitress comes back with the bill, and tells us, "can you sign this quickly please?" And we looked at each other like...quickly? Vegetarians, people with food allergies, people with diet restrictions... I'd suggest...

Absolutely NEVER again. I don’t even know where to begin. Came here around 6:30pm on a Tuesday with a few friends and ordered the seasoned fries, buldak, and medium sized family wings (half garlic and half spicy). It was all absolutely terrible. The buldak was unseasoned to the max, under-sauced, and the cheese was barely even melted. I couldn’t even swallow it. The fries looked like someone bought frozen fries, stuck them in the fryer for 30 seconds, threw some bare cheese, and served it. Mcdonald’s has better fries than what they call “seasoned” fries. The chicken wings were DRY and under seasoned as well I don’t even know why we paid $30 for JUST the chicken wings- not even worth a dollar. I was hoping for good service too but we waited over half an hour for the worst food I’ve ever laid my tongue on. The server doesn’t even speak English so it was hard to understand and talk to him about what was wrong and I even heard him call my friends and I “putas” (which is a derogatory word in spanish) as he was coming out of the kitchen. The chefs were hiding behind the door as well staring at us as we were paying for the horrible food. Seriously, if you are going to serve food, at least make it edible. We had to speak to the manager on the waiter’s PHONE because the manager was not on duty and the only good that came out of that was just the manager having us pay for the wings. Unfortunately, I’m saddened that we even paid for those too. This was my first and last time coming. I hoped to have a good experience as my friends had told me this was a good spot for good Korean food but I will not be coming back and please, speak to your employees about server etiquette and how to cook food. This was a terrible experience for my friends and I and we will not be coming back. There’s plenty of other options in the area. If this used to be a good place, the quality has gone down...