Cluck2Go — Restaurant in Pasadena

I'm glad that there's a pretty authentic Hainan chicken shop in Pasadena now that can give Savoy a run for its money. With all the positive feedback that I was seeing about Cluck2Go, my friends and I came with high expectations. Honestly, I don't think there was anything all that amazing about this place - food is pretty good, but we weren't wowed by what we tried.

I wanted to try their signature Hainan Chicken rice dish, but all of my friends ended up ordering it. I ended up going with the Chicken Tom Yum Soup with rice noodle for $9.50 instead. Hearing the words "Tom Yum Soup", I expected the soup to be tangy and a little spicy, but Cluck2Go's soup was not acidic at all. My friends all tried the soup and said that it tasted flowery - I could taste the floral hints of the soup and felt that it was sweeter than expected. I liked the rice noodles, chicken pieces, and vegetables that were in the soup, but I have had better Tom Yum Soup in the middle of nowhere than at Cluck2Go. The chicken pieces were soft and tender - and with the complimentary sauces, tasted pretty good. I just wasn't a fan of the Tom Yum soup, which should have been the star of the dish.

The Hainan Chicken rice with dark meat ($9.95 - one dollar more than the regular white meat) came with flavored rice, a bowl of chicken soup, and three additional sauces (sweet soy sauce, scallion paste, and a chili sauce). We all agreed that the broth was too oily although the chicken soup did taste pretty flavorful. Rice was good and had flavor from the chicken broth, and the chicken was juicy and tender. I liked all three of the sauces, but the sweet soy sauce was my favorite. The pickled vegetables were a great addition to add some tanginess to the dish.

A lot of people mentioned that the portions were really big, but I actually thought the portion was just right for the rice dish. Portions seem to be much bigger at Tasty Food. Since my friends were the ones who ate the Hainan Chicken rice, I asked them what they thought of it - they liked it, but still all agreed that they have had better Hainan chicken elsewhere. Workers are friendly, but since this is a fast-food ordering type of restaurant, you pretty much serve yourself after you order.

Restaurant is on the smaller side - located on Colorado across from PCC. There was a good amount of customers coming in and out the night that we visited.

tl;dr - I thought Cluck2Go was just okay - I was disappointed in my Tom Yum Chicken bowl, but I can see why people like the Hainan Chicken rice dish. Would not mind coming back again to try their food, but I hope they improve their Tom Yum...

The pastor at my church took us here to break bread as this is his top spot for Hainan chicken. I told him I really like savoy and he thinks this place is way better so here we are. The members at our church are troopers as this restaurant was 30+ min away from church and there were 11 of us. There are street parking and should be enough if people can park correctly but of course a few had to take up two spots and I ended up parking across the street. There's a sign that says one hour parking but does not pertain to Sundays...yay!

The place itself is quit small but praise GOD there were no one here when we arrived so we were able to fit everyone here. Instead of being able to order at the front, the waiter made us wait so he can take our order at the table as he stated we are all sitting together. Also means we can only split two bills instead of paying individually. SMH. I was going to give them 3 stars for this but the guy more then made it up with his spectacular service. He started off with getting all of us water and then kept refilling our sauce! The store could use some remodeling as a big part of the ceiling is peeling off.

On to the food. I ordered combo A as it's 1/2 chicken compared to individual order which is 1/4 chicken according to the waiter but when comparing side by side we felt the individual order is more then a 1/4 but less then 1/2. Combo A is $2 more but you get fried peanuts and spicy cucumber salad and that's why I ordered that instead but after comparing, I would def order the individual size instead to get more Hainan chicken. The chicken is comparable to savoys but their green onion sauce is out of this world!!! So good! The rice is a bit on the harder side for me but with the green sauce over it, it just made everything taste good lol. The peanuts is good but I'm not really into mala and the cucumber salad is refreshing w a spicy kick. It also comes w chicken broth which was surprisingly healthy tasting. We were expecting msg but nope just light broth.

Overall: this place is a bit far from where I live but if I'm ever in the area, I wouldn't mind coming back as the price was very reasonable and service was excellent and the green sauce was so good! 3.5 stars because of the poor store condition. If they fix their ceiling this would be a...

Cluck2Go is a favorite takeout spot of ours both pre- and current pandemic times! This hole in the wall place, decorated with various chicken-themed details (my favorite is the chicken clock near the kitchen), serves a delicious and comfort-food Hainan chicken.

When comparing to Savoy Kitchen, Cluck2Go has a more mild and comforting style of Hainan chicken that is less fatty and more subtle in flavor, something I prefer most days.

GETTING THERE / ORDERING: This location has street parking right in front of the small shop, which makes it easy to hop off and pick up our takeout orders. Our experience of calling in orders or ordering online is both easy and your order is done within 10-15 minutes generally.

FOOD: We usually keep to the basics and stick with the DARK MEAT ONLY HAINAN CHICKEN WITH RICE, which is served with a ginger oil sauce and a sweet-spicy (but not that spicy) orange sauce, with fragrant soy sauced chicken rice and a bowl of chicken broth with green onion pieces in it. It also comes with a side of pickled veggies as a palate cleanser between your mouthfuls of chicken and rice. Lovely for cooler weather!

If you're more in the mood for a FRIED HAINAN CHICKEN RICE (which we don't often see!) they have that as well, the batter is lightly applied and does not feel heavy in the stomach which is always great when ordering fried food.

For dessert / something sweet, the DEEP FRIED CHINESE STEAMED BUNS are excellent, not too sweet, crisp and browned on the outside which when crunched through to the middle, soft and slightly sweet on the inside, served with a side of condensed milk to dip these in. So easy to devour many in one sitting.

COVID PRECAUTIONS: There's a generous bottle of sanitizer near the front, the tables inside are spaced out well, there are social distance markings on the floor, and the cashier is separated by a plastic divider. We always felt safe picking up food from here.

Wonderful place that we'll keep returning to and recommending to friends as a neighborhood Hainan...