Bonchon Philadelphia — Restaurant in Philadelphia

Been only there twice. Once was only for drinks by the bar to accompany a friend who really wanted to go. The second and last time is for food, and I emphasize last time. I do greatly enjoy this Korean style fried chicken as that's been pretty popular lately and I've had them pretty often before in various places, as well as in Korea and other Asian countries.

However the overall experience here is way sub-par. After waiting for almost an hour only for fried chicken in a specific specialized chicken place just won't cut it. And that seems to be pretty common, since the table next to ours had been waiting just as long as well and left without their chicken order too.

The main thing is, after so long, we still couldn't get our order of chicken. We decided to leave since we were starving and just had to go eat somewhere else. I had been checking with the waiters but they kept saying that there are many orders backed up and they only have few machines to make the chicken. What kind of a restaurant doesn't have the efficiency or capability to make what it's supposed to? It's literally going to a restaurant to order food but they aren't able to provide? Just as if you go to the bank and it says they don't have any cash yet. Or if you buy a car from the dealership but it doesn't come with any tires and it'll be delivered to you later.

The thing that bothered me just as much is that there isn't much reaction from the waiters or staff either. They seem to not care very much since probably this happens a lot and they still get customers. They made a big deal about only taking the order off my bill. Nothing else was offered, except only one mild apology by one younger staff. We've been there waiting and wasted 1 hour for nothing. Paid for my drinks and some appetizers with no discounts (or genuine apology) even offered.

I don't understand why it's always so crowded. The food is definitely not that special and definitely outflanked by all the other great choices in Chinatown. Probably because there aren't that other many of such chicken places in Chinatown or in the city (yet)? Or people are just going there for different reasons. It's over-hyped, overpriced, period. Never ever going again, and I don't care whose...

We recently spent time at Philly’s Chinese Lantern Festival. Since food there was outrageously expensive, we strolled over to nearby Chinatown to find a meal. That’s how we found Bonchon.

The restaurant has a very cool vibe. It has two levels: a bar seating area downstairs and traditional table and booth seating upstairs. Music videos (mostly K Pop) are shared via giant screens.

Upon entering around 10:30 pm, we were quickly escorted upstairs for seating. Our server seemed genuinely happy to serve us and was extremely friendly. He told us about the interesting new menu items and described the mainstay items customers love.

The menu was varied and included lots of things we like to eat like japchae, tteokbokki, bulgogi, and steamed buns. The drink menu offered the regular bottled sodas and lemonades, but also featured yummy looking soju cocktails.

There were five in our party, so I was able to sample several things. I found the bulgogi fries to be delicious, but some in our party didn’t care for the flavor of the smoked cheese atop the fries. The chicken strips were super crunchy, very juicy, and well sauced (half with Soy Garlic and the other with Korean BBQ). Both the fried chicken sandwich and wings were big and just as crispy. The sides of cole slaw and pickled radish were tasty as well. We loved the generous portion sizes. We definitely got our money’s worth.

A couple of things we didn’t like. One was the super low lighting. I get that was likely due to the late Friday night vibe, but I like to see the details of everything on my plates. Another thing I didn’t like was the temperature. It was noticeably warmer upstairs than downstairs. I understand that heat rises, but I would have preferred for the AC to have been bumped a notch. However, neither of those details would cancel a return visit.

Overall, we enjoyed our visit. We were treated well. We liked the atmosphere and enjoyed our food. We’re definitely planning a return...

This is my second experience with what I assume is a bar- restaurant w busy take out business. Several months ago, as my first time, I asked staff at front if their 2 flavor choices could be offered as a SAUCE ON THE SIDE and was told that was an option; I chose BOTH flavors on the side to try out. Instead the REALITY I faced was a mouth burning lasting forever because I received the whole order as SPICY; the condiment/flavor is in coating and there is NO SAUCE ALTERNATIVE! After TOO MANY ATTEMPTS to address this serious result with the RIGHT MANAGER (Huh?) I was able to get store credit. It seemed like a government-level negotiation! Let me explain the basis of “MANY ATTEMPTS”. If you call this business as I have been trying for the past 45 minutes, you will receive a VERIZON message informing you the party you’re calling is busy and to try later. What business with any investment in its image will subject a customer to such effort, and this is still unchanged as I write this. And what is THIS? I stopped by earlier tonight and asked if I could have 1/2 of order with soy-garlic and the other half PLAIN and again confirmed with staff that this was possible before I placed my order ONLY TO FIND OUT AT HOME THE PLAIN HALF IS SPICY and as I tried this first I re experienced the same awful prolonged painful reaction. AND ALSO EXACTLY AS BEFORE I CALLED URGENTLY ONLY TO RECEIVE THE SAME VERIZON MESSAGE. There must be other Korean establishments that offer this iconic food but OPERATE PROFESSIONALLY WITH EXPECTED LEVEL OF CUSTOMER ATTENTION. This place is 1. OVERPRICED for all its sides; 2. lacks easy phone access(this is hard to believe for take out operation) 3. Staffed at front by untrained clueless staff (not sure if there’s a lack of concern by kitchen staff but it’s a definite possibility from my 2 bad experiences. As the saying goes: Three strikes and you’re out. Bonchon struck out...