Chick Queen — Restaurant in South Salt Lake

I am seriously mad at myself for waiting so long to try Chickqueen. They easily craft some of the best, super duper crispy fried chicken EVER! You can plan a whole afternoon around this area too: do some shopping at Chinatown Supermarket, pick up sides at K-Recipe, and dessert at Moon Bakery.

My first visit, I stopped by after picking up groceries at their sister Supermarket, and it was just after 3:00 on a Friday. There was only one person working, and no one else waiting, but he did get some calls while I waited, so they were not super slow, even for an off time. My order was ready in about fifteen minutes. We did a large order of boneless chicken and split flavors between honey garlic and green onion, as well as their special chicken congee soup. The green onion isn’t saucy like the others, but the fresh onion topping is refreshingly lovely, and this was our overall favorite. The tangy, lightly sweetened pickled daikon radish is a must-have side, and the congee is just a cozy hug. While it is just a simple rice porridge with bitty bits of chicken, mushroom, and carrot, it sure is satisfying and filling. If you need a little extra something, just top it with chile crisp or chile oil, and you’ve pretty much got perfection.

The food was so good, a week later my hubby and I determined we needed Chickqueen for lunch, specifically so we could try the fries. We called ahead around 12:30 on a Saturday, and they were out of fries! They were also out of pickled daikon radish! It was a travesty, for sure. We still placed our order, however, and they were busy busy when we arrived. Several people were waiting on orders, there was a line out the door to the register, and the phone was ringing off the hook. All this is to say: call ahead! It ended up taking about 30 minutes for our food to be prepared this time. We tried the spicy chicken, and while the sauce is hot, it’s not that crazy, however with the addition of the sliced jalapenos, I found it a bit much for my wimpy self (not that I didn’t eat it anyways).

I have since returned several times, and we have tried a good deal of the menu. Favorite chicken remains the green onion, and I always get the congee if it is available. Besides what I’ve already mentioned, they also offer bone-in chicken, several breaded and fried vegetables, sandwiches, Jjolmyeon and Tteokbokki. There are a couple dipping sauces, and toppings for fries, too. Of note, while their menu lists it, they are currently not offering cheese sticks. As far as I know, they also have not resumed dine-in options. Prices are totally reasonable. A medium boneless chicken ($15) is 12 pieces, and a large ($21) is 24, but you can do two flavors on the latter. You can easily feed two people for $30 or a bit less. And bonus, this chicken somehow heats up beautifully in the microwave, even maintaining it’s already astonishing crispiness! Also, not that I’d recommend it, but my friend discovered some in the back of her refrigerator that she had forgotten, and she said it was great even...

I absolutely love this place!

Chickqueen is now one of if not my top favorite for chicken wings, and I'm excited to try a half or whole chicken order from them as well.

I tried two orders of the ten piece jumbo wings. Truth in advertising here, as they were jumbo. I'd even say a ten piece here is similar to a 15 or 20 piece elsewhere.

The wings are battered and fried. The texture was very crispy and light even though I made a stop on the way home (I got them to-go). They put enough attention to detail to cut two corners odd the boxes for steam venting. I love that effort and detail.

We tried two flavors -- the honey garlic and spicy. Honey garlic was sweet and savory. Truly a great flavor. It almost tastes like there's some clove or some other savory slice to compliment the garlic, and it works very well.

The spicy is basically a gochujang tossed wing. It was delicious. I love gochujang. It's sweet and a little earthy, and spicy. It's a criminally underappreciated condiment and it works great on wings.

We tried every sauce -- cream cheese, ranch, sesame and spicy. Spicy again is a gochujang sauce. They were all unique and I dare say you can't get wings like this or sauces like this anywhere else.

The sesame was savory and delicious.

The ranch was almost like a kefir yogurt ranch instead of a milk-based ranch. The acidity of the ranch really compliments the sweetness of the wings we had.

The spicy gochujang was good but I'd only have it with wings other than the spicy flavor, only because it's the same sauce.

The cream cheese was interesting -- sweet and definitely cream cheesy. Not bad but not for everyone.

I cannot wait to go back. I hope they're wildly successful and can get a second location going in a year or two. It's just that good.

Great and friendly service and staff. Amazing chicken and unique delicious flavors. There is not a single thing I would change about Chickqueen and if you like chicken, you owe it to...

Best korean fried chicken I've had so far in Utah. Chicken crispiness was done right. Some flavors a little salty but I'd most definitely come back.

Service: 5 stars. Called in for a pick up order. My order of 2 flavor bone in chicken bucket, cold noodles, and mild fries were hot, fresh and ready at the time they stated. Pick up was a breeze and there were no mistakes in the order

Food: 4.5 stars

Bone-in chicken (plain): Very very crispy. It even retained a lot of the crispiness after being reheated in the microwave. The spicy and sesame dipping sauces were great. This is my preferred as I can control the flavor.

Bone-in chicken (honey garlic): The honey garlic was very flavorful.. tasted great combined with the cold noodles. Wife and daughter (who typically avoids saucy chicken) both loved it.

(I made an incorrect assumption when I read the bone-in bucket chicken. I assumed it was just straight wings as their other bone-in option was labeled as wings and drumsticks. This did result in some of the chicken pieces being more dry than others and having a lot of small bones that I had to pick out. I'll have to try the wings and drumsticks option the next time I'm back. )

Cold noodles: Tasted amazing. (FYI, It is an acquired taste..)Very refreshing and I'd totally crave it again in the summer. The default sauce was too sour/tangy for my taste (wife enjoyed it). I liked it better plain or with the spicy sauce sold with the chicken.

Mild Fries: Nice and crispy when fresh. Bottom fries became soggy over time as expected. Flavors were great but a little over salty for me.

Background: I've had korean fried chicken in multiple places. I lived in South Korea for a year and really enjoyed it there. I've also had kyo-chon, bon-chon, and a few other smaller places in cali which ranged from decent to very enjoyable. I've also tried a few local places here which were...