Bonchon South San Francisco — Restaurant in South San Francisco

Updated review 8/8/2023: My friend told me about the new "Korean BBQ" flavor at Bonchon and I came over to try it. It was delicious. Since it was just me this time, I only ordered the small combo (6 wings, 3 drumsticks) $16.55. It was sweet with a hint of BBQ flavor. There's something special about that signature Bonchon crunch, made from overly thick batter. Surprisingly, there weren't any weird oil aftertaste that linger after eating a meal accustomed with oily fried foods. I did drink a lot of water though. Well done staff at Bonchon. Again. I do love their fried chicken. Original review: 8:45pm on a Friday night. The chicken crispiness varies by Bonchon locations. This one ranks in the middle. My friends say the downtown SF location is the crispiest. We ate at the restaurant so, it is not due to to-go lead time. I never knew Bonchon had table service. We usually ordered to-go or eat outside at their San Mateo location. We started with a large soju $20 and a blue moon beer $5.50. Most of the soju favors were out so we resorted to mango. The soju was not strong and contained mostly juice. The wait time goes by faster because there are TV's and alcohol. For the starters, we got the popcorn shrimp $12.75 and zucchini fries $8.55. These were OK. They weren't flavorful. I would have preferred some popcorn chicken from Quickly's but they were not taking orders after 8:30pm. For the main dish, we ordered medium combo half and half $30. We asked for extra spicy and Bonchon did not disappoint. The fried chicken was great. So crispy! Some of the soy garlic chicken was too salty though. Service was alright. This meal put big smiles across...

I was debating giving it two stars rather than three but overall the food tasted good. So first off, the wings were small and very skimpy. Not sure if it’s always like that, and they were extremely dry as well. Second, I ordered steamed rice and got something totally different. Third, the rice was really mushy and wet still. Lastly the customer service!!! This lady that took our order, mine and my husbands, she was so rude when my husband brought the food back and told her what was wrong! They said they couldn’t do anything about his wings and that’s fine I understood that but then when he brought up the stuff we were given rather than rice, she went back and forth with him, showing him the receipt and continuously claiming we asked for the item we had. FINALLY after the third time of going back and forth with the lady she said she would “see what she could do” and brought us the rice. She was sarcastic, rude, argumentative, and she dressed like a slob. She had a loose t shirt on, her hair in a half messy bun, baggy sweats, and a pair of dirty vans on. I’ve worked in customer service before and that is not how you treat people. She was extremely careless and rude. We come from Lodi where they have a Bonchon locally and we love the food so of course we had high expectations for this location as well. They need to do something about that girl she shouldn’t be working...

I have been going here ever since it opened.  It is a little pricey but so worth it.   When you walk in the place is pretty big and clean.  You are greeted right away upon walking in.   This time around, we ordered online for pick up and ordered a few items we haven't tried.

We ordered:

Bulgogi fries - I was surprised how good it was.   I wasn't expecting much since they are known for their chicken.

Potstickers - Crunchy and soft in the middle. I love how they drizzle the sauce on top.

Popcorn shrimp - of course, the shrimp was not the biggest, but it was so addictive. Something about the batter being crunchy and chewy, once you eat one, you can't stop.

House fried rice (bulgogi) - very flavorful, but the rice was a little too sticky to my liking and a little too sweet.

Korean Fried Chicken with soy glaze - Alwaus got you smacking. It's so crunchy and not overly saucey. This goes great with the pickled radish.

Korean donuts - I don't know why, but I had high expectations.  I was disappointed.  It was just a regular sugar doughnut. I was expecting it to be chewier, like with rice flour.  If you're thinking about it,  don't bother. It's not worth the price.

Overall,  you can never go wrong...