Bonchon - Springfield — Restaurant in Springfield

UPDATE:

I left a review a year ago, shortly after this location opened and am now updating it.

The food is still great, but I do not recommend eating there. There is such a high turnover rate of staff, so no one really knows the menu if you ask about something. The staff is also slow to find someone to answer a question if you ask them one. I went there last night and ran into so many issues. I left without actually eating and went somewhere else.

I was given a glass with a large chip in it, which may have resulted in my drinking glass pieces or cutting myself. I had to point out to a different waiter that my glass was chipped.

I was then given the wrong wing order. The error in the order resulted in me getting less wings and not even being the right wing order. I ordered 32 wings but was given 24, even though they told me the order was correct since there were drumsticks included in the order. When I pointed out to two waiters that I did not order drumsticks and only ordered wings, they tried to tell me that I was wrong and that my order was correct.

A waiter then came and took the wrong order off of the table and told us it would be another 25-30 minutes for the correct order to be made. No mention of an apology or giving us something to snack on while we waited another 25 minutes for the correct order to be made. We had already eaten the appetizer that we ordered and waited 25 minutes for the previous wrong order.

We then ask to speak to a manager. The manager comes over and says that it will be 25-30 minutes to bring out the order. The manager kept trying to explain that the order wasn't wrong because it contained drumsticks, that they have a mixed package that includes drumsticks. We kept trying to explain that the order was wrong since we didn't order the mixed package. The manager just kept repeating the same thing. There was no apology whatsoever. There was no hint of "making it right."

We paid for our appetizer and drinks and sat there for another 15-ish minutes while we finished our drinks. As we were walking out, one of the waiters asked us if we wanted some complimentary ice cream. I mean literally as our hand was on the door she called out and asked this. Not once after we paid did anyone come and speak to us until we were walking out the door.

The high turnover rate and the manager's demeanor make this location only good for takeout. Make sure to double-check your order...

We love Bonchon! So much that before the Springfield location opened, we would drive all the way to a Fairfax location (which has since closed, I believe there was a fire). We had been going there for years so we were very sad. We were very excited to see that the Springfield location was open and tried it right away. The strips were completely different (not flattened) and not what we expected. But we were open to try the different format but it was not well received by my family and the strips didn't seem freshly fried. The pickled radish was also a bit soggy and less crisp than we were accustomed to. Bonchon is pretty expensive and I've never minded paying the prices for the food but the quality was not there. It had only recently opened when we tried it so we might try it again once it's more established to see if there is an improvement.

Update (May 2023): I’ve been back to this location a handful of times because the food itself did improve. But I had another experience with food that didn’t seem freshly made. I had an order of tteokbokki and unlike the other times, this time the sauce and cheese had already congealed by the time I got my order home. I don’t live too far away and this wasn’t an issue any other time. They also forgot my fries.

I called to talk about these two issues and started with the omission of the fries. The manager got on the phone and she was not very cooperative reiterating that the order was checked by two people. I offered to send them a picture of everything and they asked me to come back to pick up fries. Even though I don’t live too far, I’l wasn’t about to drive back there for fries while the rest of my food gets cold. And they finally offered a credit for my next visit. They were so uncooperative, I didn’t even bother to bring up the tteokbokki issue.

The restaurant was pretty empty but I realize they could have been busy with takeout orders but even then I really don’t appreciate poor...

Passed through Springfield Va on my way to DC. Founded them online and said closing time was 11pm. Got there at 10:15pm We even asked the guy at the front (host) what time does their kitchen closed, he answered 10:45. We stated we like to sit separately as there was a few of us. He said no we have to sit together, didn’t think so whatever. We sat down, 5 or so mins went by and the guy and another waitress along with a lady dressed up assuming a manager kept huddling and staring at us. I myself locked eye contact a few times. She then walked over and said, they have a Gratuity Charge of 22% with party of 6 or more that sits together , it was then we knew we got set up to sit together. There was 4 different couples and 4 kids who we was all paying separately. Said before they can take our order so we agree to the 22% charge. I stated we had asked to sit at different tables with our kids and we are paying separately. She said since we came in and sat together the fee applies now. One of the wife with us happen to glance and saw a sign on the wall saying it’s 20% and then that’s when the lady offered 20% instead of 22%. She’ll give us a discount LOL Okay whatever it was late everyone was hungry, we gave our drinks order, took over ten mins to get us drink, mind me say that there was nobody else dining in except a table of 6-7 guys that’s finishing up.

Point of the story, we walked in within 45 mins of closing time She tried to get us to leave, or didn’t think we could afford the bill. Don’t judge a book by its cover or what u want to assume, we was otw to a car show and had 2 show cars outside sitting at over a quarter million dollar, we can afford some fried chickens.

Bonchon in Springfield Profile their customers & don’t want customers coming in at a later time, no wonder the Korean bbq beside was busy but Bonchon was quiet, if you’re the owner you might want to check your cameras footage at...