Bonchon Virginia Beach — Restaurant in Virginia Beach

Have heard the hype, “Bonchon!!” “The BEST Korean fried chicken!!” Sad to say NO. A BIG NO. This particular locale/building at Hilltop must be cursed…that particular location has been through A LOT of eateries. Or could be lack of training or not holding up company standards.

Over the years venue after venue….the layout is very familiar, of course company swag and colours, nice set of vintage video game machines at the entry…nice touch. Place seemed clean until you reach the bar end…sticky, very sticky. Moved around the bar for a seat and slipped on something very slick on the floor🤷🏻‍♂️🤷🏻‍♂️🤷🏻‍♂️. Clean areas?? Dirty/slick floor might be a priority.

2 tables seated and one lone server, and myself placing an order. She was very nice and attentive, if it got busier I hope she had some help, she was the only person I saw running the entire floor. More people did come in and she was a getting bound up. My son and I ordered our take out, she said about 15-20 minutes, we headed out to do some errands around hilltop shops. Came back in 20, the place got busier…lone server running up and down, with a table of 8 among the mix. We waited another 10 minutes and was told “it should be out shortly” she was smiling, felt bad for her being alone and the joint was getting packed. Either management failed her or peers are unreliable. At 15 minutes bags came out, meanwhile the couple that came was waiting the whole time to get seated. They asked if we were in line, we told we had been waiting for our order for a while now, but they stuck around.

Now to the main show, the food we waited for 35 minutes. Ordered the medium combo 8 wings and 4 drumsticks and a chicken katsu. $47.56 later, yes…$48 for 12 wings and a shriveled, soggy panko crusted piece of whatever it was on top of crunchy a$š rice, and 12 rubber wings with Korean bbq sauce mopped over them……W.T.F.? We were so ready to get home and eat lunch, bit into a wing…..maaaaan it was upsetting, highly disappointed. Don’t want to be that guy, but after spending nearly $50 bucks for lunch, yeah it made me be that guy. Food was worthless. Not recommended. Go across the street to Chik-Fil-A….at least the chicken is edible.

I would usually wait after 2-3 visits and then give a rating, no return here....

This Bonchon was absolutely beautiful! It's large, open interior was very welcoming. Multiple large screen TVs are spread through the restaurant and they even have anime on one of them!

That said, the food was disappointing for me and my husband from the moment the appetizers arrived. We shared a steamed shumai appetizer, only to find out that they were cold and partially frozen in the center. His Korean chicken tacos appetizer, however, turned out to be very delicious! A definite winner!

Next was our main course, he had Bugolgi and I had Chicken Katsu. His came out looking tasty. He said it was good, but he asked for no onions, and ended up with no scallions, either. Other than that, he said it was good! We both tried my Chicken Katsu and agreed that it was bland. The majority of the flavor came from the delicious sauce drizzled over the top of what I am guessing were chicken tenders. It certainly didn't appear to be the cutlet in the menu picture. Each one was coated all the way around and they were very tough to cut using the provided fork. I'm used to a Chicken Katsu cutlet and was really disappointed by the relatively flavorless, dry chicken and tasteless panko breading. It did have a nice crunch though and wasn't super oily.

When the bill came in at over $70, I was shocked! I'm not the type to send food back to the kitchen once ordered, so I took home the shumai and remaining rice from the Chicken Katsu as takeout so we could heat it up at home.

I'm sure that there are some great experiences to be had here for some patrons. The wait staff was quite friendly and attentive. However, I don't see myself going back again after this unfortunate first visit. My husband still would like to try some of the other items, so I'm going to let him find the other winners...

First time going to this location today Sunday September 1st, and I was highly disappointed. A nice waitress seated me and then another girl I think she was the bartender interrupted the waitress and took over my table. I had to go up to the bar to order my food because she never came back. I ordered the Korean crispy chicken sandwich with the coleslaw on the side the Korean barbecue sauce on the side and playing crispy fries. She offered me parmesan fries but I told her now I just want them plain. I then went back and sat at my table . I waited for a while then the first waitress came out with my sandwich with the coleslaw on the side. No fries and no side of Korean BBQ. I had to remind them that I ordered that. Then the bartender girl came over to my table and asked me if everything was okay I told her that they forgot my fries and my side of Korean barbecue sauce and then now my sandwich is getting cold while I'm waiting. So a few minutes later here comes My fries and my side of barbecue sauce the fries were not plain. Also the barbecue sauce had something in it. I told the bartender girl and I showed it to her. She said oh it's just a piece of chicken. My fries had that parmesan mix on them that I did not want. I started to eat my chicken sandwich and the bun fell apart. The bun was not fresh at all. While I was eating I noticed how messy the dining room area was. Tables filled with dirty dishes also the bathroom was filthy . The music was loud and annoying. I did end up telling the bartender girl about the fries and she said oh it must have been a mix-up in the kitchen would you like to speak to my manager I said then I'll just take my check. Very disappointed in my experience at this location. I will definitely...