Bonchon Waltham — Restaurant in Waltham

I have been to Bonchon in CT many times before and I am In Mass with co-worker for a couple of days who never had Korean food before, so I figured Bonchon would be a good start to introduce him to Korean Fried Chicken and Bulgogi.

Location: Its in a downtown setting, limited street parking but there is a lot on a side street to pay by the hour at $1.00 per. After 6 pm it's free.

The place is clean, and we were seated right away. Nothing different so far. It's a chain, they have standards.

Food:

We ordered a 10 piece soy garlic drums, bulgogi, takoyaki, and bulgogi fried rice.

Chicken: While they were still somewhat moist, the outer skin was a little over cooked, not so much so that they were burnt or inedible, they just had a slightly burned after taste which is not typical when I've ordered in the past. Overall it was decent, not the best, and not the worst.

Takoyaki: The takoyaki were good. Hot, crispy on the outside soft and delicious on the inside. They were cooked perfect, with a good amount of takoyaki sauce, japanese mayo, and bonito flakes.

This is where it goes all down hill.

Bulgogi: Very thin shaved beef that was over cooked and there was ZERO bulgogi sauce to be found. The absolute worst bulgogi I have ever eaten. I've had better bulgogi from a pre-packaged box at Costco.

If you take it and put it on a sandwich roll with cheese, it would taste like a bland cheesesteak. Not what you want from bulgogi. It was so sad it made me want to cry.

Bulgogi fried rice: Again, it was the same thin shaved, over cooked beef, in fried rice that had ZERO flavor. Not bad, or good, just no flavor. I asked for hotsauce or what ever they had on had, which tasted like a gochujang sauce which made the dish palatable for me.

Service: Our server was friendly, attentive and had a smile the whole time. She is the reason for this being a 2 star and not a 1 star review.

Overall, it was very disappointing. Not the quality I am used to back in West Hartford, CT. Anyone wanting to try Korean food, or if you've had it at this location in Waltham MA, don't judge it by this location. I will not...

Edit: I called the number left on the response by the owner and there's no answer. That being said, they asked for more info so I re-added my original review below that I deleted because I felt bad for writing it. I do feel bad leaving negative reviews so I'll add a beginning warning that you may like this location if you have never been to any of their other locations first.

I'll start by saying I am huge fan of Bonchon. I frequent the Allston location at least once a month but it's an hour drive to do so. Obviously I was excited to cut that drive down by 20 minutes when they opened this location in Waltham.

Unfortunately, I probably will not be going back. I got the soy garlic wings, the spicy wings, and the potstickers to go. My friend and I both grabbed a potsticker in the car before heading home and couldn't help but comment how unbearably salty it was. Later, while eating at home, I found out that all of the items were ridiculously salty. The items are almost inedible due to how much salt is on them. I mean, I was reaching for a beverage after every bite salty. In terms of texture, it reminds me of caramel popcorn. It terms of taste, it's like dumping salt all over a wing. Even the coleslaw is just meh compared to the other location. The spicy wings were actually alright but in comparison to the Allston location it just doesn't hold a candle.

The "ADDICTED YET" slogan being on these wings honestly just makes me upset knowing how much better it could be. PLEASE do not judge Bonchon on this location. Go to the one in Allston, it is so much better it's hard to put into words. I still love Bonchon and plan to keep going, I'm just going to continue making the extra 20 minute drive to the...

7/1/19 update. I gave this place a second chance and this time the chicken was perfect! I think they learned to add more sauce and cook the chicken correctly. The thighs were so juicy and flavorful! Service was great and the staff were very nice. Changed from 3 starts to 5.

-Old review-

I really wanted to give this place 5 stars before I've been looking forward to having a good fried chicken place close for a while. But they have some issues that I'm hoping will be fixed in time.

The bad:

First off the hot tea we ordered was room temperature. The hot water coming out of your faucet is way hotter than this tea. I mean what restaurant does not have the ability to boil water?

Second they got my order wrong, but quickly fixed the error. They did forget the appetizer until I asked them for it after we got the main meal.

Third the sauce was super sparse. I thought they would toss the wings in the sauce fully like every other Bonchon, but they barely just drizzled some sauce on each one separately, a few drops each.

Forth the person I was with thought the boneless chicken was super dry, but the coating was nice and crisp. My order was not dry. Maybe the bone in wings are juicier.

The good:

Even though they got the order messed up a bit, the server was very nice and remedied the issues as best they could.

The fried pickles were good and hot and the fried chicken was good overall but lacking sauce!

I just hope they can have a bit more sauce on their chicken, fix the small issues with service, and figure out how to boil water for a...