I have frequented this place quite a bit. Went with my friends a couple of times, brought my family, dragged my other friends who haven't been plagued by the KFC (Korean, not Kentucky) craze. Here's a few things you should get and not get: Definitely get the fried chicken because what's the point if you don't? Soy garlic is a favorite. Spicy is great too for dat kick. Get half and half if ya want, but no judgement if you don't. Sweet crunch is a no-go. Get it with the radishes on the side for that tang. Skip the plain fries, and go for the seasoned fries. I mean, you're going all out right? Heck, might as well! If ya feelin' real gluttonous, get the tteukbokki (spicy rice cakes w/ the cheeeese). Def skip the salmon avocado ball. Not even worth your money. For some of my "I can't live w/o my rice" homies, get that house fried rice because I get it. It's kinda weird to eat chicken without rice. As for the other things I haven't tried, I probably won't try and recommend you don't either. Usually when a place specializes in something, doesn't always mean other things will taste as great. While it is good, it's still just fried chicken at the end of the day and not meant to knock your socks off. Trust me, I'm grateful that we finally have Korean fried chicken out here in the Midwest. I'm just....over it. Over the KFC craze. read more

Bonchon Uptown - Korean Near Me - Minneapolis, Minnesota

I had been DYIIIIING to try this place! It definitely did not disappoint, it was just as good as the hype had made it out to be. The Korean fried chicken wing were crispy, hot, and fresh. We also tried the Bull Dak which was so spicy and delicious. It had the perfect amount of spice and was surprisingly good with the cheese on top. So delicious, just absolutely delicious. So worth the drive and the hassle of parking! read more

I have been looking forward to this opening since it was first announced! As a former Chicagoan, I've really missed Bonchon's dishes, and I was not disappointed when I went today. Takoyaki was super savory and perfectly fried - and a great portion-sized appetizer. I got a half and half of the boneless chicken wings - half spicy and half soy ginger. Both flavors were complex and satisfying - the boneless style was still moist on the inside (normally I wouldn't get boneless, but I didn't want to get too messy!). Also, the fries were perfectly crunchy on the outside and soft on the inside - really some of the best fries I've ever had. Also - to address white people like myself - if you're a Minnesotan who thinks Buffalo Wild Wings is spicy, you should probably avoid some of the spicy dishes here. I love Korean spice, even when it makes me cry a little, but other people might find the flavors too strong. Bonchon does not hold back on its flavors - fish dishes are fishy, spicy dishes are very spicy. So if you're ready for a full-flavored Korean American experience, this is the place for you! read more

Service was good. Food was great! The chicken was sticky, crispy, and piping hot! Loved it!. Tokoyaki amazingggg! Dumplings were so crispy and good! Def try the spicy ones, so good! The fried shrimp shumai were to die for!!! Closest thing to legit korean fried chicken besides chicago! Give this place a try if you love fried chicken! read more

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The only employee was on the phone when I walked in. I was not greeted. He then turned his back on me and continued talking on the phone for several minutes. I just walked out. read more

This place was good and definitely had a new vibe. The location is pretty easy to spot, with the usual uptown parking situation. Service was delightfully friendly and informative. We came around 6pm on a Tuesday evening, and there were only 3 groups of people there. The place got busy/nearly full by 7:30pm. The food itself did not blow my mind, but there's nothing else like its fried chicken in the Twin Cities (nothing I'm aware of anyway). The chicken is double-fried and comes with pickled daikon radish, which was a pleasant, refreshing side. The two of us ordered a medium combo (wings and drumsticks) and an order of the seasoned fries. This was more than enough. We had 4 pieces of chicken leftover and a third of our fries. The chicken was pretty good! It isn't something that will bring me back though, especially with the struggle of parking around uptown. The fries were what I considered thick cut, and they were crispy at the beginning (tasty with the seasoning and parmesan). But they went soft while we ate some chicken, and my hypothesis is that the parmesan started weighing it down and making the fries limp. In conclusion, I thought the food and service was decent, but I don't see myself coming back unless it's convenient. read more

I always like to give a new place I try a couple chances. I won't be doing that here. We went during a normal dinner time on the weekend. Ordered 3 drumsticks and 6 chicken wings...we received 3 chicken wings and 5 drumsticks. The coleslaw we disposed of for smelling rancid. The chicken katsu was spicy-hot, very dry, and not warm, so the person who ordered it ended up not being able to eat it. It was served with a side of undercooked rice. I am always excited to try bulgogi because we make South Korean style bulgogi at home from scratch quite often. I have no idea what they did to it on our order. It didn't taste like any one of the ingredients that's used to make bulgogi (including steak). It tasted like canned mushrooms. The rice that was served with it was cooked correctly. Apologies for not taking pictures, I wanted to get away from the food as fast as possible. I am beside myself. It almost feels like it was done on purpose to be bad?? I do not remember having an experience this bad before. read more

Delicious, delicious chicken. The setup is a bit off and forget about ordering online but the wings are ridiculously good. Worth it. Went back one day later and will return again with friends read more

Bonchon is a relatively new Korean fried chicken restaurant in Uptown. From the moment you walk in the delicious smell of fried chicken hits you. The restaurant has a modern causal vibe with a few TVs. We ordered a small wing combo (half spicy and half soy garlic), pork buns, bulgogi, and udon noodle soup.. all of which is easily sharable. The fried chicken is the star here... had I only eaten the fried chicken I would have given 4 stars. The batter is super light in crispy, the chicken was juicy, and the sauce had good flavor.. though "spicy" was extremely mild. Everything else we ordered was subpar. The pork buns lacked in flavor and the buns themselves were almost plastic like. The Bulgogi, which was advertised as marinated beef in a homemade sauce sautéed with mushrooms and onions... in actuality it was 70% sliced onions and 30% beef and the whole dish really lacked in flavor. And the udon noodle soup was okay but nothing to write home about. All in all, the Korean fried chicken was good, but I probably won't return. read more

Bonchon had one job to do: distinguish their fried chicken from all the others. Korean Fried Chicken should be crisp and lacquered with a thin, sweet and piquant sauce. They did not do it. The chicken meat itself was exceptionally bland and the coating had a distinct taste of fryer oil, a result of too low a frying temperature. When the temperature of the oil is too low, the coating absorbs oil rather than expells it. It leaves the coating soggy and contests the purity of the Korean flavor. Crispiness is the primary virtue of this chicken. The meat itself could have been dry brined with nothing more than salt in order to both season the meat and make it jucier which helps counteract drying from the double frying which is critical to the identity of Korean Fried Chicken. It just opened and is exceedingly popular and perhaps the amount and speed of orders lowered the oil temperature. A good bit of KFC should be, above all, crispy, almost vitreous. And the sauce should be glazed, almost candy-like which requires the right portion of sugar applied to very hot coating. The batter should be thin, almost seamless with the skin, for its the skin that contributes most to the KFC effect and is the primary beneficiary of the double frying technique. I ordered mine to go. They did not take my name but remembered my face when I returned to claim it. It could have been otherwise had the personnel changed. They also forgot my pickled radish - a necessary component that cleanses the palate and adds a fresh, acidic morsel with which to offset the sweetness of the chicken. It is inexcusable to not perfect the one thing that distinguishes this product from all others. read more

I went to South Korea last year with a group of friends and of course we ate everything we could. Here in MN I only know of two Korean friend chicken places. My Korean friend tried Bonchon and said it was legit, so I went to try it. The location is busy and being downtown, it's hard to find street parking. There's a parking garage within walking distance across the street. The restaurant inside is modern and clean. It's a bit small so it would be hard to have a few groups in there. I wouldn't recommend it for groups larger than 6. The chicken is where it's at and it's served with plenty of picked radish! Yes! Just like In Korea. I loved that you can order two flavors and the spicy chicken is soo good. You can get the wings and drummies mix too. I ordered the small combo 6 wings and 3 drumsticks - spicy and soy garlic, for $12.95. My friend ordered the japchae for $13.95. Nothing that stood out to me that would make me order it. They also ordered edamame ($5.95) and it was a decent amount that all 6 of us shared. I also ordered the salmon avocado ball ($10.95) since it looked interesting and I like the ingredients. It's just like American sushi in a ball. It taste good, but I wouldn't come back just for that. As for their other food items I thought they were a bit more on the pricey side and would much rather go to other Korean restaurants for the typical binbimbap ($14.95 for bulgogi - not that much meat) and bulgogi ($16.95). I will definitely come back for the Korean fried chicken. Probably the only thing I would order. It's legit. The only other item I'm interested in trying is the bull dak. We'll see how that goes. read more

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BonChon was definitely an experience! Since the restaurant's first day being open was just this past Monday, the line was out the door. So, if you aren't a patient person ... I would hold off on going just yet. The hype is crazy and so are their flavors. The chicken wings has a great crunch to them which you can't find from any other wings around here. The appetizers had good flavors. Especially, the Salmon Avocado Ball (filling of spicy mayo, cucumbers, avocados, crab meat and eel sauce). The takoyaki were good but weren't quite as warm as I would like them. Overall, I had a great experience and I'll be back. read more

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I am always looking to explore new places and different types of cuisine and Minneapolis provides tons of variety and flavors. Bonchon has lots of different choices from wings and drums to salada, rice bowls and gyoza. The best part is that the flavors and preparation were awesome. The use of spices were perfect and kept my mouth wanting more. Nothing we had was greasy, oily or bland. The servers were so eager to help with suggestions as well as ask if everything was tasty. They really cared and the pride in the products were evident. Prices were very fair and I would highly recommend it. My son it at the University of Minnesota and I am sure he will be a regular.. read more

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Best Korean Wings in town. I live in Uptown and Bonchon is my go to spot. I usually go with the half & half wings. Spicy and Soy Garlic. You get best of both worlds, sweet and spicy. I would definitely recommend a visit! read more

So happy Bonchon finally has a location in Minnesota! It wouldn't be a full experience without their amazing soy garlic wings! We also tried their seafood fried rice and shrimp shumai- sooo delicious! Def will be going back soooon. Although the food was amazing, the only downside was that the wait was relatively long and the space is rather small. I'm hoping that dies down with time! read more

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The chicken here is something i probably think about once a week! I really enjoy the salmon avocado ball as well. Would recommend going here (well we ordered through Doordash, but I am very excited to check this place out when we can go back to places w/o worrying about masks/whatnot. read more

This review is mainly for their chicken and not their other dishes. Their chicken is glorious; it is crunchy without excess batter, the seasoning is near perfection, and it is done near perfectly every time. I like the spicy version more than the soy garlic, but both are good. The legs and drumsticks are both good as well. The pickeled radish is the perfect side, and is good even on its own. This place is near perfection with the recent addition of beer, which completes the Korean chicken and beer experience. The other food looks ok, but I come here for the chimaek! read more

Bonchon Uptown - Small spicy combo. - Korean Near Me - Minneapolis, Minnesota

I like chicken wings. They are the "best". We eat at this restaurant in New York and fall in love with it. read more

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Waited for 40 minutes after ordering and never got any food - - left without eating. Asked our waitress when our food would be ready and she looked confused. And no bar. They open at 4:30 and we got there at 4:25 and got in. The place was half full and when we got in. We sat down and promptly ordered. After 40 minutes only one table out of maybe 15-20 had their food. I don't know if they have only one chef but something is seriously wrong here. We'll never come back. Horrible experience. read more

Finally got to try this place out and see what the hype was all about. Came in at a pretty good time when it wasn't too busy, which was a Friday late afternoon around 2pm. My group and i were seated right away and the warm welcome was definitely appreciated! For food, we ordered half and half wings, kimchi bacon fried rice, seasoned fries and side of kimchi. For the most part, everything tasted delicious! I going to rave about the Korean fried chicken wings because they legitimately were just that finger lickin' goooodddd!!! Took my first bite and that perfect crunch was there. It's like a scene from a movie....I was definitely in heaven!! The chicken wings were so bomb, flavorful and tender but perfectly crispy. I am obsessed and am looking forward to going back there again. The kimchi bacon fried rice was a-okay! It was a bit bland for my liking and could've been more tasty. The seasoned fries were on point also! Crunchy and wasn't too salty or too bland. The seasoning was perfect as so was the ketchup. However, Let me shine some light on the ketchup tho! It tasted like it was homemade or something....I mean, maybe it was? But there was something about the taste that made the ketchup stand out from all other places where I have had ketchup. One thing for sure, it did not taste like ketchup from a plastic bottle! Lastly, The kimchi was bombdotcom. I have thing for spicy and sour food so my opinion of it might seem a bit biased but I honestly could've have like 3 more side dishes of it! Overall service was okay. A bit slow considering that it wasn't extremely busy. Took them a while to come around and refill our cups of water and give us our tabs. I'll give them the benefit of the doubt as they are still pretty new and hopefully they'll come around. Employees were friendly and helpful when needed. read more

Bonchon Uptown - Korean Near Me - Minneapolis, Minnesota

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Wings are fantastic!! Side is included in lunch special! Will go again! Wings have crunchy skins, you are able to split orders with different flavors. Plain fries are good! A good lunch special for $10. The 8 wings was plenty of food with the fries. The food came extremely quickly. I can't wait to go back and try what else they have! read more

Overall the wait staff customer service experience bought the rating down quite a bit. The only reason three star was just the fried chicken. Other foods would rate 2 stars for several reason. Fried wings good but everything else is either just good or very small portion like fried rice for $13 that is just mediocre. Wait staff was completely clueless on how to "wait" on you. Front desk chaotic. I do have to say the young gentleman doing the food runs knew more on how to provide service then the actual servers. Tragic hot mess. To go would be my recommendation just for the wings. read more

Yes!! Finally chicken wings with white rices, my favorite food to eat! I had the boneless and traditional chicken wings plus the salmon avocado ball: the boneless was okay that's was what cost it from 5/5 star, it was dried and not enough sauce, but the chicken wings is exactly how I picture it. " crunch crunch" sooooo yummy and $10 for salmon avocado ball soooooo delicious! I know they just open but they need to step up their game and be more organized. Heart of uptown and it took for ever for our food to be here and they forgot to bring our rices with our chickens! read more

Bonchon Uptown - Korean Near Me - Minneapolis, Minnesota

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Tried this when it opened and I wasn't so much impressed. Maybe it was because they're still learning and they were super busy but the server pretty much seated us and after about what seemed forever came back and with water and asked for our ordered. Tried the chicken wasn't extremely impressed it was a bit too salty for my taste, Also gave the Takoyaki a try but it wasn't fried for long enough that it was a bit too soft . I think the fried rice needs a bit of work it needed more color it and a better flavor profile . Not gonna lie it is the decor is really pretty and very well lit . Maybe I'll give it chance in a couple months again. read more

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5 star chicken quality. 3 star sauce and other food. 1 star service This place has good potential but their service must improve. Also being able to take food to go would be nice. read more

Me + fried chicken = love! Headed here on a weekday at lunch. Street parking was easy. The tables are pretty close together so don't discuss any trade secrets while eating your chicken. In deciding what to order, there are a number of Korean dishes in addition to chicken. But as my friend said, "I'm all about the chicken" so two chicken combos we had! Love that you can do wings, drumsticks, or a combo and you can do half and half of each kind of sauce. The menu says allow 30 min to order chicken but it was way faster than that. The batter was nice and crunchy while the chicken was hot and juicy inside. The spicy sauce was not as flavorful as some other versions I've had but still had a nice heat with a sweet taste. The pickled radish was the perfect complement. Overall, this place offers a tasty quick bite and will be a great place to get emergency takeout in the future. I did grab a LARGE combo order to go - FYI the chicken maintains that delicious crisp after a few minutes in the oven! read more

CRISPY! I knew this place was coming to Uptown and tried to get in during the soft opening but ended up going at around 4PM on a weekday a week later and missed all of the crowds. Just me and my CRISPY chicken (both flavors) and an order of the CRISPY seasoned fries. I can't remember the last time I was this happy about the food in front of me. As another reviewer on here said this chicken is CRONCHY and that makes me HAPPY. I ordered my food based on other reviews I saw around the interwebs and can not wait to go back and try other things. Welcome to town Bonchon!! FINGER LICKIN GOOD!! read more

So freaking good. The wings are crispy even with take out and the drive home. The salmon bowl just has all the things you love in a California roll but better! read more

Bonchon Uptown - Fried chicken wings, spicy - Korean Near Me - Minneapolis, Minnesota

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Love the chicken wings (spicy flavor). Also, avocado salmon ball is a must try, I could finish the whole thing by myself

This place is known for their Korean Fried Chicken (KFC). We ordered 30 pieces total of wings and we finished it all; the sweet crunch was my favorite. Their bulgogi bibimbap was decent, and their bibimbap sauce was okay (I've had better). The Bulgogi beef entree was okay too, it was mostly onions than beef. The pork buns were awesome, and were topped with coleslaw which gave it the perfect balance. The restaurant is quite small, I wish it was more spacious. Their service was good, they came by a few times to refill our drinks. I would come back again for the wings! read more

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Y'all have no idea how excited I was to see Korean fried chicken come to the Twin Cities. Thank you food gods for making this happen. I couldn't have a new Korean restaurant open in my hood without commenting. Official report - I got the combo medium chicken & it is bomb! There's nothing like it anywhere else in the Twin Cities so make sure you try it out. The ambiance is trendy & clean. My only small complaint is that they wouldn't give us a free refill of our radish. I mean maybe the amount is ok if you only have one Korean person in ur group, but once that number goes up to 2, that is not enough pickled radish to balance out the chicken, haha. Do they not know this or is that the reason why they dont give us at least one free radish refill huh?! I'll be baaaaccckkk, especially when their alcohol license is approved and I can get my Korean fried chicken and beer. That will totally make up for the radish ;) read more

Bonchon Uptown - Korean Near Me - Minneapolis, Minnesota

The chicken wings is so good, I would like give 5 star, but for other reasons, this place only meets 2 star, 1st, I did order 10 Pcs chicken wings & bulgogi, after I almost finished wings, the bulgogi still not coming then found out the waiter miss my order, wait for while the bulgogi on the table, the beef so dry and no taste, it's worth bulgogi I never ate, someone posted the salmon avocado ball on the website, and gave good rating. Oh, my God! The fresh salmon outside seems like is ok, but after I ate some inside same as sashimi salmon, I couldn't sleeping, I gotta diarrhea⋯⋯ read more

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"Feed me somthin gooooood". Bonchon listened! I was very pleased with the fried chicken from this place. It's perfectly crunchy with juicy chicken on the inside. The spicy one was a bit too much heat for me but the other option, I could eat those all day. No seriously, breakfast lunch and dinner! I also ordered the fried rice with specially prepared pork I believe and it was quite okay. I don't know if there's anything sweet in it but there was a hint of sweetness that was kinda nice. My biggest reason for the 3 stars is because the first time I came, take out wasn't an option. We had to wait in the restaurant and order like everyone else to have the food served on plates...so we went elsewhere because I unfortunately can't enjoy anything in a packed space with 2 small children. The 2nd time, we called ahead, and was told they usually don't do takeout orders during busy times. I don't understand the inconvenience with answering the phone, and putting my food in a box instead of a plate. And maybe more goes into takeout than I'm aware of...but that was a huge turn off. If the space was a bit bigger, maybe. (Shoulder shrug) read more

I was hoping that it'd be better, but it wasn't bad either. The dishes were ok, but the boneless chicken was pretty bad, dry and the only taste was spicy. read more

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First, I love me some chicken Waaangz. Second, Korean style wings are absolutely delicious. In my time I have had. "need a napkin for the saliva spilling from my face" wings in New York. And more recently, the "so crispy I need to call my dentist" in San Francisco. To be fair both of those were in actual Korea-town type locations so Uptown MN just came up short. First the bibimbap with bulgogi: $15 I'll never get back for stale dry rice and quite bland bulgogi (must of been an off day). The fries weren't too bad. Now the wings: the garlic soy was a decent flavor but the spicy was just better. The stars fizzled as soon as I realized that the chicken meat itself was heavy with fat underneath the somewhat crispy outer layer. Yes it did take about 30 minutes to get the wings which may have played a role but mostly it was the poorly trimmed chicken with the fatty tissues underneath and some heavily breaded areas that just became a little unappealing. Unfortunately, my wife decided she didn't like the meat of the chicken wing after eating half of only one wing. And due to the slightly expensive cost for basically "takeout/casual fast" wings, I had to eat the remaining 14.5 pieces of chicken. Overall, docked a star for the failed rice in my bibimbap, another one for the sloooow service (there was only 1 other table beside us), and finally the star for the inconsistency of the fat trimming and breeding between different wings (I had 2 or 3 that were done just right). Oh well, prob just an off day so I'll prob give them another chance, prolly maybe. read more

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I've been here a total of 2 times and had a bit of a different experience in both. The taste of the chicken seemed to be different the second time (spicy was much spicier than last time). The first time I went the server was super attentive but the second time it was very very difficult to find out server. I'm unsure of how I want to review this place.. the chicken is great (they just taste different each time) and the service isn't terrible.. overall I'll come back again because I absolutely love Korean chicken, but I wouldn't necessarily push people to go. (P.S dont get other food... just the chicken!) read more

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I do not recommend this place for Koreans, especially if you've been to diff locations. I ordered their boneless chicken- half spicy and half soy garlic- they served me what looked like chicken nuggets mildly marinated. I also order or the spicy chicken bul-dak(?) and they served me small shredded chicken and few rice cake in it with a bit of melted cheese on top. It was not spicy either...so I was quite disappointed. I recall it also smelling burnt when it was served. I did enjoy their happy hour and their seasoned fries. They serve beer for $4 per bottle during their happy hour. Lastly their service was alright but could do better by being more attentive and remembering customer's order. read more

Bonchon Uptown - Boneless chicken (half and half) - Korean Near Me - Minneapolis, Minnesota

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Okay, so like I would not consider Bonchon to be Korean friend chicken. I've been there twice, and I was not impressed either times. The fried chicken is mediocre at best. Not super crispy or flavorful either. Would honestly rather eat at Bdubs. Also, at the first visit, the chicken was so undercooked, we ended up having to send it back in. The Ddukbokki was also so disappointing. The fried noodle rolls(?) tasted freezer burned and were still cold in the middle. It seemed like they had just microwaved it out of the freezer and then tossed them on top of the dish. Very unimpressed. I had the same thoughts about the bulgogi. So mediocre. Not worth the price. I know I can't expect the same taste as true Korean chicken, but honestly, there are American places with better chicken than this. Not worth the hype!!! read more

If you're going there for the chicken then you're at the right place. The chickens are pricy but it's good and the sizes are big. The other dishes are mediocre. read more

Stopped in for lunch and ordered the lunch special (10 boneless wings) half/half on the regular and spicy sauce. Came with a side as well (I chose steamed rice). Also had the potsticker appetizer. The chicken seemed like it had been sitting in a warmer for a while--not fresh. Both the sauces were good, but they didn't make the chicken less dry. The steamed rice was hot and fresh. The potsticker appetizer came after the meal was served and also seemed like it may have come from a warmer, not made fresh. We got half of them spicy-the sauce was good, but probably overpowered the flavor of the potsticker. Overall it was just ok, and the prices seemed a bit steep for the quality. I won't be rushing back, though I also wouldn't put this on my "do not go" list. read more