Came to Bonchon to celebrate National Fried Chicken Day. It was our first time trying Bonchon and it has left me with a... "why did i come here?" moment? Apparently, according to my friends, the Newark location does their menu items a little differently than the other locations in the Bay Area and i really wished i would have tried a different location first but, there's always a next time. We arrived to only one server working the floor and the bar area. We were told we could sit anywhere we liked. Our server explained that she's the only one working right now but, she did an amazing job running the floor on her own while still checking up on us until other worker's started to come in. The food: We ordered the 10 pc chicken wings half spicy and half garlic soy. We also ordered pork belly buns and fried tofu sesame ginger salad. The strangest thing about the chicken wings were that it came with a significant amount of drumsticks. We asked our server if we got the right order and she explained that the chicken wings comes with drum sticks and the difference between the chicken wings and the regular drumstick is that the latter comes significally larger. They shouldn't advertise the small pieces as chicken wings and it's really misleading (especially when you really didn't want any drumstick and wanted all wings). I read from a yelper that you should ask to make your chicken order fresh and that person wasn't kidding. Our chicken came out really fast and it was luke warm to the touch (even the actual meat wasn't hot), the skin wasn't as crispy as i expected to be but, the sauces were delicious. The taste of the chicken pieces we got was like a pre-deep fried chicken that has been sitting under a heat lamp then freshly tossed in sauce upon ordering (even though the menu states that it's freshly fried upon order and allow a certain amount of time). The chicken would have been much better if was freshly made The pork belly buns were the worst. The buns looked and tasted like it was microwaved. The pork belly was tough and the slaw left much to be desired. My partner really enjoyed their salad. The pickled daikon was minced when it should have been fairly large cubes compared to other Korean Fried Chicken places and when it comes to the competition, other places include both salad and the daikon not one or the other. end food review The quality and freshness of the dishes here is questionable and unlike a lot of reviewers here our service (even being by herself) was the highlight. The chicken, tasting premade were okay but, misleading on the menu. The pork belly buns were horrible. I wouldn't come to this location again. read more

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I've been wanting to try Bonchon for such a long time, but in all honestly it was a bit of a disappointment. It's not that it wasn't good, it just wasn't really anything special. I ordered half and half of the Soy Garlic & Spicy wings w/ Kimchi Coleslaw as my side. The wings were just okay. I've had much better wings in these flavors elsewhere. My friend ordered the Katsu Chicken, assuming a rice plate would be a filling meal; but to our surprise the katsu portion was tiny! I ended up sharing my wings with him. My other friend ordered the Korean Tacos and really enjoyed them. I wouldn't completely rule out going back there, I just have a level of expectation now that won't leave me disappointed. I do think this place is good for lunch breaks, or as a quick bite to eat however! Not gonna lie, the picture does make it look way better than it was! Haha. read more

Bonchon Newark - Korean Near Me - Newark, California

My colleagues and I decided to stop in yesterday to Bonchon after this long work week and three of my co-workers had not been before. We all had an enjoyable experience. Frank, the GM was also our server. He was attentive and when we had to wait a little bit for our chicken and an incorrect order (which didn't really bother us much) we were compensated with two free appetizers and an order of chicken. Frank went above and beyond in customer service. We also liked that local students were working in the restaurant, KUDOS to helping young people with employment in the tri-city area! The chicken was amazing, very tender, juicy and the sauce was on point. Our check was also divided to our convenience as well. We have no complaints here! We are excited for your future lunch time hours, we will certainly be regulars! Thank you to Frank and the Bonchon staff for your amazing and friendly service! From the Team at your local State Senate Office ( Meriam, Sean, Karina, Tim & Andrae) read more

Bonchon Newark - Korean Near Me - Newark, California

This probably the worst restaurant I have ever been to in a while. The service is horrible, absolutely no customer service at all. I told the waitress that the chicken was still raw, and her only response was "sorry". She didn't even bother to make it right to please the customer (e.g., maybe try to bring out a new order or even comp the item). This is the last time I will ever eat this place again. I uploaded pictures of uncooked chickens. read more

Bonchon Newark - The drum still raw - Korean Near Me - Newark, California

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Pricier than the Sunnyvale location and they do not use Mary's air chilled chicken. Also, the pickled dikon radish counts as a side dish - where as in the Sunnyvale location they give it for free. I was surprised that I had to choose between that and coleslaw/rice (I thought we'd get both). The chicken flavors are the same (spicy and soy garlic), location is less crowded and closer to me so I would probably go again when I'm craving Bonchon. But the chicken quality definitely is better in Sunnyvale bcuz of the Mary's chicken. Just remember not all Bonchon locations are created equal!!! :P read more

This maybe a review for all Bonchons due to a possible recipe change. We have eaten Bonchon in several countries and were regulars on the east coast one. We ordered the same Soy Garlic boneless wings we have been ordering for years. It's always a special treat for the kids. They order we received tasted like bland floured frozen mini wings with a bit of sauce drizzled on them. Not even close to what is normally served at Bonchon. According to the staff it's a new recipe.... It maybe fine for cheap eats but definitely not at the normal price they charge. I hope this is not a permanent change. If so, Bonchon just killed their big seller. read more

I only give this place two stars because of their customer service. I originally tried calling this place at 9:00pm for a pick up order because I know they close at 10:00pm. I called 3-5x because I figured they're busy. I ended up coming here instead and they were not busy at all. I asked them if something was wrong with their phone because I tried to call and the two girls in the front/ register giggled and said, "oh sorry". Hm, seemed like they did it on purpose. Ordered my food and waited 10-15 minutes. It was about 9:15-9:20 now and a few couples and families came to eat and dine in. They got denied service or something because they all walked out confused and upset. Other people still came in but overheard that they're only doing to-go orders now. It was only 9:15-9:30. The two ladies and an older woman who looked like the manager were rude and seemed like they wanted everyone out. We got our food and they didn't even bother asking us if we wanted sauce. They didn't even give us utensils or napkins. read more

The wait here was beyond ridiculous. We came in and put our name on the list and waited with two other parties. Both parties got seated shortly after. As we sat and waited for over 30 minutes we glanced over and noticed about 3-4 tables completely empty. Finally after growing impatient a worker comes and ask if we were waiting for a table. We tell her yes and she says to grab any table we want. Annoyed at this point that it took that long to be checked on, we proceeded to our table. Service at this point got better and our server was very attentive. We got the salmon avocado ball and wings in the spicy flavor. The salmon avocado ball was decent but not a must try. The wings had a pretty nice kick, I would recommend soy garlic if you're not big on spicy. The food was good, but definitely not worth the wait and on the pricier side. read more

1 star mostly for our service experience here. We called ahead and asked them if we'd be able to be seated if we walked in 10 minutes before they closed and they said yes, so we decided to make a trip over. We get there with 15 minutes to spare and the sign says closed...we walk in anyway, and they state they're doing take-out orders only. We reluctantly get takeout and eat in the car. We got a small (10 piece) chicken tenders, which was actually a decent amount of food. The chicken was well fried and not dry, though moister would have been better. The chicken itself was rather bland-- most of the flavoring was on the breading, which was crispy and light. The ginger in the soy ginger could have been a bit more pronounced. 3/5.They also threw in a small container of daikon, which tasted fairly fresh. read more

I was really excited to try out this new location which is super close to my home! But I got disappointed, we ordered large combo soy garlic chicken wings(15) and drums(8), the garlic flavor was lacking!!!!!!:((Also not that much sauce on it. And the waiter was kinda outta space... However, chicken was pretty juicy and pickled radish still good. Lol Overall, I really recommend other location in Sunnyvale. FYI: 1. large combo is good for three or four party with one or two appetizer. 2. It's soft opening, so some of dishes are not available yet. 3. Pass the kimchi 4. Came in at 7pm on Friday just wait 3mins to get a table read more

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Great time here, small cozy restaurant in the same plaza as "Once upon a child". Busy place, grateful that we didn't have to wait. Soon as we were seated the entrance area had about four-five groups waiting on a Sunday. Their leechee pitcher (leechee flavored alcohol) was well worth the 12 dollars. Chicken wings are a nice size not tiny mini wings and not those oversized GMO wings. The Bonchon chicken salad was awesome! My three year old loved the dried sweet potato slivers that topped the salad (I think they were baked to be crispy),the dressing, and the bite sized seasoned Bonchon chicken. Also enjoyed the combo fried rice and garlic Parmesan fries. Very nice presentation on everything. The restaurant is clean and modern. Few 55" TVs playing sports and a small bar area. Seating is limited so be prepared to wait. Not private, community dining theme. read more

Bonchon Newark - Leechee pitcher, got spicy chicken with the photobomb in the back - Korean Near Me - Newark, California

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not happy about how early the food was made... i was suppose to have my dish at 6pm. my food was ready at 510. granted i arrived 10 mins late... the food is completely cold. not happy about the results of this bonchon... probably wont be back considering that timing was not considerate. kind of stuck was cold wings that i paid 40 bucks for read more

Bonchon Newark - 510 promise time, when it was suppose to be 6-620 pm. - Korean Near Me - Newark, California

For takeout I recommend to check if you received all your orders correctly. First they forget my Takoyaki order. Good thing I checked if I received everything before driving off. Went back in and they made it for me. This time their Tteokbokki had a strong oil smell/taste like old oil, not fresh. We ordered this same dish from this same location before and it wasn't like this last time. We brought the entire dish back because we weren't trying to get sick from eating it. They wouldn't believe us and refused to give us a refund. Their response was this is how it's supposed to smell and to not order it if we don't like it. If the dish was fresh we wouldn't bring it back and ask for a refund. We were really nice about it too. The reason why i'm giving them 2stars instead of 1 is because they let us exchange it with something else. Better than nothing! read more

The food is amazing, the workers are great. Our server Akshat was very helpful and attended us very well. We had left overs and asked for a box and the guy I didn't get his name but he was the (owner) refused to give me a bigger size box for all my food to fit. He gave me a small box and my chicken didn't fit, until his wife got up and gave me a bigger box. He then started yelling at her Infront all of us just because she gave us a bigger box. I thought that was crazy horrible customer service by the owner! Mind you our bill was $90+ for him to be upset that we asked for a to go box was ridiculous! I'm very upset because I love this place but the new management will be the reason why I will no longer support. read more

It's a far cry from the Bonchon I remember from way back when... The customer service was great. The food was a bit disappointing. The fried chicken which this franchise was built on tasted like it was fried earlier in the morning and then re-fried, slathered with 'meh'-sauce, and thrown in a box. Some of the crunchiness came from burnt/overfried chicken. I do like that they leave the wing tips on, but after the over-fry there's not much to enjoy. The kimchi was not bad at least. read more

The menu here is more extensive than a few other Bonchon's I've been to. They actually serve more than just fried chicken and fries. They have rice dishes, noodles, salads, wraps, and more. We ordered their half and half combo with seasoned fries along with an order of their japchae and kimchi fried rice. The wings are alright. They're hot and fresh but the size is small compared to other locations. Their soy garlic is the same, but their version of hot here isn't as numbingly spicy as some of the other locations. It barely brings the heat. The japchae is forgettable. It was super oily and the lopsided container they put it in, makes it hard to grab the noodles with the tongs. The kimchi fried rice comes with bacon here, we asked for it without. This was our least favorite dish. We barely touched it. It's spicy, but lacks a kimchi flavor. It also had a weird plastic herbal taste to it too. Staff is friendly, they have lots of TVs for sporting events, and parking is easy. read more

I ordered Korean tacos and shrimp shumai. Very disappointed. Too much cole slaw. Too much lettuce. Not enough meat. read more

I dine in 20 pieces of wings with half and half and 5 pieces of drumsticks. I have eaten Bonchon at Sunnyvale for such a long time but this location has a different taste in both flavors. Addition to the above it was all soggy in both flavors. Bonchon mgmt, I expected the same taste and quality since it is a franchise restaurant. read more

I LOVE BONCHON! Picked up a couple friends at the Fremont Bart station and drove here for a late dinner on Thursday evening. No wait! I've only been to the Bonchon on Blossom Hill in SJ (check out my review there!), but this location is definitely just as good! Parking is also easy peasy. Food was EXCELLENT! We ordered the medium combo to share among three people, plus kimchi pancakes, pork buns, and seasoned fries. We totally pigged out and still had a box of leftovers. Accidentally took a bite of my friend's spicy wings and that really burned my tongue, but the soy garlic is to die for. Crispy but still perfectly juicy and full of flavor (no ketchup needed!) Customer service was also A++! Eric the waiter was great. We were debating the peach soju, and he offered to mix it with the lychee flavor. Took his recommendation and no regrets! read more

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Let me tell ya... Bonchon is right across from where I live. Can you even imagine my anticipation as I drove by there day after day, waiting for them to open?!! Well, I think I overshot on my excitement, because I came here at least once a week for the first few weeks when they opened and completely overdosed on fried chicken. It's not a bad thing! While I love that Bonchon KFC, I must admit that the Sunnyvale location is a bit better. They offer more sides options and the chicken was better. The issue with this chicken was the inconsistency. On some days, it's absolutely delicious! On others, they drench it with WAY too much sauce. I see this as a problem with their bigger orders. Also... no option to put the sauce on the side? They really need that. The soy garlic can be too salty. The spicy sauce is good, but it's REALLY spicy! All other menu items seem overpriced. The portions aren't that great, and the dishes aren't really fantastic either. The chicken sliders were pretty good, but at that price, I'd rather get the fried chicken. The service is alright. You can tell most of the servers are inexperienced. They're either REALLY enthusiastic (borderline fake) or have that really flustered look on their faces. Well, can't really complain about it too much. It's KFC within walking distance of my home. I'll take it as it is, and hope they'll grow out of their inconsistencies. read more

Bonchon Newark - Small combo soy garlic fried chicken! - Korean Near Me - Newark, California

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So sad to update this review as I love bon chon and this one is by my house. It's been a while since they opened and the food is just not up to par. You can tell their chicken is not made fresh and has been sitting around because they came out 5 minutes after we ordered... But also, they were more soggy than the extra tasty and crispy as I would have expected. If I wanted fast chicken, I would have gone to popeyes, and that's even is better than what I just had... I would have rather drove to the Sunnyvale location instead. The other 2 sides we ordered were equally disappointing as they came out only moderately warm. Think the poor food quality explained why the restaurant was so empty!!! I've been to multiple bon chons across the country and this easily ranks as the worse. read more

Went to this branch yesterday and was very disappointed, compared to other branches. We had large half and half wings, The chicken didn't have much flavor, even the spicy wasn't as spicy. Then comes the side of pickled radish, I don't know if they were running out because it's the only location that it came minced instead of the cubed ones. Then comes the 2 orders of seasoned fries, it was bland, lacking salt/seasoning. Then the bulgogi tacos came and sauce was so thin it was dripping every time you bite. Spent $75 for bland food. Service was not that great either. Didn't complain cuz if it's the same cook it won't matter. Just never coming back or not recommend the location. Almost every week we go to the Stockton branch and was Never disappointed. Service and food was always excellent! read more

This place was amazing when it first opened. But the average 3 star rating it has is accurate. The service is good, given it's Covid, everyone is doing their best. The last two times we ordered here tho, the chicken is just bad. Way too much breading, every flavor is way too salty and the quality is just lacking overall. We have it another chance and it disappointed again. It's a shame cuse the chicken was pretty good but not any longer. read more

Food is decent but customer service is lacking. We arrived around 4:30pm to celebrate my friend birthday. The restaurant are less than half full with patrons. Upon entering the restaurant was poorly lit, and there is no greeter. After a few minutes standing at the front, someone without introducing himself told us "This way". We placed our orders and the food came out staggered. The Udon soup was lukewarm and served without utensils. He only brought saucers and fork which he knows we have a soup and we need to asked for bowls and spoon ourselves. My friends and I were taking pictures to celebrate. My friend politely asked the server "Can you please take a picture of us?" The server very rudely replied "I have no time for that" and walked away. We're all surprise of the rudeness. It would be different if the restaurant was full but he could have at least been polite about it. So if you were looking for decent food and a bad attitude this is your place. "SERVICE WITHOUT A SMILE" (Servers name on the receipt was ALLANDER) read more

We just picked up an order from here at this location for the first time and it was completely not bonchon style. We normally purchase from the Sunnyvale and Cupertino and this location wasn't even in the same category. We ordered half spicy, half sweet crunch and both were 100% bland. We are definitely not going to this location again. This was a complete rip-off. I should've suspected when I noticed that the packaging, the box and bag were not the standard white bonchon labelled. What a waste of money. We even ordered it double-dipped to get more flavor and it was COMPLETELY bland!!! Basically, deep fried chicken. read more

Craving the fried chicken from my last trip to Korea and was excited this BonChon opened up. We ordered 30 pieces of wings with mostly garlic soy and just a few piece of spicy ones(most of my family don't eat spicy) the garlic soy was delicious--- and spicy has a kick the spicy level is pretty high. The salmon avocado ball is YUMMY! The restaurant is nice and clean and probably but doesn't have that many seating-- expect some wait time over weekend nights. I think this is perfecto e take out. read more

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This review is for Lunch on weekedays only. Lunch at Bonchon Newark is super fast! It's not that packed around noon, even on Fridays but that can vary anytime. My coworkers and I usually come on Fridays for lunch every now and then and our experiences are usually good. Seating upon entering is pretty fast. After placing your order, the chicken comes out fast too! I think since it's a lunch rush for workers around the area, the food comes out super fast. Chicken tastes great, sizes of chicken is what you normally expect from Bonchon, affordable lunch specials, fast service and nice workers, no complaints overall! Recommended for lunch if you're short on time or want fast service! read more

Really friendly staff, and shared their favorites with us before we ordered. Food was great and definitely a place you'll be coming back to. read more

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We've been ordering the soy garlic chicken always. We noticed the chicken getting skinnier. Don't change your quality if you want to keep your customers Bonchon! read more

Totally regret coming here for lunch. Food was somewhat ok(ish), but service sucks. Too bad we didn't leave after waiting for 10 minutes for someone to take our order. The restaurant was almost full on a Sunday afternoon, but they only had one girl hosting, working, and cleaning. She was running around like crazy doing everything! There was another girl there who was pretending to slowly "work" by just standing around looking at all the empty tables with food still there. Both girls seem to always try to avoid eye contact when needed. We've had better Bonchon elsewhere. The chicken was not sauced as much. The seasoned fries came out 5-10 minutes after we got our orders, and we didn't even care to eat it, because it was so plain. We couldn't get anybody to get us ketchup or the red sauce. It was basically a waste of money coming here. read more

I've read through the reviews here and decided to give it a try early June to dine in here. Huge plus to staff: There's only one server but she's very friendly. I'm seeing her to be very busy serving both dine-in customers and pickup orders. Food: isn't as great to be honest. It's not as tender and a bit too salty compared to other branches I've tried (Mountain View and Sunnyvale). My food also comes in super quickly (in 5min?), so maybe it's premise? Overall maybe lower your expectations before coming, but service is definitely good and still a good choice for a quick lunch. Just food isn't as great. read more

Oh no Bonchon what is you doing? Why was everyone hyping you up? Chicken wings here were not special at all. No need for all my friends to be way too excited about this place. Hype is exactly what it is, hype. The wings here are actually not that great. The flavor isn't strong at all, and the chicken was a bit dry in places. I like my chicken wings with strong flavors, and here at Bonchon I felt like I was eating wings through a filter. Mostly likely won't be back, especially since other restaurants have proven to be more reliable than Bonchon. read more

As much as I love the chicken at Bonchon and how this is the closest location by my house, I would honestly consider driving cities over to a different location JUST to pick up food from this restaurant. There was nothing wrong with the food, but the customer service felt really misogynistic. I placed an order on Doordash and made it there a little after the app said it would be ready. Notified the man at the front of the store that I was picking up an order and waited in the waiting area. There was a man waiting for his order, and two men came in; one to pick up an order and one making a new order. Out of this group of people, my order came out last. The man handling transactions did apologize for the delay with my order, but what really upset me about this situation was how long I had to wait for my food, in spite of it being a pick up order. And it really does not make sense how a man that came in to make a NEW wing order (it seemed to be a medium or large like mine) got his order before me... I waited about 30 minutes after arriving to get my food. The point of me ordering for pick up on Doordash was so I wouldn't have to wait as long as I did for my order, and yet that still happened to me. I feel like this establishment should improve on doing orders based chronologically, prioritize better time management, and communicate the customer if there's a delay with an order. read more

We ordered pick-up/to-go from this location because apparently the Pleasanton/Livermore location closes at 230pm and opens back up at 430pm. The female worker we picked up our food from was very friendly! Location is clean, easy to find. Plenty of parking; curbside parking available as well! :) and right near Newpark Mall and the freeway entrance and exits. read more

What a ripoff this place is??!??? Their pricing is outrageous!!! I am one of those who don't mind spending a lot of $ on food as long as it's worth it. This place isn't! Skip it all the waaaaaaaaay turn the page swipe right up & down whatever U get the gist. read more

This used to be the best Korean fried chicken ever.... But it seems like they changed the batter. It used to be a lot crispier, now it's more on the fluffy side. Also the chicken got smaller which for the high price I can't justify anymore. The Parmesan fries for $9 was crazy to me. They're delicious but not worth it at all. Overall great flavor but the quality is going downhill and I can't find myself coming here as often as I used to. read more

Very neat and clean environment great customer service and very helpful love the environment and food is really delicious and tasty I like the spicy drums they're very good read more

Bonchon Newark - CHICKENS REALLY DELICH... - Korean Near Me - Newark, California

My son and I Doordash some season fries, chicken and pork buns. The pork buns look nothing like the pictures. It was all FAT no meat! I'm highly disappointed. DO NOT ORDER PORK BUNS FROM HERE!!! read more

I bought the spicy chicken bibimbap, tteokbokki, and half & half wings. Wings: Everyone thought that the wings were decent. Some were dry and we liked garlic soy more than the spicy. Spicy Chicken Bibimbap: A little bland and the chicken was dry. We expected really spicy chicken but it was rather tasteless. Tteokbokki: Our expectation were not met. We were really looking forward for this dish and it looked really appetizing when we picked up but once we tried it it was mushy and bland. read more

I gave this place one last chance after several orders that were just terrible. I even came out of quarantine for it. The last couple times I have ordered there has been almost no sauce or flavor on them to where they basically taste plain. I ordered Soy Garlic and Spicy strips as I usually do. I should have not been surprised but for some reason I was. Yet again the soy garlic barely tasted like it and the spicy was pretty much just plain strips. I don't understand how your Sunnyvale location gets my order right every time and this location can't get 2 flavors correct on a single item order. I'll go to Von's or even Krispy Krunchy Chicken at this point, but I'm not going to waste my time at this BonChon location again. Get your s**t together guys. Its not difficult to properly toss some chicken in sauce or season them properly. read more