Boka (Bonchon Fried Chicken)
9 Saint Marks Place, between 2nd and 3rd Sts
(212) 228-2887
Pricing: Not Cheap
Venue: Sit Down
Cuisine: Korean (and some Japanese) Bar Food
Favorite Dish(es): Large Fried Chicken Combo – Spicy ($18)
This is the sister restaurant of the Bonchon Fried Chicken pub/bar in Ktown, a fried chicken chain that’s big in South Korea. It’s usually pretty empty, unlike the Ktown spot where you may have to wait up to half an hour for a seat, and sometimes longer for the chicken. Boka is more of an actual sitdown restaurant, with a bigger menu serving wannabe-trendy versions of Korean and Japanese bar food (which we have yet to try). The main reason to come here is the patent-pending Bonchon recipe fried chicken. It comes in two varieties, a sweet ginger soy glaze and a spicy sweet red pepper glaze that has a little kick to it. Both are good and super crispy, like no other fried chicken. They don’t use any batter on the chicken – it’s just marinated and fried (a few times probably). Coming from someone who usually doesn’t eat the fried skin, this crunchy stuff is really addictive. To cool off the spice and grease, the chicken is served with a bowl of cold pickled radish cubes, which is sweet and sour. Wash that all down with a pitcher of Kirin or Coors, and you’ll make this place a regular stop for your Korean fried chicken fix.
Filed under: Drinks, East Village, Japanese, Korean, Sit Down Tagged: | boka, bonchon, bonchon fried chicken, East Village, fried chicken, Korean, Korean food, korean fried chicken, korean nyc, korean restaurants, st marks, tongdak
My boyfriend and I came in here for the first time tonight, itching for some close-by Bon Chon chicken. Aside from the greasiest bon chon we’ve ever had, our experience with the restaurant owner was what shocked/horrified us the most!
Because my boyfriend was on antibiotics and we were craving some fresh watermelon juice, we asked our waitress if it’s possible to just get a glass of watermelon juice (the drink menu did not display any non-alcoholic drinks). Our waitress came back and said yes, and without checking with us, proceeded to bring an entire watermelon to our table. We felt bad about bringing it up to her as she barely understood English and took our food order wrong already, we decided to just keep the big’ol watermelon. When the bill came, there was a whopping $25 charged under “watermelon sojo”. I asked if it was charged by mistake, another waitress came over and politely explained that it’s just the “name” of the beverage and that there was no mistake.
What??? Since when does a watermelon cost $25 in a St. Mark’s restaurant? Jean George or Morimoto wouldn’t even dare to ask for that kind of price! I asked to speak to the manager, at which point the 20something bartender with a chip on his shoulders came over and told me that he was the owner, and that he goes out quite often himself and sees every restaurant charging the same price for virgin juice blends as alcoholic cocktails (hmm, wonder where he hangs out on his nights off). I then asked if this policy was explicitly stated on his menu, he then had the audacity to exclaim “I can charge whatever I want, I don’t need to show every price on my menus!” REALLY??? Who gave this guy his restaurant license???!
What was more ludicrous was that his own staffs came to our table and apologized repeatedly while he instructed someone to bring to us a blackboard from the outside that had “watermelon sojo $25″ written on it. Uhhh yeah, got that — but….our drinks did not have any sojo for you to slap on the alcohol mark-up! If this self-proclaimed owner actually had some business sense in him, he would’ve corrected the charge and politely apologized for shady behavior, and maybe kept his restaurant reputation intact. Instead, we received another bill 5 minutes later, with a 25% discount on the 25 bucks and wait……my boyfriend’s credit card already got swiped with the new total charged without our knowledge!!!! We were horrified and disgusted…completely speechless!
I wonder how long this place will last…..
You sound like a nightmare customer. The place has been there for awhile and is consistently busy. I don’t think they’ll be missing you!
word, nightmare
I WENT TO THIS PLACE LATE NIGHT ONE WEEKEND AND WAS PLEASANTLY SURPRISED WITH THE FRIED CHICKEN WINGS AND DRUMSTICKS. THE SAUCE WAS GREAT….TO KINDS ONE SWEET AND ONE SPICY. THE FRIES WERE VERY GOOD AND THE WAITER GAVE US TWO SAKA WINES ON THE HOUSE. THE PEOPLE NEXT TO US WERE DOING THE WATERMELON SHOTS. A NICE PLACE AND A LOT OF FUN