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Mon. 5:00 p.m. - 12:00 a.m.
Tue-Sun. 12:00 p.m. - 12:00 a.m.
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Yet another restaurant that I constantly see on Yelp, and finally try! A friend and I came for lunch yesterday. This particular friend and I both enjoy trying out new places each time we eat. We both had not tried 99 Chicken before, so when he suggested it, I was excited to try after reading all the great reviews on Yelp.
I really liked the restaurant itself - small, cozy, fun environment. The walls are full of photos of their patrons dining, and definitely adds a nice touch to the restaurant.
We ordered the sauce chicken and spicy squid dish. Both dishes were excellent. I personally don't love squid because it's so chewy, but the dish was cooked very well - the squid was tender and not dry, and the flavor of the sauce was great. The chicken wings were also delicious - great sauce, and I love that they used whole chickens here! (they must, because the chicken wings are huge, and definitely not what you would get at an American restaurant).
The main thing I love about this place is the free salad bar - they have some salad, toppings, and a really good coleslaw! Also available is water and rice. This bar is complimentary for all customers who dine in - awesome! I enjoyed it so much because I love salad, and was able to chomp on a lot of it with my chicken.
Overall, great food, great atmosphere, great service. Now I want to come back and try all of their different chickens!
This place is actually not bad, but I've had better. The chicken is decent, but not something I would drive down to Santa Clara for, especially when something more delicious can be had in Oakland (which is actually closer to where I live). The chicken is pretty much unremarkable. The fried chicken is fried, the yang-nyeom chicken tastes like it should, but there is no flavor complexity. It's pretty boring chicken, to be honest.
I complained about it pretty loudly to the group of people I went with while we awaited our last order (the spicy buldak, or fire chicken). And I'm pretty sure they heard me complain.
The fire chicken was out of this world. It was like they had taken all of the chili oil from all of the chilis in the sauce, and then deep fried it in chili oil. I took one bite and suffered, big time. Judging from the reviews here, I'm pretty sure my mouthing off about my disappointment meant we got the extra spicy treatment of their fire chicken. This meant a minute of eating chicken, three minutes of trying to ingest everything at the table to make it better, which failed miserably, four minutes of just letting the burning sensation linger because there was no more rice/beer/water/radish/vegetables left on the table combined with a meditation-like state of staring at scenic landscapes on the wall, and then finally realizing the spicy-ness was subsiding. And then I licked my fingers and the whole thing started all over again.
I don't know that I'd necessarily come back (I suppose if you're a glutton for punishment, you would), but if I happen to encounter some smart ass who complains about nothing being spicy enough, I'll be sure to bring them here.
Dammit why does K-food have to be so tasty and so full of gluten?!
Anyway, the salad bar is great. Mixed greens, fresh crisp romaine lettuce, shredded cabbage salad, pickled moo (korean radish, like daikon), corn and your choice of ranch or sweet dressing. I think the sweet one has honey in it (death).
Also, beer and soju served here! Unlike Kyo-chon, where I can eat the chicken but there's nothing to drink.
I like the pics of patrons pasted up on the walls, oh and the random projector and typewriter in the back room.
I've been here a few times. Not a huge fan of the spicy chicken, but I do like the regular and the sweet kind. Chicken is freshly fried to order, and the drumsticks are full size and not the mini ones that are attached to the wing joints. Prices are decent. Free visits to the not-amazing salad bar are included, however, staff is not great about refilling items in this self-service area. They had run out of rice when I went one night. I like the chicken at San Tung better, but this will do if I'm in the SJ area. Good place to come with a bunch of people to drink and eat chicken.
Meh...The chicken wasn't anything special. All of the chicken with sauces were over-sauced and the plain chicken was, simply, plain. The real turn-off was the hair I found in the pickled radishes and all of the flies in the restaurant -- not very appetizing.
Good for groups. They have a wall full of photos that they take of their patrons. They also have an open salad bar, but why waste your time when you have delicious fried goodness waiting.
really tasty fried chicken. beware: you see a bunch of chicken on a plate and think they are small- they do look small on the picture, but in actuality you get real size chicken. the chicken is good and fried and delicious. my fave is the honey... i would have gotten bbq sauce on the side for the bbq flavor, and next time i'll def be back for the wings. the salad bar is nice too! it's delish. and the SBC frequents enough to second my thoughts, i'm sure. :)
Came back and ordered the combination plate - plain, spicy, sauce and sweet. Holy shit! What the hell was I thinking last time with all the sauce chicken? The combo is the only way to go! The spicy sauce was a little bit too intense for my terrible acid reflux tendencies; thank goodness I had some antacids on me or the pain would have kept me up all night. The plain and honey varieties were my favorites, with the former being surprisingly flavorful and the latter super juicy and dipped in honey. I just wish the restaurant provided plain black pepper at each table instead of the salt/pepper mixture to make my plain and honey pieces even more delicious.
Hearing the words "fried chicken" makes me want to praise the Lord and break out into gospel song.… Read more »
Spicy
If you like spicy chicken, you gotta try this place. Great chicken and sauce. We had lunch there yesterday, my boy friend was all over me last night, But not from the chicken. Good place to eat, but not too often,
So after my second time here, I think that 99 chicken deserves a solid 4 stars for everything that they have to offer in their restaurant.
Upon entering, you notice a salad bar that is free to all customers who order their food. My friend and I ordered the 10 piece original chicken and a few sodas. After ordering, we went over to the salad bar which had salad, vegetables, coleslaw... basically a lot of options! Then to the right are stacks of cups for water and a party sized rice cooker to have rice with your chicken. Our chicken probably come out in less than 10 min which is pretty impressive. On the table they had their hot sauce which I tried with the chicken. I wasn't really feeling the hot sauce because it was a little sweet for my taste but the chicken was outstanding. And our total? About $16... and we still had left over chicken to take home! Their chicken is in big pieces... much larger than Wingstop =P
If you're looking for plain old good fried chicken, then drop by this place off El Camino. You can't complain about a free salad bar along with your meal.
Do you like Korean food? Do you like fried chicken? Does combining the two pique your senses? YES?! Well then you have to try this place. This unassuming restaurant in a strip mall is surprisingly good. We ordered the regular fried chicken to go and it was incredibly good. They serve it with a side of takuwan and some salt. It was really flavorful and the skin was incredibly thin and crispy. When we get back, we are definitely going to try out his many other fried chicken variations. This past time we just went on a whim and a recommendation from my brother and we weren't disappointed.
The guy wasn't too friendly, but I would be that way too if I was cooking for a never ending line of hungry people.
The wait was slightly on the brutally long side. There was a long wait for a table so we just went the order out route. It's also open late night, so that a bonus. Unfortunately, it's as busy late night as it is during regular business hours. Parking shouldn't be a problem because the lot spans quite a bit of other businesses.
After reading some yelpers comments, I took their advice and ordered the regular with the sauce on the side. The fried chicken was made to order and came out hot and delicious. The batter was light and the meat is super tender cooked to perfection. You really can't beat the bar with a pot of white rice and unlimited salads either. I really really really like this place. Yummy.
They also serve soju and beer but I didn't try any (it was mid-day). The wait staff (perhaps owners) are very nice too. What a great alternative to the typical KFC/Popeye's options I'm accustomed to seeing on the east coast. I once went to a Korean fried chicken joint in northern VA and waited 50 minutes! Screw that, I'm flying west for this! Did I mention they have white rice??? Who needs mashed potatoes!
99 Chicken has won a permanent place in my heart for its killer combination of deep-fried chicken, cold beer, and all the salad and barley tea I want.
If you sit at the third table from the door (facing the bathrooms) there's a particular scratched-out photograph on the wall with these ghetto dudes posing like idiots. It gets funnier as you drink more beer.
For late night cravings of lightly battered Korean fried chicken, this place hits the spot. You can choose from a variety of styles of fried chicken ranging from sweet, spicy, sauce and original. Moreover, help yourself to the free salad bar that includes lettuce, greens, fermented turnip, corn and dressing. Beverages include beer, water and other options.
Service is fast and friendly. Parking is ample in the lot of the strip mall. Overall, this is a great joint for fried chicken.
This by far is the best place I've eaten so far!
It is crackin all day and you don't even wait so long as 15 min max. I came here with my bf and we only waited about 2 min before they seated us. Theres a picture menu so its pretty easy to see what your ordering and we had the Combination Chicken plate which is a 10 piece chicken with all the flavors such as Original, Hot, Sweet & Sour..
They have a salad bar and you serve yourself with water, rice, and to the iceberg lettuce, romaines, cabbage, corn,jalapeno, broccoli and carrots and dressing.
The chicken came out while we were still getting salad so as we sat down we started to munch on the chicken and OMG the best chicken ever! I'm telling you for $14.99 and 10 pcs. its so worth it! They have their own special sauce . delicious..
The decor has pics of people all around the wall. cute. Try this place out now!
I've had the fortune of eating at OB Chicken House in Berkeley, which is unfortunate for 99 Chicken because it really rails 99 Chicken.
The spicy fried chicken was a little dry. We also ordered the spicy octopus/squid dish. I also dug the mini buffet.
Sorry, I wish I could be more descriptive, but every time I think of this place, I'm reminded of how awesome OB Chicken House is.
I would have given this place 3 stars, but it certainly doesn't deserve an average rating; 3.5 at best.
Came here with a friend at about an hour before closing.. it's a small friendly environment with cute Korean owners. I was really feenin for kimchi soup but my friend warned me that I'd get attitude from the workers for ordering something that the cooks would actually have to MAKE at 11pm at night.. whatever though. My friend then told me that 99 Chicken was known for its rice and fried chicken.. so I put my kimchi soup craving aside and just ate what he ordered.
We got the combo fried chicken plate and kimchi fried rice. The chicken was freakin' steaming hot.. burnt my lip and finger.. my fault. At least it was fresh fried chicken. :) The kimchi rice was pretty good too.. it was perfectly spiced.. not all hot and inedible. The salad bar is a bit lackluster, but hey it's included with the meal so you can't beat that. I like corn, anyways. And of course the OB was delicious as always.. heh heh.
I have added 99 Chicken to my list of late night craving spots. Woohoo!
What can I say, but repeat other people's raves of Fried Chicken, Lemon Soju, Biggest Hite Beers EVA!
This isn't the best Korean Fried Chicken but will definitely hit the spot.
Kyon-Chon in LA is still #1 in my heart!!
This place is not worth it. We walk in with a group of 6 and are rudely greeted by the employee (owner maybe). We told him 6 and he sat us at a table with 6, but only gave us 5 menus. I went to the bathroom and when I came back, he had taken one away because we didn't order fast enough I guess. We definitely felt we were being mistreated, so we got up and left. Maybe if you can get past the lack of respect to actually eat here, then for sure go for it. However, I cannot.
This place is a cute ma and pop friend chicken restaurant - owned by Koreans. They serve OB and Soju and fried chicken!
Honey Chicken is great! Sweet and crunchy!! They cover fried chicken with honey - what a great idea! They have the spicy chicken and some sauce chicken that is covered in red spicy sauce. Not too good, tastes like spicy ketchup.
They have side salad bar that you can take some small stuff all you want including corn, daikon, greens, rice.
This little shop has a rather plain ordinary name, as it doesn't show how good this little place can be.
Friendly staff and like everyone mentioned, rice and salad is self served.
Food is very good and they have good variation of fried chicken. Decent price large portions.
Not a five star because it does take a little while for the food to come but when it does, it's def worth the wait.
A must try for late night hunger
This place is never disappointing. Unlimited rice and salad.
They are really big on consistency. I've been here many times, and the chicken always tastes as good as when i first came here.
My friends and I gave the main owner dude the nickname of "uncle" based off of the uncle from the Jackie Chan cartoon. His friendly gestures make you feel very welcome at this restaurant.
Find my picture on the wall! Haha
Forget you KFC, once again the Asian version of a white food ends up tasting miles better.
My Korean fried chicken experiences have been limited to one place in Irvine and 99 Chicken. 99 Chicken is by far the better of the two, which is a strong statement from me since you could pretty much fry anything and I'll think it tastes at least decent. Everytime I come here, I split the combo plate which comes with 10 wings in either spicy, original, sweet, or garlic flavors. And damnn these wings are good! They come out burning hot from the fryer, which entails a longer than normal wait since they fry these wings up when you order em. But the wait's worth it since you just get hungrier and hungrier, making the first crispy, greasy, tangy/spicy bite into them wings so satisfying. If you get impatient during the wait though, they do have an AYCE salad bar with corn, broccoli, lettuce, carrots, and some other non-meat items that I don't touch with a ten-foot poll cause I just want my fried chicken. There's also unlimited barley tea on tap and they have sodas, beer, and soju too. Service is friendly and they just stay out of your way once your food comes which is ok. It's really just about eating some good ass wings, drinking, and having fun with your friends anyways. And maybe you'll get your picture on the wall or see someone you know.
FIRST TIME EVER having the other KFC: Korean Fried Chicken! Haha..that was corny. But it was GOOD! The biggest hit was their salad buffet for dine-in customers!! I shall shamelessly admit to you that I went back for THIRDS. Yes..each time with a full plate of crunchy lettuce, red onions, corn, and some other items I quickly scattered all over my plate before someone recognized me as the girl who was piling salad on her plate just 5 minutes before.
The next thing I love about this place is that it's open late! A group of us were contemplating where to eat and it took about a good hour. I swear the sun was up when we decided we were hungry..then it was nowhere to be seen and we still hadn't chosen a place to eat! Fortunately for us, 99 Chicken was open late (I believe until midnight at least).
The old couple that works here really is cute, it's literally a mom and pop type restaurant! I love it! Their prices are decent and their chicken is so flavorful and crispy! The only thing I wouldn't recommend is the Love Chicken. I didn't enjoy the sauce too much. Our group ordered about 40 pieces of chicken and the Love Chicken was almost not touched. No love for Love Chicken...sad.
Great fried chicken. Enough said.
It's so hard for me to go back to KFC and Popeye's now.
Definitely worth trying out, if you don't mind fast food fried chicken never being on your menu ever again.
There are two 'delivery' foods that Koreans miss and crave like crazy when they leave the motherland.... Jjajangmyeon (black noodles) and fried chicken.
My quest for Korean fried chicken in the Bay Area ended when I found this cute little joint in Santa Clara. The chicken is fried right when you order it, and most importantly, they've got the sauce RIGHT. That's right, the spicy sauce tastes just like how I remembered it to be. The skin is still crispy and hot with juicy spicy sauce smothered over it. Too bad they don't deliver, but hey- this isn't Korea, I will go and get it myself when I need my chicken. People complain about the lack of kimchi, but as much as I love it myself, fried chicken should be eaten with the pickled radish they have at the salad bar. I think the one I get is #2, whichever one that is fried chicken with spicy sauce. Yummiliciously nostalgic and pure awesome.
had the spicy chicken and fried wings...
slightly better than oaklands version, it's not LA's Kyochon
shouldn't be comparing this to say San Tung because they don't do those flavors...
but you do get a lot here since they given you the wings with the little drumsticks still attached, and big drumsticks with the 10 piece combo orders. thus obligatory sharing...
bowl of kettlecorn while you wait for your chicken to be fried, small salad bar to get the thousand island corn salad and pickled radish
definitely messy eating, the spicy sauce is sweet ketchup-y, and not that spicy
original fried is pretty bland, so you'll have to dress it up
i think it's worth going over to chon dak
This is the best fried chicken ever. And the owners don't even look like white plantation owners. If you haven't guesses it, this place services korean fried chicken.
Get 1 order for yourself, it's that good. So I head KFC (korean fried chicken) fries the chicken 2 times. The first time is a super hot oil that basically melts the fat under the skin away. The second fry makes the chicken delish. oooOOOO
I try to tell myself that this method makes it healthy, but it's so good I can't resist... Oh and they have lots of pics... look for me somewhere on the wall! haahhaahah.
My 3rd time going here. I took the roomates and we each ordered 10 pieces. The owners were super… Read more »
I just had lunch here today and couldn't help but review it now. It was really good. I love going to small mom and pop shops. It's one of those places where if no one you know takes you there or tells you about it, you won't go in. Once you do, you'll keep coming back and bringing new people there. Their chicken is really crispy and the sauces are good. I really liked all of their flavors. They also have a small all you can eat salad bar which is pretty good. I like their house sauce. It's very different. It taste sweet, creamy, and has like a little jellowy kick to it. I had the cabbage with the creamy sauce wrapped in the lettuce..haha it taste good like that! I would definitely come back. Also, the price is not bad. For two people it came out to like $17 (ten pieces of chicken plus the salad).
Becareful on the honey glazed chicken and the original, it stays hotter for a while longer than the other two. It caught my by surprise when I bit into the honey chicken after trying the sweet/tangy and the spicy one. I thought it would have cooled down already since I didn't have that problem with the other two.
This place was actually not that good to me the first time I came, but I have since come two more times and it does seem better now. It could just be having a good group of people or ordering the right things that makes this place good. But in the end, I think that this place is great to grab some fried chicken and have a beer.
I was actually able to find a picture of a group that I went with the first time too, that was a nice plus.
Btw, their pork kimchi rice dish is amazing and I prefer the plain fried chicken to the ones with the sauce on them even though I'm a sauce lover
I came here after work with my coworkers and it was my first time there. When we got there, I noticed that the whole wall is filled with pictures of previous customers-which says a lot since literally, the WHOLE WALL is covered with them!
I shared a combo-chicken plate with my coworker and it was delicious! The plate had 3 pieces of chicken for 4 flavors (spicy, sweet, mild, and regular). As I tasted the regular, being hella fiipino-the chicken tasted like the chicken in Jollibee 'cept without that "oily" after taste (1 star!). Next was the mild-which was sprinkled with minced garlic and, being hella filipino, the sauce they put in it tasted like the banana ketchup and the sweet chili sauce COMBINED (1 star!). Then the sweet chicken...caught me off guard cause it was tossed with honey so it had a delicious-addicting flavor (1 Star!). And last was the spicy...and to my surprise, it was like the mild but with a spicy KICK-in-the-FACE!! (1 Star!)
My coworkers also told me that the rice, water, and salad are free, but they're self-served...and I was-HOLY CRAP! (1 Star!)
Despite being located in a typical strip mall with horrible parking, this place deserves some recognition!
This is very very good fried chicken. I had the number 3 with the sauce. It was a little spicy for me but I like the spicyness. It was not too spicy where it did not go away.
I will definitely go there again but this time order the combination.
It is a four star because of the limited side dishes.
Came here with my yelp ancestors (Sam R. and Eric C), I was fairly impressed on the quality of the fried chicken.
6 dollars can get you around 5 chicken wings, unlimited salad, rice, free tea, corn, and a full stomach. The sauce is refreshing, the price is fair reasonable, and the FREE STUFF!! The lady even brought us a free plate of fried chicken at the end because we were so cool.
Being on El Camino, this place is great visit after a night of drinking! Can't believe this place already has 600+ reviews!
Some advice for Mom and Pop: stop being so cheap!!!!
(1) Hire some more workers. You can't do it all. Your service leaves a lot to be desired. Long wait times, forgotten orders (we once sat there for 1.5 hours with no food on our table), constantly having to remind you about dishes ordered. Hire some competent wait staff.
(2) You charge me $13 for 10 pieces of fried chicken. Don't charge me $1 for each take-out rice and for each sauce when they are given freely when I eat in. And please don't say it's because you have to pay for the to-go boxes. If I don't eat there, you don't have to bus my table, wash my dishes and leaves you tables open to serve more customers and make more $$.
On Friday, you said "long time no see". Your chicken is good, but your service generally sours me from returning. I come back only when I've had enough time to forget how bad the service was the last time I was there. But no more. I'm on the hunt for a new Korean fried chicken place to give my hard earned dollars to and will even happily settle for Popeyes instead of having to deal with your poor service.
I've been wanting to go here ever since I tried San Tung's chicken.
99 Chicken is... different. The sauces are more tangy/spicy. I tried the Love wings and the Spicy Sauce Wings and I think I preferred the Love wings. And man, these wings had a kick! The type that hurts going in and going out ya know? My friends advised me that if it's a hot evening - get the wings to go because it gets stuffy. I'm actually really glad we got these to go because I spent the evening eating these wings in front of a fan to cool the sweat off...
Any con? The wings aren't crispy. =( I thought that they might not be crispy because we took them to go but the friends I went with said the wings were generally that texture. Maybe next time I'll get sauce on the side?
I'd say these wings are pretty delicious and I will definitely come back but I don't crave them as much as I crave the ones from San Tung. And it isn't because of the taste - the sauce here has got the right amount of tang and kick - I just really like my wings to be crispy!.
EDIT ::
On second thought, I think 99 chicken is more of a 4 star kinda review - I think I just really wanted San Tung wings so I was disappointed that it wasn't the same. However, I do remember pigging out on the chicken - so I need to visit again to justify changing the star rating.
Granted they stayed open for us even though we came here after The Fray concert. But I was quite dissapointed to the actual place compared to the reviews I've been reading and such. What some people failed to mention is the weak ass salad bar with not even enough rice, some brocolli and daikon.
Although the reviews may be skewed, the accuracy only lies in the chicken and the beer. I guess I could just spoil myself that way and eat drumsticks to my hearts desire with the spicy sweet sauce (btw, it is $2 more if you order it over the regular, but the sauce is sitting right at your table)
Ordered the following:
-Pork Kimchee Soup with tofu - surprisingly good
-spicy sauce chicken - sauce was nothing, chicken was good
-regular chicken (hugeee) - i prefer the saucy ones
-omelette kimchee fried rice - something to try but was definitely worth it. maybe I just had a egg fix I needed to make up for.
I loveplaces that try to do something simple but does it well. That idea carry on here at 99 Chicken. Order the love wing, eat it with the rice, enjoy the salad bar, and drink some beer at 99 chicken on a late night, and everything will be right for that momemt.
I love this family run place, the lady cook is adorable and treat me as one of her kid. She made sure to ask me what I need everytime, and always remind me to eat the food while it's hot. Uhh..I digress..good chicken!! Five stars!!
This **** was the bomb! Best chicken I've had in a very long time.
Nothing beats fresh, hot fried chicken. The sweet drummies were the best. I couldn't try the spicy ones because I am allergic, but they looked awesome.
The all-you-can-eat salad and rice is a nice bonus. Very reasonable prices. I would only imagine someone not liking this place because they don't like chicken. In which case, why would you go there?
Try it out! If I'm around the area, I will definitely go again!
After all the rave reviews from friends, I was really looking forward to 99 Chicken.
To me, it tastes like any other deep fried chicken wing with sticky spicy sweet sauce. Nothing memorable. They also forgot our squid dish. I won't even mention what I saw one of the waiters do with the trash can at the table right next to me. All in all, it was an unpleasant dining experience.
I can see the draw though, cheap food, beer, all you can eat rice and salad. There's definitely a niche for a place like this, it just wasn't for me.
only reason im not giving it 5 stars is because this place takes forever to crank out their signature wings (i guess that proves they are fresh and made to order...). on top of that, the waitress forgot our order and we had to wait even longer.
however, their wings are damn good and id say rival "traditional" buffalo style wings. the salad bar also helps to, to at least provide some vegetation to the meal
Santa Clara, CA
Category: Korean
Santa Clara, CA
Category: Korean
Santa Clara, CA
Category: Korean
Santa Clara, CA
Category: Korean
Santa Clara, CA
Category: Korean
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