Restaurant review: John Gilchrist visits Wow Chicken
It's becoming easier to find Korean-style fried chicken in Calgary.
This week, Calgary Eyeopener restaurant reviewer John Gilchrist offered his thoughts on Calgary's newest Korean chicken spot — Wow Chicken, located at 324 10th Street N.W. in the Hillhurst-Sunnyside neighbourhood.
Listen to John's review from Friday's edition of the Calgary Eyeopener.
Korean fried chicken is a style of double-fried chicken that is lighter and less greasy than what you may find at a North American fried chicken restaurant.
At Wow Chicken, the menu features a variety of fried chicken meals. Along with standards like wings and drumsticks, Wow Chicken features more traditional Korean choices, such as gangejong chicken (chicken deep-fried in a traditional Korean sauce).
There isn't a lot of diversity on Wow Chicken's menu. They're strictly focused on chicken, with vegetable tempura and french fries as the only other available options.
When he visited, Gilchrist opted for a simple choice — the "original" chicken dish, along with an order of small fries.
Gilchrist says he wasn't entirely pleased with what he received.
"The chicken itself is good," explained Gilchrist. "It's meaty, it's juicy, it's well cooked, the crust (is) crisp, very light, without being burnt, or overdone."
"The only problem is that it's bland."
Gilchrist goes on to describe the chicken as "almost devoid of salt" and suggests that a change in batter or spices may improve the chicken.
It's not the first time he's had misgivings about Korean chicken in Calgary — Gilchrist had similar reservations about the fare at Olive Chicken, Calgary's other Korean-style fried chicken spot.
To top off the chicken, Wow Chicken has a sweet sauce, a spicy sauce, and a sauce with soy and garlic.
Between the original chicken dish ($11.50), an order of small fries ($3.00), and a side of "cloyingly sweet" spicy sauce ($1.00).Gilchrist spent $15.50 for a meal that he wasn't particularly impressed with.
He described his meal as "good food that had been poorly prepared, and bad food that also had been poorly prepared."
Service was an issue for Gilchrist as well - he found the staff unable or unwilling to answer his questions.
While Gilchrist suggests that Wow Chicken could potentially improve with some "tweaks" like recipe changes and better service, he was unimpressed overall with Wow Chicken and gives it a five out of 10.
"It's just not that good."
Wow Chicken is located at 324 10th Street N.W.
