Vons Chicken

I’m pretty crazy about chicken wings, so I was really looking forward to trying Vons. I had the chicken wings with Vons special sauce but was sadly a bit disappointed. I wasn’t crazy about the flavor of the sauce (a little too heavy/​tangy/​sweet). Also, because the wings were so heavily doused in the sauce, they weren’t very crispy on the outside.
If you’re like me and really appreciate the crispness of the outside and prefer a cleaner wing and flavor, it might be best to opt for one of the other chicken wing options here. I plan on returning but trying the roasted chicken wings instead.

I’ve been going to Vons Chicken pretty often recently because it’s conveniently located near my home, is of pretty good value and has good food!
Located in the back of Palama Supermarket on North King St in Kalihi, Von’s is a little takeout counter in a food court of sorts within the supermarket. You can order there, or call ahead of time and place your order. I recommend calling ahead, as it’ll take 15 – 25 minutes for your order, but can take even longer when very busy. Being a takeout counter, service is very basic, but friendly enough.
So far the wife and I have tried a few of their different menus items. The one we usually get is the Von’s Special in mild. It’s a baked wing with a sweet, slaty, slightly spicy flavor. The garlic is similar, though has a bit more of an ambiguous flavor. The garlic isn’t quite strong enough, but it’s still pretty good. The original fried is light and crispy, but a little oily. It could use some salt in my opinion, but otherwise is pretty good. One of their newest items is a shoyu crispy fried, which is the fried with a sweet-​salty shoyu flavor that isn’t overpowering and provides a bit more balance. The fried options tend to be more juicy on the inside, while the boneless oven roasted tend to be the driest of them all. It isn’t inedibly dry though, just a tad drier than I’d like. The regard bone-​in oven roasted lands somewhere in-​between the crispy fried and the boneless oven roasted.
All chicken comes in two sizes, the 10 piece half and 20 piece full. The 10 piece is just the right size for two people with rice, though you gotta buy that from somewhere else or just make at home.

Stopped by here after running an errand at Palama supermarket. The wait was pretty long & the chicken itself was okay, not the best. I honestly think you could get chicken better elsewhere for a cheaper price. I went here because I heard great reviews about it but I wasn’t feeling it.

Do yourself a favor, drive down the road and go to Wing Stop instead. They actually have a full menu with variety and the prices are better. Von’s is a disappointment. No sides, just overpriced, flavorless chicken. Not only do they not have dipping sauces, they also don’t have salt and pepper for Christ sake. I didn’t even get napkins or utensils with my order. only a pathetic little container with a tablespoon of pickled radishes (weird).
To be fair the fried chicken was edible, but without any spices and side dishes to compliment it, it was a disappointing and forgettable experience.

Von’s Chicken… from what I heard, it’s a Korea chain and this was their first location in Hawaii. Located in the back of Palama Supermarket in Kalihi… like way back in the corner, next to the Snack Shop. I’ve heard good things about it and saw a write up on the internet. Korean fried chicken is supposed to be the ultimate in fried chicken so would this franchise be able to live up to that?
So the first thing to know is, you have to order ahead. Call or allow a lot of time for your order to cook. There’s only a few workers and many orders coming in. We ordered two half orders (two different types of chicken) to make a full order and we waited for over 20 minutes. One half order was for their crispy fried chicken (ask for the hot sauce!) and their famous «special» chicken… roasted with a spicy sauce. They’re packed into these cute small carry boxes for you. we actually paid about $ 25 for the order (I think it was $ 12.50 per half order). I kind of cringed as they are all mini drumettes and wings. Again, ask for the hot sauce (for the fried chicken), otherwise they might forget. How did it taste? The fried chicken was as expected, light and crispy on the outside, tender and juicy on the inside… really, really good. I think I could easily scarf down a dozen. Ask for the hot sauce if you like hot stuff… you won’t be disappointed… it’s pretty hot. The Von’s Special Chicken was good too… it’s chicken roasted with a sweet hot spicy glaze. You get the sweetness and the hot and watch out, if you are not used to spicy foods, it does give a nice burn going down and the hot lingers for quite awhile. I liked it but had to drink some water after. The chicken here can be addicting, the only drawback is the wait and the price. Obviously, it’s pretty popular as I saw several people pickup their phone orders while I was waiting. There are other varieties of roast chicken available so maybe next time we’ll try those.

Finally after all the hype I found myself in Kalihi and decided to try some Von’s chicken. This place is located in the back corner of the Palama Market and it’s a very small kitchen/​counter so don’t miss it.
There are five different flavors you can get, Von’s special sauce, roast oven chicken, garlic chicken, wine and green onion, and crispy fried chicken. There are only two sizes half (10pcs) and full 20(pcs).
I only decided to try one this time and it was the crispy fried since it was only my daughter and I and she is a picky eater (so no garlic or special sauces lol next time). Anyway the owner or guy at the counter was very kind and prompt since it was only him working the small kitchen. I’d say I waited 10 minutes for my half size order so not bad especially since you can look around the market while you wait.
I ate them in the car with my daughter and she loved them which is great since like I said she’s picky. I loved it too. The skin was really crispy and the inside was juicy and tender. I think it was perfectly cooked with just the right amount of seasoning.
I will definitely be back to try the other flavors. 5 stars for doing what they do with what they’ve got. Great chicken.

If you’re in the mood for some chicken, then you should check this place out! My husband and I just got take-​out from Vons last night. (A change from the other chicken place we go to, Itchy Butt.) We ordered half orders of: fried chicken, garlic, and oven-​roasted.
Fried chicken– My favorite out of all the three! I love the crispy batter that wasn’t too light or too heavy. For me, it was the perfect crispiness! The meat was juicy and the seasoning on the chicken wasn’t too much.
Garlic– It was very flavorful, but more on the sweet side. It was tasty but I prefer a stronger garlic taste. You end up with sticky, good fingers!!!
Oven-​roasted– Tasty, but it could have used little more flavor. (This was my husband’s favorite!)
Overall: The chicken was cooked perfectly and not overcooked or dry. Flavors were mild. So I guess it’s better to have less seasoning than it be over powering?! We did have to wait about 25 minutes, since it was cooked on the spot. While waiting, we bought some yummy Korean snacks in Palama supermarket while we waited. The chicken came out fresh and piping hot in a cute little box!
We will definitely be coming back!

My Korea chicken withdrawals have been satisfied. I’ve gone here on several occasions, and since then they’ve expanded to the other Palama as well as another location in the works up the road from McKinley. I always end up getting the Von’s Special Chicken, spicy and the Crispy Fried Chicken. The taste is pretty close to the chicken actually sold in Korea. It’s a bit expensive for the amount you get. They give you a container of daikon if you ask. I wish they had a chicken with cheese powder on it or sold some fries or chips along with the chicken. Also, if you order boneless it actually just means bone, less of them. Blame it on the Konglish maybe, but that was kind of surprising the first time I ordered them.

Wanted to come here after everyone talking about this secret chicken place haha.
Never really liked going to Palama because of the crappy parking they have going on there.
Its inside Palama and in the back side on the left.
Be prepared to wait…
I went around 1:30pm on a Friday.
No one really there but they told me I had to wait 20 mins. (It was being freshly fried after i ordered it) Don’t know if they do that to every order. I came back about 25 mins later and was told I had to wait for another 10 – 15 mins, my goodness.
Got 2 large orders of the fried chicken and 1 large order of the garlic chicken (boneless) came out around $ 60…
I asked for my garlic chicken to be packaged separately by 2 boxes, the owner then yelled at the cashier for doing that telling ME next time i can’t do that. uh what the hell? seriously dude? chang koreans i tell you… anyways. fried chicken is bland, but crispy. garlic chicken was just loaded up with sauce.
this place is just OK. nothing to rave about. won’t be coming back because of what the owner said to me. Your chicken isn’t THAT great anyways.
But if you want to order I suggest phone ordering before you go.

They have the cutest chicken boxes! Yesss, I’m a sucker for cute presentation food boxes and love chicken even more! My boyfriend had called for at take out for a half order of crispy fried chicken wings and half order of the vons special chicken. Although I didn’t get to enjoy it fresh from when he got it, it was pretty delish!
The fried chicken kind of tasted like KFC’s one but tastier in their own way. It was super crispy and juicy, just the way I like it. The vons special sauce chicken was also so flavorful and unique taste to it. But I prefer just the crispy chicken since I don’t care too much about sauces when I eat my chickens.
I first saw this place when I stumbled upon Kalihi Supermarket looking for tea and that aroma of chicken caught my nose that brought me to the back of the store where Von’s chicken is located. The menu is pretty limited as they only specialized in chicken with about 5 different flavors. The prices are affordable and worth it for the first time I’ve had it. Looking forward to trying the other flavors next time.

After seeing numerous pictures and check-in’s by some friends I just had to try this place. At first when I arrived I saw their menu and the portions were quite large. For ½ order yields 10 wings and full order for 20 wings. Their chicken is served several ways and for those who know me I like variety. With several chicken preparations I knew I had to come with a group of people so I kept this high under the radar.
Lyla D.‘s check-in’s and reviews really got my attention. Freshly cooked chicken straight out of the fryer. Who on earth would say no to wing dings?
Von’s Chicken is a Korean fast food joint that has invaded the islands. They are located in the far back left corner of Palama Market. The chicken wings are prepared several ways and also has them boneless. However boneless is very popular and they seem to run out quickly so come early!
I had to wait until Nadine C. came back home as she was out-​of-​town and was able to recruit Daniel C. and Minky C. for a foursome. Vegan Unilocal Elite Kenzie K. tagged along but she ordered kim chee soup from Palama Corner. Between the 4 of us we ordered 3 different types of wings and shared. Minky wanted the boneless but sold out. Here’s my take on what we tried:
1) Crispy Chicken Wings ²⁄₅
Your standard deep-​fried chicken wing and they forgot to add some salt. As several reviews stated, you’ve got about 15 minutes to wait as they are cooked fresh but it’s my pet peeve when cooks forget to add some salt just when it comes out of the fryer. If you try to add some salt once the chicken cools down it bounces off the chicken so no flavor! Chicken was cooked perfect and not greasy but I’m penalizing the dish for no taste!
2) Von’s Special Sauce Chicken Wings — Mild ⁴⁄₅
The «special» sauce is similar to a tomato based BBQ sauce. Very flavorful and can be prepared either mild or hot. Because Nadine C. was dining with us I had the mild as Nadine doesn’t care for spicy. For some reason the wings seem smaller.
3) Garlic Chicken Wings ³⁄₅
The garlic wings were okay. The garlic flavor was subtle. It was present but pungent. There was nothing memorable about this preparation.
The menu here is primarily chicken wings. You have the option of dining in or take-​out. We wanted to try the chicken FRESH so we ate there. There were just 2 staff and somewhat busy. The tables were DIRTY DIRTY DIRTY. I was going to ask for a table cloth to wipe the tables down but the staff were too busy. Luckily I had some paper towels so I got some hand sanitizer from the dispenser and cleaned our tables.
No starch or side dishes here so you may either order some food from next door Palama Snack Corner OR get some side dishes from Palama Market.
Overall, just an average chicken joint in my opinion. I’m glad I tried it but not eager to eat their chicken wings again. The fried chicken wings from Maple Garden are much better.
NOTE: The parking for Palama Market is TANDEM parking so beware. During peak hours it can be a nightmare to come here. Just make sure you don’t get boxed in because it’ll take some time for you to find the other drivers just to exit.

It’s not often that you get to dine at a restaurant for the first time with other Unilocaler’s who haven’t been there either. Our friend has been wanting to try this place out and suggested dinner here. We had this spot on our to eat at list so we jumped at the invitation. It’s always fun to try new places with great company.
This restaurant is located in the Kalihi Palama Market. Parking is in their private lot or street parking if it’s full. When you enter, you will need to walk toward the back and it’s located on the far left. There are ample tables to dine on with lots of chairs. It was very clean and smelled like fried chicken.
Since we had a group of 5, we decided to order different items on the menu so that we could try more than one flavor. We ordered the Crispy Fried Chicken (most popular), Vons Special Sauce Chicken (2^nd most popular) and the Garlic Chicken. The chicken was hot and very juicy when it came out.
All of us had a different opinion on which flavor was the best. For me, I liked the Crispy Fried Chicken the best followed by Vons Special Sauce Chicken then the Garlic Chicken. We all did agree that the chicken was about average. It’s nice that we did try this place but wouldn’t come back just for the fried chicken.
Tips:
— chicken is hot when it comes out!
— they take cash and credit
— chicken takes about 15 minutes to come out
— drinks can be bought at the restaurant next door or in the market
— you can purchase food items in the market to accompany your chicken

Thanks to my Unilocal buddies — Bruddah Ric C. (for his check in), Lyla D. & Alysha K. for posting their wonderful reviews about Von’s Chicken… seeing these reviews just stirred my interest to check out this chicken wing joint!
After looking at the many pics of the chicken (I’m a visual guy), told my coworkers — «Yo, let’s eat some chicken wings today!»
Jumped into my car, and made a bee-​line to the Kapalama area. Von’s Chicken is a small little store located inside the new Palama Supermarket.
Upon getting to Palama Supermarket, the parking lot was already full, had to wait just a bit for someone to leave, before I could pull my car into the parking stall.
Upon going into Palama Supermarket, I head straight towards the back (left side) of the store, where Von’s Chicken is located.
Upon scanning the menu… I see they do just one thing… CHICKEN!
Don’t bother to ask for biscuits, fries, apple pie, or drinks… they don’t do that!
But what they do, do (I made a funny… I said «do do»! Lol), wait, I getting off course… What I meant to say was, they do, do chicken right! Yeah baby!!!
So I decided to order a «full box — 20 wings» of — Crispy Fried Chicken ($ 20.99), & a «mini box — 10 wings» of — Vons Special Sauce Chicken ($ 11.99).
What can I say about the chicken? Fried Chicken was a bit bland for my liking, but I did enjoy the crispness, as well as the texture. I did not know they do the Fried Chicken in Spicy Hot too… as I picked the Mild Fried Chicken. If I had picked the «Spicy Hot», I would think it would have had more flavor than the Mild?
As for my Vons Special Chicken… well, I never got it… What I did get was a mini Garlic Chicken (not by choice, it was given to us by mistake).
As my coworkers and I were grubbin’ away, the clerk who took our order came by to check on us, then he realized they gave us the wrong chicken… well, by then, we had eaten about ½ the chicken already, so we told him — «that’s okay… we are good with this Garlic Chicken».
The Garlic Chicken is a naked chicken, and it is topped with a sweet garlicky sauce. I must say the Garlic Chicken was very tasty, I only wished they breaded the chicken, deep fried it, then dipped it into the garlicky sauce… that’s how I would do mine!
Overall, still a pretty good chicken joint! I think I will come back in the near future to try the other flavors… oh, and getting back to you folks about no drinks, or anything else.
Don’t fret gang… you’re in a supermarket, so after paying for the chicken at Vons, I proceeded to go to the supermarket side and purchased 3 bottled waters, as well as a roll of Korean meat sushi to go with our chicken lunch.
There is like 6 tables, as well as a bar type table in front of Von’s Chicken. After ordering and paying for your chicken, you just look for an open table to sit down. They will call you when your order is ready, or if you’re eating there, they will bring the chicken to your table.
Please note: when you order your chicken, there is about a 15 minute wait, as they make it fresh for you. The wait did not seem too long for me, and i would say the wait, as well as the taste of the chicken was waaaaaaaaaay better than — «Itchy Butt» (see my review about that place).
Parking can be a challenge, as the parking lot has a very odd configuration of the parking stalls. The super market is busy, so parking can be limited at times. There is a parking attendant working in the parking lot, and he tries his very best to police the parking area. So please be patient when looking for a parking stall.

I had the crispy fried chicken, it was ok. It takes a couple of minutes for the chicken to cook, and it was hot when we got the order. The chicken was crispy on the outside and juicy on the inside. To me it tasted like any other places fried chicken… I do wish the meat had more flavor.
I did give an extra star because the guy behind the counter was so nice. He explained the menu items and told us which items were the most popular.

We were buzzing around in the Kalihi area during lunchtime when we stopped into Palama Supermarket. When walked in, the aroma of frying chicken hit our noses. So, we followed the scent like dogs on a hunt and found Vons Chicken located in the back of the supermarket next to another food vendor. We had never heard of the Vons chain before but we’re familiar with Korea’s Kyochon and Goobne chicken chains.
Korean fried chicken is light and not really greasy unlike some American fast food places. There isn’t a thick batter to hide the natural chicken flavor or size of the chicken piece. Vons Chicken specializes in WINGS (includes drumette) or boneless chicken pieces that are oven-​roasted or deep-​fried. You have a choice of sauces to accompany your oven-​roasted chicken that ranges from Original (slightly sweet & spicy), garlic, honey mustard or wine and green onion. The crisp fried chicken does not come with a sauce. You have a choice between a MINI portion (10-​pieces) or FULL portion (20-​pieces) priced at $ 11.99 and $ 20.99, respectively.
They don’t offer any side dishes at this stall but you can get a roll of Kimbap (Gimbap) or dishes of assorted kimchi from the deli near the front of the store (be sure that you pay for it before sitting down to eat it in store). Speaking of seating, there are tables and chairs available for dining and waiting for your chicken meals.
They prepare your meal as you order so be prepared to wait at least 10 – 15 minutes OR you can just call them ahead for pick up.
#362

New vendor in Palama Supermarket in Kalihi! My coworkers and I love chicken wings because we can order a lot and just split the bill.
9 of us ordered (3) full sizes = 60 pieces. We got the regular fried, Von’s special sauce, and honey mustard oven baked. We got to try 2 pieces of each and paid about $ 7 each. It was a hit as everyone enjoyed all flavors and I didn’t hear any complaints. My personal fave was the fried chicken but I also liked them all.
Unfortunately, they don’t have any sides like fries and cole slaw, but fortunately, since it is in Palama Supermarket you can get sides there!
I called to order ahead of time and by the time I went to pick up, it was already ready. The owner is really nice and speaks and understands good English. He threw in extra spicy sauce and daikon to go with the fried chicken for us to try.
We will be back again!

I love to eat chicken wings. Buffalo Wings, BBQ Wings, Fried Wings, etc… I love them all equally. When I found out that Vons opened in Palama Supermarket, it didn’t take me long to check them out!
Vons is located inside of Palama Supermarket in the back of the store on the left hand corner next to the Korean plate counter. I got there around noon on a weekday right before the lunch crowd started to file in. The menu has about five different flavors and a choice of half and full orders of wings, drumsticks, or a combination of the two.
I decided on the fried chicken wings since I figure the best way to tell if the wings are ono is to eat them plain and simple. All orders are made when ordered, so expect to wait about 10 – 15 minutes or call ahead to place an order for pick up. Honestly, the wait is worth it. The wings came out piping hot! I’m not joking. When I got down to the bone, even the bone was steaming! The outside was crispy and light and the inside was hot and juicy. Truly the best combination around.
I need to go back and try the other flavors. I am sold on Vons after just one try! Thank you Vons for coming to Hawaii!

For some reason, Koreans love fried chicken. When you go to Korea, fried chicken franchises are everywhere. I didn’t get to try any when I was in Korea. Apparently they are all the rage and everyone says their fried chicken is a must try. I knew one would come eventually. Vons has other locations in the continental U.S.
I read about this place on Frolic Hawaii. Everyone who knows me knows I don’t eat chicken on the bone. Well I’m in luck. This place has boneless chicken as an alternative if you don’t want wings and drumsticks except their fried chicken only comes in wings and drums. I figured I had to try the chicken of my people.
As you walk in Palama Market, you can smell the fried chicken. Just follow your nose to the back of the store where Tae’s Teppanyaki used to be. There’s a small area to eat in case you can’t wait to try that chicken. There’s a small counter with a menu that lists 5 types of chicken. 4 out of the 5 are oven baked and seasoned and the other is fried. Some also have the option of mild or hot.
Vons special sauce (hot/​mild)
Roast oven (honey mustard or hot volcano)
Garlic (garlic sauce)
Wine and green onion
Crispy fried (mild/​hot)
The owner is very nice and speaks very good English. She is very helpful and answered my questions. You choose which type of chicken you want. You can order a mini for $ 11.99 or full for $ 20.99.
You can also choose the type of chicken pieces you want.
Mini:
10 wings
5 drums
Combo 2 drums, 6 wings
Boneless 10 pieces
Full:
20 wings
10 drums
Combo 4 drums, 12 wings
Boneless 20 pieces
It comes with a small container of pickled radishes that went well with the chicken.
We tried two types, «Vons Special Spicy Sauce» and crispy fried chicken. We got drums and wings since we figured that would be the best way to try it instead of boneless. Overall the chicken was very good. The drums were meaty and moist. The wings were… well wings.
The crispy fried chicken came with a spicy sauce on the side. The batter was super crispy. It was nice that you got spicy sauce to dip but in my opinion, you could totally eat it without sauce.
I wish you could have mixed the chicken varieties so we could have tried the other ones.
Each order is made when you order. Be careful, when you get it, it’s super hot. It wasn’t busy when we went at 11am on a Saturday so it took about 10 – 15 minutes. I would recommend calling to make sure they have what you want and so you don’t have to wait. We walked around and got some drinks, kim bap and banchan to complete our meal. We will definitely be back to try the others and to try the boneless. I’m now a Korean chicken believer.

We have a Vons Chicken in Guam, where I’m originally from. It’s a restaurant that’s hard to say goodbye to whenever I have to leave.
So you can imagine my excitement when I was combing through Unilocal one day and found that a Vons Chicken had just opened up in Honolulu! Best believe I headed straight here for dinner that day.
This particular Vons Chicken is tucked away in the back end of Palama Supermarket in Kalihi. Their menu is super limited — they only serve, well, chicken. There’s about five different flavors to choose from: fried, Vons special sauce, garlic, and wine & green onion, and roast chicken. While their fried chicken is fried, the rest is baked or charbroiled. You can also choose between traditional or boneless wings. We decided to go with a half order of the fried traditional wings and another half order of the Vons special sauce boneless wings.
The order took about 15 minutes to come out. While I waited for my order, I perused through the supermarket and picked up some ban chan (Korean side dishes) and a bottle of water to eat with my meal. I also ordered a scoop of rice at the stall next to Vons Chicken. Such a convenient set up! They have a few seats in front of Vons Chicken, so it’s possible to dine in, take out style (is that a thing?).
The combination was great! Great food, and awesome customer service (the Korean man was so friendly and patient with us while we were choosing what to order). I’ll definitely be coming back.

It’s about time someone brought a Korean chicken franchise to Hawaii!
Chicken is huge in Korea and there are a crazy number of chicken franchises in Korea. The craze has hit all the major metropolitan US cities and it’s about time that one finally opened in Hawaii.
Nestled in the back corner of the Kalihi Palama, Vons Chicken keeps a low profile with a little counter and a menu with 5 items. 4 out of the 5 are oven baked and one is fried. The owner is very nice and will explain the different options. All of the orders come with the white radish that is standard with Korean chicken.
Today I tried the «Vons Special Spicy Sauce» and it was as good as the chicken you get back in Korea. Just the right touch of spiciness and flavor with a crispy outside and juicy inside. Will definitely be back to try all the others.
Tip: Each order is made to order and takes approximately 15 minutes. Either call it in or order first and walk around Palama and pick up some beer or Soju to go with it.