Vons Chicken

Awesome crispy shoyu chicken… wings are good but I prefer the boneless.

So sorry this review was for the 1670 Makaloa street location (inside Palama Supermarket Food Court). I have never eaten at this location … yet

I heard about Vons opening in Hawaii last year (Palama Supermarket), but I’m rarely in that area so it slipped off my radar. But then I saw references to Vons Chicken on Pensacola Street and my heart skipped a beat. They’re open on Pensacola Street now? I’ve got to check it out!
I called in my order on the way over, so that I wouldn’t have to wait for it when I got there. Scored a parking spot right in front of Auntie Pasto’s, put a quarter in my meter, and walked a few doors down to Vons. My order was all packed and ready to go. I was in and out in less than 5 minutes. Love it.
Ordered two chicken plates — crispy fried and crispy fried shoyu (since Unilocalers have been raving about the crispy fried shoyu). Each plate came with rice (choice of brown or white), one scoop of mac salad and two small pieces of deep fried mandoo. The rice was very mushy, the mandoo was equally unpleasing, but the chicken … OMG. OMG! As I took a bite, I kept telling myself «I should have ordered the full order, I should have ordered the full order!».
Take-​aways:
1) check out the menu and call in your order ahead of time
2) skip the chicken plate and get the HALF OR FULL ORDER OF CHICKEN
3) the CRISPY FRIED SHOYU CHICKEN IS WINNAS!
4) Full orders of chicken (20 pieces) can be split ¹⁰⁄₁₀ (10 of one flavor, 10 of another).

Tried the new location of Von’s Chicken and had their chicken plate. The chicken, while good, were small pieces and you get only 4 for a lunch plate. Psychologically I’d probably prefer two large pieces even if it amounted to the same weight in food. On the positive side, the breading was crispy and excellent. On the other hand, I would’ve preferred different side options besides mac salad. The Mandoo was oddly a bit smaller than I’ve seen everywhere else.
With the plethora of fried chicken options, I can’t say they stand out. But the service was fast and friendly. No parking so make sure you find street parking or walk there.

Really delicious! I now love also the crispy fried chicken season the mild one… next time il try the hot spicy one

I’m so happy that I ran into Vons today! It was almost like fate… my lunch plans fell through so I decided to run errands instead. After they were done, I went over to Pensacola thinking that I’d just pick up a quick sandwich or something. But as soon as I saw Vons on Pensacola and Young, my sandwich thoughts escaped me and I found myself gravitating towards Korean chicken instead.
Now I go to Seoul on a fairly regular basis, and when people ask me what my favorite thing to eat there is, I always say fried chicken. Seriously… American fried chicken is good, but Korean fried chicken is infinitely better in so many ways! This isn’t local-​style Korean chicken that is just regular American chicken covered in sauce. Fried chicken in Korea is usually only served at bars, has a wide range of flavors and spiciness, and somehow manages to stay crispy after 5 bottles of soju and beyond. You can also tell its legit Korean chicken because of the way they cut their chicken… the pieces are unrecognizable to a regular passer-​by but in Korea the chicken is cut in such a way that you are able to pretty much get all the meat off the bones. No waste and crispy, what more could you ask for?!
Vons has two preparation styles and six flavors. Though the oven roasted chicken looked good and is probably a little healthier, I opted for the half order of mild seasoned crispy chicken. The half order cost $ 11.99 for 10 wings/​drums, but I think you can also opt for boneless chicken. There is also a plate lunch option ($ 6.99 for 4 pieces of chicken, 2 mandoo, 2 scoop rice, and 1 scoop mac salad) which I considered but did not get because I didn’t really want the rice/​mac. I also ordered a side of mandoo out of curiosity, which was $ 3.99 for 10 pieces. I figured that since they were blasting the local Korean language radio station, the chicken must be pretty legit.
I waited about 10 minutes for my order to be ready, and the owner boxed everything up neatly and even threw in a small container of daikon for me to try. Even though it was hot outside, I walked quickly back to my office because I could not wait any longer to try the chicken… it smelled amazing!
After my 10 minute walk back to my desk, I immediately dug in. Even though the chicken had been sitting in the takeout container for 10 minutes, it was still very crispy! I’m happy I opted for the mild sauce, since it was a little sweet and hardly spicy at all. Tasted almost like the chicken I had a month earlier in Myeongdong, Seoul! By the way… Korean spicy is VERY spicy, so if you go with the hot option just beware and don’t touch your face with your saucy fingers (it will probably sting!). The mandoo, on the other hand, was less impressive. Although the outside was crispy, the inside was totally mushy and I have a feeling that the mandoo is not made in-​house. It was just meh, but it went well with all the extra sauce that was left in the chicken container. If I hadn’t ordered the mandoo and if I was eating in a judgement-​free world, I think I could easily finish the 10-​piece half order of chicken by myself and be a happy camper.
Vons now takes credit card, and is BYOB as of today. Parking is metered on Pensacola or Young, so be prepared to walk a little if you can’t find parking nearby!
TL;DR — now accepts credit card, skip the mandoo, and awesome crispy Korean chicken!

There used to be a vegetarian restaurant on the corner of Pensacola and Young. As we were driving down Pensacola today, I noticed that Vons Chicken was there instead. I literally told my husband to pull the car over. I had to try this place. They have another location at the Palama Supermarket in Kalihi that I heard so much about.
This place is small with about four tables in there. I walk in and there’s a Korean man behind the counter. He was friendly and told me he was the owner. He also owns the one at the Palama location. You can order the fried chicken wings in a plate form from this place which Palama doesn’t have. The plate comes with four pieces of wings, mac salad, two pieces of mandoo, and two scoops of rice. I passed on the plate. I wasn’t really hungry and only wanted to try their fried chicken wings.
As of today, they have six different types of chicken wings. Three are fried (crispy fried, crispy fried seasoned, and crispy fried shoyu). Three are oven roasted (roast oven garlic, roast oven, and roast oven Vons special). Someday soon, they’ll have fried chicken in garlic sauce.
I decided to go with a half order of crispy fried shoyu wings. Half order (10 pieces) for $ 12.99 and full order (20 pieces) for $ 21.99. I placed my order and the wings came out 10 minutes later. I’ve heard that at Palama, the wings are drenched in the sauce. Over here, it’s more like the sauce is drizzled on. The sauce was salty with a little hint of sweetness to it, definitely not sweet enough to be teriyaki. The wings were plump, juicy, and tender. The outside was battered and fried to a full on crunch.
As I was waiting for my wings, I was conversing with the owner. I asked him about Vons and if it was a major chain in Korea. It actually isn’t. He told me that there are over 70,000 fried chicken places Korea, and that Vons only makes up about 1,000 of them. Korea has KFC’s but no Popeyes. I was getting a tutorial about fried chicken from this man. Here I thought that Americans liked fried chicken. I didn’t know that Koreans consumed so much of it.
The wings are really good but the price is steep. Their prices are on par with the major wing chains on the island that are full on restaurants.

Awesome wings. Can’t decide if plain or shoyu was my favorite. Got a full order of wings to share and the owner made them with 4 different sauces so we could sample the different flavors.
Quick service, friendly staff, and fresh piping hot wings. Parking could be a challenge but there’s free parking across Young st and meters fronting the store. Leftovers were still good too the next day.

We were disappointed with our Vons Chicken experience. It’s a chain in Korea, and there’s one near Palama and one in Kalihi. You can get either fried chicken wings or roasted chicken wings. You can get a plate lunch, or small order of 10 wings, or full order of 20 wings. Excited because we love Korean fried chicken, we ordered the seasoned fried chicken. It was neither as flavorful nor as crispy as I wanted fried chicken to be.
The owner is great, and creates a positive experience for everyone.
For now they don’t accept credit cards, but they will soon.

Congratulations Vons Chicken on your Grand Opening!
Vons Chicken is a Korean franchise, this Pensacola St location is their third in Honolulu. They make 3 different kinds of fried chicken wings – plain, seasoned and shoyu – and 3 different kinds of roasted chicken wings – plain, garlic and the Vons Special. To accompany your chicken, right now they have white rice, a mac salad that was dry (dressed too far in advance), mandoo (that doesn’t taste homemade), and rice cakes (I was expecting soft and saucy toppoki, but their duk were firm and served dry).
Here’s what you need to know: the chicken is hot and lightly tossed in a sauce if you order a flavor (though mine was slightly pink inside because they were cranking them out to keep up with the lunch rush); seating is tight, so I would plan to take out during peak hours; and plan to walk, it’s only street parking. If you want to check them out, I would wait a bit to let the staff and menu settle in, then bring some beer and go eat some wings.