Chick’n Bubbly

Wait was 25 min for wings at 4pm on a Friday (there was only one other customer in at the time). $ 20 for 15 wings, at least it was supposed to be… Only 10 wings inside when I got home. Very small wings at that. Sauce was nothing to write home about. Slow service, overpriced, weak sauce. Will never return.

Delicious korean fried chicken for a great price! My friends and I stopped by for lunch and all got the awesome lunch deal — $ 8.99 for milk tea, fries, and either 4 wings or 5 tenders. I got the wings with soy garlic sauce, which were very crispy yet tender, although they could probably use a tiny bit more sauce. The seasoned fries were also really well done and my friend enjoyed his sweet potato fries as well. I got taro for the milk tea, which I enjoyed and I like that you can customize how much sugar you want in it (less than half sugar is probably good).
I got everything I wanted with the lunch deal for less than $ 10 (bubble tea AND chicken wings?!) and was definitely full after finishing everything. The shop owners/​workers were also super nice and took time to explain the menu to us. The only thing is that our three orders probably took about 20 – 30 minutes to come out when we were the only customers present at the time (I could see them frying everything fresh in the kitchen) — we weren’t in a rush or anything, but if we had been, I would have probably been more annoyed. So don’t expect extremely fast service. Other than that, I highly recommend this place! :)

The chicken was tasty but the pearl milk tea didn’t taste very good. The pearls were hard and the drink was over sweetened. Price is about average for Korean fried chicken. The shop itself was empty when I picked up my food but the parking outside is horrendous. Worth a try but I probably won’t be back.

I like their bubble tea – it is mixed well, not overly sweet, and the tapioca is the right consistency, neither too tough nor too soft. They lose half a star for playing annoying music – they’re far from alone in this fault though. Really small place.

Highly recommend calling in your order. 30 minutes since I placed my order. 10 of my 20 wings were ready about 10 minutes ago.
I’ll post again after I eat ‘em and let you know if it was worth the wait.
Ok I tried ‘em. YES they are worth the wait. These wings are flavorful and meaty. I tried both sauces and prefer the soy garlic sauce. Not to say the sweet and spicy isn’t good. I’d definitely have them again next time I’m in town.

It’s hard to determine a solid rating for Chick’n Bubbly because some items are great while others aren’t.
The bubble tea is pretty good but I personally think the regular is way too sweet, which thankfully, they have a reduced sugar option. With a huge selection of flavors, there are plenty of options and combinations you can choose. In terms of food, it’s hit or miss. What you’d think would be the star of the show, the chicken, sadly was not for me. The batter was really crispy and that’s good and all, but the sauce kind of left me wanting more. They only have two sauces and they both were not that flavorful to me, especially when served atop ultra greasy chicken. I think the chicken is missing a bold sauce that will cut the flavor of the grease. We also ordered the takoyaki (squid balls) and they were delicious! The batter was really soft and the flavor was on point.
Overall, I may or may not come back. Although if I do, I probably won’t get the chicken. The tea and takoyaki will have me coming back.

Nice little place that produces Korean style chicken with bubble tea. The chicken was very tasty. Got the large bucket with 20 pieces. I asked for 20 wings but they gave me 13 wings and 7 drumsticks. Not sure why. Maybe it was end of day and they didn’t have enough wings. But if you get a mixture of wings and drumsticks, you only get 15 pieces so I guess I made out. The bubble tea was good but it’s from powder. I had the taro, wish there was some real taro pieces. And you can adjust the sweetness too. Overall, not bad for Pitt area.

Stumbled on this place searching Unilocal… and I’m so glad I did. My wife and I stopped in on our way to Phipps Conservatory and we’ll be back. What’d we get for $ 25?
— Lunch special today including 5 chicken tenders, fries, and a drink
— Small Snack pack of wings (Sweet n Spicy sauce)
— Teokbokki
— Mango Green Tea
— Honey Green Tea
If you’re at all familiar with Teokbokki, then you’ll be disappointed. It’s a simple version of the dish, what you’d expect from a small carryout place. It’ll either scratch that itch or make it worse, if you’ve got a hankering. That, my friends, is the only thing remotely bad I have to say about this place.
The rest of it was EXCELLENT! Neither of us are fans of bubble tea but the green tea with added flavors were amazing. Clean, refreshing, nice way to mellow out the star of the show.
Which brings me to the chicken. Forget about Nashville hot chicken, especially since we’re nowhere near Tennessee. The colonel needs to get on board with Korean spicy fried chicken! This was the best! Whether you get the bone-​in traditional wings or the tenders, they’re both made to order. They don’t sit around under a heat lamp. Fresh and amazing taste. The sweet and spicy sauce is INCREDIBLE! Whether you get it on the side or slathered on, you will NOT be disappointed. Franchising opportunities, anyone?

Omg the chicken here is crazy good — crunchy and delicious plus they have these adorable little finger gloves so you don’t get messy eating the delicious goodness. It does take a little time to get your order but the food is worth it. I’ve gotten the taro bubble tea — it’s a little sweet so you should ask for it not to be so sweet and it will taste good.

There has always been a very distinct difference between Bön chon and wings. However, I didn’t feel that way when I ate here. Maybe I set my bar too high when I came since I was imagining this place to taste like the Bön chon I had in NYC. But after trying it twice, I am relatively disappointed. The sauce itself taste decent, but the texture/​flour they wrap around the wings are relatively thick. I expect Bön chon to be more crispy rather than soggy…
However, they do have awesome bubble to because you can make it more or less sweet based on your liking. I would definitely go back for some bubble tea, and probably skip the chicken for some oishi bento next door. Same owner, but the food between the two stores are so different.

Love the chicken here! At first I thought it was a little overpriced, but the chicken is so tender and the pieces have so much meat on them so you’ll definitely be satisfied. I ordered a large drumsticks and wings combo and split it with 4 people and we were all so full by the end of it. I love the sweet and spicy saucy. The pieces are all a little crispy on the outside but still tender inside. I don’t know if the flavor combination is for everyone, but all my friends and I love it!
The bubble tea was also great. Nothing too special about it, but many restaurants mess it up and this place didn’t.
I would highly recommend this place and will probably be ordering from here again.

The owners of Oishii were pretty smart to open this place up next door. A bubble tea /​Korean snack place is yet another suitable go-​to for college students who don’t have time to sit down. Secondly, Oishii’s portion sizes may not fill you up depending on what you get, so following it up here with some desserts or snacks could be a possible idea. Finally, offering discounts on bubble tea on their receipts pretty much seals the deal and pushes customers to casually grab a bubble tea while waiting for their meal.
I wasn’t too taken aback by the chicken here – it is definitely a tad pricey, and they could probably give more pieces per portion or have a more straightforward pricing scheme (if you try to compute the price per wing or drumstick for different sizes, you’ll find that it’s awfully nonlinear). They also have a lot of other snack foods. I like their bubble teas a lot though. They have a lot of flavors, including new ones that are just on the wall and not on their standard menu yet. With their Oishii discounts as well as points program, I definitely find myself coming here more often than I should. They have a lot of more uncommon Asian flavors like winter melon, taro, and red bean, all of which are good. They are on the sweet side so I usually go for less sweet when ordering.

It’s a small, cramped place with a limited menu… what they serve is in their name, but their chicken is great! I didn’t get the chance to try the bubble tea, but I’m kind of turned off by the fact that they charge extra for boba beads.
The chicken though is phenomenal. It is definitely worth all the hype. Their snack size of 5 wings is enough to fill me up for lunch. The wings were meaty and lightly breaded to obtain this beautiful crisp on the outside. The meat was sooooooo moist and probably one of the best I have ever tried. I wish they had more flavors though because I did not like the sweet and spicy, it’s way too sweet and intense. The soy garlic is delicious! I had to dock a star off because their fries aren’t that great. It was way too salty and undercooked. McDonalds has better fries.
So in conclusion, the chicken was awesome, but the fries were not. If you are a wings connoisseur, definitely check this little place out. The Koreans do know how to fry chicken just right!

The first time I went here I got the milk bubble tea (100% sugar)
I had no idea that they did reduced sugar. It was so. Sweet.
Now I go to oshii bento and while I’m waiting for my lunch, I stop next door (here) and get $ 1 off bubble tea!
With 30% sugar (milk tea), it is amazing! The bubbles are delicious too

Line was out the door. Service was a bit slow, but the workers were working hard to get the orders out to everyone in a prompt manner. I only swung by to get bubble tea, but the fried chicken smelled delicious! I think the best part about Chick’n Bubbly is their finger glove dispensers. It is ingenious! We didn’t order chicken so we respected their request of not taking one — but I definitely want to try it out the next time I’m in town!
The drinks were great by the way! Milk tea on point– and they perfected my request of strawberry peach smoothie!

Not too pleased with my most recent visit here. Yesterday, I got the $ 8.99 lunch special that comes with your choice of bubble tea, chicken tenders or wings, and fries. I got the matcha green tea as recommended by a friend. It’s a new flavor and it’s pretty good. I chose seasoned fries and enjoyed them. The chicken tenders were the problem. There were two problems actually. The sign on the wall advertising the lunch special said you choose between 5 chicken tenders or 4 wings. I chose the former but saw that my receipt said 4 chicken tenders. I thought it was just a mistake so decided to wait until I got my food. Sure enough I only got 4 chicken tenders. Upon closer inspection, I realized it was better that I didn’t get all five because – see photos – they were way undercooked and unevenly cooked. Not golden brown like they’re supposed to be but more like a light yellow mostly.
In the past, I’ve tried the wings and didn’t really see why people liked them so much. I’ve also tried their Thai milk tea a few times and it’s always too sweet. Service is good though; the ladies who work there always serve with a smile.
Taste | 3
Atmosphere | 3
Presentation | 2
Service | 3.5
OVERALL | 3

I have a love-​hate relationship with Chick’n Bubbly.
First let me say, do not order from Chick’n Bubbly if you are in any type of rush. A typical order takes anywhere from 15 – 20 minutes to cook. I have learned the hard way. I often get very antsy when waiting for my food, listening to Korean pop music.
In terms of drinks, I have only ever tried the lychee smoothie with popping boba. Having sat there waiting for my food on numerous occasions, the staff consistently and royally screw up drink orders.
The sweet and spicy wings are for sure my favorite as opposed to the soy garlic. Some people do not like how much sauce they coat the wings with but personally I love it. There is something so addicting about the flavor. Be sure to grab a set of the finger caps that are used in Korea as a means of keeping your hands clean while enjoying your wings. At times, I do not feel as if the chicken is cooked completely.
On one occasion, I got mild food poisoning from the chicken. I order on a weekly basis and knew the chicken wings didn’t taste right, but I was so hungry that I just continued to eat. I ended up becoming quite sick immediately after eating, not being able to actually finish eating. I did not alert the restaurant because I do truly love this place deep down. I return on a weekly basis but I’m much more cautious.
On my most recent visit, I was delighted to see tteokbokki was added to the menu. However, I was disappointed with it. I probably will not order it again. Having tried tteokbokki at my restaurants, the fish smell was far too potent and the flavor was far too fishy. Maybe some like it as so, but I sure don’t.
Like I said, this place does some things great but highly lacks in others.
An honest 3 stars, but 5 stars in my heart/​stomach.

Korean fried chicken coming to Oakland… times really are a’changin’ in Pittsburgh!
I wish I could say it remotely measures up to anything bigger cities have to offer but… no :(Underwhelmed.
It’s a shame, because the shop is very cute. Easy ordering instructions and options for drinks and chicken on 2 menus. A garage door in the summer, though the seating inside is pretty limited. And honestly, the chicken is not a bad deal. Either a combination of decently sized wings (drums and flats) or actual drumsticks — or a mix of both — for decent prices.
But the sauces aren’t great. The sweet/​spicy is just sweet + sliiight afterburn. Not much of anything else besides sticky sweet — pass. The soy option is better, but strong on garlic, and there was something off about the overwhelming garlic that I didn’t enjoy. The better of the two though. Overall, they lacked the aromatics and balance that makes korean fried chicken so addicting. And the batter… too much cornstarch? Because it’s like unpleasantly crunchy instead of crispy.
I probably wouldn’t eat here again, unless they changed things up a bit.
Tried a couple of bubble teas and they were pretty good, so it’s definitely an option to keep in mind for a quick grab and go tea/​smoothie place in Oakland. Nothing I would go out of the way for. If only the chicken were better…

I’m going to start off by saying the best Korean fried chicken that I’ve ever had was not too long ago so it’s still very fresh in my memory. It was at Turntable on 5^th Ave in NYC and since eating there every KFC place I’ve been to in Toronto I’ve had to measure up against Turntable and while I’ve found some places that make it decently, I’ve yet to find a place that comes even close.
Chick’n Bubbly being the only place I was able to find in all of greater Pittsburgh to claim that they make a Korean fried chicken almost obliged me to have to go and try it for myself.
On this short little strip of Oakland Ave between Fifth and Forbes has a bunch of places to eat including another Asian place on the same side of the road as well as two sushi places right next to each other across the street. Chick’n Bubbly is a small little storefront, so small you could probably miss it. The counter is small, the menus are on backlit flat panels and there are only 2 tiny 2 seat tables near the front entrance. All the other seats are stools along the side wall, facing the wall.
We were 3 so I went with 30 wings half spicy sauce and half garlic and soy along with a tea drink each. All the food and drinks came up to 46 bucks. It seemed kind of pricey being that the large teas were 4.25 each and 30 wings was the largest order we could get. They boxed each flavor of wings 15 to a box in two separate boxes. We were eating but they don’t have plates but rather tiny trays which is what we used to for the bones.
The spicy sauce again, this is the Nth time a hot spicy/​sauce place has used TOO much sauce. When we got to the bottom of the box the ones at the bottom were swimming in sauce. Again, the garlic soy were better than the saucier ones. The garlic soy although having sauce were much lighter and stayed crispier and overall were better tasting being more savory than sweet. The chicken itself, the wings were large. I would have preferred to have them be much more crispy/​crunchy as I have had at other places that serve KFC. It seems to me their batter seemed much more thicker than I was expecting as opposed to the paper thin batter I’ve come to expect when having KFC.
Overall the food was OK but it certainly wasn’t great and it was a 5 compared to Turntable if that is to be a 10… basically half as good if that. Price wise it’s not really as good of a value either. For the same money in NYC at a real sit down place we only had 20 wings but they were exponentially so much better and I had beer and soju as well as fries etc.
The bottom line is while Chick’n Bubbly is OK, it’s not as good as other KFC I’ve had in NYC or at home in Toronto. They use way too much sauce and the batter is much too thick when compared to other KFC places. It would also be nice if they had proper tables to eat.
As far as their drinks go that they do properly. There are a gazillion places to get bubble tea in Toronto and they make it good here.

I really like this place! The wings are huge and actually worth the price which they charge. I wasn’t expecting good Korean fried chicken in Pittsburgh so I was pleasantly surprised. I wish they weren’t so sweet though! And the bubble tea is pretty good (the best I found in Pittsburgh so far). My roommate claims this is her favorite even compared to the ones I had her try in New York. The quality is certainly there (though I prefer my New York haunts personally). The menu is above average in what I expect to pay but my roommate and I usually split an order of wings and also eat a meal at oiishi next door to get the receipt discount and visit chicken bubbly for dessert/​wings.
The finger guards are a godsend. I’d be a complete mess without. (Eating wings is a messy ordeal)
My only other complaint is the wait is quite long but the wings are super fresh and piping hot when you get them!