Chicken On Fire

AMAZING! AMAZING! AMAZING! Coming from Tracy, we don’t have any type of mom & pops wings besides franchise wingstop & BWW. So trying this and trusting the rating was well worth it !! anytime i am in Hayward, this is will be our go to restaurant. Their wings are unique, and it’s simply just chicken wings & side dishes which makes ordering so much easier !! I am hoping they can spread out this year to somewhere else in the Bay Area that has more traffic & a better location because this will def make some good business !! I suggest San Jose as that is a populated city with many Korean BBQ but no restaurants that are just focused on wings like this! Thanks for the great food & customer service ! People come & try them out, you won’t regret it !

So happy to have found this place and so
so close to my house! This is now my new favorite place for Korean chicken wings! Watch out Bön Chon– this is a winner! Taste like a home cooked meal. The soy garlic sauce is so tasty and «garlicky». Just love the cabbage salad– so light and refreshing! I will be back for more!

When I heard there was a Korean fried chicken place in Hayward (where I was visiting), I got super excited and decided with a few friends to check this place out.
I’ve been mostly impressed with Korean fried chicken (BBQ Chicken, Café Soho, Bonchon etc) so I had high hopes and expectations.
The restaurant itself is pretty tiny. There’re probably about 4 – 5 tables so don’t expect to find seats if you go with a group larger than 4.
But unfortunately, I was a little disappointed. The wings were not very spicy and the soy version was too salty. And the sauce they soak the fried chicken in took away the nice crunch you get with Korean style (double) fried chicken.
We also ordered a few sides and they were just ok. Oh, one thing that I wished they had was the white fermented/​pickled radish (chicken mu) because it only helps with any fried chicken dish (trust me on this one).
I think they are trying to cater to non-​Koreans in the area because there was very little that makes these wings specifically Korean style fried chicken (i.e. double fried, mu kimchi, soju or at least Hite)
Anyhow, I hope it was just that I got a really bad batch because I do want to support local mom and pop stores and the service was great (which in itself is unusual since Korean restaurants are known for their shit service).
I may try it again but considering there’s so much to eat/​explore in the SF/​Bay Area, it may be a while before trying this place out again.
Parking: Shared small lot
Price: $ 12+ per person
Wait: 30 mins for chicken wings to get cooked

Crispy wings!
Come here during my lunch at work all the time with coworkers, we’re addicted. The wings are crispy and super tasty. Love the Soy Garlic! Great food, great prices.

Ordered S1: 8 pieces of soy garlic chicken wings. The wings came with sides of rice and salad. The wings came out in less than 5 minutes. Average wings at best. Definitely had better wings elsewhere. The salad was very bland. The wings would have paired better with kimchi.

The place is tiny! I think there’s only 1 person running the place.
We had the soy garlic and spicy curry chicken wings and leg pieces and the flavors were pretty tasty.
Unfortunately, like all Korean restaurants, my clothes and hair smelled pretty bad afterwards! Arghhhh!!!
Pro Tip: wear clothes that you’ll wash soon to Korean restaurants!

Randomly came across this place on Unilocal and the food looked bomb so my boyfriend and I decided to try it out. We got 16 pieces half soy garlic and half spicy. They were sooo good, spicy was wayyy to spicy though!): wish we knew, would’ve asked to make it mild or medium.
I knocked off a star because of the restaurant itself. The location is horrible! The plaza is super sketchy and random. Why is this amazing restaurant in a neighborhood surrounded by random ass businesses??? This place would do sooo much better at a bigger location and some place where people would notice. The inside is so small, pretty cramped. I suggest to always order Togo rather than playing your chances at getting at table there.
Also, why does it seem like they run out of everything? It’s 2 hours till closing yet they already ran out of drums and Korean rolls? This isn’t the first time. This is the second time for me but it seems like others always experience this. Boo, I wish they didn’t run out of items so fast since I want to try them out! I wish they had more flavors of chicken to try out as well.

We tried this place after having an amazing Korean fried chicken experience at Bonchon in San Mateo. Since it’s close to my work, I was super excited to try it.
I placed the order over the phone, and the lady who answered was so sweet! She said our order would be ready in 10 minutes, which I thought was super quick. We ordered half spicy, half soy garlic, and I really liked the flavors of both of them! The order came with a side of rice and cabbage salad. I personally like the cooling effect of the daikon at Bonchon, but the salad and rice were both good.
The only downside is the wings weren’t as crispy when we finally got to eat them since I had to drive them back home across the bridge. Overall, I really enjoyed their wings, and would definitely visit them again!

The best Korean fried chicken I’ve ever had. The woman who works there is the sweetest lady I’ve ever met. I really felt like I was at home when I walked in. It’s unfortunate that this place is located in kind of an ugly shopping area near residential homes but don’t let that stop you. This place is small so probably not ideal for large groups.
Went in on a Friday around 2pm and the place was empty. I guess we beat the lunch rush. Ended up ordering half soy garlic and spicy curry medium combo that comes with legs and wings. We asked if we could swap out one of the salads for rice and she said that was fine. Food came out super fast and she ended up giving my bf and I each a side of rice and a salad. Super nice of her.
The chicken was so delicious. The skin was crispy and I mean crispy. As I bit into the chicken the crunch noise was so loud. The outside was crispy and inside was juicy. Soy garlic was amazing. Most places put an overwhelming amount of garlic but not here. They also don’t drench the chicken in sauce which is nice. Spicy curry was tasty and had a nice smokey flavor. But soy garlic is the winner here. The rice and side salad were nice additions to the chicken. The salad was simple and refreshing.
The best chicken experience I had. The lady was so nice and accommodating. I wouldn’t recommend doing pick up, try to dine in! This is the type of food you should eat right away. Definitely give this place a try!!!

COF serves unique fried chicken with a Korean flare. This is obviously best eaten along with an iced cold beer. Since this is only Korean restaurant nearby, I think this place is great.
I do have some suggestions for this place. The menu seems more confusing than it actually is. It almost seems like they are trying to fill in space. Maybe try to simplify that.
Second, the pricing doesn’t seem quite right. If I remember correctly, so far the prices are 8.5 for 8 wings, 12 for 12 wings, and 24 for 24. I don’t think this pricing works to the restaurant’s benefit because it doesn’t encourage the customer to order more. If you think of value, my suggestion would be $ 11 for 8, $ 14 for 12, $ 22 for 24 (or something like that). Side dishes can cost up to $ 5.
I would also make sure side dishes like the kimbap never runs out like when I went there. The rule of thumb is that it’s always better for a restaurant to make a little extra than to run out early because the opportunity cost is 3 – 4 times higher than the food cost. In other words, the money they could have made from that sale would had compensated for the extra food made in case they have left overs.
Third, as much as I enjoy a good beer with chicken, I am not sure if paying for the beer&wine license is worth it for this small sales restaurant.
Anyway. All in all, that is probably a longer review I meant to write. I am glad this place exists, and recommend it for take out!

Chicken on Fire is the correct name for this place!
First, lets talking about getting here. I used my Google Maps for direction and as I was driving, I started to get pissed because I thought…“GOOGLE MAPS HAS SCREWED ME OVER AGAIN!!!”. I was wrong… This place, (if you’re not from around the area) is tucked into this little suburbia place.
I went in and the owner came out to greet me and asked me what I would like. I ordered the S1 (8 wings) with two types of sauce. I got the Spicy Curry and Soy Garlic. I also wanted to ordered Kimbob but they sold outt! =(I asked her. why didn’t they make more and she explained that they wanted the place to be about the chicken. I can understand that. She also told me that one would have to get there early because they sell out early. Boo for me because I work in the city so I can only go on Saturday.
ON TO THE CHICKEN!
Oh man, they were AMAZING! The Soy Garlic was so flavorful! Definite garlic breath afterwards but sooooo worth it! It was perfectly crispy and coated with the right amount of sauce. Chicken wasn’t dry either but I’m so excited to go back to try get more of that chicken!
Spicy Thai Curry… Not my cup of tea. I love curry but it was super spicy! If I can handle the spice, I think I would’ve loved it. i couldn’t get it past a lick of it. Lol. I gave the rest to my parents and they (being people who could actually handle spicy) said it was really good. And trust me… Asian parents are rather hard to please.
Service? It was pretty awesome. I had a nice chat with the owner and she was super friendly. It’s a rather intimate place as well with only a couple of tables. I can’t wait to go back again. Mmm… still dreaming about that Soy Garlic Chicken. (I had a food truck Soy chicken the prior day… this couldn’t compare, this place is another level! I’m sure if they had a food truck in the Fin Dis., they’d dominate!)

This is one of those places, that is so tucked in a neighborhood, that it would literally be impossible to just run into it. Very social media reliant location.
So let’s do some more promo for this mofo.
It’s Korean Fried Chicken. Done well. Maybe 15 seats inside but saw a lot of take out. 10 bucks/​person will yield a hefty amount of food.
They only have 2 parts of the chicken. Wings and drumsticks. They are fresh out of the fryer with a slight crisp (flour/​starch dredge). Quite nicely executed. They even give instructions on not to cover the chicken during transport, as it will steam and lose the crunch.
Only tried 2 of the 3 sauces. Soy/​garlic is not bad, a little sweet to me, but the garlic will not be neglected. The «spicy» lives up to the name. It is basically a Korean chili paste but doctored up a bit. It has a deep chili flavor, really good. It is not tongue hot, but rather the smoldering-​put a sweat on the brow-​type of heat. It is addicting if you’re a hot head, and me is. Have you ever been spanked and liked it? Yup, it’s like that. At least that’s what I’ve heard.
Imma coming back. For the pain. Oh I mean the spicy chicken.

I really love chicken wings. I REALLY love chicken wings. When I heard there was a Korean wing spot around and that it was off the hook, I had to stop by. I came by for dinner on a Friday night.
It’s small spot, in a small strip mall hiding in a residential area. Ample parking, but I’m not sure how it’d be when the other places are getting traffic (Churches and a salon, I think?). There’s as much seating as there can be comfortably put in there. It’s clean, and I think they remodeled recently. I might be wrong. We tried to stop in for our inaugural visit the day after Thanksgiving and it looked like some work was going on in there. Anyway…
The menu is pretty straightforward: Pick how much chicken you want, what bits of chicken they’ll be, and what sauces will go on them. We ordered a Medium thing of wings and got the Spicy and Soy Garlic sauces, and a side of potstickers, and it came out to around mid-​$ 20s with drinks. Fries were out, so were the Korean Rolls. They supposedly sell out fairly quickly. (This is a good sign, despite it being sad news). When the wings came out, we were given a bucket for our bones (I’ve yet to encounter this, it was a nice touch) and offered some disposable gloves (Declined, but still a nice option to have when you’re eating deliciously saucy wings)
The meal comes with a side of white rice and a little slaw-​like salad, both of which came in handy after I was well into my Spicy wings (They burned so good. Might be too gnarly if you’re not a huge fan of spicy food). The sauces on the wings were delicious. Spicy sauce was sweet, and burned my face up good (Second warning for those who aren’t capsaicin-​oriented); Soy garlic was a nice mellow flavor and I wish my girlfriend wasn’t spice-​averse, so I could’ve swapped for more of them. The potstickers were crispy and delicious.
The food came out pretty quickly. The service was expedient, friendly (super friendly. And I imagine it can get pretty stressful in there during busy lunches/​dinners). Chicken on Fire gets «Small Korean Wing Place» right, and I’ll definitely be returning to shove more chicken in my face.

This has been bookmarked since they opened, but I just never found the time to stop by. A couple of my friends has made it a ritual to come here religiously, so I decided that the time had come for me and on the way we go.
We arrived in a residential area with this mini sketch plaza where the restaurant was on the left corner with a parking lot and a well lit sign. It was about 8pm and the three tables that were inside were filled. We stood there awkwardly trying to decide what we were going to do at this point.
The sweet lady at the cashier hinted to us that there was only ONE large box of wings left and then she would be sold out for the rest of the night, so we decided to hop on and order that wings. She instantly put up the sold out, closed sign on the door and back to our order.
There are three wing flavors at this time:
–soy garlic
–spicy
–curry spicy
They had a new sauce come out, but she didn’t reveal the flavor and they no longer have black bean for the next couple of months.
We got half soy garlic and half spicy for our wings (since I’m a suckaaa and can’t eat spicy). It was $ 24 for a large portion, spilt amongst 3 people and we were super fill. It comes with a side of rice and salad (since they were out, she so nicely substituted it with french fries!). It was done fairly quickly and we were on our way.
The inside of this place is tight and small. People like to chill here since they serve wings and beer so make sure you come early to get a seat AND to ensure that she doesn’t run out of wings. It’s a great family owned place with exceptional service!
Great place, great flavors and awesome service. You know its good when they have to close early because they run out of food!

These wings were on fire! By that I mean they were absolutely delicious! I’m a huge fan of the garlic soy ones!
Note: your breath will be kicking from that fresh garlic!
The wings are crunchy as well as the salad they serve with it. Just divine!

The place possibly has the best service available. Although there was one worker in the front she was so generous and allowed us to mix and match flavors when not allowed for the size we got and gave us another rice with any extra charge.
The place is small sits about 15 people, so it’s excellent for take out.
We got the medium special (8 wings, 4 legs) at 16 dollars. We were able to mix the flavors so half were spicy (onion based) and the soy garlic. Each combo comes with rice and possibly the best coleslaw one can taste, it was so vinegary and peppery and not overwhelmed with mayo which a lot of places do.
Spicy: very deliciously spicy chicken, reminded me of a BBQ base with some Asian spices added. Had me sweating a good amount but it wasn’t too overwhelming, just the right amount of spice. ⁹⁄₁₀
Soy garlic: loaded with garlic, absolutely wonderful soy base, not salty at all, Korean chicken at its best 9.5÷10
The chicken was crunchy, juicy, and fairly sized. They were cooked to perfection and came out to us in less than 10 minutes.
Chicken on fire is the Korean chicken place to go to in the area, much better than your coco chicken and sia fusion; they also charge less for the chicken here than the other places.
If you’re craving any type of fried chicken, this is where you must go, you will be satisfied and leave wondering when you’re going to come back again.

THIS CHICKEN’S ON FIREEEEEEEEEEEE. THIS CHICKEN’S ON FIREEEEEER ERRRR.
And you just read that in Alicia Key’s voice.
Korean Fried Chicken or as some say, «The real KFC.» Now I love me some Korean FC, but i wouldn’t go that far. I still love me some olé southern fried chicken and it’s really comparing Fuji apples to Granny Smith. One is great for eating as is and one is amazing for pies.
For Korean FC, it’s best with plane olé white rice. I don’t need fancy ramen sides, no cheesy corn, nada. Just give me some sort of pickled vegetables and a pile of steamy rice. Pick the drumstick up take a bite, put it on the rice, and use hands, forks, chopsticks, or lower your neck down to take a nice bite of rice. That my friend, is how you eat Korean FC. Repeat again and then take a sip of your favorite Korean beer aka bud light. I honestly cannot tell the difference.
Now about Chicken On Fire. It’s a mom and pop shop, deep in the heart of Hayward. I live in San Leandro and it takes me 30 minutes to get there. #worthit for the young readers. I’ll say one thing, if you are planning to go to COF from a far away distance, call ahead. I head over on a regular Friday night and realized that the place was closed to the owners going on vacation. Learn from my mistake. You don’t want to be stuck in that area without a plan B.
On to the food! There are 4 flavors from what I can remember: Garlic Soy, Spicy, Curry, & Black Bean. Being it my first time, I went with the first two. The garlic soy was average in flavor. The winner here for me is the spicy and boy was it spicy. Not like I want to scrape my tongue off spicy. More like a yea, woo, this is spicy. And I like it!
I honestly thought the prices were a lil high for a mom and pop shop. If they offered unlimited steam rice, this would be a great place to chow down regularly.
Hayward always had some great Korean spots, but Chicken On Fire definitely found a niche in this city and I believe they will get extremely busy. One Unilocal review at a time…

Love this place. Great service and awesome food. Can’t ask for more! They have a lot of options. Wings and leg or just wings or just legs in small/​medium/​large. They also have kimbap, bibimbap, sweet potato fries, gyoza, and regular fries.
I’m so happy with this place. Soy garlic is my favourite flavour, black bean is nice too! Spicy garlic is definitely SPICY!
Took about 5 minutes for an S2 soy garlic so they’re really efficient.
Highly recommend this place if you’ve never had Korean fried chicken before

Funny, this restaurant replaced my favorite halo halo joint… And now it’s my favorite KFC joint!
It’s a smaller shop, so it’s basically first come first serve with only 5 tables inside… But it seems that people are having take out and it’s coming out pretty fast! Within minutes! So that’s always a good alternative.
Order & pay first, then you can dine.
The black bean flavor scared me a little bit, but I’m glad I tried it because it’s very flavorful!
We paid for a large size ($ 24) including 2 rice and 2 salads… My boyfriend didn’t eat his rice and we still had 4 pieces of chicken left. We asked for some radishes on the side because you can’t have KFC without the radish.
Price and portions are pretty fair!
The lady is very sweet… Seems she does everything around here with one more cooking in the back. Make sure you tip her! She deserves it!

So glad to have KFC (Korean fried chicken) in my neck of the woods. No need for me to make a trek for some yummy KFC.
I called ahead for a large 24 piece order of wings — half soy garlic and half spicy curry as well as an order of fries. The soy garlic was my favorite out of the two flavors I tried. It was slightly sweet and the wings remained crispy long after I picked up my order. The spicy curry was tasty as well, but the wings didn’t stay as crispy with this sauce. I would say the spiciness was mild/​medium, the spiciness was definitely not intense.
A large order is $ 24, but comes with rice and cole slaw. With a large order, you can choose up to 2 flavors and also opt for 12 wings/​6 drumsticks or 12 drumsticks instead. I wish I could have tried the spicy flavor as well. To my surprise, they threw in extra wings and drumsticks! My boyfriend and I were so happy. There were 35 pieces total! My family could not finish it all in one sitting. Their cole slaw is topped with instant ramen pieces for a nice crunch. I’ve never had come slaw this way! It was different and refreshing. The fries could have been more crispy but they were still a good accompaniment to the wings.
They fry up the wings super fast, my order was ready and on the counter in 10 minutes. The owner was sweet and advised me to keep the boxes open before consumption to maintain the crispness of the wings. Chicken on Fire is fairly small (about 3 – 4 tables or so?), so not the best place for a large party. I’ll definitely be returning for my next KFC fix!