Restaurant Review: Von's Chicken

Von's Chicken - dinner on February 6, 2015, 4 stars on yelp

I’d never heard of Von’s Chicken before but when my friend Jenny suggested it as a place to meet for dinner last week and included an article that raved about them, I was sold. Yeah, it doesn’t take much. Von’s reminds me of Bon Chon Chicken. It’s set up like a cross between a fast food place and a casual restaurant. There were people ordering and picking up take out and others who opted for dine in. A server takes your order at your table but it looks like you can also order (presumably for takeout) at the counter. It took a little longer than I expected for our food to come out but I think I was comparing it (unfairly) to a place like Popeye’s or KFC where the chicken is already made and waiting to be served. Not so at Von’s as it appears they make it to order so it's similar to a sit-down restaurant in that regard.

At Von’s, similar to Bon Chon, you can order a combination of how many pieces and what kind as well as how you want it cooked. For this first visit, we kept it simple: a half order of crispy fried chicken (not to be confused with crunchy fried chicken) as a combination of drumsticks and wings plus we split an order of sweet potato fries.

The sweet potato fries came out first, hot and crisp. You know I’m a sucker for sweet potato fries so no complaints there. Our chicken came out a bit later and the half order was larger than I expected. For one person, it’s easily 2-3 meals. It came with a light glaze (you can order it mild or hot, I went with mild) that was a little sweet and a little spicy. I’m not normally a saucy/glaze-y person but this was hardly any glaze and was pretty tasty. I wouldn’t have minded more glaze. True to advertising, the crunchy chicken was nicely crunchy. In fact, I’m not so sure I’ll ever eat Popeye’s or KFC again if I can have Von’s Chicken instead. Never mind that I rarely eat fast food anyway so I’m not giving up much but this was pretty good fried chicken.

The price point is a bit higher than fast food and some casual restaurants: a half order of drumsticks and wings was $10.99 and the sweet potato fries at $4.99 came as a modest portion. Still, if you’re in the mood for deep fried food and a simple no-frills meal, this is a good option.