Chi Mac – Korean Fried Chicken
Recommended by: We talked about The Ave(University Ave) in the University District becoming a Korean Fried Chicken epicenter with the opening of Bok A Bok and bb.q Chicken. We review another such spot, Chi Mac.
Description on the Chi Mac’s website: Inspired by this national dining culture and pastime, we created “Chi Mac”—“Chi”—short for Chicken in English; and “Mac” short for Beer, or “maekju” in Korean; as a way to bring this uniquely Korean-American experience and delicacy to Seattle—where East and West go together like chicken and beer.
Neighborhood/Type: University District
Address: 4525 University Way NE, Seattle, WA 98105
What we ate/drank: See Below
Comments: We visited Chi Mac at the brick and mortar location prior to Covid-19 and have ordered take out a few times after that.
Their physical location has a massive Banksy-Inspired mural, which is cool, but we’d say the cleanliness of the place is on par with normal restaurants on The Ave. Take that for what you will. It’s definitely more of a “shoot the shit” with your boys type of place having some wings and beer versus an “impress-your-date” or “bring the parents” type of place. Nothing wrong with that. Just letting you know what to expect.
Their chicken sandwich was just okay. The flavors were there, but as you can see from the picture below, the cheese was cold and not close to being melted. We also had some wings and fries and while the wings were good the fries were pretty sad. So this made our decision for future orders to be strictly chicken and mainly wings only.
So our normal take out dishes from Chi Mac are as follows:
We’ve gotta say the Popcorn Chicken is better than what we’d expected. We typically get these for our girls because it’s easy to eat with no bones. Normally when we get this from other places, they can be rock hard small pieces of chicken. These were much bigger pieces and are quite tender, so this dish is definitely one of our regulars.
My favorite is the snow wings that has parmesan and onion powder. It has a bit of sweetness to it and the right amount of powder that’s not overpowering.
This ain’t fried chicken. This is Pride Chicken. I believe this is their standard base fried chicken and you can get either a 5 pc or 10 pc chicken. It’s not earth shattering, but it’s decent. Nice and crispy on the outside and super tender on the inside.
This is my wife’s favorite. Again perfectly crisp on the outside and tender on the inside. This is a bit spicy, but not mouth-on-fire spicy. Definitely flavorful and another regular dish we order.
Our suggestion is to stick with the wings and popcorn chicken. This is where they really shine. We’d put Chi Mac ahead of b.q Chicken and slight being Bok A Bok. If The Ave ain’t your style, they have another location in Bellevue.
Ratings:
Atmosphere: 3.75
Service: 4.50
Food/Drinks: 4.25
Bang for the Buck: 4.25
Overall: 4.25
Locals Only Factor: “Locals Only” grading-We’ll assign a grading as to how “local” a place is.
-
- Well known or Touristy. Most locals don’t go there unless they have business dinners or visitors in town.
- Most locals know about it
- Locals “in the know” know about it
- Only those who live close by know about it.
- You’re in on the secret. Don’t tell anybody!
Servers recommendations to visit in the future: Staying with our theme of ethnic foods found on The Ave, we’ll be visiting Arepa Venezuelan Kitchen right down the street.