=== 1. VERDICT/VALUE 3.5 stars: it's decent - service is good, chicken isn't bad - the taste is all subjective - I personally may stick with Popeyes for the same price, but I can see the appeal for those who have a hankering for the "real KFC"! === 2. FOOD Half & Half ($37.50) If you're getting chicken, you're going all in on boneless (or bone-in) and at least they offer the ability to try a couple of flavours while you're at it! This time, we tried: - Sweet Honey - decent, but a little too sweet for me... - Original - my tastebud lean towards Popeyes' offering but this was alright. === 3. SERVICE The counter service was pleasant on the phone and in-person. The long wait times (45 mins - gulp) leave a lot to be desired, but also point to the popularity of the place. === 4. ENVIRONMENT It's simple inside if not a little dark, but clean enough. There are tables for small groups of 2 or 4 to eat at and wheelchairs and baby strollers would fit. Supposedly, the joint was started by a 6/49 lotto winner, who since sold it to the current owners. Parking is limited on the street upfront, so you're looking to quickly stop in the residential parking spots along the side streets to eat-in or grab your takeout order. read more

Chicken 649 - Half & Half ($37.50): Sweet Honey on the left; Original on the right! - Korean Near Me - Victoria, British Columbia

Great chicken and the service was friendly. Portions were large as well and made for 2-3 meals

Chicken so tender it almost falls off the bone, by far the best Korean bbq chicken in Victoria ‍

TL;DR doesn't look like much from the outside but has wonderful Korean fried chicken! Cute little inside and definitely worth the stop. Highly suggest if you're looking for Korean fried chicken. We got a full order of the Yangyeom chicken which easily feed 3 people maybe even 4 depending on how hungry you are. They came out quite quickly but the taste was great could have been a little spicier but still very enjoyable. The radish they have is well marinated with a good balance between the vinegar and sweet which cuts the taste of the chicken very nicely. Sadly only street parking which could be a bit difficult to find but if you can they are definitely worth the stop. read more

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We all got food poisoning right after we tried the chicken (soy garlic and yangnyeom)... still sickening now...... never been to a dining place where everyone got sick after having the food... try avoid this place if you have other options for fried chicken on the island... read more

Wow, where do I even begin here. The chicken is tiers above any other Korean fried chicken I've had outside of Korea, and to be frank it is probably the best Korean fried chicken I've ever eaten. I got pa-dak, soy garlic, and yangnyeom chicken. The mustard sauce in the pa-dak is a FIRM punch in the tongue, and it was just too much. Just the onion and chicken was delightful though. The best was the soy garlic IMO. Overall, just phenomenal chicken. I'd do some unspeakable things to get this stuff back in my home town. read more

Chicken 649 - Korean Near Me - Victoria, British Columbia

Apparently got the name as the original owners won the 649 lottery and opened the joint however onto new owners so the coveted winning ticket is no longer on display. The chicken is still pretty yummy and the radish definitely cuts the grease. Gonna try the garlic next time Value 5/5 Atmosphere 4/5 Service 4/5 Quality 4/5 17/20 read more

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Korean-style fried chicken--what could go wrong? If you're Chicken 649, nothing really. They deliver on bold flavours that will tantalize your tastebuds and result in cravings a week later. (Case in point: Me.) My friend and I ordered two Chicken Meals ($11.50 each) to share. The meal comes in a pizza box and includes 5 pieces of chicken (drumsticks and wings), wedge potatoes, pickled radish, and pop. We chose the 649 Original and the Yangnyeom (Sweet & Spicy). 649 ORIGINAL: They nailed the batter here. The coating was crisp, flavourful, and a wonderful contrast to the hot, tender chicken inside. It's their signature seasoning for a reason! YANGNYEOM: A great balance between sweet and spicy flavours, while still maintaining the crunchy coating. I would say it leans more on the sweet side, so if you're afraid of heat, you should be ok with this choice. Aside from the chicken, the 6 potato wedges are also delicious--nicely fried (w/ the skin on) and well-seasoned. Though they can be quite heavy together, you can easily cut through that fat with the pickled radishes and/or wash it down with some pop. There are also two choices of sauces--ketchup and I believe mayo--but the chicken and potato wedges are good on their own too. The only issue we had was that they charged us for only one chicken meal instead of two, but were incredibly gracious and apologetic for their mistake. The restaurant is small and the menu options are rather limited, so do take that into consideration if you have a larger party with some pickier eaters. Overall, though, Chicken 649 gets the thumbs up from me for good service and delicious food! read more

Chicken 649 - Original 649 (front) and Sweet & Spicy (back) Chicken Meals - $11.50 each, incl. pop - Korean Near Me - Victoria, British Columbia

Absolutely delicious food, hard working people here and a great casual bubbly full atmosphere. Was packed the entire time I was in on a Friday evening for both dine in and pick up. The pickled radish is so good, some of the chicken has no bones which I love. the breading is thick, the sauces are delicious and the wedges classic. My only sad point is, having a restaurant space with tables etc and only have single use serving is so so sad.There is no for here tableware, so even dining in means cardboard boxes wax papers, plastic cups for each sauce and the pickles = so much garbage. I know they are a small kitchen, but its environmental footprint is so unnecessary. I'd rather they heap my pickles on the wax paper in the cardboard then open it to find single use plastics :( Thats my only star off, the people work their butts off here to get everyone in and out and the food rocks. read more

Horrible food and not clean and the corn salad? Geez!! A cup of corn bunkers with coleslaw bottles dressing is NOT restaurant cuisine. How about adding white meat to the menu and printing it up in a decent printer instead of using a magic marker. Come on! You can do better! read more

Chicken 649 - Terrible food - Korean Near Me - Victoria, British Columbia

Stark white walls, Simple black lettering on the outside of the building. Looks and feels like a fried chicken joint. So what is all the fuss about? When D and I walked up to Chicken 649 which was a bit out of the way from our usual haunting pattern in Victoria, my first thought was... really? I have learned though never to judge, some of the best things I have eaten have come from very dingy little places. We took a table in the corner and I ordered the classic recipe 8 piece chicken with a corn salad, pickles, and a dipping sauce. First of all the chicken came in a pizza box presentation which I thought was really neat, pieces lined up in a row and below them the sauces and the salads, the pickles were Daikon! This thrilled me as I have an unhealthy addiction to the stuff. It is hard to say much about fried chicken other than it is either good or its not, This was great. The batter was crunchy, had been fried for just the right amount of time as to be dark not burnt. Most of it was deboned so you could dunk and bite uninhibited. The corn salad though was my favourite part. I am totally aware that sounds strange, It was actually nothing complicated. Sweet corn niblets, a white dressing , some peppers and onions. It was deadly or I just really wanted it at that moment in time. We were stuffed. I seriously contemplated ordering more chicken just to take home and eat at midnight. As it was, after our night at Wheelies, we DID have chicken. We just ate D's leftovers instead. They burnt my mouth with the peppers and were fantastic but I will allow him to tell his tale. As for myself, Chicken 649, I tip my hat to you. Worth the walk, worth the wait. 9/10 (Point lost for slightly dirty dining area). Cheers and Bon appétit Whiskey G I have to confess, we have returned to Chicken 649 since originally choosing to review this place. I couldn't wait to get back, I had dreams of the chicken. This is seriously addictive! We've tried about half the menu now, but its the Yang-Nyeom (Korean style) fried chicken that makes me salivate when I think of it. With depth of flavour unmatched by many sauces I've ever had, this chicken is sweet, spicy, garlicky, sticky and rich. Definitely, I will be back a third time for this. The original 649 fried chicken is also very good, super crispy on the outside but moist and succulent throughout. Seasoned so perfectly one would imagine the grains of salt are counted individually. Most of the other varieties of chicken such as the cilantro lime and the sweet garlic are simply slight variations on this original. There is a creamy cheese fried chicken on the menu that I've yet to try, but sounds amazing (three cheeses and béchamel topped) Next visit I'll indulge in that! The restaurant itself is completely unpretentious. White walls with black and yellow accents, bare tables and benches with a cooler near the ordering counter from which you choose your own beverages. This place is all about the chicken. Assumedly a family-run business the service is humble and pleasant, no time for chit chat or stories though, there is chicken to fry. I get the feeling this is a bit of a local secret, but I'm sure the ones that do know about this place frequent it enough to keep it pretty busy. I'm already scheming how to get back for another taste. Cheers and bon appétit, Chef D 9/10 (Don't expect much atmosphere or a large menu selection). read more

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Chicken is amazing. Not a huge fan of wedges. But still very good. I would definitely recommend the honey chicken sandwich

Amazing!! So much food for the price and sooo so good, definitely recommend!! Would love to know if they do delivery though! read more

It's the best place to have Korean fried chicken !! Location is not so good but it is definitely worth it to go there. We usually order half and half like what is shown in these pictures. It's good for two people. We can't finish it all when we have it with beers. My favorite flavours are sweet spicy (actually I'm not sure about the exact name...)and honey (some people might think it's too sweet though...) The taste is so good, the chicken is tender perfectly and I think the chicken is bigger than other restaurants. read more

Chicken 649 - Soy garlic and honey - Korean Near Me - Victoria, British Columbia

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Wickedly good crispy chicken, a bit heavy so it was hard for me to eat more than 5 pcs Wish they had carb sides like potatoes or fries (unavailable for some reason). Sides are a bit small for the price Be warned, it was Super cold inside they had some portable heaters but still freezing read more

Chicken 649 - Pizza box was the full order half/half. Styrofoam was half order they say feeds 1+ ppl - Korean Near Me - Victoria, British Columbia

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We arrived at 1:30 pm but the hours seemed to be different than yelp indicated so we came back at opening time at 3:00 pm. We ordered a half and half of the sweet and spicy and the soy garlic. The food arrived not more than ten minutes after we ordered, and it was great. The chicken was crispy and saucy and the pickled radish was nice and refreshing. Would recommend to anyone who likes fried chicken. Just make sure to get the pickled radish as well as the chicken can get quite heavy. The service on the other hand was lacklustre. We had to go up to them to ask for water and needless to say they didn't refill either. read more

Chicken 649 - Korean Near Me - Victoria, British Columbia

Atmosphere: music bumping. Clean white minimalist layout. Many seats for eat in available. Original 5/5 Crispy skin and supple boneless meat. They didnt overdo the salt which is great. Would definitely recommend. Sweet and spicy 5/5 Not even sriracha level spicy but very artfully done imo. I like this one more than the original. Wedge fries 4/5 For Wedge fries they're flavorful. The batter helps. I'm not the biggest fan of wedge fries in general so take the lack of a perfect score with a grain of salt. Service: quick and friendly read more

Chicken 649 - Plated their original chicken, sweet and spicy, and wedge fries - Korean Near Me - Victoria, British Columbia

First time very good id recommended it better than the new popyes chicken in my opinion read more

@ Victoria looking 4 some good ol' Korean Fried Chicken.. well well, well Chicken 649 649? what does that stand 4? I don't even know (it took 6 hours 4 mins n 9 secs 2 prepare? (fried chick)) (who knows?) our hotel shuttle drove us here n was like this place changed his life.. I don't know about that, skeptical when I 1st heard n my verdict will come in after a few more sentences I guess.. took them 20 something mins 2 make.. that's fine.. let's do it! this has got 2 b the most diverse clientele, as the KFCs I been 2 usually have Korean customers only n b4 I get 2 finish this story my meal delivery comes 2 mind.. yep they delivered our wings inside a pizza delivery box.. how cute!?! we ordered 1/2 n 1/2 meaning 1/2 soy n garlic n 1/2 spicy.. good crispy texture n juicyness, but flavor is lackyness yes new word I made up.. u heard it here 1st on 99.9 The Bump 1 thing that is cool is they have fries.. yes, Fries! Finally a KFC that serves fries.. but they bombed the test 'cause fries tasted weird.. the beer batter didn't work 4 them life changing? No.. stomach changing? No as well read more

Are here twice when we were in Victoria on holidays. Absolutely a new favourite. Amazing flavour bbq chicken. Huge lunch portion. Can't wait to go back read more

Chicken 649 was a letdown for me. This is a quick service-style establishment, yet my chicken took about 20 minutes to be cooked. And when it arrived, it was nice and hot, but lacked the crunch and flavor that I crave with Korean Fried Chicken. I tend to like my Korean Fried Chicken with some sort of sauce on top as well. Perhaps I made the error of ordering their "original" style. Perhaps I also made the mistake of arriving about 30 minutes before closing time. The oil was likely not very fresh, and quite possibly not hot enough. read more

Soy Garlic and Yangnyeom are my favorite ones. Make sure you call ahead or you'll have to wait 30minutes-1 hour after ordering

We have ordered from Chicken 649 on numerous occasions. Not once have we ever been disappointed. Even when they ran out of chicken, they went to Save On Foods to get more just so the customers would be taken care of. The food is always amazing and decent sized portions. My goal is to try everything on the menu, but sometimes it's so good that I have to have the same thing a few times. read more

It is glad to have a restaurant that specialized in fried chicken! We tried the original flavor and the sweet&spice flavor. I personally recommend the second one, the original flavor tastes quite wired. And another reason I give three stars is because it takes quite a long time for us to wait for the dish. read more

Chicken 649 - It is glad to have a restaurant that specialized in fried chicken! We tried the original flavor and the spice flavor! - Korean Near Me - Victoria, British Columbia

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Heard that the chicken here was good so my friend and I decided to check it out. I highly recommend giving it a try, the staff was very friendly, the food was excellent, and the service was prompt. The food here is definitely best served family style. In another words order all the salads and as many different flavors of chicken as possible and share it with a group. The chicken pieces are half sized compared to the Colonel, a group of 4 could get two orders of "half and half" chicken to try all 4 flavors on the menu. read more

My kind of chicken so crispy and delicious and it come in different sauces which I really like. This is my first time eating korean fried chicken and im giving it 5 stars. MASARAP AT BABALIK BALKIKAN read more

Chicken 649 - Yangnyeom and honey garlic chicken. This is my first time eating korean fried chicken and they were so good, so crunchy, and delicious. - Korean Near Me - Victoria, British Columbia

Yum yum yum. Chicken is crispy and tender, just like it should be. Soy garlic sauce on the chicken is amazing too. I recommend you try it. You won't be disappointed. read more

I didn't know what the best chicken I would ever eat would taste like, until I tried here! Everywhere else (in Victoria) can't beat this place! read more

We showed up 1/2 hour before closing and had the best service we've had in a long time. Chicken is fresh and juicy and doesn't feel greasy like many fried chicken places. Sauces are delicious and you have many tasty flavours to choose from ! Will be recommending to all our friends read more

I ate from Chicken 6/49 every day of the 2018 Pyongyang Winter Olympics. I really got swept by the whole Korean thing, but that's another story. The chicken is great. Crispy, good seasoning, and interesting flavours as well. I loved it. A lot. Little did I know I'd gain 100 lbs between the opening and closing ceremonies. I wish the cranky staff would have told me this every night when I picked up my meal. Maybe they did, but I don't understand Korean. And btw always get take out folks. This place isn't for eating in. It's for take away, as they say in England. That is slang for "pick it up and haul your fat ass home in your mini van." And an Astrovan is what you'll need to pull yourself around after eating this chicken. But it's worth it. At least until gas hits $150 a litre. Support Kinder Morgan and eat this chicken!!! read more

Very good food and people.. would recommend it. Chicken is tasty and delicious. The Original chicken is the best. Very clean it is a bit small if you are going with a big group read more

I have tried it many times but their chicken always way too oily and unhealthy. The maximum is two pieces of their chicken. Plus the server are really rude. read more

Thank-you thank-you... we missed having it here in Canada. It is as good as you were in Korea. Though my only complaint is that you will have to wait a long time if you don't get in the door or call in your order early. Hopefully they can get enough business to order some more Korean deep friers (they are different than the North American ones, pressure friers I think). Oh and in case you are wondering about the name... The owner was able to open this restaurant because he won a 6/49 second prize. Lucky him and as a result... Lucky US! read more

Wow! What a terrific surprise! A friend had recommended Chicken 649 and had told me to 'be prepared'. He suggested I would only need one full order and another 1/2 order of chicken to feed a family of 4. I doubted his accounting and placed an order for 2 full-sized dishes. It was a CRAZY amount of food. More than enough, well priced and delicious too - compared to what you would get a at regular Victoria establishment. We'll definitely be going back. I think they're going to need a bigger shop very soon. Well done, Chicken 649. You've earned a lifetime customer. read more

Tried almost everything on their menu. They are all yummy. Good fried chicken but would like to see some special or add white meat chicken in the menu. Wait time used to be an issue but not anymore. Good improvement!! Place clean and doesn't stink your clothes like other fried chicken place. Happy that we have good fried Korean chicken in our neighborhood!!! read more

Very polite front counter staff. Meal took about 15 minutes to prepare. Greasy oil poured out of chicken when bit into it. Drumstick was only recognizable part of chicken not sure what the rest was. Tasteless...chicken or wedges... Ketchup helped Overall let down. read more

Best chicken that I have had in Victoria. The sweet honey is off the charts. They are very busy so you should be prepared to be patient but it's definitely worth it. read more

I dream about the fried chicken here. It is completely derailing my goal to be vegetarian. Korean style, crispy with a variety of sauces to choose from, small hole in the wall kind of place. Great for a quick spontaneous lunch. read more

A tiny little restaurant with only friend chicken. The best fried chicken I've ever had. This place was packed at 6pm on a Friday and people were walking out because it was a 50 minute wait. I waited 25 minutes and it was worth it. Wedges delicious too! The pickled radish wasn't my fave but everything else was delicious. The Yangnyeom sauce was delicious!! read more

Great Korean fried chickens. Perfect for take out. Dark meat only thighs and drumstick. Sing order comes with 8 pieces of chicken (only one drumstick). Sweet and spicy is pretty good. I heard green onion is more popular in Korea it taste like wasabi and mustard but I didn't try. read more