Chopsticks & More

Good Korean food at a very good price.
First off, if you’re looking for super authentic gourmet Korean meals or your O-Ma’s level of cooking (which, in my case, would actually be a scary thing but that’s beside the point), well… dude, the place is called «Chopsticks & More». So, if you keep your expectations appropriately moderated, my review could be helpful.
The chicken wings are great if you like chicken wings with a uniquely Korean interpretation applied to them. If I have a gripe about them, it’s their inconsistency in cooking time. Sometimes I’ve had them in all their «crispy on the outside and moist on the inside» awesomeness, sometimes they have been safely cooked but a bit soft, and sometimes I’ve had them where it’s like the cook had a grudge against all chickenkind and went freaking nuclear with the fryer… I still like them each time but sometimes I like them, sometimes I love them, and sometimes I need to eat them with a lot of fluid nearby. Their wings may be their «signature» item. I really like them. My family thinks I’m strange because I like them (although this may be unconsciously tied to other reasons why they find me strange). The bulgogi and be bim bap are worth eating, the kim bap makes me feel like a little kid in a good way, and so on. Oh, I love duk bokki. Love it. Except here. Don’t order it. What the hell is that, ketchup!!! Ack.
In short, this place is exactly what you might expect of a modestly priced Korean place located on Franklin (student central) called Chopstix. I given them four stars (vs 3) mainly because they also happen to always be very friendly whenever I visit.

Decent Korean food, but even that is saying something considering the lack of Korean restaurants in the area. Especially in a location like Franklin, it’s refreshing to find a restaurant that is casual but not fast food. There isn’t too much variety on the menu, but it’s enough to get the basics down. I most recently had the ddukbokki (which is considered an appetizer, so it’s pretty cheap), and it was super saucy but still tasted pretty good. I’ve also had the salmon teriyaki box, which is probably one of my favorite bento boxes that I’ve had. The portions for the salmon were surprisingly large and had a really good teriyaki flavor infused into it. My friend who’s obsessed with Korean food comes here very often and gets the kimchi soondobu the most often, and he describes it to be very rich in taste but not super filling. Free kimchi though. And if you ask, you can get as many refills on the kimchi as you would like. Oh yes, the price. Prepare to pay around $ 8 – 9 per person for your meal, which is probably more expensive than you’re expected to pay at any other surrounding casual restaurant on Franklin Street.
What I think makes the restaurant the most refreshing is the staff. The cooks and owner are all super nice and willing to help you with the menu if you are having trouble to decide. They really try to make any accommodations for you (which is a real struggle for me at some other places since I’m vegetarian). All in all, pretty good Korean food with a super friendly waitstaff — a refreshing twist on the usual restaurants found on Franklin Street.

Firstly, I must confess i’m not Korean, so my standards (or lack thereof) may skew my love for this place. There really isn’t much of an atmosphere here that I can discern besides maybe casual, but when i’m grabbing a quick lunch in between classes, especially in a college town, i’m not really looking for one. I usually go once a week for the kimchi and pork soondubu, and it just never gets old for me. I ask for medium heat, which is the perfect amount to give me that hot spice that isn’t overwhelming to the point where it ruins my meal. When the soondubu comes out I crack my egg immediately into the boiling broth, let it cook for a little bit, and just scoop that yolky goodness over my rice along with the spicy soft tofu. It’s a little on the pricy side for about $ 10.75 per meal, but i’ll pay anything for soondubu.
I’ve also had the gangnam chicken which is sticky and spicy and just so mmmmmm (but so messy), along with the kimpbap and ddukbokki. I’ve had better homemade kimpbap and ddukbokki, but for now it’ll suffice.
The owners are also so kind and sweet, which is also another reason why I keep coming back!

A rather short-​lived hurrah at finding a Korean restaurant so close to UNC campus. We had the ddukbokki ($ 5) and the gangnam style wings (basically yangnyum chicken). I remember the wings to be pretty pricey, but my friend and I pretty much didn’t care since we were craving it. The ddukbokki is, I think, pretty cheap for the quantity you get. But the quality is also not as good as I know they should be. For those non-​koreans out there, ddukbokki is a traditional Korean spicy rice cake with some seafood in it. This place did not joke around with their spicy: where the color should’ve been more orange-​red, their ddukbokki was BRIGHT red. Rather intimidating, and rather spicy. Not bad for the price though.
The chicken was a huge disappointment. We got 20 pieces of chicken, but at least 5 of the pieces had BARELY any meat on them. The sauce tasted pretty accurate, though SOMETHING was a bit off (still can’t put my finger on it). Finally, the chicken was fried into oblivion, so it was really hard and difficult to eat.
I have not tried their other items (like the bibimbap, which seems to be a bit cheaper than other places), but I am not very encouraged to try them next time. I think I will just learn to cook Korean food at home.
David’s VPP (Value per price): ³⁄₁₀

We stopped in and decided to split an order of the spicy tacos and the spicy BBQ wings. The tacos were awesome but the wings were, without a doubt, the best wings I’ve ever eaten. While the sauce was definitely thick and spicy and yummy, it was the completely crispy wings that made this an absolutely outstanding dish. I would eat these again and again and again. We can’t wait to go back and try something new again!

I keep coming back here because the food is pretty good, and the service is really friendly. I usually get the bulgogi box (although I typically order chicken instead of the beef), or the dol sot bibimbap. It’s not the best gourmet restaurant on Franklin or anything, and probably not the most authentic Korean ever, but it’s tasty and a good deal for the price.

I got the $ 9.99 Dol Sot Bibimbab to go and it was downright fantastic. Add the spicy sauce and soy sauce and mix it up and it was enough for me to have two meals. I work on Franklin Street so I will be going there regularly now.

Chopsticks is pretty good. I’ve taken to getting the bulgogi bowl because it’s basically hot bibimbap. They’ve got kimbap but it’s kind of sad. It doesn’t have bitchin kalbi meat in it like at Min Ga.
They always give me miso but I hate miso. This is not your fault, Chopsticks, but tell me I’m paying for miso. I’d rather drink hot water.
There’s no wait service. You pay at the counter, pour your own drink and pick up the meal at the counter. This is the default downtown restaurant for me since everything on Franklin St. is garbage. If you’re tired of eating at Pita Pit or whatever go here. If you want hot ass blow your fucking mind Korean food go to Min Ga.

While the wings were really good and really HOT, the rest of the meal was sub-​par. I got the 3 Korean tacos which at first I was excited about. Then I was told I could only choose 1 of the 3 different meats. That stinks! When I got the tacos the meat was good, but the rest of the taco was really generic. Nothing special. The store-​bought pico de gallo was way too sweet too! Once you are done you have to take your plates up to the bus boy bin and put the garbage and leftover food in the trash then separate all your trays and dishes. I needed to was my hands off after. Will not be going back there when in Chapel Hill.

Hell yeah. I really enjoy this place, good ambiance and atmosphere overall. Friendly staff, and pretty good service since I’ve been. I’m a huge fan of their Pork Bulgogi box; a good variety and quantity of food given the price. Sweet and spicy sure hits the spot. I really can’t complain here, most of my friends enjoy this place too. I can’t go too often, but would definitely like to try more dishes here in the future.

Boxed teriyaki. Very enjoyable. Chicken looked like beef. California roll delicious! Just what I expected.

If you like MSG, because you probably do, you’ll love Chopsticks & More. If you don’t love MSG because it messes with your body and makes you sleepy when you want to be wakey, you’ll probably not love C&M. Shared a plate of noodles (with itsy bitsy scraps of chicken in there somewhere), beasted on that MSG, and then took a nap.

Basic but good dolsot bibimbap and sauce, perfect for a relatively healthy dining out meal. I let the stone pot sit for a minute or two before eating, so I could get more of that crispy rice texture.
We also ordered their bingsoo, which was HUGE and definitely more appropriate for sharing. It came with two generous scoops of green tea ice cream, sweet red beans, shaved ice, and some fruit and mochi. The green tea ice cream was great, especially eating it with the small mochi bits (like eating ice cream mochi) and ice. The red beans also went well with the shaved ice, although I wish the ice came with some flavorings like milk or fruit syrups. Only downside was that the fruit toppings were the canned kind. Would also recommend adding an option for a smaller size bingsoo, since it was difficult for the two of us to finish on top of a meal. But otherwise an awesome dessert!
Eating here and another place for bibimbap, Mixed, a few comparisons come to mind. First, Chopsticks definitely cooks their bibimbap better. I’ve been to Mixed several times, and their dolsot (stone pot) version has never really managed to get the crispy rice texture that you pay extra for. However, Mixed has a greater variety of toppings and customization. Their bingsoo is also smaller and can be customized.
Overall, great casual place to sit down and eat Korean food.

Disclosure: I’m pretty sure this location is cursed. I have not liked any of the past restaurants that have been here. I’m almost hesitant to even write a review since the businesses in this store never last long. I’m also not a fan of Americanized or fusion food in general. I’m especially picky about Asian food.
Chopsticks has a variety of «Korean-​inspired» food, ranging for bulgogi tacos to traditional bibimbap. I tried the bulgogi (Korean BBQ pork) box and my friend tried the chicken teriyaki box. The box comes with the meat, rice, miso soup, salad, and side for around $ 9. For the price and quality, I deem it overpriced. However, it is cheap for Korean food, which is nice.
The bulgogi tasted pretty good actually. I was pleasantly surprised by that. However, the teriyaki sauce was way too strong for my taste. The chicken and vegetables were drenched in it.
The restaurant itself is clean and has decent seating. The Franklin street location is convenient too since it’s the closest Korean place in the area.

I used to come here when it was still Korchipi and I miss the old menu a bit. The new one is more traditional Korean food (versus fusion) but I didn’t see many options I would have wanted to try.
I got the bibimbop and it was just ok… maybe I didn’t eat it correctly, but I mixed up all the ingredients and it was just like a bland salad for $ 9. I should have gotten the bulgogi bowl which was more flavorful last time.
The service could be better: they hand out table markers with numbers, presumably for you to place at the edge of your table so they can bring you your food. However, they just call out the number and if you don’t come, they give the food away… what? We were in the karaōke room and I wasn’t about to wait at the counter and miss the fun. That is the first thing that needs to change.
So why did I give them 4 stars on Unilocal?Because the karaōke room is a great value! You won’t find any place in the area for as cheap to have a private room. True, most of the songs in the book are non-​English but there is a decent amount of American and British hits, including very recent songs! It does get a bit old after 2 visits, so I would suggest updating their book with more English songs, especially more canonical karaōke tunes.

I’ve been to Chopsticks only twice, but I do have to say it was two different experiences. The first time, I had the beef combo which was really good. The second time, I had the same exact dish and it was kind of different, like the meat was a little dried out and there wasn’t much liquid like last time…
That was all I ate today and now I have crazy, crazy food poisoning for the past few hours so… I don’t want to give it one star because you never know what the heck, but that’s all I ate and it happened just a short while after, so…
service was nice in my experience, though. especially the younger girl at the front counter.

This is legit korean food. I had soft tofu soup combo and it tasted so good. I really would love to eat another round there!

Good Korean food at reasonable prices on Franklin! I am happy, this is a must-​try!
They have all my favorite dishes on their menu, including Bi Bim Bop, soba noodles, and even have what they call on the menu «Bing Soo» — shaved ice with sweet toppings, a popular summertime dessert.
I had the bulgogi (beef) bowl and it was really good, I love bulgogi, and I thought the portion was generous and it tasted great. The bi bim bap was good as well.
It reminded me of a fast casual type restaurant that I might have frequented in Japan or Taiwan while I lived there… its not the epitome of fine Korean dining, but it has good, everyday kind of dishes that I crave. It just hits the spot and its fairly priced. Of all the «bi bim bap» type «fast casual» places in Chapel Hill right now, this is the one. I hope this place does well.
Not quite five stars because the menu for the chicken wings was a little confusing. The whole gangnam style chicken thing was kind of hard for the waitress to explain… I guess its a style of the types of chicken pieces that are served, not a type of flavor/​spice, but its listed as a spice on the menu? We still don’t know. So, if its your first time to the restaurant, I’d just bypass the confusion and order a more authentic dish anyway. The wings are okay but not the start of the show.
I look forward to returning to try the other dishes!

Service is great here! I’ve seen several different restaurants pop up in this location, but I hope this one stays! The prices are reasonable and they have a great selection of Korean food. I didn’t order any food, but just dessert. The shaved ice with fruit and red beans. It was DELICIOUS and really hit the spot on a hot day. I’d definitely come back to try their food!

Chopsticks and more is an awesome, clean hangout! We were introduced when we walked in, to Korean food. It was so good and definitely unique. The meat was excellent! The service was awesome too! I would definitely go there for a quick bite to eat for lunch :)