Gala Chicken

In the mid-​Atlantic (DMV to be specific), the Korean fried chicken place is Bonchon. I was super excited to find this place after moving to SD. The Gala chicken stand doesn’t compare at all.
Gala chicken is just ok, and frankly not flavorful. Good news though — it is way over priced, and the wings are tiny… a great value. I don’t mind paying if the food delivers, but this place falls into the «eh, let’s go someplace else» category.
Even better, it takes forever for them to cook your order. Somehow, our chicken was cold even though it was made to order. While we shop at Zion for groceries quite often, I’ll skip Gala in the future.

Delicious fried chicken! Get the spicy ones! Very convenient to order then go shopping for groceries and come back to eat. Would come back.

So almost everything that makes me angry happened here, there were not really any sides, the chicken took so fucking long. As I was about to go all hater on this tiny booth in Zion market and started to take a tiny bite a voice in my head said «shut your fucking mouth, shut your fucking mouth with this delicious chicken». That’s right just like an asshole I was put in my place. The chicken had lots of flavor, super juicy, and the batter was well seasoned, light and crazy crispy. This place doesn’t need any sides, nor would I rush them it’s that good. I warn you this place will raise the bar on fried chicken for you.

Would be great if they had a few more sides here but the fried chicken here is amazing and deserves 5 stars on it’s own. We had the half crispy, half sweet, mixed chicken combo and it was perfectly crispy, well seasoned, and super juicy inside. Service was great too!

Those five stars are ONLY for the crispy chicken. It was right on point. Super crispy and juicy and piping hot because they make it fresh to order. We got the half and half option with the spicy seasoned chicken but that was a mistake. It was way too sweet and not spicy at all. It also wasnt the right color it was almost as if they dyed the sauce because it was slightly pink? It tasted and looked very artificial but their crispy chicken is one to be sought for again!!!

Yummy! I tried their soy AND spicy. They were both delicious and the chicken was fried hot as fresh. Obviously, they didn’t taste quite like what I had in Korea, but they were close enough. The owners were really nice and welcoming as well. I definitely will be back.

I’m sold on this place even though complaints: lack of flavors, 20min wait, and price.
People, this place is a small joint because it only takes up a quarter of this square joint among 3 other food joints. They’re not going to be able to make 10 different flavors and you won’t get chicken that was sitting in the heating chamber. They make it fresh, so it’ll take some time. Order your food first and come back to get your chicken, strategies!
They use real chicken meat unlike the nasties of Popeye’s or KentuckyFC. You just can’t compare to fast food. It’s worth it spending that dough for some real chicken.
This is the best Korean fried chicken you can find in San Diego. I got the spicy and even though it was drenched in a sweet and light spice sauce, it’s freaking crispy and delicious. The meat was on point. Get yourself some Korean chicken, they’re the best. Service was friendly, they didn’t make me feel like I wasn’t Korean enough to enjoy their chicken. I’ll be coming back.

I’ve had Korean fried chicken in the Philippines and in Koreatown, Los Angeles. Man, I really love that stuff. It goes down perfectly with soju (Korean style vodka).
Living in the beautiful city of San Diego, I was craving some Korean fried chicken. I used Unilocal to search for one and unfortunately, this is the only joint in SD that specializes in it.
Located in Zion Market, this restaurant is pretty pricey. The only cheap option here is the $ 6.99 «Lunch Box» special, so that’s what I ordered.
The workers are very nice and I like the fact that the food is made fresh. Wait around 15 or 20 minutes for it to be prepared. Zion market is huge so you can browse around the store and before you know it, your food is ready
The «Lunch Box» special comes with chicken strips, rice, potato, and cabbage. The fried chicken is pretty tasty but it’s not totally memorable. I’ve had much better but it’s not fair that I only review this one order. The problem is that the other items on their menu is just too pricey. I’ve had tasty Korean fried chicken at a much better price than the ones that’s offered here…
When I’m really craving some Korean fried chicken and I’m not in the mood to party in Koreatown, I’ll give this joint another chance and possibly try their other pricey options

Located inside the Zion Market, it is situated far away from the food court. you’ll need to head over to the produce section to find it. Their specialty as you can guess is chicken, specifically chicken wings. Unfortunately, I didn’t try their wings this time, but their lunch special.
Tender Strips Lunch Box — at $ 6.99 it is very attractive compared to ordering off their regular menu. It comes with A LOT of chicken strips on top of fresh cabbage, rice and some dipping sauce. Every order is made fresh to order so it can take a bit of time to get your food. The bright side is they make sure that it is cool enough for immediate eating. The seasoning is really good and the chicken is not dry at all. Unfortunately, everything there aren’t that many contrasting flavors here and while I can dip the tenders in the sauce, it isn’t that great.
Next time i’ll get their chicken wings and see what they’re like. I see on Unilocal that they used to have a chicken wing lunch box, I would love to try that again. But the current lunch box. leaves much to be desired. Especially since their main bread and butter are their wings!

Great service but was hoping for a spicy soy battered fried chicken. Good sauce and great crunchy batter.

When bbq chicken closed down I was really sad, I love korean-​style fried chicken because of how crispy the chicken is.
When this place opened up we went to check it out almost right away.
It’s located inside the zion, near the produce section. The chicken takes about 15 – 20 minutes to cook, so order up and then walk around the grocery store.
Pricing is a bit more than other fried chicken place, but its worth it!
if you dont want to wait for the chicken, you can call ahead and place your order!

Located within one of the busy parts of Zion market. Smart? Maybe not, but the chicken they serve is pretty good. You can run around and grocery shop while you wait for your order to come out!
I ordered the green onion chicken, which cost me about $ 20. Your meal comes with a little container of pickled radishes and sauce for the chicken. An extra tub of pickled radishes costs 50 cents. The food was actually really bomb; I had about 8 pieces to myself in one sitting. Granted, the pieces themselves are relatively small.
Overall, I think the food was good, just pretty pricey for what you’re getting!

$ 9 for a dozen strips. Nice crisp flour coating. Not too greasy. Great dipping sauces. Ask for spicy. Would lover larger pieces though.

After my most recent trip to Guam, I was in search of a place that did Korean chicken wings. I didn’t want them to be overly complicated, but plain and simple. Crispy fried chicken with varying level of spice or sweetness is what I was looking for. I was happy to find such a place existed in San Diego.
I stopped into Gala chicken (located in the middle of Zion Market), and gave it a shot. First, the price is a little steep. They do cook it fresh so be prepared to wait for 15 – 20 minutes. I didn’t mind the wait since I could do some grocery shopping while it cooked. Just be prepared. I took it home, as eating there isn’t really a good option. Even after my 25 minute drive, the chicken kept its warmth, and best of all its crisp! I had an order of spice and sweet/​soy. Sweet soy was the better of the two in my opinion. The chicken itself was tender, not dry. Overall a great place. It didn’t quite live up to the Guam standard that was set for me but having this style of chicken close to home was a great find.

We ordered the crispy and spicy chicken wing combo for 17.99 which gave us about 14 pieces.
The crispy chicken flavor was nice and crispy while the spicy gave more of a sweet/​spicy taste. The spicy chicken is covered in this reddish sauce and it’s mildly spicy.
Overall it was pretty delicious but many of the chicken pieces were as small as nuggets, or lacked a lot of meat. For the price, amount, and the wait (~16 min) I wouldn’t come here often.

Different yet a familiar taste.
I’ve been to zion market multiple times and have always wanted to stop by this joint, but their prices are a bit steep for chicken. Today however, they had a lunch special for tender strips lunch box for 6.99 and decided to give them a whirl.
He was very generous with the tenders so i definitely had plenty. The box comes with rice and cabagge with sauce to pour on the veggie. Certainly made it way better.
The chicken wad not dry and I’m glad i stopped by to try something new.
Try it out and judge for yourself.

I’ve got a sweet spot for fried chicken… and chicken wings. So when the opportunity finally came up to get some KFC (Korean Fried Chicken) at Gala, I was ALL about it!
My first experience with Korean Fried Chicken was several years ago in NYC at Bonchon and I loved it! Hours later and the chicken was still crispy! So I had high hopes for Gala.
Nestled in the center of Zion Market, Gala is open Tues — Sunday. There are three types of wings to choose from: Gala Crispy, Gala Spicy, and Gala Sweet Soy. Regular sizes have 8 wings and range from $ 7.99 — $ 8.99
It does take some time for your order to be ready as they fry it fresh per batch. My gluttonous foodie partner in crime and I ordered the Gala Spicy and Gala Sweet Soy. Each comes with a container of lightly pickled daikon radish.
The Spicy Gala has a flavor that hints to 5 spice but actually was very mild. The Sweet Soy was very crispy and had a great balance of sweet/​salty. I think I would have liked the Spicy better had it actually been spicy — definitely needs more kick of heat.
Over all, it was enjoyable but I still prefer Bonchon.

This place is quite pricey — $ 17.99 pre-​tax for 8 spicy & 8 sweet soy wings.
Could choose a small portion at 8:99 for 8 wings.
The sweet soy flavor is too sweet and somewhat weird to me. Somewhat like ketchup blended with honey. Not like the seasoning, but the skin is perfectly crispy.
The spicy: only slightly/​mild spicy in my continuum. I am not a spicy eater, however, and consider it okay. Better crispiness of the skin than sweet ones!
In sum, not a bad place to solve your Korean Fried Chicken cravings. Though not very authentic. You can get fried chicken way better than this in Asian cities in Beijing or HK… a portion like this for 8 – 10 US$.
I’m missing my city now, well…
But I still have seafood to taste, San Diego!

The chicken wings are huge/​delicious and the customer sevice was excellent (super friendly = 5 stars). I got the spicy chicken wings, they were sweet & sour w/​a little kick at the end. The wings were cooked to perfection and went great w/​the pickled daikon (root veg). I only wish they had more seating and sides available like rice, kimchee, etc. (2 stars).
I agree they are a bit pricey and the wait is a bit long but, the flavor is so worth the wait. I’m definately going to be a returning customer.

Interesting location in the center of Zion…
I tried the crispy wings 6 pieces for $ 7.99. They are cooked fresh and take about 15 minutes. They were great! Nice juicy inside with crispy lightly seasoned batter. 6 pieces were a lunch sized portion.
On my next visit I tried the 4 drumsticks for $ 7.99. Same awesome lightly seasoned crunchy batter. The drumsticks were good but I prefer the wings. They are prepared the same and you get a bit more meat with the drumsticks but I’m a wing man.
This place is a worthy successor to B.B.Q. chicken as the chicken is similar and I like it about as much. Popeyes with their 2 pieces for $ 1.29 deal on Tuesdays is still my go to place for fried chicken though.