Home of Hot Taste

Ordered fried chicken with green onion. Wanted bone in… when we picked it up it was boneless and they were unwilling to fix it.
Customer service non existent. Ill stick with the fry

One of my favourite places to go for food on a Friday night. Opens late. Plays kpop. Chicken in every flavour or spice. What more do you want?

Was there this weekend for dinner with a friend. Very busy but efficient. The floor could have been swept though. Good value for beer to start. Had hot rice noodle dish, chopped radish, mushroom rice dish? , and the main course was the deep fried whole chicken.
It was a noisy, fun environment with generous portions. The chicken was outstanding and helped by a selection of dipping sauces. Will return for sure.

My friend drove me here on a reading break afternoon. TTC would bring you there since it’s just a short walk North from Steeles and Yonge. It was completely empty so we were the first customers at noon (but my friend said it gets super busy at dinner time). We got a booth… but it was kind of awkward to get the waiter’s attention since it was walled off. There’s an unique self-​serve coffee machine which comes out in a little cup ready for you… but my friend said it tastes very diluted.
We ordered original and teriyaki sauce I believe as recommended by the waiter. There were all the different parts of the chicken like wings and thighs. I loved the original because no sauce took away from its crispy texture. I think the batter is better and less oily than other Western chain restaurants. The teriyaki… hmm…wasn’t bad but I think it wasn’t necessary. They also gave a small side dish of white radish to clean your palate in between but I liked it on its own too. What I loved most was this oyster soup I ordered! It really tasted like oysters and the soup base was perfectly spiced although a little spicy. Plus I don’t know where else would serve this item!

Another business trip, another night of eating out. This evening’s choice — one of many restaurants specializing in Korean food in North York — Home of Hot Taste. Famous for their fried chicken and blazing fire chicken dishes, my colleague and I decided to tip toe are way up the ladder of spicy chicken and ordered half of an original fried chicken dish and half of a fried spicy chicken dish with some extra honey garlic sauce on the side for dipping. We’ll leave blazing fire chicken till next time (and there WILL be a next time).
The waitress on staff was very helpful when we asked her about portioning and how much we should order. Our order came out fairly quickly with a couple standard ban chan dishes and let me tell you, this fried chicken is awesome. As fast the order came it was devoured even faster… in silence… with the occasional «wow this is really good» from two boys who looked like they hadn’t been fed well… since lunch.
It happens often when you order fried food that there is almost an understanding that one of the following descriptions will be part of what will be served: heavy batter, bad quality meat, oily. In this case however the fried chicken served had a thin crispy batter, that was surprisingly light for something that’s fried and had good quality meat — there was chicken breast pieces, drumsticks and chicken wings and the cooking was really on point. The chicken wasn’t dry at all, it came out piping hot. The sauces were just as easy to complement as the chicken. The honey garlic sauce was full of flavor and did not go light on the garlic (which I love). The spicy sauce on the second order of chicken was really amazing. It’s a slightly sweeter spicy sauce but does not overdo it on the sweetness. As the first initial taste of sweetness begins to fade say hello to a spicy pepper kick along with an aromatic blend of spices which I find really differentiates itself from a lot of generic spicy sauces you find on fried chicken that have a tendency to be more one note sweet or salty followed by a rush of hot spicy flavor.
All in all, would I go back? Yes, if I’m in the mood for fried chicken this is atop of my list when back in this city and hopefully I’ll have the courage to try the blazing chicken.

Went there on a late Friday night, and the place is packed. We ordered the blazing fire chicken with cheese, oyster fried rice and the fusion egg.
The chicken is tender and juicy, even it was pretty hot, the cheese kind of smooth that out.
Fusion egg is like a huge Japanese egg sashimi with kimchi rolled inside and mayo all over it. Pretty cool.
As for the oyster fried rice, it is like a treasure hunt, at the end we found 4 tiny small pieces of oysters. How lucky…

Been here so many times, I have friends who really really like this place.
They have changed owners many times over the years,
Menu is pretty simple,
THE must haves are the spicy chicken on a hot plate, i like it with cheese.
Other must haves are fries chicken with green onion, special rice, tokpoki, fried chicken wings with sweet sauce, kimchi fried rice, and egg soup. Place is always packed but turns over pretty quick.
Great place for soju, beer, and chicken.

This is one of my favorite places to go for a night of «casual» drinking. I emphasise casual because not often does it stay that way with their great food and low prices on alcohol. Known for their KFC (that’s KOREAN Fried Chicken) and their great recipe for spice, this place is a popular spot just north of Yonge and Finch.
First Impressions: This place is always busy but there is enough seating that you usually don’t have too wait long. Like most Asian restaurants I’ve been to, the service is something left to be desired. Serves do their job and that about it. Great selection of beer at a very decent price. All beer is under $ 5 including import such as Heineken, Asahi and Hite Stout.
Food: The food here is always consistent however the last couple of times I have gone there the portions seem to be smaller. I have also noticed that the prices have gone up a couple of dollars and obviously I am not too happy about this.
Must Have’s: Blazing fire chicken with cheese, original fried chicken with green onion, spicy noodles with chicken and the stem egg soup. These are the most popular dishes on the menu and the GO TO’s for me. Oyster kimchi fried rice, teary blazing chicken and anything with the word «blazing» in it is pretty good. I have never had a bad dish here, chicken is moist, beer is ALWAYS good, sauce is flavorful and has a good kick to it.
Opportunities/​Suggestions: Please stop the increase of prices, it started with the Soju ($ 13.99 to $ 16.99), give us back the portions from just a few months ago and I guess it wouldn’t hurt for the servers to smile once in a while even if it is a fake one!
Overall Impressions: Unless the prices increase a few more dollars or the portions get ridiculously small, I will still come back here every once in a while because the food is just soooo good and the cost of alcohol (for now) is very affordable.

I tried giving this place a second chance. Waste of my time. Hair in food. Didn’t take the food off of the bill. Replaced the dish but the replaced dish was at a subpar quality and took very long. Clearly they had no issue in their subpar service either with their exact words to the hair: «The manager is not here so I don’t know what you want to do about that.»

Menu:
What we had: blazing fire chicken, teary blazing chicken, blazing fire chicken with cheese, blazing fire squid, original fried chicken, kimchi fried rice, spicy oyster rice soup, special steamed rice, spicy ddokbokki (spicy ricecakes), spicy pork with rice
(We had this over multiple visits. We don’t eat THAT much.)
Taste: ⁸⁄₁₀
Out of my 8 years of occasional visits to this restaurant, I must say that the taste has been very consistent. I come here especially for their spicy ddokbokki, their sauce is not too sweet and very savoury. Along with the ddokbokki I would get the special steamed rice and eat it with the ddokbokki sauce. (Yeah that’s a lot of carbs but it tastes so gooooood.) Steven likes the spicy pork with rice, though he sometimes complain that the pork to rice ratio is too low.
The blazing chicken is their signature dish. All of the items that says «blazing» on it uses the same sauce. The blazing sauce has a spicy, slightly sweet, and smoky taste to it. My friends like the blazing fire chicken with cheese. I’m impartial to the blazing stuff.
The fried chicken was dry, but it seems to be a popular item. Maybe we were unlucky that day, but I’ve had better fried chicken at KFC.
The kimchi fried rice is pretty good and not too spicy for my friends that don’t usually eat spicy food. Their fried rice is served on a hot plate and tends to be very oily.
The oyster rice soup was OK, nothing special. I don’t recall seeing any oyster in it.
Value: ⁵⁄₁₀
This place used to have decent value, but now the prices have gone up and the amount they give has gone down. They’ve been consistent with giving you a complimentary plate of salad and a small dish of pickled daikon. Appetizers/​side dishes are at least $ 10 (ddokbokki being the cheapest), a meat dish (blazing or fried chicken, squid, etc) is around $ 20, lunch special dishes are around $ 10.
**Average cost per diner: 25 $+ After Tax+Tip but Steven doesn’t really like their food so he eats less than he usually does, hence «+»
Service/​Convenience: ⁷⁄₁₀
They are located in a corner of a plaza in the end farther away from Yonge St. Not too easy to locate from the road, but look for a Red Lobster by the road and it’s in the same plaza.
Servers are pretty efficient though sometimes it’s hard to get their attention/they’re nowhere to be found. They’re not particularly friendly but they get their job done like any typical Asian restaurant.
Would go back? Yes, sometimes I crave their ddokbokki, I can’t find similar tasting ddokbokki anywhere else; I’ve even looked around in Seoul. Heck even the chain in downtown doesn’t make ddokbokki the same way.
Would recommend to friend? If they like spicy Korean food, it’s worth a try.
Similar places: None that we know of yet.
**Disclaimer: Average cost per diner constitutes the amount (per person) we eat to get full without drinks. Total cost is usually divided between 2 diners, one of whom can regularly eat 7 slices of XL pizza

I’ve heard lots of great things about this place, about how there’s great food here and cute servers here… lol. I’ll only comment on the food and whoever is reading this will have to see the servers for themselves.
In the order of my favorite of the night to less so:
1. Deep fried bones less chicken with green onion. Felt lazy that night so went boneless. Super moist and juicy on the inside. We had some friends who weren’t into spicy so this was perfect for them.
1b. Oyster Kimchi Fried Rice. Couldn’t decide whether I like this more or the boneless green onion chicken. This was soon yummy! I would definitely get this again and again
2. Spicy chicken with cheese. This packs a bit of a kick for those of us not too into spicy. I found that it did get cold pretty quickly and lost its glamour.
3. Seafood egg soup. It was tummy-​warming more egg than soup. If you wanted egg, this would be great for you.

Clarification: I have not yet tasted their spicy fried chicken.
Really like: They open 7 days a week till 2am! That’s incredible.
I just dropped by for quick take out, beef on rice, nothing fried or spicy since I am nursing a cold and don’t want to make it worse. The amount was quite small and I felt it could have sold for a couple bucks cheaper, or at least offer some sides to go along with it for that price. Taste was decent, not bad.
I am interested in going back for their specialty (spicy fried chicken) when my cold gets better!
For now, 3 stars, A-​OK. I may update at a future date.

Everything sucks here. The service, vibe, crowd, chairs, tables, floors, décor, washroom… etc.
This place is casual, loud, uncomfortable to sit for a long time. You will need to constantly flag down the waiters for service and when it’s busy… you will NEVER get your food!!! Well, maybe just not for like 40 minutes but it feels like forever when you’re always hungry like me!
BUT…they have killer wings and chicken and dirtiest (cheap) beers ever. Like $ 3.50 domestic and $ 4 import kinda cheap. The chicken is fall off the bone tender while still nice and crispy on the outside. All the flavours are great for the most part, especially the garlic that will stink up your breath for the next 2 days!
Come here when you’re feeling like cheap beer and great tasting chicken but it’s definitely not a place to chill.

Ordered:
Oyster Kimchi Fried Rice — $ 9.99
Garlic Soy Fried Chicken (half) $ 11.99
For 2 people, it was very filling. We ordered small chicken wings but they gave us the wrong order — half chicken instead. Personally, I’m sure the wings would have tasted a whole lot better. The white meat was too dry. Not enough sauce. We were expecting crunchy fried chicken but it was more on the soft saucey side. For first time k (orean)fc’ers, I would recommend sticking to the original fried chicken.
The kimchi fried rice was good, but nothing amazing. Fried rice in Chinese restaurants tastes a lot better. There was a good amount of spiciness to it, but very little oyster. Kimchi taste was too light I could barely taste it.
Total came up to about $ 24 before tips.
It was good overall, but not good enough for me to come back again. I think next time I’ll try Dakgogi or The Fry.

Leaning towards a 2.5 but I was not amazed by HOHT.
Walked in on a sunday evening and it was pretty silent. Couldn’t spot one worker in sight for a few minutes until one emerged out and directed us into a booth. Now, I like how private the booths and tables are– with large partitions between each one, now I don’t need to witness other hungry families!
The menu is ALL chicken and meats. Ok ok, that’s expected but at least have a bigger variety of apps? We got a whole fried original chicken, which was good but not spectacular. it came with a little place of pepper salt and that was that. Also ordered the grilled sausage platter, which was not good. Way too salty and I ate two bites of 2 different sausages and I was done with that plate. Also, the bottom was covered with oil– what a mess! Needless to say, my stomach was not feeling the best after all the fried messiness. The sausage platter said it’s assorted but it kind of looked and tasted the same to me? Okay?
Service was barely existent and it was hell trying to flag down a waiter to pay/​get water/​get service. They need bells.
Overall, meh. I don’t see a need to come back.

A wise friend one told me, «it will taste great but you’ll feel the burn in the morning». I have yet to see what he means…
Hot Taste KFC is definitely worth trying.
Is it upscale? No.
Is it exciting? No.
Are the servers Welcoming? Meh.
Is the food good? Pretty frogging great.
I ordered the flaming chicken (17.99)which was true to its name. It started out as nice heat and it got hotter as you eat it. The chicken was so tender and well seasoned. Notes of smokey and tangy.
Ordered the fried chicken with onions (18.99?). The chicken could be described as a lightly coated popeyes chicken cooked to perfection with the meat tender and succulent. The scallions they throw on top gives a sweet balance to the unexpectedly greasy dish.
Oyster kimchi fried rice (9.99). I don’t think i had an oyster in my bite. Nevertheless, a solid kimchi fried rice, but I’ve had better.
Beer was fantasticly yet surprisingly cheap. $ 3.25 for domestic bottle. This is an amazing place to lounge with your friends after a long day.
⁴⁄₅ because this joint needs to be more creative with their recipe. The chicken is a great foundation but I feel like they should experiment with more flavours. My suggestion, have a fried version with the flaming sauce.

Home of Hot Taste is located in uptown Toronto (north of Steeles), and hands down they have the best KFC (Korean Fried Chicken) in town. Initially, we went there out of curiosity and comments that others have made about this restaurant, but after the first visit, we know Home of Hot Taste will become one of our go to restaurants.
Here are a few shots of their menu. Besides fried chicken, they also offer soup and other snacks like ddukbokki, Japanese pancakes, and deep fried pork cutlet with fries.
There are three levels of spiciness. Since it was our first time here, we didn’t know what to expect. But knowing that Koreans have a higher tolerance of spicy food, their level one Spicy Fried Chicken should be good enough for us.
Cubicles are available at Home of Hot Taste, they are great for small parties of 2 – 4 people, as you get a sense of privacy. Keep in mind, cubicles are usually filled up first, so make sure you go there early to grab those seats.
Pickled radish and lettuce are provided to ease the spicy food.
ATTENTION! The Fish Cake Soup looks nothing like the picture in the menu. The reason why we order the Fish Cake Soup was because the picture in the menu looked very appetizing, but turned out it is very ordinary. Any one can make this easily at home.
We were hesitant to order the Spicy Ddokbokki because their spiciness level was classified as level three. Luckily, the server said they would reduce the spiciness for us and we were very happy with it. The ddokbokki was still very spicy, but we quite enjoy it. Strong garlic taste with a tad of sweetness. Also, the rice cakes were chewy, yet not tough.
TADAA! Fried Spicy Chicken! It was the hottest chicken wings we have ever had in our entire life! Even though it is very spicy, but it is very delicious and you just keep wanting to have more. Besides spiciness you can also taste a little bit of sweetness. It helps a little with balancing out the spiciness of the wings. This level one Spicy Fried Chicken is already at the top of our line, we can only imagine eating the level three Blazing Fried Chicken. *sweat*
We would say the Oyster Kimchi Fried Rice was the highlight of the night. It was filled with all the flavours you can possibly imagine — sweet, sour, spicy, and salty. You don’t often get to experience all these flavours in just a single spoonful of rice. It was the best kimchi fried rice we had so far in Toronto. Can’t wait to go back and have more! =9

The feeling of the restaurant as you walk in is like a bar. Its a small place but there’s TV around the place. They also have a big fridge that holds many types of beer, imported and domestic. Coors light, Budweiser, Asahi, corona, Heineken, Sapporo, moosehead, Canadian just to name a few, beers cost $ 3.25/$ 3.75. They also serve sake and soju for $ 12 — $ 14. I find the alcohol really reasonable.
They also have a very simple menu which offers mostly their famous spicy chicken. They’re front page consists most of their popular items. Spicy chicken, spicy chicken with noodles or nachos, etc for ~$ 18.99.
Second page is all fried chicken, you can choose bite size boneless chicken, chicken wings, half chicken or full chicken. All the options listed above are offered in multiple different flavors.
We ordered the spicy chicken with noodles. The portion size is fairly big and enough to share between 2 people. On the menu it stated that it’s level of spiciness is 3 chilies, damn were they not joking, it was really spicy!!! (I can eat spicy like northern China chili oil spicy dishes) The chicken was sweet and spicy but for the noodles, it soaked up all the sauce from the bottom and it was EXTREMELY spicy!
Service isn’t great and don’t expect much as it is minimum, like I said a bar atmosphere. Overall, it wasn’t anythin spectacular, I would come back but not something on my choice list.

Not even a joke, this place was so good the first time … I came back the next day!
I’ve always been on the hunt for really really really great Korean fried chicken, and I think I found it! Not wanting to travel anywhere without parking, I went to Home of Hot Taste which had very accommodating parking spots!
It’s loud in there, but not Guu loud, it looks just like any other Korean eatery.
I was unsure what to expect but I knew that Korean fried chicken comes with pieces of the chicken. Not how we’re used to at KFC with a drumstick, thigh etc But EVERY single part of the chicken! I think that’s the fun of it, you don’t know what piece you’ll get!
The fiancé and I got a half and half order of original and mild spicy. And holy jesus … Our faces lit up! Amazing batter, well seasoned and the mild spicy sauce was extremely delicious! A little on the sweet side to be honest, but great nonetheless!
We also got the oyster kimchi fried rice on the side, which my fiancé claimed it’s the best kimchi fried rice he’s ever had. I beg to differ. It’s not my number one pick for kimchi fried rice, but it’s pretty damn close!
It’s reasonably priced, so I have no complaints. The portions are a bit bigger than you expect!
If you’re new to Korean fried chicken as I was, this would be a great place to start! Writing this review is making my mouth water!

For some reason quality fried chicken is hard to find in the GTA. Well this place surely knows how to make fried chicken and they know it (as apparent from their posters). You can get a plain original recipe fried chicken or try it with sweet & sour sauce if you don’t mind some sauce all over your mouth and hands.
I recommend Blazing chicken if you are looking for that «hot taste» and don’t want fried chicken.
Place is clean. Staff are friendly but not very attentive. Prices are reasonable. Complimentary coffee from a coffee machine.