PONKO Chicken

Love the lightly breaded chicken and Japanese style rice. Plus the marinated pickles are a classic compliment. Great location near the Decatur square. Local business supporting the local breweries with the selection.

Do yourself a favor and eat here all the time. The chicken sandwich is fantastic, so crunchy, super good sauce. But it’s all about the fries. FANTASTIC FRIES. The owner said they have live music on the weekends and a jam on Wednesdays. Also, everyone who works there was super nice. Will be returning for the fries all the time.

When I moved to Decatur from midtown I was excited to see a PONKO up the street. I have had great food from the midtown and chamblee locations so figured this would be no different.

The first few months were filled with some growing pains as they were ramping up. Which I get.

However tonight sealed the deal. I placed a go-to order and was told 10-15 min. Great - I was coming from east Atlanta so it would be perfect timing.

I arrived and was greeted by a "we are out of fries. What would you like instead". Now, the fact I guess they were out of potatoes could be understood but seems odd they ran out literally between the time I hung up the phone and the time I arrived.

I decided upon the sweet potato fries - which I had been wanting to try. They I gather had not cooked anything yet - which led to a 10-15 minute wait. I got home to find dry rice, a partially full container of potato salad, and chicken that was tougher than I've ever seen. And the sweet potato fries that caused my delay getting home - soggy, limp, and not fully cooked which wouldn't be nearly as insulting if they hadn't charged me extra for them as a substitute for the side that they were out of.

(Also, fun fact, if you try and order online they actually will charge you $2 for regular fries as a side but the sweet potato fries are $0 extra?)

Disappointed to say the least and was a real bummer to see this was considered acceptable coming from their kitchen.

I absolutely love the crunchy texture of the chicken tenders, and the OG sauce is phenomenal. I also had a taste of the spicy sauce, on the side, and that was also delicious - had a kick, but not too spicy. The fries had amazing seasoning and the rice was also a nice pair. This location was super clean and spacious and even had a full bar. I will definitely be coming back. the staff was also polite and attentive during my visit the evening of 01/04/2021

Enjoyed this place today. Service was excellent. Food was hot. Wait for food was short. This was my first time here and we hope to go back and soon. Good price point for Decatur as well.