Basic Bird

Went here for the first time on Saturday. I wasn't sure if it would be busy, so we got there around 11:10 AM to be safe.

Besides four other people already seated and eating, it was empty, and even though I ordered a large order, it was ready extremely quick (I'd say around 15 minutes or so).

We got 2 orders of boneless (gochujang, and a new lemon sauce) and one order of bone-in (honey butter), each side, and Josh (the person at the counter who took my order) was VERY friendly and recommended me to get the honey butter fries.

Needless to say, everything was good, and the fries were amazing!

The gochujang and the lemon sauced chicken was good, but the honey butter sauced bone-in chicken and honey butter fries were my favorite.

If you like a lot of crunch, I recommend the bone-in chicken (although maybe the boneless chicken is also crispy, it's just that after a 20 minute drive home it wasn't as crispy compared to the bone-in chicken).

Definitely will be going back!

A mighty addition to the new Des Moines food scene. Our eyes were bigger than our stomachs, and the portions are gigantic. The honey fries are really fun and an entree on their own. The chicken itself is perfectly cooked. Crispy, juicy, and good spice with the double dunk sauce. The smartest thing is including banchan-like sides with your order. We really enjoyed the potato salad and Brussels. We will absolutely be back.

Basic bird is very very cute. My friends and I ordered take out and I got 6 wings, double dunk sauce, and 3 sides of cucumbers ($16.98 after tax).

The chicken is big and juicy. The sauce was good and I was pleasantly surprised. Personally, I did not like the cucumber kimchi, I thought it was a little too sweet. It was disappointing.

My friend got the Gochujang sauce, and said it was a good spice level (3.5/5). Some other friends also got the brussels sprout & potato salad and said they were decent!

+ plenty of parking

Decent food, but plan on the sides being rather small portions. Sauces tend to be mild and somewhat sweet. Service was a bit like at a Subway. There was a lot of food on the floor under the tables, both restrooms were closed, and we had to ask someone behind the counter for forks as the area to pick up utensils was empty. The restaurant was quite loud with about a third of the seats filled. I wouldn't object to going back if a friend to have lunch at the Basic Bird, but it wouldn't be my choice.

I was very excited to try this new addition to Beaverdale. The atmosphere is delightful, very bright and friendly with adorable art. They have quite a small footprint but are utilizing it very well and nothing feels too crowded. As an added bonus their straws are paper and held up incredibly well (no dissolving/falling apart) for the hour we were there. And their to go containers all appear to be eco friendly and readily available by the silverware and soda machine so you don't have to ask anyone if you need a container. We went on a weeknight right at 5pm and there were only 3 other patrons there. By 5:30 a steady line had formed and when we left at 6 the line was to the door with every table filled.
We ordered a wide variety of dishes and there were some real stars and some disappointments. All stars for us were the Bacon Kimchi Fried Rice and the cheesy rice dumplings. The Bacon Kimchi fried rice was bursting with flavor and the egg was perfectly cooked, the sauce drizzle was excellent as well. The cheesy rice dumplings weren't what I expected (they are rice cake puffs and not a stuffed dumpling) but they were delicious.
We also tried the cheese corn which started out great but degraded quickly as the cheese re-solidified. It still had a Korean comfort food feel which was enjoyable. Of the sides the pickled diakon and kimchis are the standouts. Both are packed fresh, crunchy and bright. The brussel sprouts and shishito peppers were lacking in flavor/needed some salt and the potato salad was surprisingly bland.
We got both regular and boneless wings. The regular wings were "spicy gochujang," they had some inconsistent breading and were not at all spicy. Gochujang is a pepper paste and isn't inherently spicy but being a Korean fusion theme and putting 'spicy' in the name leaves a certain expectation. These were on par with a regular buffalo wing at a standard American bar. It made me wonder if there is a secret off menu spicy sauce that you have to ask for? The boneless wings we got with the double dunk (a mix of both the gochujang and honey butter) which was good but again, needed more salt or other boost of flavor.
I'd love to see another sauce option added to the menu (maybe garlic based?) to round out the options. Overall the quality of food was very high and everything tasted very fresh. My guess is some of our disappointment is due to growing pains and I definitely look forward to going again in a few months when they are more settled into a groove.