Crazy Wok — Restaurant in Ellensburg

Tried this place for the first time just a few days ago. First off, the food was FANTASTIC!! Fresh, hot, HUGE portions and tasted great! Which is the main reason we went there, to try the food. Loved it!

The establishment looks like a run down home converted into a restaurant of sorts. Typical of any of the run down homes you see in Ellensburg. Dimly lit and a very old, unkempt feel to it. A few tables in the immediate area of the ordering counter and a few "downstairs". By downstairs I mean, it seemed like walking into a dungeon. Even more dimly lit than upstairs and a very cut off feeling from the rest of the restaurant. Lots of boxes of supplies filled the same space as the eating tables. Awkward. It was a very pleasant evening so me and my girl decided to eat outside at one of the bistro tables. Upon saying this the waitress looked nervous! We soon found out why.

The outside eating area is a garden type patio that is completely over grown with plants and trees and vines and moss and fallen leaves and grimy tabletops and chairs covered with fallen leaves and broken down fences and... It was getting near dark so we asked for the overhead string of patio lights to be turned on. They turned them on but not after an extensive diagnosis of why they wouldnt turn on to begin with. On, off, on , off... Unplugging one string and plugging in another, back and forth. Even once we started eating the on again off again continued. As if they had no clue someone would opt to sit outside on a warn fall evening. The "kitchen" seemed to be nothing more than a kitchen set up in a completely different building than the previously mentioned restaurant. The kitchen building looked no more than one of them 10x10 wooden sheds you see sitting in the parking lot of Lowes.

A blue tarp hanging between the main building and the kitchen shed served as a hallway of sorts, blocking the customers view of the actual inside of the "kitchen". VERY strange. BUT- the food again, was delicious. We were very pleasantly surprised by the speed of service and the quality of the food. Dont let the "ambiance" fool you....

Things have been going downhill at Crazy Wok…

We’ve been getting take out here regularly for years, but the quality of food and service has been going down lately.

Not open reliably

We went to buy takeout on Friday around 3:30pm, during their posted open hours. We figured they weren’t answering the phone because they were busy… Nope. They had the open sign posted but the doors were locked. People were in the kitchen but no one answered the door. No signs were posted about the unexpected closure…

They don’t regularly update their Facebook page when their hours change. They don’t have a voicemail with hours or updates when they’re unexpectedly closed; they don’t even have a voicemail greeting saying you’ve reached the right number for Crazy Wok.

About the food (be picky)

My partner loves the chicken teriyaki and it’s reliably good…

The chicken lo mein is decent, but they use a really fatty cut of meat for pork lo mein that is unpleasant to eat. Both versions are more oily than usual.

If you like your yakisoba sauce to be thick and caramelized on the noodles you need to go elsewhere. The sauce at Crazy Wok is more like flavored water with an oil slick on top. Maybe they’re using the stir-fry sauce?

The almond chicken is also unpleasant.

When I come here I eat one of two dishes for a good experience: orange chicken (usually good, it’s only been overcooked once) and chicken lo mein. Everything else I’ve tried either has the wrong flavors or consistency and I’ve tried most things on the menu.

It would take very little to get this rating up. Mainly, improved quality and reliable...

It arrived by delivery perfectly hot. Delivery was awesome! Mine- hardly any white meat chicken on top of gooey rice unlike what I’m used to. My son had way more meat than I. Ok. But the rice was like a bowl of glue & it’s the first thing that my son & I noticed. I get teriyaki often & it’s never like glue… this was. Spring rolls were over cooked on the outside & inside was gooey. Crunchy on the outside like an egg roll but extremely gooey on the inside. My son & I took one bite & that was it. The vegetable/rice combo was okay. A lot of money {NOT counting delivery} for something we can find better locally. Pictures actually give these meals justice in this case. 😂 Maybe it was a rushed or bad day. I’d try them one more time. 😜 Usually when you dine in, it’s...