Teriyaki Wok — Restaurant in Ellensburg

Worst service ever. I've never written a bad restaurant review but this experience was so bad I have to say something. I've been a happy customer at Teriyaki Wok for 10 years but unfortunately after the owner, Tom, died about 3 years ago, the service has gotten steadily worse. Also the price has climbed while the quality and quantity of the food itself is not as predictable as it used to be, also not as clean as I remember it being before.

I went in today before 1 pm to order three entrees for take out and ended up waiting about 40 minutes while everyone else who came in after me was either served or left with their take out. The young girl who took my order seemed to be sleepwalking, wrote my order down wrong, and while I was waiting politely, played on her cell phone, took phone orders, served the seated patrons, talked with the other staff, and helped everyone else while I was ignored. When I asked about my order she said it was written down wrong as inside seating and would finally be boxed for me. After waiting about another 10 minutes another staff person said a new order was being made for me. When the food was FINALLY ready with not so much as an apology, she was packing it for take out without the salad which I had to remind her of. Then when I got home and we finally got to eat, the chicken meat was tough and stringy. The only saving grace was the quantity was generous like it used to be, and except for being overly burnt, tasted pretty good.

Unfortunately this is not the first time the wait staff messed up my order and I had to wait 40 to 45 minutes for my take out, but the other time was a few months back and I let it go. Also occasionally the quantity has been rather slim. This whole experience today was a disaster and my husband has asked me not to go back there. Sadly, I probably will not return, but after 10 years will be going elsewhere. There are some other Asian type restaurants in Ellensburg, and one good option is the Sugar Thai. Prices are better (Teriyaki Wok has gotten quite a bit more expensive in the past couple of years with no corresponding improvement in quality, value or service), the staff is always friendly, and the food is always predictably good. And I've never had a problem with take out or had to wait 40 minutes to get it while other customers got to leapfrog ahead of me. Sorry, Teriyaki Wok, I'm sad to part ways, but this experience was awful, life is too short to put up with this stuff, and there are other restaurants that do a better job of deserving ...

The lady who helped me was really nice and friendly!

However (yes, here comes the bad part)…

The Flies!!!

Let me repeat that for you one more time.

• THE FLIES *

There were more flies in there than I saw between all of my stops from my home in Southern California.

The flies were everywhere! I pointed it out to her. She nonchalantly agreed, as if those flies were like family and friends. I was thinking to myself “What the hell?”. Some sketchy looking young dude (with some strange eye contact) came from the back and started preparing the food. During this time, I started looking at the reviews about this place while I was waiting. 😳 I should have done that first, but I was recommended to this place by a hotel employee.

I should have hit the sandwich shop down the street (a place I have read about in the past). However, I was already committed - having already given her my money. I continued to observe the dining room with the sheer number of flies buzzing around. They were definitely breeding somewhere in this building. There were just too many.

I got my food and left. Back at the hotel, I contemplated just tossing the $14 meal into the garbage can and looking for food elsewhere. I relented on my poor decision making process and ate the food. The food wasn’t bad, and the flavor was enough to pass minimum standards of acceptance.

Would I go back? No.

There is no reason, too - not with all of the food choices to pick from.

I used Google Maps to look at random names of businesses that had the food moniker hovering over the location. Yes, there are some great reviews for “hole in the wall” spots. I even found some young lady who makes custom cookies (from her home) that she started during Covid lockdowns.

Anyways, the empty parking and the fact NO ONE ELSE was there to order food, other than myself, was the gut instinct I should have listened to. Maybe things will change one day…...

Such a disappointment. I researched and this place had a 3.6 star rating, which I thought would be adequate. I don't eat out much so when I got to the counter and looked at their wall menue I asked the difference between the Mongolian foods and the Chinese. The counter person Juan (who had his mask on his chin) looked at me funny. I said is one sweet and the other spicy? He said he didn't know. Then I asked what on the menu is spicy because I don't like sweet things. He said he didn't know but would call the owner, ( the cook was less than 4 feet from him?!?). He came back to the counter and said the sauce could go one the side. I said I wanted the chicken & shrimp combo. I showed him my military id card and asked if they gave a Veteran discount? He didn't know and called the owner again, no they don't. I said to him, I thought with this being Veterans day you might, he looked at me like he had no idea what I was talking about. Juan put the order in and told me the price, which was $1 more than the board said, so I asked him why it was more and he said that meat prices went up. I told him it was false advertisement and if I were smart I would leave. But, it was almost 2pm and I hadn't eaten all day. The shrimp was over cooked to the point of rubber, the chicken over cooked also. I would have given this place a zero star but the food was flavorful and plentiful. I will not...