The China Wok | Chinese Restaurant — Restaurant in Florida

Most reviews here must be fake because nothing in it was a reality for us. Customers: you don’t need to be generous, this is not a mom and pop restaurant, these are owned by chains.

I chose this place because it’s rare to see a Chinese food place rate so high, 4.4/5 over 300 reviews and google says only one $, which is a lie, more like two $$. My hopes were high and so were my expectations. I spent on my first visit over $100 so I could try different things.

1- Sweet and sour chicken was a 1 star. Soggy, greasy, batter was partially raw, the oil was old and used and dark, the taste was nasty. The sweet and sour sauce was good: good flavor, good texture, not great. Needs to be more thick and have oranges or pineapple to make it taste more natural. 1/5

2- I was charged almost $2 more for one extra sweet and sour sauce. They are Italian expresso cup sized, not even medium sized. After spending over $120 I felt insulted, but didn’t complain and still bought the extra sauce because I thought it would be great food, based on all the misleading reviews.

3- crab Rangoon was good, good presentation, good crunch, good filing flavor. Quantity was acceptable for price, the best thing I tried from here. Surprised it didn’t taste like the sweet and sour chicken. 4.1/5

4- boneless spare ribs: all meat, thick chunks, no crunch, not charred (it would have been ideal if it was barbecued, but ok), too light on the sweet and sour sauce, portion size was as you’d expect from other places for the large. 4.2/5.

5- egg rolls were crunchy, ok filling, very expensive and not as big for the price. 3.9/4.

6- deep fried pork dumplings. Meh. 2/5

7- house special soup. Nothing really special about it, mostly water and veggies. Not memorable. Little bag of Fried noodles were the same as the worst place. 3.4/5.

8- house special fried rice. Same as the soup but lots of rice grains instead of actual house special ingredients. 3.3/5

9- beef lo mein. There’s a place on big bend and 301 that sucks. Possibly where they got the lo mein from. Salty, noodles were overcooked so taste was pasty, ok amount of beef. Ok veggies. 3.3/5.

9- the girl that takes the orders was very defensive when I stated that the place was highly recommended and that that’s why I was there and I hope it’s good. Her response was something along the lines of ‘…if you like New York style Chinese’, implying that if you critique it as normal Chinese and not New York Chinese style then you won’t understand the food so my criticism would not be valid. When I asked for extra sweet and sour sauce she stated it would cost me extra money (shocking but ok because maybe it is that good), like I was offending someone by asking for extra sweet and sour sauce after I paid over $100. Maybe they are greedy because they know it’s Apollo beach (big pockets, low standards), or maybe customers are wasteful very often…. “But they just work there”, yes, they work there and it’s what I experienced. This is just another place where you are no longer treated politely or gracefully or pleasantly; which appears to be the new standard in hospitality and customer service everywhere in America . 2/5.

10- staff was neither Chinese nor New Yorkers. how can you serve high quality standards of Chinese New York food if your cooks don’t understand what they are cooking or maybe they don’t care how it comes out because they don’t care what customers think, they just work there. Right? . The cooks should be taught to have higher quality standards for such a high price tag. Or Maybe the cooks should go to a place with higher standards in food quality. 2/5

11- they sell reusable decorated chop sticks for $1.25. They come in a fabric pouch. Great gift for the person you’ll be sharing a meal with. 5/5.

First time I was there, for sure the last. My paid-for food expectations are as high as my regard...

I was in the area for something else. It was lunch time and decided to pick up lunch for me and the wife. My go to Chinese restaurant is China One on 301. From my home, that place 15 minutes without traffic, from where I was it would be 30 minutes or more. I pass a number of Chinese joints to get there and only go there because I think it is the best and most consistent around. I was eager to get home, so my main place was out of the question. I searched google for Chinese restaurants near by and a number popped up on the list. I saw a China One in Apollo Beach and considered going there, but the reviews did not sound so good. Based on reviews I decided upon China Wok.

I judge all Chinese restaurants by the same three menu items. If I think they are good, they get my repeat business. These three are General Tso's Chicken (with fried rice), Szechuan Beef (with white rice), and fried dumplings. The lunch specials ordered with the request to make extra spicy.

My opinions... Lunch orders were a bit smaller than I am used to. But for people on the go and cannot store left overs, they might be the perfect size. Neither orders were very spicy. My wife is Thai/Chinese, so perhaps my taste buds expect spicy. I did ask for spicy, but did not share that my wife wants to breath fire.

Fried Dumplings: They looked beautiful. Too bad they didn't taste as good as they looked. In my youth I dated a nice girl from Taiwan for a few years. We would sit around every few months and make tons of home made dumplings. China One Riverview is the closest I have come to that since moving to Florida. China Wok's dumplings lacked a good flavor, and just tasted a bit strange. They looked homemade. If they are, then I am not a fan of their family recipe.

Gerneral Tso's Chicken: The pieces of chicken were are the larger size. It is probably bad health wise, but I like smaller pieces. By having to cut the chicken pieces in to 3 or 4, you lose the crispy coating and are left searching for sauce to smother them in. Anyway, it did taste good. This order came with fried rice and it was good too.

Szechuan Beef: This one was a definite disappointment. No way did it taste like Szechuan. There was a lot of broccoli in this dish. I like broccoli, but it was excessive in the dish. The only think I can think of is they maybe mixed up my order with someone's Beef with Broccoli. This order came with white rice. Not sure how white rice can be messed up, but it was. I expect Jasmine rice, but this tasted like overcooked Uncle Bens. I was glad I had fresh rice sitting in my Zojirushi rice cooker.

The lunch orders also came with egg rolls. I thought these were very good.

I should also note, it was very pleasant to wait for the to-go order to be prepared. Nearly every Chinese take out restaurant I have been has people with sharp sounding tongues when calling out orders. I am sure in Mandarin or Cantonese it is just "One order of fried dumplings." But here, there was a young Asian girl with a sweet sounding voice communicating from the register to the cooks. It made me feel a bit out of place and confused, but it was very soothing. However, I would rather take the mean guy at China One Riverview, saying "What you want!?!" to get a tastier meal.

I gave this restaurant 2 stars. Their Chicken dish, fried rice and egg rolls were good. However, the big miss on the dumplings, beef dish, white rice, and lack of spice/flavors...

I cannot even begin to explain how fantastic this local gem is. This is always been our go-to for Chinese food because the food has always been amazing!

We just had our son's 13th birthday over the weekend. We wanted to surprise him with Chinese food because it's one of his favorites. However, I found out they are closed on Sundays because they spend their Sundays on family time and giving back to the community.

The owner reached out to me personally when she found out about our party, and even though we needed the food on their one day off, she offered to come in and prepare the food for us anyways. During our conversation, I immediately learned how absolutely thoughtful this family is. I learned that on their ONE day off , they come into work anyways, as a family, and make food for those in the community that need it. They come in and cook food for their "heroes" (homeless veterans). This weekend they were also cooking for a local orphanage to provide food for them as well. I am just absolutely in awe of their pure love and generosity towards our community!

She never once hesitated cook for our family, even though it was their day off. She kept saying since it's Michael's 13th birthday, she had to help make it special! And they absolutely did!

They are just genuinely good-hearted people who love other people. Their food has always been great, but even more than that, I'm so glad to know we have such genuinely loving people as a part of our community.

I cannot recommend this business enough! Great food and...