First Wok Chinese Restaurant — Restaurant in Grand Rapids

I was excited to know First Wok was opening a location near my home. We finally decided to make a visit in. I walked into the restaurant and there was a young girl at the hostess counter. She said hello but was very dry and all the while had this irritated look on her face. Our server finally came around and I had a few questions about the menu. I asked her what bamboo root was she shuggs her shoulders and says "I don't know, a Chinese vegetable " still confused I asked "is it bitter, sweet, no flavor? How would you describe it?" She shrugged her shoulders again and said " I don't know?" I said "nevermind... I'll look for something else. " How can you be a server at a restaurant and you know nothing about the menu??? So ridiculous! She was very unhappy, not very personable at all and very very unprofessional. We ordered shrimp with garlic sauce, 2 eggrolls, and 2 hot and sour soup. She was very abnoxious and wanted us to make sure we knew we had to pay for the eggrolls and soup since they were not "free" with the shrimp. I let her know we uderstood completely and she should go place our order. She brought our food out, She filled our water glasses once and never asked how we were doing, never came to check on us. She seemed preoccupied with everything else going on in the resturaunt and they were not that busy. She dropped off our bill and asked if we wanted boxes I said "Yes, please. " She packed our food very very messy. Sauce was running down the sides of the boxes and everything was sticky. I asked her for napkins to clean up the mess and she just sat them on the table... she didn't get it. She made the mess SHE should clean it. Whatever, I was over the entire experience at this point. As I was preparing her tip (which I really shouldn't have) another server comes and says " Did you already pay?! Uhmm, I mean did someone take care of this for you??" I said yes. This made me feel like were just a number and not customers. Our money was more important to them than our experience. I understand it's a business BUT if you have no customers you have no business. I have such a big family and many friends that host dinners and parties I will never recommend this resturant to no one. I would feel horrible if my loved ones had to experience this. Walking out the same uninterested young girl at the hostess counter was having a conversation with another coworker about a Chinese New Year party that evening all the while she had 2 other families just standing there waiting to be seated. Overall I was not impressed to say the least and will NOT be back. I was very surprised since the 28th street location has always delivered GREAT customer service and the servers are very knowledgeable about the menu. This is important for me since i love trying something new from the menu and often have questions. The 28th street location servers are always so professional and make the dining experience very nice! It's unfortunate the same was not delivered at the 44th street location, it's truly sad since the food was actually pretty good. If I want Chinese food though I'll just go somewhere else i will not support a business like that one. There are many to chose from in that same area that would love my family's business. After reading the other reviews I guess I'm not the only one that had a bad customer service experience. Customer service is KEY for me the food can be so so but if you treat me right I'll come back! Hopefully the owner reads these and takes action otherwise they will just be another empty building on...

Before they moved I would rave about first wok being the best Chinese in this area... But now since the new fancy banquet hall they've took a nose dive toward the crapper... Customer service is a joke. I stood there with my Grandmother and made eye contact with like 5 people and no one spoke. I had to ask to please be seated... Ridiculous. Then host proceeded to take us to a dirty table complete with dishes and told us to sit! Never brought new place settings we had to use the two that the previous table didn't use. Then the waitress asked what we wanted to drink I told her mine and she walked away before taking my grandmothers order! Then she would clunk down everything she brought to the table and set it down on the edge, to where we had to move things just so we didn't have a assortment of dishes waiting to fall because she seemed to not be able to comprehend not to plop dishes on the edge of a table. Then I asked for a box for my dumplings and a container for my sauce she boxes my dumplings and puts it in a bag... I realize when I got home she gave me a totally different sauce... I have no idea what the sauce is she gave me or where it came from. I'm sad because food is usually amazing but this is the second time I've been to the new building and both visits ended in total disappointment... And from what I'm reading I'm not the only one who feels this way.. I hope they read these reviews and make some much needed...

Ok, 3rd take out in the last 6 months to give them one last opportunity to prove a couple bad runs wrong, because we ADORED this place and we've been going for decades to both locations (44th and in Cascade). Sorry to say, but the food flavor has really gone down. The quality has changed... the beef dishes, the shrimp is off tasting, even the taste of basic fried rice is totally boring-like no oil/butter?!. Then there's the "special" loaded egg drop soup that everyone seems to love. Their version's been good, don't get me totally wrong. Don't know any other restaurant to make egg drop soup with anything but the egg. Historically I've been a fan of the traditional egg/broth, not all the extra veggies, shrimp, etc, like they have packed in theirs here. But somehow now it's actually bland and lacking flavor with all that stuff in it, if that's even possible! So disappointed overall because we are loyalists and we gave them several extra tries since this was our local #1 go-to, where normally we'd only go thru one bad meal and be a one and done. The owner was always awesome, the service when eating in has always been top notch. But now, hate to say it, at the price, and to top it off, not even including the usual "loyalty" crab cheese, time to find a new fave shack or to take a longer trip to P.F. Chang's.

Absolute best Chinese cuisine around. No msg!! Delicious! Great service and...