China Wok — Restaurant in Lemoyne

We are new to the area and were looking for a staple Chinese takeout place. This isn't it. I had a hard time finding it because maps do not take you to the correct spot. This is next door to the goodwill in the plaza.

I ordered online and wasn't able to pay in advance. I had no idea they charged an extra 4% for cards until I got there to pick up the food (not mentioned online anywhere), PLUS an extra service fee charged and I had already tipped 10% online. There's a sign on the register about a free two liter with $30 purchase, but I was ignored when I asked about it. My food was put on a table before I paid for it and I was ignored when I tried to double check that it was my order. It was chaotic inside with so many people in a tiny space.

This cost me more than delivery with delivery fee and a tip from a really good Chinese place that is ~10 miles from us each way, but it wasn't as convenient for me to pick up on my way home from work which is why we tried somewhere closer to home. Big mistake.

The crab rangoons are okay in terms of the filling, but ours were burnt and very crunchy. The sweet and sour sauce was okay.

I was sad they didn't have honey chicken, so I went with the bourbon chicken since that was one of my favorite foods in our previous town. 0/10 - do NOT order. I have no idea what this was, but the sauce was too thick and congealed and the chicken tasted weird. I tried to check their google pics to make sure it looked similar to the kind I ordered before, and it did, but that's not what I received.

The lo mein isn't terrible, but I definitely recommend getting it without veggies. I wasn't a fan. My fiancé liked his shrimp lo mein without veggies.

The worst thing was the shrimp fried rice. It smelled so fishy and rancid as soon as I opened the container... terrible.

The only saving grace and thing I'd ever go back for are the boneless spare ribs. Those were incredible and the only reason for two stars...

OK...my family and I eat Chinese or Japanese food about once a week. We are from a large city, so there are 100's of options for Asian food, from "bad" to "amazing". Maybe that's a factor but I can't see how China Wok is getting all 5 stars reviews. The food is "good" but, 1 quart of beef with broccoli or chicken with vegetables or whatever is basically one quart of the dish INCLUDING the white rice, not one quart of what you ordered. This is NOT how they do it where I come from, nor anywhere I have ever visited, including in the UK. You get a pint or quart of what you ordered PLUS a container or two of rice on the side. Not only that, but the amount of meat in the dish is very scant - I mean about 1/5 of what I'm used to. The vegetables were good, but again, you don't that much b/c 2/3'd of the container is filled up with the rice. But the prices are the same as what I'm used to, so if you do the math, you're paying the same amount for about 1/3 of the food you ordered. Also - scant on the flavor, but heavy on the oil, for a bad combination.My kids asked, "why is the beef fried rice yellow?!" I've had everything from dark brown to very light brown, but never yellow, and again the lack of flavor, but plenty "oily". So not bad, but not 5 stars by any measure. I am sincerely hoping that China Wok isn't getting these great reviews b/c everything else around here is terrible. I'll revisit this review if...

AAUUGGGHHH!

As the reviews properly note, this is probably THE best hole-in-the-wall-Chinese-place around. It is. The food really is better than everywhere else around. So why did I only give it four stars?

Not sure what happened, but yesterday when we called, they indicated that they no longer deliver to Beacon Hill (about four miles away). Which is REALLY confusing as they have delivered numerous times to us and we ensure that we always tip well. Like i said, it truly is better than everyone else.

So we ended up going to a different hole-in-the-wall-place and it was noticeably inferior. We are talking the difference between NIGHT and DAY.

Anyhow, yes, go here. It is good. Four stars for the food. Is it worth taking off an entire star only because they don't deliver to me? Probably not. But since they HAVE DONE IT IN THE PAST and for some reason, now they wont, yeah...gotta hold back on that fifth star.

Until then, I will remain hopeful (and pick up my own...