Wok & Roll — Restaurant in North Carolina

Edited review as of 01-01-2021

ZERO STARS

We've all had a year of this to adapt, try to come to terms and keep each other safe. This restaurant despite maintaining a constant stream of customers already being takeout focused has not done so.

If this seems terse and unfriendly or upsets your world view of denial then tough. I've watched family die from this and I've been and remain as pro business as anyone can be during an outbreak. There are no excuses left for open businesses not to take precautions that cost virtually nothing and are basic alterations to behavior which would have been a good thing even without covid. We could all do without norovirus being a common misery just as well as covid. People who showed up for work sick as a dog a vomiting but so proud of there work ethic have long cost the economy far more than their day of marginal fevered productivity. It's been common practice in Asia for decades to wear a mask if you have any signs that you may be ill and have to go out in public. I've met too many people of room temperature intellect who angrily profess that they are not dirty when told to wear a mask, use hand sanitizer or any number of precautions toddlers were taught decades ago.

So for them, toddlers and stores that can't grasp this: Most pathogens can spread before we show signs of illness, after we recover and many either show no symptoms or are oblivious to them. That is why we are stuck assuming everyone could be sick outside of co-isoltion through the combined. incubation - illness window. we all wear masks to disrupt the most vapor stream we exhale that carries viral particles further and higher while keeping then aloft longer and protected in a most droplet. Your mask helps protect others vastly more effectively than others wearing a mask protects from you. Hand sanitizer kills the virus the last customer put on your hands when you touch their card and then blocks your transmission to the next twenty customers. Distancing provides the needed space for your breath now blunted by a mask to not reach the next person in lower parts per million with lower odds of infection.

As of three visits they are following many basic Covid safety regulations, enforcing them with customers who can't grasp basic safety and are showing little common sense.

No employees constistantly wear masks, including at the point of sale.

They do not seen to use gloves, also at the point of sale when handling customer cards and receipts.

They neither provide nor themselves use hand sanitizer at the point of sale.

They are not marking out customer spacing to form safe lines or any semblance of spacing. There is no system to separate orders from pickups or payments. In fact they are almost perfectly encouraging clustering by a lazy jurry-rigged point of sale. Since they often don't bother to take names, numbers or order numbers they expect people to approach multiple times and shout there order back and forth. This compounds risks with the sociopaths who simply can't wear a mask in public who cluster tightly around the the window cut into a tarp covering the front door. They effectively block everyone practicing distancing. Those who are trying to be safe end up waiting for the maskless to leave while trying to not have them surround you when you finally pick up your cold food.

They are using bins of self serve condiments.

Worst of all they are leaving out one pen for all customers to sign with and become quite baffled and enraged when you refuse to use the tainted pen.

Prior 3 star review from August below:

Rude service. Maybe its just trying to interact with Covid complicating things. C quality greasy Chinese food that doesn't taste like very authentic Chinese or like good American style Chinese. They admit that they are using limited meat but prices are not lower. The food had an odd old vegetable old oil taste with little seasoning. Really wish this was good as it is a great location where a great takeout restaurant would do...

Absolutely unpleasant hostess.

My fiance and I usually go to Taste of China in Southport, I've been eating there for more than a decade. They've recently begun closing on Sunday so when we decided we were in the mood for Asian food this Sunday we decided to go to Wok and Roll instead, a restaurant we already considered inferior to Taste of China.

On the phone the hostess was curt and short with me. There was a miscommunication about one combination platter, I had wanted a C23 and she thought I wanted a C21. When I explained the mistake she was very abrupt and interrupted me a few times further when I was choosing rice and sides for each platter. I got the impression she was very impatiently taking my order.

When my fiance went in to pay for and retrieve the food, the hostess was again short with him. I had forgotten to tell him our carryout number and he did not know for sure what I had ordered. Instead of trying to work with him to figure out which order was ours, she told him that they "had a lot of carryout orders" and they were "all combination platters". She was visibly perturbed with him and he didn't feel like she would have given him the opportunity to return to the car to ask what we had ordered without further antagonistic behavior. She threw her hands in the air in frustration at him multiple times, and threw her hands in the air again before answering when the phone rang as my fiance was leaving the store. She was visibly upset taking the order of the person who called.

I understand that we were an inconvenience to her during the dinner rush, but both myself and my fiance are very non-confrontational people who would rather take an incorrect order over asking a polite server to take it back. My fiance has worked retail his whole life and we do our best to make dealing with us as painless as possible for employees.

I really feel that perhaps this hostess was overwhelmed with the rush and was just very frustrated, but I feel like they should either employ a second hostess or find her a position that is easier to cope with. Taking frustration out on a customer is never appropriate.

The food was decent. Not as good as Taste of China but I have no complaints. I personally prefer Taste of China's food and vastly prefer their servers. Everyone there knows us and our number as well as our usual orders and even before we had a personal relationship with them they were always polite and understanding. I very seriously doubt we will return to Wok and Roll in the...

My review is not particularly about the food. It is mainly about the service, the unfriendliness and the fact that I support this Chinese restaurant I order from this Chinese restaurant. I call in my order but I hate the experience every time. It's sad that they are very unfriendly, not polite and not helpful. They are very aggressive. When I have called every time to order they're always rushing and they have no manners or respect. This is not a place I would like to eat based off of the service. It does not matter how good the food is or if you're the only restaurant in the area. It's true. I can cook my own food at home, but also there is a Chinese restaurant in Southport which is way more friendlier helpful and in 2025 we need to let people know when they are just rude for no reason. Especially if you support them. Customer service is very important to me. It's more important than the food and if I don't feel like I can ask a question without being attacked about a food item I don't know about, I would prefer not to order here so this will not be my go-to Chinese anymore. And FYI if you order from here you better know exactly what you want, how you want it because if not they will rush you yell at you or even say they don't understand which they do or they will even just be rude. I did call the restaurant and I informed them and all I wanted was I am sorry I understand but instead she laughed and disregarded me and I am a black woman and I do go here and I'd like to try new things but she was...