Kwok's Bistro — Restaurant in Reno

Hands down this is the finest Chinese restaurant in Reno. I will warn you it does not look like much from the outside. It is beautifully decorated inside and quite exclusive in the sense that you need a reservation to get in for dinner because it is so tiny and very popular to those who are in the know.

Every dish is quality and well worth the reasonable price when you compare it to other Chinese restaurants in the area that just don't have this type of bougie cuisine.

Every dish is made with love and care and you can see that in the way that they present the dishes and the portions that they present to you for the price.

You will not go home hungry.

Sometimes ordering Chinese cuisine can be a little bit daunting if you don't quite know what the dish is. Simply ask! They are quite happy to explain the origins of the dish of what goes into it and how to best enjoy it with your appetite.

Every time I come here it's service with a smile and flavors that just truly knock it out of the park. This place is on a whole nother level. I really have hesitated to write this review because I don't want the secret to get out which would bar me from ever getting a reservation again.

But in fairness to the Google community it needs to be known that this is truly the best Chinese restaurant in Reno and my only regret is that their location isn't bigger.

If you love authentic salt and pepper prawns with the head on this is the place for you.

The first time I ordered their potstickers I was a little bit intimidated and scared by the fact that they were not the traditional pot sticker shape. They are a giant meatball of a pot sticker and you only get three to an order instead of six. That being said they are so stuffed with yummy goodness You will not care that you only got three instead of six. You actually probably get more filling with this little order of three meatball ish potstickers that are very giant then you would in a traditional order of six at any other Chinese restaurant.

They offer both styles of beef chow fun traditional with the gravy or dry style with soy sauce which is more of a San Francisco style type of ordering. I personally prefer the dry style with soy sauce. But if you like the gravy give it a go because everything else is so on point I can't imagine that that would be terrible.

If you have been hesitating wait no further just scoot on over and make a reservation.

PS when you order the duck it is already deboned for you truly luxury duck eating...

Food: Greasy.

Salty.

Usually parts of the meat or vegetable dishes are tough or stringy, hard to eat.

Cleanliness: Gloves not used at all.

Some dining plates given to customers to eat with are chipped.

Menus not cleaned, even when used in non-typical ways by customers' kids playing with them.

Tables cleaned with a simple wipe of a cloth, unclear if cleaning solution is used.

Pet-friendly, the service staff will pet the pets if the customers are ok with it, but will not wash their hands before helping other customers.

Tables are height adjusted periodically, unclear if hands are washed after.

Tables, including used napkins and fallen utensils on floor are picked up.

Unclear if front staff wash hands before handling takeout orders, both in packing and in payment.

Ambience: Small restaurant, has a patio space with empty tables that isn't used for some reason.

The staff usually has secret conversations loudly in a non-English language.

The staff sometimes eats dinner with the guests during their business hours.

The staff is averse to online reservations seen in other restaurants at this price point, preferring the phone-in or in-person version.

If the restaurant has no tables available for walk-ins, the staff usually doesn't offer takeout options unless customers ask.

Service: The chunker cashier with glasses is very grumpy and makes you feel that he's doing your party a favor to let everyone eat at his restaurant or get takeout.

The other waitress is great, very friendly, and tries to keep looking busy during working hours and interacts with all customers well, trying to bring joy to the dining experience.

Price: Appetizers range from $14 - $75

All other dishes average to $20 +/- $5

Rice is extra, at $3 per cup, only white rice available

Portion wise, the exaggerated price does not mean larger portions,...

We tried for months until we excitedly got a reservation at what we thought would be the best Asian food in Reno. Perhaps we ordered the wrong dishes, and from the photos there may be better ones, but I'm reviewing based on our order. Unfortunately, I've had better tasting Chinese food from plastic containers at Safeway. The 1 star I'm giving is for the nice intimate location and for the nice service that we got from our server, Winnie. The rest was "meh".

The "gravy chow fun" (picture attached) was an unappetizing, homogenous white mixture of noodles and chicken, but even with the dish right in front of us, we couldn't tell which was which. Tasting it didn't help much either. I'm not exaggerating when I say there was no more flavor than eating raw noodles. I'm shocked something like that could be on the menu and that anyone in the kitchen would feel okay serving it to a customer. Do a Google image search for "gravy chow fun" and you certainly won't find anything that looks like this.

The 5 spice chicken wings were cooked nicely, but were basically fried wings with no flavor. I have nothing against dry wings, but I couldn't taste anything that I would call "spice" or seasoning whatsoever. Perhaps it would have been better to serve them with a flavorful dipping sauce, but definitely not by themselves.

I was really looking forward to the general chicken, which is normally one of my favorite dishes, but it came out as a pile of chicken with a red sauce poured over it, which was too sweet and no spice. Very disappointing.

The szechuan egglant was probably the best flavor and the most appetizing out of everything we ordered, but again, underwhelming flavor and unfortunately looked a lot better...