Golden Wok — Restaurant in San Antonio

Having driven by this restaurant on multiple occasions but finally found the time to dine in, sort of makes this review all the more meaningful due to my expectations and experience. That being said, sadly, I should have kept driving. No, my review isn't solely based on just the food, but the restaurant in its entirety. The exterior is really something to be desired, as it is not that welcoming, as in, it doesn't give off the best vibe (maybe at night, while it's lit up). Nonetheless, when you enter, the host is posted directly in front. She was very nice and greeted me appropriately. After being seated and explaining the days lunch special, it wasn't long before my waiter came to my table. I must add that the place wasn't so busy, which, in my mind, should have set the pace as to which my food and service were rendered. I ordered ice tea to start; I looked over my menu and immediately knew what I wanted to order. (However) What I wanted was not listed on the menu. A simple plate of chicken chow mein. My side order, (entree's) vegetable egg rolls, and a bowl of wanton soup. My waiter once again approached... which quite frankly took way too long given the lack of patrons... I asked if they served c.c.m., and his reply was, "yes, we just don't list it on the menu." I ordered, amlong with my entrées. The soup and egg rolls came pretty quick, and here's where the food experience starts to decline. The soup was just like any other place I've ever ordered, e.d.s., it was served nice and hot, with a side of fried egg noodles. The egg rolls: I'm not sure if they were going for oil as a dipping sauce, but yes, my plate was filled with oil, and the e.r's were seething with oil, and had so much oil that you couldn't taste anything else. It actually made my stomach churn (think of the 90's chips, which were made with olestra, which acted like a laxative! I think you get my point.) Mind you, my main course hadn't arrived, but this only gave my stomach all the more time to refute what was becoming a clear revolt, given what I had just ingested! 😆 At last, my waiter came within questioning distance, and so I requested my main course be a "to-go," as something suddenly came up. (In this case, things were about to go down 😩!) The wait was (felt like) comparable to standing in line at the DMV! Finally, my food came bagged up, along with my bill... $38.00 + $10.00 tip, mind you, I had a momentarily lapse of reason given my pressing, "issue." However, for every $20.00, I usually tip $5.00. Okay, I was quickly on my way out. Given the above service and food recollection, let me add about the restaurants atmosphere. The furniture is wood...at best, along with the seats, and / or rolling chairs. The tables do not have table clothes, and the music was way too loud. The kitchen is an open type model, so you hear the continued racket of a restaurants "cooking" sounds. Hence, the music being too loud. (I assume.) Lastly, given the open-kitchen style, the overwhelming smells are quite powerful. Takeaway, my lunch meal for 1 was insanely overpriced, and my experience, well, left a lasting impact on me...or out of...

Read reviews, and it seemed like THE place to go for good chinese. the San Antonio Current also listed them as the best Chinese Restaurant in town. I was excited about making the trip here.We are about 30 mins away. We got here about 730pm on a Tuesday Night. After waiting about 35 mins (they told us 10-15mins) we got settled in. I ordered Jasmine Tea. It was light and tasty. I think the smell was better than the taste. Still worth the try. I also wanted to try some of the dumplings out, but they were seriously out of 3 of the ones I wanted. In fact they were out of 5 in total on the menu. I settled for another. Just a reminder in a restaurant you shount have to settle. Not a good start. They were Shrimp dumplings. I forgot the name. They were tasty and the sauce that came with it was beautifully done. We also got the Vegetable Spring Rolls. Picture has 4, but comes in ordered of 2. Not cool. The spring rolls were pretty big, and tasty. We like spicy food, and had to order 3 different sauces to get the spice level to where we like it. We also ordered Lettuce Wraps. That was good, but we thought the mushrooms needed to change either in size or texture. It seemed like it was overcooked or still had a lot of moisture in it. Order dinner, I got the Kung Pow. The rest of the table got Island Fried (veg) rice, ma pow tofu, pad thai noodles and Singapore Noodles. First off the bat, ma pow tofu. Don't bother, unless if you like a mouth full of extremely mushy non flavorful food. The other dishes came with chicken or other protein. I was with vegetarians, so I suggested that the kitchen can put the chicken on the side and I'll eat it. (Kung Pow was my dish) when the dishes came, waiter told me that they couldn't put the chicken from the other dishes on the side, but they still charged me full price. I think that was a bunch of crock. I think that after that, my night wouldn't get any worse. I drove into my Kung Pow with white rice. The sauce was ok. Not even spicy at all even though the menu sait it was. The chicken texture was crunchy and chewy at the same time. The actual chicken seemed over cooked or was re cooked. Not pleasant. The other food, the noodles and fried rice, were good. I think the Singapore Noodles was good, but the pad thai we wanted spicy but didn't happe. my family didn't thoroughly enjoy their food either. All in all. I would probably recommend another place, or try this place on a different night as they were definitely off their game that night. I should not have nor my family should have gone thru that. All that food, $100 later we left disappointed and started to look for another chinese restaurant to try next week that same night. Kadeem was our server and was very polite and accomadting during our dining experience. I wish we had a better experience. I even liked the story about how the owner started...

Came here on a Monday at 1pm with a party of 4. Waited 50 minutes which was not surprising after the holidays. Our waitress, Edith, promptly arrived, no smile and clearly in a rush but took our order. Had to call her back to order from the dim sum menu. Food arrived quickly, tastes like your typical Chinese-American fast food - nothing amazing but also not terrible. The normal charge for hot tea here is 3.29/person, unlimited refills. We've done this before and found the tea selection to be average and took too long for refills for groups of over 2 people. This time we asked for just hot water and used our own tea, which is common for us. Most Asian restaurants are transparent about their policy for outside tea, which is usually a$2.50 charge, or a charge for hot water since it cuts into their profits. Golden Wok does not state this policy. Waitress actually took away our pot for 10 minutes when clearing space for more dishes, and we had to request it again. When the check arrived there was a charge of $13.16 for 'hot tea'. Asked the waitress about this and she called the manager. An Asian man with a Vietnamese accent came over and angrily told us this is what they do if there's any outside food. We stated there was no transparency for this policy, and that it's wrong to charge customers for 'hot tea' when none was purchased. We'd happily pay for hot water if there was a charge, but it's incorrect to charge for an item the customer didn't order or receive. The manager said he'd remove the charge. Edith returned with the updated check and "apologized" for the miscommunication, stating that she had to charge us for the tea because "it's our policy to charge for any outside food. What if you had brought in alcohol and we lose our license?". She took the payment and left, leaving me confused about that absurd argument. Suffice to say this was the worst service we've received in a long time from any restaurant. This place clearly doesn't care about patronage; they rely on mass production of cheaply made lunch specials to maintain profits, and if any problem arises the management is not equipped to handle it without feeling inconvenienced. Apart from the inexpensive lunch specials, this place leaves a lot to be desired. For efficiency and accuracy of entrees this place gets 2 stars. If you want a cheap meal for under $15 this will be it. However, if you want decent service and not have to wonder if someone tampered with your food, try...