Asia Wok Chinese Food — Restaurant in San Diego

Read this through, and don't let the photos fool you. You'll thank me for not wasting your money...

So, I had a strong craving for salt and pepper chicken wings, went here tonight because it's located maybe 5 minutes from where I just moved to. Thought it looked okay online, and would save me a 20 min drive to Imperial Palace or Royal Mandarin in National City, my fave places to go for good wings! A few reviews said the S&P wings were good. They lied!

Firstly, the cost is crazy at $12 for 8 pieces. I can go to either of the aforementioned places and get 12 wings PLUS fried rice for the same price or close to it. No rice comes with the wings at Asia Wok. I was feeding three people, so I ended up ordering a 2-item combo meal to make up for the extra pieces of chicken I was expecting, as well as for the rice.

Secondly, although they were friendly enough, the service was very slow. Very. The chick at the counter was pulling double duty packing to-go orders and counter orders while her co-worker rang people up, and I respect that it's a lot of work. But she had absolutely no pep in her step! Moving way too slow. There were four worker-guys just kinda standing around in the side and back areas of the kitchen not doing anything or helping out at all. I was in line maybe 6-7 minutes before she even greeted me. Then I had to wait for more wings to cook, which I thought was a good sign at first, like, 'They can't keep enough wings at the counter, must be tasty!' 😊 20 minutes later, the wings come out. They looked a little dark, but I was ready to go and didn't feel like complaining...

Got into the car and I could smell the salt / old grease. Not a good sign. Got them home and tasted them - WAAAAY too much table salt! I had to dust some of it off. You can tell they aren't using the authentic seasoning mix. S&P fans know that flavor. You can barely wait to drive off in the car before digging into the bag when that aroma hits your nose. 🤤 This was literally just table salt, some red chili flakes and green onion. No kosher salt flakes, no fried garlic, not even any pepper!? And I know it's not the best for you, buuut, if there's no MSG in the seasoning, it's a fraud. No MSG here. The batter had a kinda thickness to it. Too much batter. Not light and crispy.

They aren't the worst I've ever tasted, but darn close. I definitely will not be going back. I'll just make the drive to National City and get the real deal. $25 for some salty-as-ish blah wings and some fried rice. I coulda bought a large pad of chicken wings next door at Food4Less and made my own that would've tasted more authentic and been a more satisfying...

My fiancee picked me up lunch 5/02/19 pretty early to go to su suprise me. Orange chicken, chow mein noodles and fried wings. Well the food was old reheated tasting at best but I've had leftover Chinese before from take out that was still good the next day. The noodles were so over cooked the cagbbage was even mush, the temporary batter on chicken hard as rock with to much salt and stringy overcooked meat inside. By 3 in afternoon I have timmy troubles and slight discomfort, it's now 4:30 in morning the day after and it's escalated I will wait a couple more hours and if no better I will fo to ER. I will update and let you know but either way.., you will get a better tasting and fresher Chinese meal from your local grocery store freezer section. But if you wanna try your luck the portions are substantial, $9.95 for the 3 portions, drink...

I haven't really ever had any major issues here and the food is tasty. I'm really only giving 4 stars because it's a bit dirtier than the other location near Imperial and 45th, I had one experience where the food tasted as if had been sitting out for awhile (granted we went pretty late in the evening), and there are some inconsistencies. I usually order half rice half chow mein with fish or shrimp and on a couple of occasions the employee attempted to charge extra for the seafood when I've ordered it many times with no surcharge (I was never actually charged extra when I made it clear that I've ordered the same thing many times with no issue). Also sometimes the food tastes just a little different. Nonetheless, I've had more satisfying experiences than bad ones. Tasty Asian cuisine, and large portions at a...