Hot Wok — Restaurant in Staunton

This was my first, and more than likely only, visit to Hot Wok... I wish I could give a better rating, since so many people love this place that I decided to try it out. First off, the food is ok but not the best we've had in the area. You can tell it's meant to be fast food. The food seemed fresh, though, so that was good. But that was the extent of the pleasantness of this visit. The cashier was scattered all over the place and looked very confused when taking our orders and putting our food boxes together. The entire restaurant was empty other than employees, so I couldn't understand why he kept getting so mixed up, so that wasn't the problem I am sure). We patiently repeated our order until it was correct, but then he had issues ringing it in on the register. When he realized he made a mistake (and I would have to pay separately for part of my order because he forgot to ring it in) he dropped the "F"-bomb loudly in front of my two small children, then proceeded to curse loudly while talking to another employee to figure out what he did. Both of my kids were very uncomfortable during this. The restaurant was empty, but it was obvious that there had been patrons before we came because several tables were covered in trash and bits of food left behind. I would understand this if they were busy, but they had about 7-8 people working and no other customers so that many tables being dirty was a turn-off. My kids kept asking to leave even though we were originally going to stay to eat, and after a few minutes of listening to the employees talking loudly amongst themselves (with a lot of cursing thrown in), we decided to leave.

If I were alone there, I would not have cared. However, I had my kids with me, and it's supposed to be a family-friendly restaurant but it was giving off very trashy vibes with the loud obscenities and chaotic...

A few weeks ago, I called in an order to pick up. I was asked if I’d like to pay then or when I got there…I said when I got there, he asked about what time I’d be there so I gave a specific time. When I arrived, I paid and then heard my order called out to the cooks….after waiting about 25-30 minutes I was on my way. While standing there watching and listening, another customer called in their order and was asked the same questions I was asked except I heard him say, “if you pay now it’ll be ready when you get here.” Ok, there’s the problem, I chose to pay in person but why did I call in my order ahead and give a time? So, today we chose to order again…this time, I’ll pay over the phone so it’ll be ready at the time I was asked, which I specifically asked “it’ll be ready when I get there?”. I arrived one minute after said designated time, 34 minutes after placing the call and my card being charged. As soon as I said my name for pickup, my order was called out to the cooks in the back….to BEGIN to make it. WHY did you ask what time I’d be there? IF I wanted to stand around in a public place, I wouldn’t call in my order. After standing there for 11 more minutes and my frustration growing, my food is finally ready. No apologies for having to wait. I asked if I was missing a step of the process as to why my order wasn’t ready when I gave a specific time and paid over the phone, I was asked to repeat what I said, asked what did I order…what does that matter, I called in my order almost an hour ago. Frustration turned to anger when the girl behind the register asked me “what the F! is your problem”…really? Might be decent food but I have no plans of ever returning! Guess my business isn’t...

Friendly staff, decent portions, lunch specials ($7.49) didn’t seem to be advertised in-store (only saw them in their online ordering system).

Their popular menu items are their meal combos. One entree, two entrees, or three entrees with fried rice for $10, $11, and $12 respectively. If you want noodles (lo mein), there would be a $1 surcharge. Meal combo comes with either a drink or an egg roll. The portions of the food we received were pretty decent. One combo meal box was enough to feed two people. The food tasted as expected. Very standard American Chinese food taste.

The layout of the restaurant is very interesting. It was previously a Country Cookin buffet restaurant. After it closed, Hot Wok took it over but didn’t do a massive remodeling. As a Chinese take-out style restaurant, they don’t need that much dining space. Hence, most areas are left empty/non-used, a corner/section is used as a dining area (a few booths and tables), and another corner is sublet (seems like) to a small shoe store.

They also sell bubble tea. We didn’t try it. But it’s good to see a small town like Staunton has a place that offers bubble tea!

In their online ordering system, they also show lunch specials(11am-3pm) for only $7.49. We didn’t see this being advertised in-store, otherwise we probably would have ordered them and that would have saved us a few bucks.

Overall, good dining experience. I would...