First Wok of Gainesville

This place was delicious and the staff was extremely nice. Food was prompt and delicious. My fortune cookies were extremely promising. If everything goes according to plan I’ll be posting an update. This could be big … stay tuned.

They have the most horrible customer service skills imaginable. I have gone there for years and have noticed rude comments here and there, but ignored them because I didn't try to worry about it. They cause trouble about asking for plastic silverware when picking up a take out dish, and I was asked "aren't you going home to eat this?" Also beware if you're past the ten minutes, because I thought my husband picked up the order, and he didn't, so I was called three to four times, and text messaged three times about the order being ready, borderline harassment, which was really odd, and I went to pick up the order, all within business hours, and was verbally abused to no end about it. They put up the hugest fuss if you're coming in after 10 minutes to pick up YOUR order when driving time from a house to their restaurant can take anywhere from 15-20 minutes not to mention traffic, and they have the audacity to make you feel like the worst person in the world for paying for their food when it sits there for longer than 10 minutes. It's ridiculous, if I order and arrive while the business is still open I don't see what the problem is, but they definitely have a problem with it and don't mind giving you immense grief about it. I still paid but I won't be returning to their business given that they think its okay to treat their regular customers that way.

My friend had First Wok when I was over last week so I decided to try it. I had the beef sticks and the chicken chow mein with crispy noodles. The beef sticks were good and it was the only part of the meal that I finished. The problems started with the chicken chow mein. While I appreciated the food being cooked fresh, the food had little flavor. I could only taste a slight hint of lemon in the chicken chow mein. Very distasteful. I threw almost all of it away. The crispy noodles on the side were not cooked fresh. They weren't hard as a rock stale but the noodles were definitely out for a while. I am having a tough time deciding whether to go back and try what I saw my friend had, or just cut my losses and keep going back to other Asian restaurants in GNV which have reliably served great food.

Wonton soup is flavorless. Beef teriyaki on a stick was extremely small portion sizes compared to what I normally get else where. Egg roll appears freshly made and not frozen so they get a point for that. I've definitely had better and probably won't be back. I'm simply never impressed when they serve yellow rice with Chinese food, thats always your first sign its your typical run of the mill not so great Chinese food.

This place has been a family favorite since we moved here 14 years ago. The Special Combos are a great end of day grab, and the Wonton Soup is my personal favorite for when I'm sick.