Wok 88 Reviews

Avoid the lunch hour rush and go after 1 pm to sit comfortable or order takeout at this nice Chinese restaurant serving excellent Chinese food. Crispy shrimp with honey walnuts is great as are the fried dumplings. Dishes are consistently well prepared. Service is prompt and friendly. Reasonable prices with lunch special which includes entree with soup or soda.

service great and FAST - the food was amazing - i am a pineapple fanatic, and this is BY FAR, the best i have ever eaten,. Not a tourist place, real New Yorkers eat here. Don't miss it.

If you are hungry for Chinese food and want it delivered fast at a reasonable price then this is the place to call! During Hurricane Sandy this place stayed open and was making deliveries! Exceptional work ethic. The delivery guy knows me and doesn't mind that my dog barks at him.

This is a hole in the wall type restaurant. Don’t expect a restaurant with great decor. Food is very good. The best food is hot & sour soup, shredded beef with carrots and fried rice. Eat this and you are good to go. Service is prompt. We come here in ever visit we make to NYC for either lunch or dinner.

Food is out of this world. Fried rice is amazing. Their honey chicken is the best I've ever had. Veggies are crisp and fresh. Great flavors and made fresh every time. Highly recommend this if you want simple inexpensive delicious local Chinese food.

This is the best Chinese food in NYC. I have been going to this restaurant and its now defunct sister restaurant "First Wok" since 1985. Never had a bad meal. Their General Tsao's Chicken is #1 anywhere. Their steamed vegetable dumplings and cold sesame noodles are amazing. There is no need to go anywhere else in NYC for Chinese food. On a recent trip to NYC we ate there 3x and were happy we did each time.

Wok 88 puts out a great chinese meal. We had their speciality of the house White Meat Sesame Chicken served crispy. It was heavenly. Paired that with their Fried Rice, Dry Sauteed String Beans and Hunan Shrimp. All great dishes and the meal was most enjoyable. The Restaurant decor is non existent its an almost hole in the wall place but clean well maintanied. Not a luxury restaurant experience.

I recently moved to the UES and been looking for a good Chinese food place. I've tried a couple of places around this area and this is probably the most decent place I found. Good hot and sour soup and general tso chicken.

Order their takeout at least once a month...never disappointed...good portions and always enough for a second meal the next day! Nice people on the phone and the delivery men always very polite and very quick. Overall good and fresh food...you will not be disappointed.

I lived in NYC for most of my life and this was my favorite Chinese restaurant. They had two locations when they were named First Wok. Rents rose and they closed their 78th Street location and renamed this location to Wok 88. Superb Chinese food that never ceases to excel above all the competition. Cold noodles with sesame sauce are the finest anywhere. General Tsaos Chicken(spicy one with cabbage) is amazing. Boneless spare ribs are wonderful. Wonton soup is the nectar of the gods. Steamed vegetable dumplings make every other restaurants seem pathetic. These are the real deal. Every time we return to NYC from our new home in Florida this is our first stop. This trip alone we will eat there three times. You won’t be disappointed!!! Did I mention that it is super reasonably priced? Especially the lunch specials.

Go here for the food. The restaurant is plain, the staff efficient, but the food was surprisingly good. Prices are moderate, especially for UES. They do a land-office take out business too. Did not see a bar; think there is no liquor license.

Tks to TripAdvisor family we Foundation this restaurant in New-York. Very nice location and very good food The staff Was so kind to explain the different dishes and to help us to taste different flavours Big...very big portions...and delicious food It Was a good value for money

They Got Greedy With 'Inflation' After 25 years I will no longer order. Prices are UP, portions SMALLER, they sell won-ton for DUMPLINGs which is really crooked. Last three orders prove they changed for the WORSE

Incredible food. Large portions. Reasonable pricing. Honey Tso chicken was huge portion, expertly cooked. Pork hunan with shrimp was perfectly flavored Pork dumplings also great! I will be back!!

My girlfriends and I enjoyed a really nice meal...simple but tasty...I recommend it! Scallion pancakes are amazing, shrimp and walnuts are in a sweet and sour sauce (I think) or something like it...very tasty....and garlic broccoli, a noodle dish of some kind, and won ton soup...sorry for the lack of description but it was ordered without me...I was late...

My friend and I stumbled on this restaurant walking back to the subway after visiting the Guggenheim Museum It was a Sunday at about 3pm and it was quite crowded even at that time- a good sign. We got in and ordered and the food came in a reasonable time. I had pad thai and it was delicious and a substantial portion, I couldn't even finish it. My friend had a pork dish and because it was still "lunch" time it was a special only $8.50, unheard of in NY for such good food. Highly recommend.

If you are staying on the upper east side make sure you visit this restaurant for dinner. Excellent food, wide variety of choices and good service. We had the pork bun appetizer and lemon chicken and house lo me in for dinner. All of the food was great.

This restaurant was a great find, lots of locals dining there. They were happy to serve off menu and the food was freshly cooked and tasty too. Service was a little rushed but polite enough. Would visit again.

Restaurants that dish out authentic cuisine never need the word "Authentic" in their shop name. Wok 88 is one of them. Prominently located on 3rd Ave between E 88th and E 89th St, Wok 88 has regularly impressed with its delicious Chinese menu, generous serving and attentive servers. They have a large selection of dishes to choose from: poultry, seafood, some Western fare and healthier options like brown rice (additional $1). It quietly goes about its business but it is a busy place of a gem during dinner (6.00pm - 7.30pm). Each meal comes with free hot tea and fortune cookies; dinner also comes with cut fruits. Lovely place for anyone looking for great Chinese food!

PROS Definitely the price: lunch x2 with less than 25$ tips and taxes included. Rare in NYC. Standard quality of food. CONS Restaurant is so so, service is nice but really essential. Keep in mind but you can skip if you have better

This is very good Asian cuisine, the food is hot tasty and a good price,. You can eat in or takeaway. There is a great selection to choice from

very comfortable, lovely food, will come back!!! our server was very funny, sorry don't recall his name, very affordable

As some others have pointed out, TripAdvisor rating system needs some category between "average" and "very good". I gave an "average" just because some problem with the delivery: we got a drink with the menu, it was missing from the bag though, we called and were told they would send it, but it never happened... The food was quite good though! Fried rice and 10 ingredients noodles for $20 (with enough food for 3 people!). Definitely a convenient place to order food!

This restaurant has a phenomenal location that is very convenient along with being unbelievably, amazingly awesome.

We stopped for lunch and was thrilled with our choice! We especially loved the egg rolls, hot and sour soup, and General Tso chicken! Food was fresh and tasty!

My best friend always talked about this place, she worked around the area, she finally convinced me to try it, living in NYC you will find a Chinese restaurant every other block. This restaurants has good portions, I love their pineapple chicken! If your looking for cheap, good food, visit! You can try it after watching a movie at the theaters around the area

Amazingly good food foir a neighborhood chinese restaurant. If you like roast duck, go for it! Or choose from the pictures on the screen.

The place is not that big, so we had to wait for our table a little bit. I like seeing people wait in line in front of a restaurant, that usually means they have good food. When you sit down, they offer you some complementary herbal tea, while you wait for your apetizers. Three of us shared some chicken wraps, you get to wrap yourself, one of us also had a soup, and we had pineapple chicken, mango chicken and some crispy chicken house special. Along with couple sodas the total was $55. Not bad for a tasty dinner in NY. Service was a little bit off, but considering how busy the place was its not surprising. I would recommend Wok88 over most Chinatown restaurants any time

There’s plenty of upscale expensive dining in the Upper East Side, and, as everywhere, an enormous number of places selling really awful food. This is very decent Chinese food, in generous portions, no frills, but at good prices, especially if you do the lunch package. There’s just one thing to be aware of, and that’s if you come at a very busy time, your order for dining in will be competing not only with other diners but with the very busy delivery and takeout service. I asked very nicely if I could be served ASAP and I was, but some workers on limited lunch breaks didn’t get their order filled in time, and were pretty annoyed. (That’s a polite way to express it). So try to go outside peak popular times. Otherwise fine. Tea was served on seating, basic tables, fork, soy on request. My Chinese eggplant was delicious.

This is a great small restaurant that is always busy for both side down or take out. I have been here over various times of day and they are always busy. The food is excellent especially the ribs. Their House Soup is the best I have ever tasted. All the other dishes are great so I can't pick one over the other. If you order out-- call in ahead as it saves time.

My gym is right across the street from Wok88. I've been staring at this place for a few months now. I decided to have a quick dinner before meeting friends for drinks. I was sat down immediately and quickly skimmed the menu and chose the pepper steak with regular rice. Before I could sit down and scroll Instagram my food was already at the table. Let me just go on record stay that these was the most delicious pepper steak I ever had in life. The meat was tender and flavorful. My waiter was great and got me in and out quickly. I will be returning to try other items on the menu.

I had lunch here on two different occasions. Everything that comes out of the kitchen looks amazing. Their lunch specials are a bargain. The first time I came I had scallion pancakes. They were not what I expected. They were heavily fried cut in triangles and there was not a scallion to be found. The second time I had General Tso’s honey chicken. It came with rice, I opted for brown rice, that was the best part of the meal. It was very fluffy, very fresh. The broccoli that came with it was cold. As for the chicken, there in lies the problem. I had no idea one could fry anything to that degree or bread it so that you could not find a piece of chicken. I only ate three pieces of it as it was awful. It was only dark meat chicken and very stringy. Most of the waiters seem quite nice and friendly the one I had through the food at me and at one point threw the duck sauce down so hard that it spilled on the table and he never came to wipe it up. I did that myself. I also had what was supposed to be a vegetable spring roll. Crispy wrapper but very greasy and there was nothing in it! Not a vegetable! I might try this one more time but I would be very careful about what I chose.

Back when we lived in the neighborhood and it was called First Wok we would delight in the Sesame Shrimp. Crispy, virtually no batter, pungent sauce. Just returned after a long absence and had to go back for more two days later. This time we added fish in ginger scallion, dumplings and soup. No frills, just really good food and the free glass of wine was a nice touch.

As others have mentioned this is a pretty small location and it mostly caters to a big take out/delivery crowd. I think the food is better when served right away out of the kitchen but the eating experience is less enjoyable, so you lose a little in both ways. This last visit, we decided to eat in, got a small table for two (the whole place is kind of small) after waiting a while for someone, anyone to pay any attention to us and tell us to go sit somewhere...which we finally did on our own. Then we sat ignored by the 3-4 waiters who studiously averted themselves from recognizing that we were sitting there. Finally one came over and took our order, we didn't need the menus, having eaten from there before. The food was very good, but the experience was less enjoyable thanks to the screaming kids sitting at the table next to us. Frankly, anywhere you sit at Wok 88 is likely to be loud as tables in this small space are crowded together. Best thing would be to order and take the food someplace else to eat or go at an off time when it's not so crowded. Service is spotty, but if you can deal with it...the food is good.

Wok88 uses fresh ingredients, has unique dishes like the grande mariner shrimp & a full bar with mixed drinks

Great lunch specials.Food was so good. Portions were plentiful. The front window & canopy should be updated, but don't let that steer you away from eating here!

Love coming here for a good economical meal. Plus each entrée comes with a glass of wine. We usually get Chicken and Broccoli in a brown garlic sauce and we add $2 shrimp with brown rice and Shrimp Lo Mein plus 2 glasses of wine for $25...cant beat that and its delish.

Friends had recommended this restaurant for takeout and thought it would be good value to dine-in the restaurant. When we arrived, the restaurant was buzzing with lots of customers. Bringing young children to a restaurant can be challenging. The restaurant was not really geared for children and the proximity of tables did not help. One thing that could have made a difference was being able to leave a stroller and scooter off to the side. We actually put the stroller under the table. A better decision would have been to order takeout. Overall the food was tasty and reasonable priced for the area. I had hot and sour soup, shrimp in black bean sauce and brown rice; my wife had shrimp with lobster sauce and brown rice; children had chicken with broccoli. Food was definitely satisfactory. Service was good.

I loved Wok 88. Their food is amazing and they have a wide variety. Your order includes rice, tea and water.

Order out for many years from this place Consistently very good with fast delivery Our favorites Hot and Sour Soup Spareribs Double Sautéed Pork Beef and Scallions Fried Pork Dumplings All chicken dishes Bon Appetit

Not exceptional Chinese but well worth the money. Dont over order though!

We stayed at a little botique hotel voco The Franklin. Within a block or two was Wok 88. Good, fresh food and fast service. I had the mango shrimp and hubby had the pad thai. Also had the ginger tea, sweet but very good. Definitely a step above your everyday takeout. (We did dine in).

A family favorite with a large menu and good prices. Food always arrives hot and quickly---with paper plates, extra sauce and , of course the fortune cookies. We have eaten in the restaurant as well as had home delivery. Always been satisfied with the food and the service. Good choice on the upper east side.

Loved it. Looking for great clean Chinese food this is your place! Egg rolls are the best. Wonton Soup is a must!

Ordered delivery from this place when I moved into new apartment. Food was cold and greasy. No chop sticks or plasticware. I was sitting on the floor between boxes and ate with my fingers. Very mediocre. Will not order again.

Hard to believe but true. This is the best one in NYC. Forget Mr. K when you have Wok88.

I lived in NY for 13 years and went to First Wok(the predecessor to this restaurant) at least once a week. We moved to Florida and it changed it's name to Wok 88(the location at 78th and 3rd went away). The food is just as fabulous as it was in 1988 when I first started going. The best sesame noodles on the planet, steamed vegetable dumplings are out of this world, General Tsao's here is the best on earth. Everything you order here is amazing. I only wish I still lived in NYC so I could go more often!!!! Oh, by the way, it's less expensive than most restaurants.

As usual the food was superb but they had no heat and kept telling us it was coming on. It was about 55 degrees in the restaurant on January 8th 2013. I enjoyed the food but it was like eating outside. How about someone come to the place an hour before opening and thaw the place out!!!

Again, Trip Advisor needs a rating between average and very good. After seeing positive reviews of this place, we decided to try it We ordered take out. We chose a range of smaller dishes since the point was to sample several things.. The results were mixed. The egg roll was on the small side. However, it arrived crisp. This is not a minor point since lately eggrolls from other places have arrived soggy. I’m not sure if that is because it travelled or if it started out soggy from the restaurant. But this one was crisp; it was also not greasy. The scallion pancakes were the best we’ve had in recent memory. The shrimp in chili sauce was good. The sauce was a little sweeter than the norm, but it was quite tasty. The shrimp in lobster sauce did not fare as well. The lobster sauce was flavorless. Now lobster sauce is bland, but bland does not need to be flavorless. It needed a little something –perhaps a little ground pork. A similar criticism could be made of the pork with black bean sauce. It was a little hot, but it needed something else. Perhaps a bit more garlic and/or ginger. These dishes weren’t bad. Bit with a little more zip, they could have been quite good. On the plus side, the quaity of the shrimp seemed okay and the pork itself tasted nice and fresh. I just think that with a little effort, this could be a really good restaurant.

We really liked this place, food was fresh everything was good and service was friendly! We will go back

I have been there a few more times. Careful about what I order. The general tso’s honey chicken (sliced) is not breaded or fried and is delicious. You want to make sure you get Liam as a waiter. He is so friendly and so nice and helpful with making choices of the extensive menu. You definitely do not want Eric. He rushes you to make a choice and is not at all helpful. He literally throws the food at you and you have to ask for everything. I.e. knife,Extra napkins etc. Unfortunately there doesn’t seem to be anyone who cares about a customers opinion. The ladies behind the counter are very busy taking phone orders and money and have no interest in compliments or complaints.

It was a rare occasion to be able to go out just the two of us. My wife was recommended this restaurant and it was a good one. We ordered the Fried Duck and Pineapple Fried Rice. It came with one white rice and 2 drinks(choice of wine or fountain soda) Both dishes was perfect for the two of us and definitely had our fill. The restaurant was packed but unfortunately only 2 server so many folks were kind of waiting for service. I guess the food made up for it.