Urban Wok - Atlanta

What a delightful treat, I dined at Urban Wok yesterday and it was an outstanding experience. Isabelle was absolutely fantastic, she was attentive, patient and had such a pleasant smile. She knew it was my first time and she answered every question with a smile. Artemis, the owner came out greeted us and made me and my crew feel like we were the most important guest and that made the experience even more delightful. The food is amazing and the service is outstanding! Be sure to try it, you won't be disappointed.

Chicken Potstickers Lemongrass Mango Sweet Sour Shrimp Jalepeno Fried Rice w/ Shrimp Waikiki Surf Turf Teriyaki Bone in Wings Delicious! Manager Iesha is always helpful . She provided me with what items she felt were good and so I tried them. Also, you can build your own bowl as well. The only advice I can give is for them to get napkins and fill their napkin holders on each table other than that this place is clean and full of good vibes.

Atmosphere: Urban Wok is a modern, bright fast casual restaurant. The interior was clean and felt quite minimalistic. There were several ordering kiosks, and the Urban Wok employees were behind a high counter. Service: The ordering kiosk was very convenient and intuitive to use, though make sure to look through all the different pages to see all the ingredient options! Our food took a decently long time to come out, even though Urban Wok appeared to be a fast casual restaurant and there were only one or two other customers in the restaurant during our time there. We would probably recommend ordering in advance rather than at the restaurant, but it seemed that even the customers who ordered in advance waited around 10 minutes to receive their food. We received our fresh food just after 20 minutes. Food: We ordered one box with rice noodles and steak, as well as one with jasmine rice and chicken. The rice noodles had a nice texture and absorbed the garlic, ginger, and soy sauce well. The garlic, ginger, and soy sauce described as mild was truly a light sauce and wasn't too salty, which we liked. The sauce went well with all the toppings in the box, with our favorites being the sweet potatoes and pineapples. The rice was flavorful and was good with the Korean Spicy and Korean BBQ sauces. The chicken was cooked well and all the ingredients inside were fresh we liked the jalapeños in ours. We also appreciated how the rice was filling and very hot when we got it. Overall: We liked the customization aspect of Urban Wok and the variety of ingredients they offered for their dishes. While our meal was overall tasty and filling, we felt that the price was steep for a box of essentially stir fry and fried rice. The dishes offered by Urban Wok aren't exactly novel or tough to make, and we wanted more of a wow factor for our meal. The high prices and longer than expected wait are factors to take into account, but overall we would give Urban Wok 4 stars for their fresh, hot, and convenient food.

I tried this spot for the first time yesterday, and the one thing I would say about this place is that it's absolute love! The place is spacious and beautifully designed. I loved that they keep a sign on each table saying that it's sanitized. The staff was very welcoming helpful. Their self-ordering Kiosk system was very efficient and fast. The food we tried was very flavorful and delicious. We ordered Perfectly Peachy, build your own bowl with tofu, Edamame, crimini mushrooms, and tikka sauce. We also tried wok fired chicken wings and spring rolls for the appetizers. Everything was unique and full of flavors. The meat was fully cooked, tofu and veggies were fresh, and the wings were perfectly seasoned. I tried their in-house signature sauces, too. I loved the agave ginger and mango habenaro the most! Definitely gonna visit them again!

I was going to give Urban Wok two stars Yelp Could 've been better instead of three OK . I bumped my rating up to three stars because of the customer service. I got a refund for one of my items and I didn 't even contact the restaurant about it. They just did it. They then sent me a DM on Instagram to let me know. In all my years of dining out and Yelping, I think that 's a first. This business is hyper aware of things posted about it online and on social media. If you 've browsed Urban Wok 's Yelp page, you 'll notice owner Artimus Hart is very involved. He 's responded to almost every review to date. That 's very rare of a business owner on Yelp. Kudos to Artimus for being so responsive. When I uploaded pictures to Urban Wok 's Yelp page, someone noticed the picture with hair in my food: [hidden link]. It was a strand of what looked like white or blonde hair. There was no one in the restaurant during the time of my visit, at least that I saw, that had that hair color, but it somehow ended up in one of my boxes of food. I had to eat down into the box a bit before I came across it. Of course, I found it unappetizing, but I don 't get as repulsed by hair in food like a lot of people. I picked it out and kept eating. By the way, it might not have been hair, but a strand of some other matter. It wasn 't food, that 's for sure. Brennah Tate, the Director of Marketing for Urban Wok in Brookhaven, direct messaged me on Instagram to apologize about the hair. She told me they refunded me for the box of food it was in Waikiki Surf Turf . In this instance, I didn 't care enough to contact the restaurant to let them know. I appreciated how proactive they were and I commend the staff for this. They also invited me back for a meal on the house. Now, I 've got to be honest. I visited Urban Wok because of its high Yelp rating. At the time of writing this review, Urban Wok has a perfect five star average rating with 129 reviews. Say what? The pictures don 't look that impressive. After seeing I had visited, one of my friends, also a Yelper, asked me: How was it? Seems super Americanized and the pics didn 't look very appetizing. I agreed with her, but I gave this place a shot because I know pictures don 't always tell the whole story *and* I wanted to see if the stellar rating was true. Unfortunately, for me, it was not. I 'll break it down into a few simple pros and cons. Pros: 1. Great service. My server, Quentin, was friendly, welcoming, and took excellent care of me. 2. Generous portions. The boxes were bigger than I expected. I believe each Urban Wok box is bigger than the average Chinese takeout box. At least, that 's how they felt to me. I measured them. Haha. Each box measured 4.5 inches tall, 4.0 inches wide, and 3.5 inches deep. Each of these boxes was densely stuffed with food. Each box had substantial weight to it. I ordered four boxes and the food lasted me for days. 3. Clean, modern looking space with lots of outdoor patio seating. This restaurant is made for a pandemic or is pandemic proof with its takeout format and outside dining area. Cons: 1. To me, the food just didn 't taste that good and some of the textures weren 't very appetizing. It 's not the kind of food I 'd tell my friends about or would want to come back for. Going in, I knew Urban Wok wasn 't going to be authentic Asian food and that 's fine. Americanized/Westernized Asian food has its place. I can appreciate and enjoy American Chinese takeout, buffets, etc. I think Urban Wok is more comparable to a fast casual place like Panda Express and sadly, I 'd probably rather go to a Panda Express. 2. Some of the food was too salty. I like salty, but this was overly salty. Specifically, my Garlic, Ginger, Beef Broccoli and Spiced Out boxes were overly salty. By the way, the Spiced Out was legit spicy. 3. They messed up one of my orders. I had ordered a Wokin ' Cantina, but instead I received a Waikiki Surf Turf. I realized this when I got home and opened one of the boxes to see lots of shrimp. I 'm allergic to shrimp. I had to pick out and throw away the shrimp. They gave me a lot of shrimp. It was a shame I couldn 't eat it. I had ordered the Garlic, Ginger, Beef Broccoli $11.99 , Spiced Out, Perfectly Peachy, and Wokin ' Cantina latter three $10.99 each . All four and the Waikiki Surf Turf $12.99 are Urban Wok pre created favorites. You can also customize your own box, Chipotle style. Would my experience have been different if Artimus was there? Probably. Just from what I 've read online, he strikes me as the type of person that can add a star or two to your experience, both in terms of quality control over the product and in attitude and customer service. Urban Wok opened in Town Brookhaven in December 2020. There 's another location in St Paul, Minnesota. More locations are possibly on the way. TL;DR Good value, generous portions, and great service, but the food is nothing to write home about.