Austin Wok N Roll

Sign in window reads, «CLOSED no more restaurant».

Torchy’s Tacos announced today (¹⁄₁₅) they are taking over the spot. W00t!

I just went to Wok n Roll last night for dinner and it was pretty good to me. My cousin ordered kung pao shrimp, add chicken and he definitely loved how the shrimp was a good size. It also came with an eggroll and wonton soup. My boyfriend got the bbq pork and wonton soup and ate it all. I got the house crispy noodle. It was definitely full-​filling! I was shocked when I saw the crispy noodle dish. It was huge! It came with shrimp, chicken, beef, and vegetables. I’m not sure about the other Unilocalers, but we enjoyed our dinner. It was really cheap too. It’s not your typical chinese restaurant where you sit down at a table covered with red cloth and read those zodiacs while you wait on your food. It’s a hole in the wall type restaurant.

I gave this place another chance and holy crap, was it bad. I ordered the lunch special and added chicken wings (3 for $ 1!). Everything was salty and covered in a ton of oil. My fried rice was probably from yesterday. Out of my «3» chicken wings, I had about one and half’s worth of actual chicken wing — one was, I kid you not, a giant ball of fried batter and the other two were chicken wing pieces inside a giant ball of fried batter. I would have much rather this place increase its prices and provide better food, because it’s right around the corner from me. Disappointed and not feeling particularly well afterwards.

This is among the worst tasting Chinese food I’ve ever had. I’m new to town, so can’t compare it to other places in Austin, but seriously…

i just wrote a review about a really awful experience i had at another chinese place here in the neighborhood, but i since i mentioned wok n roll in that review, i should follow it up with one of it’s own.
wok n roll is one of those places i see almost every day but orget it’s there. after my failed attempt at finding something edible at another neighborhood restaurant i thought i would give wok n roll another shot.
i’d forgotten that this place kept me fed thru my early days here in austin, pretty cheaply and with decent sized portions (left overs!) and tasty american chinese style food.
this review is simple: i ordered garlic chicken on the dinner menu which came with an eggroll and soup (i got hot and sour) and a dr pepper. ~$ 7. less than 10 minutes later i was out the door. the garlic chicken tasted fresh, with actual fresh sliced mushrooms (rather than canned), sliced carrots and lots of garlic with fluffy white rice. the hot and soup was nothing to write home about but it was tasty enough. the eggroll was freshly out of the fryer, super hot, and very tasty. only complaint is that the mustard packs they they give you are not nearly hot enough.
it’s not fancy, it’s not awesome or even terribly great, but it is exactly what it portends to be, quick, cheap, tasty chinese food. am sorry i strayed, wok n roll. i won’t do it again!

This place has a few things going for it that bump it from a solid 3 stars to a 4 star. First, physical proximity to where I live. If it were any further I probably wouldn’t bother, just not special enough. Secondly, its pretty cheap. You can get enough food for a meal and a late night snack + drink for less than $ 10. The décor is awful bordering on depressing. I run in and get out of there as quickly as I can. I recommend calling in ahead to limit your exposure to their dining room. Food quality is pretty good but I have to confess I haven’t been too adventuresome on their menu. I have had the General Tsos chicken and Kung Pao chicken, both were pretty good. Hot and sour soup is good too.

This place is cheap. I mean cheap. Mostly $ 4.50 entrees during lunch that come with an egg roll and soup, and a dollar more during dinner hours. It’s quick too, we waited maybe 3 minutes from ordering to receieving our vegetable lo mein. Good stuff.
The quality of the food is pretty good, but not amazing. It tastes good– just your standard American Chinese food. Last night I tried the vegetable lo mein. It was just what you’d expect– good noodles, a little oily but I was pleased for 4.50. Today I tried the almond chicken with similar results. [I prob won’t ever eat dive chinese food two days in a row again, I’m sure I’ll pay the real price later]

For the price, I love their sweet and sour chicken/​shrimp. The meat is always crisp (but a little oily) and the veggies and pineapple are always super fresh and crunchy which I love. Nom nom raw veggies!
The egg drop soup is a little bland but some white pepper makes it pretty good. I like how their sweet and sour sauce has a peachy flavor.
I used to live right down the road from this place and ate it all the time, never got sick once even though it looks shady as hell. Give it a try, it’s worth your $ 3.70 at least once :)

Absolutely amazing. This was my favorite restaurant a couple of years ago, then I moved to north Austin. They serve so much food for so little… Chicken fried rice, an eggroll and a Coke. Whew with some of the red rooster sauce that will light up the inside of your mouth like 34^th St. around christmas time. I have never known the owner’s name but have always called him Chang, so you might want to ask his name before you call him that. He still remembers exactly what I want every time that I walk in the door.
You should pay him in cash, it is easier for everyone that way.

yum yum yum yum yum. I’m typing this between bites of sesame tofu. Wok and Roll will sub tofu in anything for you, still have it to you fast, fresh, and free (well, almost).
Definitely nothing to look at, but GREAT for picking up to go.

I just tried this place for the first time after driving by it for 10 years and never stopping. From the outside, this place looks like a bait shop. A really crappy derelict abandoned bait shop. But after reading the reviews on Unilocal,I decided to give it a try. I’m amazed that good food can originate from a place that looks so frightening.
I got the pork and preserved egg congee (very good, authentic, with a nice gingery taste, a tad thicker than normal), duck and flat noodle soup (excellent — big chunks of roast duck with authentically splintered bone fragments everywhere) and the salty fish and chicken fried rice (really good Chinese stinky salty fish — great if you like that sort of thing).
I cannot believe I have lived so close to excellent congee for 10 years and not known it was there. I plan on patronizing this place a lot more in the future. So so happy that I finally bit the bullet and stopped by.

Taking no frills to a whole new level. I have eaten quite a bit of takey-​outey from here. The woman and her husband that run it are always nice and friendly. The rice porridge is good. Usually the other dishes are passable. I have gotten whacked by the msg a couple times. I really probably shoudn’t eat here. Its a bit dodgy and not too clean but you know its convenient and uh the price is good. I could see getting food poisoned here but hey life is a gamble all the way around. Right??? :-)

I’ve been wanting to try this for a while and we finally did last night.
It was pretty good. As stated before, nothing knock-​you-​outta-​your-​seat great. But, good. I got the peppered steak and flat noodles and the BF got chicken something with a big egg cooked on top? He looooved it and I just thought mine was decent. We’ll definitely be back because it really was lightning fast, probably 5 minutes! I’ll just have to try something different until I find a favorite.
And yes, they do take cards if you spend $ 7.

a bit rough around the edges as far as ambiance goes but man oh man, i do love their sesame tofu (not on the menu but they will make it!) and i suggest getting an extra serving of steamed broccoli for just $ 1 more. Also, the crab puffs are super yum!

A coworker and I went here for lunch once. She got something with meat that I forgot, and I got vegetable lo mein. Two hours later, we were both throwing up in the office bathroom. Talk about awkward. This was a few years ago, and I just started eating Asian food again.
Everyone else seems to like it, and it was a few years ago, so feel free to give it a try, because it’s really cheap and really fast, but I just can’t. Surely you understand.

The other reviewers ain’t kidding when they comment on this being the fastest Chinese food EVER. It literally takes about two minutes to get your food after you order it. The last couple of times I’ve been there, I’ve looked up in surprise when my food was ready, wondering to myself, «Did they even COOK my food?» I don’t know how they do it, but it hasn’t been raw, yet.
And I have to admit, it’s not bad at all. I’m a self-​professed Chinese food snob, and I find myself heading over here pretty often when I want a quick, cheap Asian meal. They have a few surprisingly authentic dishes and it’s always fresh and hot. Plus, the service is very friendly and they’ll substitute out the veggies if there is one in the dish that you don’t like.
Yes, it is a TOTAL dive. If atmosphere is important to you, don’t go here. But if you want a cheap, hot, FAST Asian meal, then Wok ‘n’ Roll is your place.
One other thing — somebody here commented that they don’t take credit cards. That may have been true in the past, but I know it isn’t now. They do have a $ 7 minimum, but they do take them.

The food is nothing to write home about, just your average generic american chinese food. But it’s served up cheap and fast. Not a place that you really look forward to eating at, but if your in the area and want some good quick american chinese you could do a lot worse. Yeah, it’s a dive, but really folks you’re eating the food, not the building. Oh and one more thing, this is a cash only place so come prepared.

I was debating between three and four stars. Let’s call it a three and a half.
This may be the fastest chinese food you’ve ever had. Call up an order, and you’ll get a response of «five minutes.» Wow, really?
Plusses–
The speediness of preparing the orders, and the food tastes good. Well, okay, I’ve only ever had the veggie fried rice. But it’s very good fried rice — they put in a good heaping of veggies. And you definitely get a ton of food for your money. Very cheap — the veggie fried rice is only $ 4.
Minus — I’ve only had the fried rice because not too much else on the menu is vegetarian. I pulled out a takeaway menu to be sure that I wasn’t just making that up, and nope, there’s not much vegetarian food besides veggie fried rice, veggie lo mein, and one or two others.
Open until 11:00, so good for that post 10pm dinner fix when other places are closed.

Wok N Roll is awesome. It really IS a dive (as Sasha says below), but the food is great. It is the FASTEST chinese you can get that isn’t already cooked when you arrive.
I recommend General Tso’s with hot and sour and an egg roll.
And be prepared to answer the ubiquitous «You wan some-​ting drink?»