First Wok

I’ve never visited this location and placed a to-​go order for the 1^st time. When I walked in, everything was very clean. I was also happy to see the sign for the buffet offered even on the weekends! At first, I was a little put off that my takeout order wasn’t ready and I had to wait — until I realized it was because they wanted to make my crab rangoons (which were delicious) were fresh! For takeout, the prices were a little more than I would normally pay, but I will definetly be back to visit this location!

Came here on Christmas Day at 8.30 pm. Very nice personnel. I had the wonton soup, steamed dumplings and low mein. All very good. I will return.

First Wok is not too bad as far as cheaper Chinese food take out goes. The girlfriend and I stopped in later one night, closer to closing time, and the service was good and the food came out pretty quickly. We ordered a noodle dish, two egg rolls (one chicken, one pork), an order of the pan fired dumplings, and an order of crab Rangoons. All the good was fresh, hot, and tasted good. The crab rangoons and the dumplings were my favorites. The rangoons were crispy, but not greasy, and there was a lot of crab in the filling. Since we ordered take out I cannot comment on the service for dining in, but the woman who helped us was very friendly. This is definitely a solid option for a quick cheaper dinner.

My favorite Chinese restaurant in Cincinnati for one reason! The Crab Rangoon is the best I have ever had and I have to get it every time. I’ve only ever ordered carry out but the staff is very friendly and always gives us free treats to take home with our order.
A very good and quick meal is always expected from this location. Will definitely return, especially for the Crab Rangoon.

It’s the only Chinese place in the neighborhood. And I still never eat there.
The food is super bland and almost every dish lacks taste.

In movies you always see a 50’s dinner that has just awful service but everyone keeps coming back because the food is so good. Or, like the Soup Nazi? Its like those except Chinese food.

So freaking terrible. Don’t eat here. The fat chinese guy looks like the owner. He is absolutely rude. I went in at 3:20 and asked for lunch special he murmured himself with weird language with very nasty manner and told me I can only do dinner combo. The absolutely worst general tso’s chicken ever in my life. Such a small amount of food compare to price they charge. 9 dollar for dinner combo, they will give you rice65% and meat20% and one nasty eggroll. Stay away! I mean it. They will rip you off.

My boyfriend and I get take out from here pretty frequently and it is so delicious!!! Reasonable for the amount of food you get.

Awesome place! This is by far the best Asian food my boy friend and I have found in cincinnati area! We moved here from Seattle and have been searching for the best Asian food and First Wok is the BEST! There food is on point and the people that work there are so kind! I would also like to add that it’s not over priced like the surrounding Asian food!

This review is based entirely on the kids menu. Yes, this Chinese restaurant has a kids menu!
My kids love Chinese (and specifically, sweet and sour chicken) but usually the portions are too big…
Until now. For $ 4.95 my daughter gets rice, sweet and sour chicken and crab rangoon.
Score!!!

This place used to be decent, and it’s still fast and cheap for takeout. But the food is terrible. Very bland. Stir fried items are more steamed than stir-​fried. Most fried items appear to be reheated mass produced frozen foods. You would be better off stopping in the grocery for a frozen dinner and microwaving it yourself. Overall, the food tastes like it was prepared by someone who does not really know how to cook, or like something you’d find in a hospital cafeteria.

Excellent staff and great fried rice. They serve a fried dough as a complimentary starter which was very tasty.

This place is slightly less original than its name suggests. If I had to use one word to describe First Wok it would be ‘generic.’
This place is really everything I would expect out of a place named First Wok. The fried rice tasted like fried rice, the crab rangoon tasted like crab rangoon, and the snozberries tasted like snozberries. If you’re craving a coma-​inducing amount of sodium, I would recommend this place as much as I would recommend any other extremely generic Chinese place.
As sure as I am that this place is not, in fact, the FIRST wok… I would describe it as equal to any other Chinese place with the word ‘Wok’ in it.

This place does mostly take out but they have a small lunch buffet that’s a really good price. Don’t expect a ton of options but what the staples are there and they are always hot with good flavor. IMO the best Chinese buffet in the area

You know — after reading some of the other reviews I’m a bit torn.
We probably hit up this place every 4 months or so — it’s a good value for the food. Now, don’t get me wrong, this isn’t some extraordinary lunch buffet, but as a whole I’ve found the food to be better than most local run-​of-​the-​mill Chinese takeout joints (barring China Chef in Colerain but since I grew up eating that my opinion is probably a bit skewed) and heck, even other Chinese buffets I’ve tried around here.
$ 5.95 for a Mon — Sat buffet and $ 7.95 for Sunday is a good deal.
Selections are limited, this isn’t some giant spread, but the food that’s on the table shows a nice variation and they have all of the buffet highlights.
Those Scallion Pancakes? They’re the only Chinese buffet I’ve ever been to that has them and they’re too die for. Like way too delish. Are they greasy? Yes, but they are good and honestly one of the main reasons we go there.
Fried rice is nothing special so I stick with the other buffet offerings. What I like is that if a dish is labeled «Spicy» it actually has a tiny kick and some flavor.
So I’ll use grab some black pepper chicken, whatever other spicy dish on the buffet, the vegetable they’re offering (typically green beans) and then fill up on the scallion pancakes, crab rangoon, dumplings, and chicken on a stick. Wrap it up with some oranges as the end of the meal and I’m happy.
Is it the best food around? No. But we’ve found it to be consistently good and the price for a lunch buffet is super reasonable. We’ll continue to visit!

This is my favorite Chinese place in the oakley/​hyde park area. I get take-​out from here all the time. It’s fast, friendly, and reasonable. Try the crab-​rangoon!

First Wok’s website proudly proclaims the restaurant a member of the «Chinese Restaurant Association of America.» A link to that organization reveals that it has thousands of member restaurants across this Great Land.
This Chinese Restaurant Association undoubtedly has a gigantic printing press that pumps out identical menus for these thousands of Chinese-​American restaurants. Just about everybody in the United States has been to one and knows the menu: beef with broccoli, shrimp with lobster sauce, kung pao chicken, mushu pork, combination fried rice, etc., etc. The only differences on the menus are the interchangeable restaurant names stamped on the front: «Jade Palace,» «Happy Dragon,» «China Dynasty,» «Number One Express,» «Rabid Panda.»
OK, not that last one. But definitely «First Wok.»
Some of these restaurants, despite their inauthenticity, can be quite good. First Wok, unfortunately, is not one of them. The best adjective to describe its food is «bland-​o-​rific»: This food is woefully underseasoned. «Heavy» and «oily» might be the second– and third-​best descriptives. But at least it is «edible.» (I can’t say that about every restaurant…)
We were able to make our take-​out entrees – «Szechuan» tofu and «Kung pao» chicken – more palatable with some sesame oil from the kitchen cabinet and chili paste from the fridge. Some more items from the cabinet probably would have helped even more, but for us this meal was the result of our own laziness and time constraints to begin with.
And hot-​and-​sour soup was neither hot nor sour. Not even close. Just bland-​o-​rific.
Big plus: Like most Chinese-​American restaurants, First Wok is absurdly cheap for huge quantities of food.
The best thing about First Wok was the «Free Donuts» you get with your order. These beignet-​like morsels were pretty damn good!

I’d liked this place a lot, and then I read some Unilocal reviews, and I thought… hmm, maybe I ought to look elsewhere.
Well, I did. And I’m about done with that. The crab rangoon isn’t nearly as good at other places. The other stuff I tend to get are non-​pork eggrolls and egg drop soup. No, 1^st Wok doesn’t do this stuff extraordinarily better than the other places. But did I mention the crab rangoon? Yeah, that’s enough for me to stick with the place. And I’ve never gotten food poisoning here (knock on wood, I guess).
Plus, it’s handy to go in, place your order, and then go do a little grocery shopping at Remke/Bigg’s or pick up some crafty craft supplies at Michael’s. You don’t have to sit awkardly on those chairs at the front. Do a little browsing or practical shopping while you wait.
Oh, and pick up one of the tasty candies at the front. The flavors change, but they put up a little sign saying what it is. The last two times, there were pomegranate and guava ones. Not super-​exciting, but I like the new tastes for the ride home with my to-​go food. Never done the buffet. I’m a compile-​a-​meal-​from-​appetizers kind of a gal.

I’ve been frequenting this Chinese place for some time and particularly like their lunch buffet. While not the greatest Chinese food around, their lunch buffet is good value and worth it. This place tends to get crowded so get there early. Also, the actual buffet is in the corner and the space around it is tight — especially when there are hungry patrons gathering around it.

Had I written this review a few weeks ago, I would have given First Wok at least 3, if not 4 stars. But a recent experience was just too damning to justify anything other than a 1 star review.
My family has been going to First Wok for over fifteen years. It used to be managed by this super nice guy who would always put free crab rangoon or cookies in our take out order. Obviously, it’s under new management.
There is NOTHING special about this place, other than the fact that it has managed to stay in business for so long, and has an array of greasy food. Despite all that, when I was in town for the weekend (I live in Chicago) I dragged six of my friends with me to get there greasy buffet, a (former) Cincinnati favorite. Up to this point, the buffet was great because it was there, and cost $ 5.95.
Except this time, we made the mistake of going on a Sunday. We had our fill of the EXACT same buffet they have every other day (literally. I’ve probably been 20 times on non-​Sundays, and it’s the exact same spread.) We paid up, and were saying our goodbyes OUTSIDE the restaurant when the manager came out and told us we owed more money. Huh?
He’s like «I charged you wrong, I charged the $ 5.95 rate, when it should be $ 7.95. My mistake. You each owe the difference.» What? Is that not fairly unheard of? Your mistake, you eat the cost, right? Apparently not. We were like «We’ll give you an extra dollar each» at which point he went back inside, and tallied up the difference. He’s like «actually, with taxes you all owe $ 16.43.» Ah, it was so weird. So we paid it, to the penny. While he made an extra sixteen bucks, this dipwod permanently lost seven customers, just dumb.