Wok Express

It is a little hole in the wall in a neighborhood that’s not as nice as it used to be, right next to a head shop. Orange beef and orange chicken are very tasty, kung pao chicken is good, too. Didn’t care for the sweet and sour pork, but I don’t care much for sweet and sour pork anywhere, frankly. Pepper steak is pretty good. Hot and sour is not bad. Egg rolls– meh. On the whole I dig Wok Express. Its cheap and to the point. Howard Wang is fancy– too fancy. Borders on not even being Chinese anymore. Give me simple. Give me Wok Express.

This place is a little hole in the wall next to my office building and I’ve been twice for lunch, but both times I left with a burned mouth feeling hungry still. Basically the only reason I didn’t give it one star is because the people who own the place are so nice.
The prices are so low, it’s almost not surprising that food isn’t very good. I tried the sweet and sour chicken the first time with the lite lunch special and it was just fried chicken pieces with giant, underdone chunks of pepper and onion. The cashew chicken had a kind of broth almost like you’d find with chicken and dumplings and the chopped carrots and celery were way too crunchy and raw to be enjoyable and the 6 or so cashews in the dish looked like they came from a can of whole mixed nuts.
I definitely haven’t found «my dish» at this place and I’m not sure I really want to go back and make the effort again because my experience has been so lackluster. Also, they don’t take credit/​debit cards, but they do take personal checks, so bring cash or your checkbook if you decide to try it out.