Ivy Wok

Ivy Wok is what used to be Ivy Noodle a few years ago. Absolutely nothing has changed except for the name. If you’re coming here, you want greasy, delicious, late night dumplings and noodles on Yale’s campus. There’s really no other reason you should come here. And when you do come here, you should get the chicken teriyaki bowl, scallion pancakes, and dumplings in chili oil. I’ve gotten this combo countless times and every time it hits the spot. The food is super cheap but expect the bill to be slightly different each time. Also expect rude service but the food will come out really quickly. They don’t deliver but you can do pick-​up. This place is awesome for Chinese food. However, if you want high quality Chinese food, this is not where you go in New Haven.

This is a very good find near Broadway in the more cooler part of New Haven. It is on a side strip, and competes with a varied cuisine, to the right a French café and to the left a Mexican place. For the price this probably is the best place in that area to have a decent meal.
The place is always crowded, mostly with students and often I have seen cops come in to get take out.
They have seatings at the counter as well as to the right. The food is served fairly quickly, as I have always gone in hungry, and never felt there was a delay. The service is pleasant, I like the fact that they always are smiling and want to please the customers, though English may be challenging for some of the wait staff.
For the price as I indicated this is a great place to go, and the food is decent too. I can’t say that this is high quality food, hence the 3 stars, but is going to be on my go-​to place whenever I am in the neighborhood.
Try the duck! For the price you can’t beat it.

If I could rate this 4.5, then I would. Reason my rating is so high, well it’s cheap, open late, I’m never disappointed with the soup and there isn’t many places to get these simple but delicious soups this late at night in CT. The food is really really good but sometimes it can get very greasy. Still edible but greasy enough to notice, but because I’ve never had a bad expierience here in formerly Ivy Noodle currently Ivy Wok so I rounded up to 5 stars. I highly recommend any of the soup here, it’s really good. Everything else here is good too just sometimes it can get greasy just saying. Example: I’ve ordered shrimp lo mein and pork fried rice, it’s just a little greasy compared to other Chinese spots. But yeah it doesn’t affect me that much as I get soup here anyway. So GREAT spot if you’re hungry, it’s late, and you want soup or a quick Chinese meal.

Great food, wasn’t pleased by the service. They had plenty of open seats and the lady was very rude when we asked to sit in a certain area. She was also doing the same to other people. I can see if they were very busy but she was very ride the way she handled it. Also our main course came out before our appetizer I wasn’t really happy with that. I do like the food and fast service so I probably will go back.

Best food for keeping you going in cold weather or all-​night studying. Scallion pancake, sesame wontons in hot oil, curry beef noodle soup — that’s how I made it through college!

This is how the kitchen boys’ nights out end: we stagger through double doors, sit at the same greasy linoleum table, order in invented Chinese dialects. This is how we punctuate our whisky-​soaked nights on the town: curry beef stew noodle with chow fun, cha jung mein with hot oil, and hock kian shrimp noodle with Cantonese noodle. All of them extra spicy. And finally, after all the steamy bowls: heads thrown back in croons of gustation, laughter with our bellies hoisted in the air, heads soaking in lingering fantasies of MSG-​enriched noodle soup. We clap one another on the back and tell ourselves, again, that yes – we’ll make a habit of coming back.
And we did. For us, late-​night slurps became a fixture. Sure, as we left the kitchen, sometimes I would get a text — one of us was bringing along some little shrimp from somewhere else. New waitstaff, valued customer, new girlfriend, new girlfriend of a visiting cousin (or something) and they would never understand. It’s not authentic. Dude. The owners are mean. Dude. They only have two stars on Unilocal.Duuude. Then we would drag them down Broadway, past the fancy Frenchy Belgium Maison de la Casa House, sit them down and order for them, without a glance at the menu. Curry beef stew noodle with chow fun, cha jung mein with hot oil, and hock kian shrimp noodle with Cantonese noodle. All of them spicy.
And always, we’d come back.
Because Aristotle said that excellence comes of habit. Because Kierkegaard wrote that selfhood appears only through repetition. Because Aquinas’ virtues follow from habit. Because Hume’s model of mind is rooted in repetition. Because for Bourdieu, habit and regularity is the basis of our very social construct.
But also because there is something to be said for being a regular – for coming back again and again, even if you’re coming back to everyone’s favourite worst restaurant. To be a regular is to get in sync with a restaurant’s rhythm. Returning to face the same bowl of noodles, the same wait staff and the same locked bathroom door isn’t unlike returning again and again to a painting. Repeated aesthetic experiences allow for the comfort necessary to see a certain beauty. A Mondrian canvas won’t yield to you in a single sitting. Nor will hock kian shrimp noodle.
Regularity encourages thoughtful interaction with the noodles themselves – that is, spend a few moments tasting. Let that rich braised brisket melt away. Slurp, savour those noodles anointed in sweet oils. Let loose your longing.
Nowadays we like to ride on trends. We hop from restaurant to restaurant, order the dish recommended by Unilocal,snap a photo, then move on to somewhere and something else with someone else. But still, the kitchen boys come back to the restaurant on Elm Street. Maybe regularity does indeed breed a certain comfort. Comfort to hate, comfort to love. Comfort to dig through the menu, make it past the bastardized Chinese staples and unlock its hidden delights: Curry beef stew noodle with chow fun, cha jung mein with hot oil, and hock kian shrimp noodle with Cantonese noodle. All of them spicy.

I came here for a quick lunch. At almost every Chinese place, I get the beef with broccoli or chicken with eggplant if available in order to form a baseline standard judgement. I would say a little below average here based on the beef with broccoli. You can get much better Chinese food at the carts on Cedar for the same price or even less. I would say skip it if you had other options.

One of my best friends and I always joke about how we don’t remember becoming friends. I normally can recall the first time I talked to someone and when we initially clicked, but it’s impossible with her. It was kind of like it just happened over time and it was completely natural. Makes us think that we were always friends, always in each other’s lives.
This is how I feel about Ivy Wok. I wish I could remember what brought my mother and me to Ivy Wok (formerly Ivy Noodle) one day. We lived around the Yale area which is chock-​full of any kind of cuisine you can think of. I’m partial to Asian flavours and my mom will eat just about any fried rice. Still can’t remember, though.
My typical order: turnip cakes or fried fish balls for an appetizer with curry chicken and tofu soup with a buttload of bok choy (no noodles) with a lychee drink for my main. Mom always got the house special fried rice and cold milk tea. She loooooved it when it was a little burnt. I’ve tried the congee and almost every soup on the menu. Got chicken teriyaki a few times to go for my pops, but curry soup was my go-​to. It was milky and creamy and spicy! Whooo, love me some spice.
I yearn for this place badly. Proof? When I was doing my intern overseas and craving some Connecticut air, I had a list of things I would order from Ivy Noodle (even stuff I know I couldn’t eat like shrimp!). I was desperate for home even though I was in one of the food capitals of the world — Italy!
It’s a restaurant that holds a special place in my heart. It might be greasy and dingy and just an ugly sight, but it’s got character, a cheap menu, and a staff that feels like family. I miss them so much. Sometimes, I even contemplate moving back to CT just for that. Crazy, huh?

My go-​to. My favorite dishes are the beef chow-​fun, duck on rice, and wonton cantonese noodle soup.
There’s many more choices I enjoy, but I order those three the most. They have great prices for the food you get. They cook everything right in front of you.
It used to be called Ivy Noodle, but I’m unsure of the name-​change. Ivy Noodle or Ivy Wok, you’re still fantastic and the food is delicious!

Ok, maybe I’ve been spoiled with good ramen since I’ve eaten it in Japan… but the ramen here was just tasteless. We had the chicken and wonton. .and the beef ramen. We literally just ate the broth with the few scallions that were thrown in. Very disappointing meal

We had heard wonderful things about the food at Ivy Wok and were excited to finally try it. But when we arrived the hostess was incredibly rude to us – refusing to break up a vacant table for 6 in the window, telling us 2x to just sit at the counter. It was off-​peak and there was plenty of room and we requested a table. So, the hostess instead kicked out a person sitting with a party of 4, so we could sit at the table of two. We chose not to and left.

Despite reminding myself not to eat after 7pm and definitely not at Ivy Wok – I continually find myself here on many a late night. It fulfills its purpose: reasonably priced, carbohydrate filled, Americanized Chinese fare. As with it’s Ivy Noodle counterpart, don’t come here and expect to encounter authenticity. This restaurant cater’s to its broke-​college student clientele.
The debit card minimum is meager, and easily reached by buying two items. The scallion pancakes are filling and satisfying, as are the pan seared potstickers, and any of the stir fried lo mein. The general tsao’s chicken could be a little crispier.
Warning: the phone number on their carry out menu is wrong, and they’re a bit aggressive over the phone. I’m guessing this is due to a number of weird encounters they’ve endured over the years. Hangry people can’t be easy to deal with. Doors close a few hours past drunk o’clock, anyway – you might as well come in person.
Tl;dr Ivy Wok will only disappoint you if you misunderstand its purpose.

A great place for a late night snack. The scallion pancakes, general tso’s chicken, and dumplings are all excellent

This place serves decent to subpar food depending on what you order. All of their dumplings and wontons are basically dough balls with a spoonful of meat in there. The good thing about this place is that the food’s cheap and it opens late. The bad thing is that it has possibly the worst service I’ve ever experienced, and I’m from New York, so that’s saying a lot. Come to think of it, the service probably explains why there are always so few people eating in and so many doing take-​outs.
I’ve been here half a dozen times. The waiters never seat you or bring you the menu. One waitress has a serious attitude problem and always greets you with a very curt «What do you want!», and if you don’t place your order in 2 seconds she walks away. Since when do I have to know what I want to order before I walk into a restaurant?! Oh, and don’t expect water, you might as well bring your own bottle.

Terrible service and greasy food, but VERY reasonably priced for what you get. A meal for 2 with two drinks was less than $ 20.
This place is definitely only for when you have to come (because nothing else is open). It was only marginally edible, but you get what you pay for.

Excellent food and service! The chicken curry noodles and Pad Thai was amazing. Worth a visit if you’re in new haven.

Ivy Wok, formerly known as Ivy Noodle, is a New Haven gem. The roast duck is delicious and the food in general is so inexpensive. Service is quick. I recommend sitting at the bar and bring a good book. You can watch the hustle and bustle of food prep. Some may find the wait staff’s brusk demeanor off-​putting (i.e. don’t expect a ‘welcome, would you like to hear the specials’ speech or smiles).

New name same great food!!! For a lot of good fresh food at a reasonable price this is the place to go… the soups are huge an are a meal by themselves… dumplings and wantons are home made by the owner. I have been here late and have seen her doing it… after they are assembled she puts them in individual packages and refrigerates them for later use. Noodles are obviously brought in but are of top quality… likewise the freak veggies. For a real treat try the chive dumplings or the sesame hot oil wantons… you won’t be disappointed !!

Ah, the remodeled Ivy Noodle. Still the same greasy, borderline edible «Chinese» food as before!
I’m actually really confused by the remodel. They took out part of the old kitchen partition purportedly so that you can better see the food being prepared, which would make sense if this place made fresh noodles from scratch. Instead, you can watch them cut open frozen packages of noodles and wontons and dump them into the pot. Makes zero business sense to have an open kitchen at an unapologetic greasy spoon, but whatever.
One big positive is that they have roast duck, and it’s actually quite good. My regular order is the pork and duck over rice. Yes, I have a regular order at a place that I’m rating 2 stars, because when all’s said and done this is one of the few places that is open late and I know I’ll be stumbling in here at 1am many more weekends in the future.

I only come here when it’s late at night and there’s nowhere else to go. The customer service is pretty nonexistent, they just take your order and bring you your food no questions asked. They also seemed pretty annoyed when I came with a large group. The food isn’t very authentic and all of it tastes pretty greasy, but if you had to get something I would try the scallion pancakes or noodles.