Pick Up Stix

Are you kidding me! Why would anyone bother to eat here… there is nothing special or even good about the food… 10 bucks for a very small dish of food… big ol fat girl behind the counter could care less about anything!
Rediculous! My first and last time here

I had a dream about their spicy orange peel chicken. Honestly, I can not stop thinking about it. I literally wanted to lick the box clean; and kept looking for remnants of chicken floating around in the sauce the first time I tried it. This is NO Panda Express (barf). This Asian Food is fresh, flavor, and made as you order (not sitting around under a light all day). Better than Pei Wei too! The ladies that worked at this location were also very friendly and kind to my boyfriend and I when we ordered. This definitely was a treat and a cheat meal for me, so I’ll have to try some of the healthier options and keep my fingers crossed that they are just as good. You get your choice of brown or white rice and fortune cookie with your entrée. Parking is decent; although I’m not a big fan of getting in and out of this plaza.

Good food. Fresh. No MSG. Lots of healthy options. Best of all, this place really works with me on the menu I have a lot of dietary restrictions and they never hassled me about being picky for that reason. In fact, they went out of their way to help me find something I could eat there. Thanks for the good food and even better service.

So many reasons for a one star. But first, lemme give you some background. I ordered over the phone for take out at 7:15pm on a Friday. When I picked it up there were only 3 other people in the restaurant at a table– aka it was not busy. I ordered firecracker chicken extra extra spicy with an upgrade to chow mein.
1– The container of chicken was BARELY HALF FULL. ummm what? I did NOT get what I paid for.
2– I asked for my firecracker chicken to be as spicy as they could make it. It tastes sweet. There is absolutely nothing spicy about it.
3– The chow mein tastes like the sauce is entirely sugar. It has no flavor other than sweet. You shouldn’t have to make your food sweet just to get people to eat it.
4– Even if the container I got was full, it would not have been worth the $ 11.50 ish. Small portion & low quality. They did not indicate the size on the menu– if I had known the portions were so small I wouldn’t have even bothered.
5– Originally I tried to order online, but the website was buggy and it said «processing order» for so long that the page froze. So I called it in. Not a huge deal– but don’t offer a service if it doesn’t work. Aka– don’t waste my time.
That being said– the employees were nice and the place was clean– but that means NOTHING if the service provided is beyond substandard.
I will never return, and I will be contacting the location to discuss the total rip off that was my order.

We typically eat at the Rancho Cucamonga location where the service is always wonderful, but we’re in San Diego so we went to this location. The food wasn’t the problem but the service was! 1) Server Elizabeth was eating along w/​another girl while they were working. I never saw such a thing! She would return to the container of food and take a bite or 2 periodically; 2) She obviously wasn’t listening to me because I told her we changed our mind re: 1 item and she continued to ask me how we wanted it prepared. I had to repeat it a 3^rd time that we didn’t want the item. And then there’s 3)…the best of all… She came outside, picked up the large door mat, and shook it to release the dirt and dust only a few feet from our table outside. She proceeded to do the next mat as well, but we told her to stop! She apologized them folded them and left them a top the trash reciprocal inside. She seemed like she didn’t want to be there. Well, you know what? Neither did we!

My order was ready fast and was so delicious. It was my first time trying the food here and definitely coming back for more. The employees were also friendly and welcoming.

I always have the house beef at every pick up stix I eat at. I pretty much never change what I eat. My husband on the other hand tries something new every time he orders. This particular location had a great, enthusiastic team working and the food was extra fresh.
2 thumbs up from 2 fluffy foodies

Worst service ever. Gave me the completely wrong order. So I had to drive all the way back and wait for my good to be made because they said I never ordered the food online so I shoved the conformation email in his face sorry he said. Here’s a free drink how about no just give me my food and you will never see me here again.

Came here for dinner the other night. My wife got their House Special Chicken and I got their Thai Peanut Salad. I utilized their online ordering system, drove down and picked it up.
The House Special Chicken is usually pretty decent. I didn’t have any this time, but my wife said it hit the spot.
Thai Peanut Salad– This had some mixed greens, some crunchy noodles, water chestnuts, green onions etc. It also had some steamed chicken. The chicken was a little bit funky… not a bad funk, just a weird funk. It was really thin, white as can be but looked «wet». It had a weird texture when you bit into it too. This salad came with a cup of peanut dressing which was actually very good. The salad was decent. Would I get one again? Doubtful. It was the best low carb selection I could find that sounded decent.
The online ordering was very easy, and pickup was a breeze. Don’t know how often I will be heading back here, but it was A-​OK.

Food was a little to saucy for my taste but it had good flavor. The crew member at the register was friendly and suggested what was a popular item for them. The wait wasn’t too bad either. I will definitely say that it was too pricey for the amount of food that they provide for their lunch combos. Maybe their regular size entrees are worth the price, but the lunch combo was not.

I heard that they were now serving Wild Caught Alaskan Salmon with some of their meals. I ordered the Grilled Teriyaki Salmon with a side of vegetables and brown rice. I also ordered an appetizer of cream cheese wontons, just for kicks.
It’s sure nice that Pick Up Sticks is using wild caught salmon, rather that farm raised pumped with pink ink salmon, that so many other places use, but I just wish they would cook it right. It looked great when it arrived with its grill marks and all (
), but they over cooked it, at least it was not medium as I requested. It tasted good and had a mild teriyaki flavor, but the inside was on the dry side (
). The vegetables were clean and well cooked. They had no sauce and light seasoning on them, but that was okay because I use their sweet soy teriyaki sauce that came on the side (
). The brown rice was really good and I ate the whole helping.
The cream cheese wontons were okay. They lost their exterior crispiness because the girl at the counter forgot I was eating in, so she put them in bag and the humidity inside soften them up (
), but they tasted good.
Service was okay and it took awhile for my meal to come out. I noticed they had a lot of to go orders, so I am assuming they were a little behind on the orders.

I like that they list «gluten-​free» foods on their menu, but you know what it doesn’t specify?
The fact that you have to ask for the food to be made gluten free. Nor does it say, «can be made gluten-​free.» It just says «gluten free» the same way items list «spicy,» like that’s the natural state of the dish.
So I got pad Thai and didn’t ask specifically for it to be made gluten-​free, so the chicken came breaded. Which is the first time I’ve had breaded chicken in pad Thai, incidentally.
I called and asked if the pad Thai was gluten free or if you had to ask for it to be made gluten free, and was told you had to ask for it to be made gluten free.
Rookie mistake, I guess. So I didn’t eat it.
Other than that, the food was okay. My family enjoyed it.

Pick Up Stix is the same at all locations, food wise. If you want a speedy lunch ready as promised DO NOT EAT HERE. If you want friendly sevice DO NOT EAT HERE. The first time we called in our order for pick up the manager didn’t even put it in the system so we left without a lunch. We thought we’d give it a try again today. We were told it would be ready at 11:10. We arrived at 11:13. No lunch ready. The cashier who bit our head off informed us they just opened. The manager told us the order would be ready at a certain time. We have a very tight lunch schedule and this location doesn’t get that. You may be asking why we would go here again. The food is good and the location is close to our work.

Maybe it’s not fair to rate them 4 stars because I only ever order the same exact think every time I go, but it’s what I like.
I always order the house special chicken with brown rice. Anytime I have ordered something different I’ve generally hated it.
So my usual order is usually always perfect. I love the food, the service is always good.
Just a warning, I’m extremely inpatient, and they are very, very slow. You could be the only customer and probably still wait 15 – 20 minutes for you food to come out.
Call ahead if you know what you want.
I like to tell myself that they’re cooking it fresh and waiting it ok.. .
Either way that’s the only reason they don’t get 5 stars, because they are pretty god damn awfully slow.

WTF has happened to this place?
I used to think that pick up stix was the upscale panda express, but after the last visit, I will relegate them to the stuff you pick up in your frozen food aisle. There noodles were bland, the crispy chicken soggy, service shoddy, and completely over priced.
Apparently, they were bought out by some corporation… fail, fail, fail.

Came in on Sunday and not toooo busy… Waited about 21 mins for an order of Mongolian Shrimp… They didn’t have brown rice so I settled for white. When I finally got my food it was too salty and the shrimp were sooooo tiny! They were over cooked! Anyways what I was really grossed about was the zit commercials they seemed to never end… I kept staring at the TV and the pimple sized shrimps, it was pretty bad!
So if you want pimple size shrimp come here!!!

Wow, has this place has gone downhill since some corp bought them a couple of yrs ago.
My food was barely warm and dumplings were super greasy, cold and not crispy. Yuck.
After yrs of eating at the one in Point Loma & this one, I won’t be back. I can’t believe I’m saying this, but Panda Express is better.
I usually write longer reveiws, but I’m a wastin’ time…

Definitely eh. I was excited to try Pick Up Stix instead of Smashburger (for once) but I probably won’t be back. It’s been years since I ate at this chain restaurant and the food has gotten worse. Although it was a cheap lunch and portioned nicely the chicken had a lot of fat and too much sauce on it. The rice was yummy and wontons ok. For the lunch meal with water it was $ 7.23 which is nice on the wallet, but for $ 3 more I think the food next door is at least one star better. Sorry Pick Up Stix, this meal was a disappointment.

Yummy! We went for lunch and I got the broccoli beef. I like it when it’s cooked a little crunchy and that’s exactly what I got!
The staff was very friendly behind the counter and when they brought out our food. The lady even brought out a bowl of water for our dog (who joined us on the patio area).

What more could you want from a fast Chinese food restaurant? The food is tasty, the prices are reasonable, this location is clean, and the staff is friendly.
Call your food in early if you want to have it waiting for you. The house chicken and chicken chow mein are always good. They have a new dish, Firecracker chicken. Very tasty… I recommend it.