Golden Wok

Very good comfort Cantonese food, probably great for lunch… we had our family Chinese New Year dinner here this past Saturday and made reservations a few days before for a table of 10, banquet menu, figuring it would not be as crowded as other SM Chinese restaurants (true). They have 3 or 4 banquet menus of varying prices, and we chose the $ 148 menu, which consisted of a seafood soup, walnut prawns, lettuce wrapped chicken (subbed for the fried chicken), steak cubes with green beans, sauteed lobster, Peking spare ribs, clams in black bean sauce (subbed for the catfish), and mustard greens & mushroom, + red bean porridge dessert. Food was very tasty, plentiful, and provided great variety. Only complaint is that the restaurant did not honor our original reservation request to include fried rice at no additional cost since we substituted less costly dishes, as we were informed during our dinner (with a different waiter than the one with whom we’d made the original reservation) that the cost would be added… too bad, as we would have given an extra star otherwise…

Customers be aware that this restaurant charges a «service fee» on the bill which is the same as a 15% tip which is illegal in San Mateo so technically you are paying twice for the tip. so please look at the bill more carefully before you pay your bill.

I walked in and it seemed like they were mad I was there. Tea tasted like soap, no service at all just order taken and food delivered with zero dialogue. Spend your money somewhere that earns it

The food is very good, but EVERY TIME I ask them NO SHRIMP in my soup they add it!

great quality and quantity. fresh veg and meat. our regular chinese takeout place.

Beware there is a 15% service charge fee plus tax. When the bill comes they expect a tip. None of this was disclose to the customer before hand. Shady establishment, beware…

*** 2.5 stars ***
I have eaten here before and remember that I was not very impressed with this place, but I hadn’t written a review here, so thought I would give it another try.
** 1 stars for service ** — Service was down right cold, no hi, no can I get you something to drink? It was sit here and ready to order. I had to request water and request the check. Not friendly people here at all!!!
** 2.5 stars for food ** — I ordered tomato beef chow mein which was surprisingly okay. They also gave me a bowl of soup, it was some kind of egg, tofu, corn soup; it was extremely bland.
Parking is easy, prices are reasonable, but not really worth mediocre food and service!

This place has gone down hill. Used to be a pretty good place to come to and service was good. Now it’s not as good and the staff has become rude and arogant.
Sat for nearly 15 minutes before they even came by to acknowledge us. Kinda hard to miss a party of 6 but these guys ignored us.
The food wasn’t the quality it used to be and definitely not as tasty as it used to be.
Our relatives told us it’s gone down hill but we wanted to give them the benefit of the doubt.
Won’t be coming here again anytime soon.

Large portions, but overall flavor not so good. BBQ pork fried rice has a foul taste — at least the pork. General Tsao chicken was a bit too soft for a fried dish, and didn’t really taste any chicken. I think it was all skin and other bits.

This place need cleaning… you certainly don’t want bees and mosquitoes flying around your food. Customer service is bad. No smile No greeting No welcome. I got impression that employee/​owner don’t even care how customer s are getting treated.

everytime i crave for chinese foods, i always come here., salt and pepper pork chop and chinese beef fried rice is what i always order., the ambience is good, good price as well. the service is ok. plenty of parking spaces.

In the past they’ve had some great food and dishes. I ate here last Tuesday for some takeout, and while eating my meal I encountered something that stabbed my tongue! When I pulled out the object I found it was some sort of wiry black strand of metal. Sharp enough to stick into my tongue and prick my finger. Bad food and poor health and safety procedures when cooking. If I could give zero stars I would. I will never eat their food again.

If I lived closer by, I could see Golden Wok becoming «my» Chinese restaurant.
I really enjoyed my sweet and sour chicken, and all my friends’ food looked really good as well. Plus, the food is a good value — definitely two meals’ worth on a lunch plate. You get your entrée, plus rice (upcharge for noodles… fair enough) and a tasty (if small-​ish) egg roll.
Service was nice, and very efficient. Environment was clean and quiet, so it was inviting to eat in.
Recommended if you live in the area, or if you want to meet with friends who do.

I have eaten her twice now and I am sorry to say that I won’t be returning. I don’t care for the way their menu is set up because when I want Chow Mein Noodles with chicken I get a massive plate for about 4 people and that is not what I want. Almost everything comes in a huge size and when you order everything you want your bill is sky high. Another thing that I hated about this place was the service is horrible. I had to get up and go to the kitchen just to get a refill of my drink and they never came by my table to see how anything was or if I needed anything. So with that being said I won’t be returning. The second visit was even worst than the first. All I ask is that you check to see if I need something else to drink since I have a ton of food in the front of me for about 6 people when there is only two of us.

Great serving size! We had the beef chow fun, shrimp fried rice, honey walnut prawns, salt and pepper pork, and chicken chow mein. I liked all the dishes, they were very good but the chow mein could of used a bit more sauce. We will definitely be back.

When I want a good soup I go here. The combination wonton soup could possibly be one of the best soups on earth. The chicken chow mein and Mongolian beef always satisfy. The steamed rice is steamed rice, you can’t go wrong with that. Mongolian chicken is good also. I really can’t vouch for anything else. Overall I give this place a thumbs up.

We enjoy coming to Golden Wok about once per week.
Typically, we get lunch for a party of four — sharing two lunch specials along with two ala cart items. The rice from the lunch specials is enough so you don’t need to order the separately to go with the ala cart items. Favorite dishes are the salt and pepper fish fillet, bitter mellon and black bean sauce with fish (or beef), tomato beef chow mein, beef chow fun with black bean sauce (but get it dry fried — no gravy.). We usually take some food home since the portions are large.
We do have our family dinners here occasionally, usually getting one or two of the large tables. We have always found the servers (Mona and Andy) friendly and attentive.
This is a favorite and regular place for us.

This place used to be our only stop when ordering Chinese food. Not anymore. Think they are under new ownership. Broccoli beef has not enough beef always have to ask 4 extra. Regular order for us is around $ 80.00 and they give 4 packets of Soy Sauce and NO Fortune Cookies? Wow I’ll take my business elsewhere from now on

New ownership. It’s basically 2.5 stars now.
The food is roughly the same (I think the cook is the same) but it looks like they are putting MSG in the food now by default. So you can ask them not to, but it’s in there. My guess is that the health factor in other aspects has slid back as well. Lily was always careful about that, but now that she’s moved on, I think it’s «back to average Chinese food level» when it comes to health.
So the food is fine, you can ask for no MSG, the prices are decent.
The service is somewhat absent. The wait staff never came to check on us, and we had to flag them down whenever we wanted something. I’m not hugely demanding, but there something missing here. It just wasn’t like that before.
On the upside you can pay with a credit card for small amounts, which is great for those of you who want to support those poor old banks at the expense of small businesses.

I’m very pleased to report that all appears well with this place after the previous owner sold the Golden Wok to a new owner. I went there today to find new very fast and friendly waiters, the exact same menu, and NO «Cash Only» sign in the front door that used to be for lunch. They accept all credit cards here now.
I tried their Beef with Chinese Broccoli (Gai Lan) and the beef was plentiful, tender and with plenty of emerald greens done perfectly. I also upgraded to the vegetable fried rice and it too is excellent, with even more veggies and effort put in it than the previous version I enjoyed here.
A very good Hot and Sour soup has replaced the egg-​drop and tofu soup they used to serve and they included a decent fried spring roll alongside an enormous portion of fried rice that came with the generous serving of beef and broccoli. It was enough that I had to take about half home.
So the initial verdict is: «I’ll be back» and very happy that the quality has continued to remain the same.