Star Wrap

Just average nothing special… not much more to say

the food here sucks… really sucks…
I took lunch here for a couple times and every time, it fails me…
the kim chi fried rice used to be the only one that taste better than others, but now, they cook the rice too tough to eat…
I hate the place and will never go back.

So so Korean food and so so wanna-​be Japanese food. The portions are large but the price isn’t worth it for the quality of the food. I’m so disappointed. can I have my money back…

Being that Star Wrap is close to work — I figured I’d stroll over there and attempt to indulge in a somewhat healthy meal. My hope was to order rice and tofu. Seems easy enough — right? Well, they no longer offer tofu. What? Why?
The woman running the counter made a couple other suggestions. I was open to other options, of course. A vegan noodle dish sounded great. Despite requesting no-​meat (and no-​animal products at all) she didn’t offer a discount on the price of $ 8.50. Fine, maybe they will be generous on the noodles — who knows. I was hungry — therefore, I ordered it.
A few minutes later… the chef told her they were out of those noodles. What? Ugh.
She felt bad… but, now it was about 20 minutes after placing my order and I was losing my patience. I asked about other vegan options — she suggested another noodle dish. She said it was more expensive — but due to the wait and all of the issues — she wouldn’t charge me extra. Gee, thanks…
Here we go again… She stressed to the cook (s) — no meat, just noodles… vegan style. And, then, she walked away… no idea where she went. About 10 minutes go by and one of the workers hands me the food WITH MEAT in it.
Oh my goodness.: /​I nicely said… I would really appreciate a refund. As he hands me the food, I noticed — he wasn’t wearing gloves and his fingernails were incredibly dirty. He was COOKING the food. :(
I heard another one of the chefs in the background say «there wasn’t supposed to be meat in that — just noodles…» I could tell he felt bad. He put the food down and said he would make it again. I nicely said again — I would really appreciate a refund. And, asked where the woman went. Apparently the cooks didn’t the ability to use the cash register. No one was there would could give me my money back.
I waited another 10 minutes — it was about 40 minutes after I arrived and originally ordered. The woman never returned. Finally, one of the chefs took money out of his pocket and gave me $ 8.50.
I will not be eating food from Star Wrap. I will call over there and explain to the woman what happened — yet, I have a feeling the chefs told them already.

+‘s
— Service: friendly staff, quick
— Location: convenient walking distance to the many office buildings in the area
-‘s
— Food: So so… no flavor, rice is low quality, meat doesn’t seem fresh
— Price: Probably comparable for the area but for the food, not worth it

I’ve been banking in the Colorado Center since it was MGM Center (since 2000), and looked forward to the opportunity to have a Thai chicken wrap from Star Wraps when I got there outside of the prime lunch rush. Sadly, today that tradition has finally come to an end.
Twice now I’ve ordered the Thai chicken wrap and received something inedible. Literally. Brown lettuce, chicken with gristle and cartilage mixed in, watery, flavorless «peanut sauce.» On top of that, they seem to only sell Coca-​Cola products for drinks now. This thing is so very gnarly, I took a total of 3 bites and threw it in the trash.
I feel for the folks who work in the building, but perhaps all of those food trucks I see parked outside have widened your options, so you don’t have to pay $ 7.80 for AWFUL food. I know I’ll never be back.
Time for someone who gives a damn about delivering quality to take over that space, Colorado Center. Star Wraps doesn’t deserve it.

The menu is a little hard to maneuver through (everything from burritos to ramen), but the quality of food is a lot higher than expected. I had the udon with beef, but made the mistake of asking for spicy. The food was tasty but I could not make it through the heat.

OVERALL EXPERIENCE:
blah. there are only so many lunch spots, so i come here out of necessity.
FOOD/​DRINKS:
meh — it’s pretty hard to mess up simple dishes, but star wrap somehow manages to do this consistently. how do they mess up teriyaki chicken… they’re asian! you know when you get a bite of dry dark meat the rotisserie chicken is gonna be no bueno. and then they charge almost $ 3 for a bottled drink. not the fancy artisan teas you find at whole foods. but the bottled arrowhead water.
AMBIANCE:
fast/​easy. it’s a lunch spot in a business complex, so there’s not much to it.
SERVICE:
cashier is nice/​friendly. it’s faster than the other options in the yahoo center, so can’t really complain.

Well apparently there is a god. Star Wrap was sold and I have to say that the new ownership has made all the difference. They are nice, and courteous for starters and the food is sooo good. Portions are pretty big which is not so good if you are trying to manage your portion control. Check out the sashimi rice bowl. It is really really tasty and will make you happy.

tl;dr = I wish I could give them nothing at all, not even worth 0 star.
Instant noodle ramen + egg + some scallion = $ 6;
2 entrees for 2 people = $ 17;
Not getting one of the 2 entrees for over half hours after 7 – 8 people after you got their food first while ordering the exact same thing and the «cook aka burrito assembler» argues with you saying that the order already out even after you had asked him periodically every 5 minutes for the past half hour standing right in front of him if my order has come thru yet and he still tells you no = PRICELESS.
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Came here during lunch with bf today right when there was a lull so we got in line to order. Ordered ramen + breakfast burrito + coke + water. As we’re ordering, business was starting to get busy as they obvious cater to the people that works in Yahoo Plaza. There we were thinking «Lucky! Finally place closeby with ramen and hooray since it’s quiet we should be get our food pretty quickly!» Owner lady somehow tries to train a line cook when it was super busy and the line cook obviously has no experience of being in the front whatsoever, and it was so painful to watch. While lady is putting in order for her customer, she also «trains» the line cook for the other customer by punching in the point of sale (POS) system for him as well. She continues «training him» by taking him from his usual duties for several more customers before giving up and sending him back to the back.
Meanwhile, this line cook that took our order, did not give us a cup for the coke to get from the soda machine, and the lady while «training» him did not give me the option for a plastic cup for water at the soda machine and instead automatically charging me for a bottle of water which was 65 cents more precious than the refillable coke. The number on our order receipt says 22, but the line cook tells us that ours is order #32. Alright, maybe this is their system of distinguishing between the two POS machines. Okay, fine.
There was a person in the back washing the «dishes» aka the salad dressing ladles and the blue plastic bowl that they nuke all the burrito content in since everything else is in to-​go containers. There is somebody back there cooking some other food, possibly the instant noodle and the egg for the instant ramen and possibly the burnt potatoes. There is a young kid who is running back and forth the front and back seemingly to assemble your salads and dropping at least ¹⁄₃ of your food onto the kitchen floor as he rush around the place and knocking orders all over the place. And then there’s the main «cook» aka the burrito assembler.
Since we don’t even know if our order is 22 or 32, we listened for both just to make sure we get our food. About 5 minutes later, the instant noodle + boiled egg came out. Instant. Noodle. For $ 6. STRIKE ONE FOR UNJUST PRICING.
Bf had to go back to work on time so after waiting for another 5 minutes with me I had him go sit down while I wait for the breakfast burrito. I mean, burrito assembler is right in front of me, how much longer can it take? Ho, how wrong I was. I hear #44 being called, then #27, #25, #23, #24, #17, #37 being called. None in sequence and all over the place. I checked about every 5 minutes about #22 or #32’s breakfast burrito at least 3 times and he kept telling me that it’s coming.
Finally bf came over after he had finished the noodle and finished waiting for me and the food and is angry and demanded to know where the burrito was. The burrito assembler had the nerve to argue with him, saying that he had already made it, that the burrito was sitting right on the top and why didnt we pick it up. Excuse me? IF you’ve done that then why would I have wasted half an hour standing there? The bf demanded the food be made that instant and thats when he finally started making our food. No sorry, no apologizes whatsoever. The owner lady was nice, but she didnt give any 2 cents about what happens on the food output end at all. She stared, literally silently stared, while we were telling the burrito assembly how our food is still not out after a half hour. We looked over to her, expecting her so say something, and we made eye contact for a minute or so and still? Nothing at all. STRIKE TWO FOR BAD SERVICE.
And you know what? The breakfast burrito had no flavor at all; once you open the box again it didnt hold shape and the potatoes were burnt and hard. The green salsa was the only thing that tasted like anything at all. Not even the last possible redeeming factor. STRIKE THREE, YOU’RE OUT.
Don’t expect any more business from me, and that’s saying a lot.
If I worked in that building, I’d rather bring my own food or give business to those that deserve it. In fact, by not giving them your business, you’re actually doing them a service so that they can get organized, train properly, and learn some customer service/​etiquette. Oh and make food that is actually edible!

i work in this plaza, although star wrap is not great and really slow, I’ve been eating here for at least 40 times since I like Korean food.
But today’s experience was just gross. I ordered BiBimBap, which I’ve always ordered from them. And before the guy gave me my food, I saw him picking some food off the napkin he was going to hand to me, and flipped it over so I wouldn’t find out. And yes, when I got the food, and check the napkin, it was dirty. Come on you don’t give a dirty napkin to people.
And also the rice. I’ve found several times the rice was not fresh. It’s in big chunk, and clearly from last night. I am a person with high tolerances, so even i wasn’t satisfied with that, it hasn’t both me much. But today the rice was sour already! I almost threw out my breakfast.
That’s enough. End of story I will never buy anything from here.

i know better than to expect great korean food from here, but i figured, how can you mess up kimchi fried rice? so that’s what i ordered. turns out, you CAN mess up kimchi fried rice. it was way too oily and very bland tasting. i like my fried rice fried, not mushy and oily. i paid $ 1 extra to get it with beef instead of chicken. the meat was of very poor quality. i ate ¹⁄₃ of the portion and felt icky the rest of the day. on a more positive note, the owner lady was very nice.

This rating is for the UDON ONLY. Stay away from it just basically took a bite tossed it in the trash. Basically instant UDON with the seasoning package being poured into boiling water.

2.5 stars, really.
I will start by saying that, although I’ve eaten here countless times, this review is NOT based on their Korean food. For some reason I have yet to try their Korean food… so I’m sure once I do I’ll write an update.
The fact is, that this little lunch stop caters to the business complex in which it’s located. It’s an order-​at-​the-​counter place that is similar to what you’d find in the food court of a mall. And for that, it’s fine.
When I want something filling and healthy I tend to order the ¼ chicken (½ if I’m starving) with a side of steam veggies and/​or a baked potato. And their rotisserie chicken is actually pretty good for a quick lunch break.
I stopped ordering their wraps a long time ago because, frankly, I had too many of them. They’re average though.
Japanese curry bowl with some siracha sauce is a tasty, hearty meal; the tofu bowl, while healthy and filling, is really bland and desperately cries out for some sauce. I wouldn’t have that again.
Next time I’m goin’ for the Korean food as it’s supposed to be the best bet.

Had the Bibimbap. It was the worst meal I’ve had in a very long time. I knew not to expect the best Bibimbap, but I was suprised at how bad it was. The vegetables as overcooked as vegetables can get and I can’t even describe the rice.
Korean theme night at a senior center cafeteria… but warmed up leftovers.

I hope everyone people will support this little mom and pop shop because with the food trucks nd lack of occupancy in the buildings — their business is just not what it used to be.
The lady who owns the shop is very sweet and tries to keep her menu interesting but healthy, too.

I am so happy I have found a place where I can grab quality Korean food on the west side and not regret traveling to k-​town instead. Not only is the food amazing but the service is great! There is a sweet korean ajumah who works there and her warm spirit always brings a smile to my face. Please check this place out.

Awesome Korean lunch specials — a real treat given how boring and bland most food in Santa Monica is. Great Kim Chi Burritos, Spicy Korean Chicken, Bibimbap, Kim Chi Fried Rice, and Bulgogi Tacos and Burritos.
The best thing is that everything is actually really healthy. You can get your Korean fix and not feel weighed down with oil. I get the steamed veggies side usually, and you can ask for free kochi-​jang (spicy bean paste) which is amazing.
And the owner Jennifer is super nice! She recently catered korean food for our meeting and blew us away with all the extras! Extra details like candy for dessert, and a whole thoughtful package of napkins, utensils, plates and everything we needed. She went the extra mile., and everyone really enjoyed the food.

Nothing to see here. Keep moving. It’s a decent place to grab a quick lunch if you’re going to take it back to your desk.
Don’t order the traditional stuff. They make some tasty korean dishes that aren’t always on the menu.

I will say, I should give Star Wrap 3 ½ stars, because (of the three choices) it’s definitely the better place in the Yahoo Center food court.
They do have quite a variety of choices on their menu and they are always rotating through a large selection of «specials». One of their better choices (which isn’t terribly unhealthy for you) is their rotisserie chicken. Now, if you’ve had Zankou Chicken… definitely not the same. But, if I don’t want to leave the one block radius surrounding the Water Gardens, it’s as close as I’ll get to Zankou. :)
They are quick, so don’t let a long link deter you — especially since there are only 2 other choices in the food court… and ALL the lines are usually long at lunchtime.
3 ½ shakas (if I could!)