Magic Wok

if you want to catch the stomach bug here is the place! after eating here for the very first time on friday, i started to feel funny after eating the lemon chicken and brocoli beef. i have never felt so bad in my life! i had to be transmitted to the er with admoninal pain and not being able to hold food or liquids down. please dont eat here, this place needs to be shut down! it made me miss 3 – 4 days of work and got my little one sick! please dont eat here. authentic my ass!!! go to panda instead !

If I could give this place ZERO stars, I would. Just had lunch there for the first time since the fall. I immediately grew suspicious when I I didn’t recognize any of the longtime staff (who were always very sweet; plus the cashier had what I can only characterize as incredible memory recall about her many regular customers’ names and their favorite dishes), The sticky — and I mean STICKY, GUMMY, GREASY, as in no dishwashing soap used — plastic chopsticks confirmed my suspicions, furthered by how sticky the tables were, and NO napkins anywhere in sight.
If I hadn’t already ordered my bowl of BBQ pork wonton soup, I would’ve made an about face and walked a few blocks over to Ted’s or some other local dive. But I bore it, contemplating to see what my soup was going to look like. I wasn’t «disappointed»: 4 miniature slices of HEAVILY red-​dyed BBQ «pork», sitting on top of a nearly flavorless broth already turning pink from the pork’s leaking food dye. I counted four miniature wontons in the broth, BURIED under a pile of cheap, chopped cabbage that eventually *did* flavor the soup with a harsh aftertaste reminiscent of a sour root tea my grandmother used to make to keep dad and his brothers «regular» as kids (if you get my drift).
I couldn’t even get halfway through it, and I’m usually a voracious consumer of this favorite dish. I chugged my soda — with a straw, that I had to ask for twice — and bolted. Unlike in the past where the nice staff would happily say «see you next time!», this time, it was dead silence, about the same «cheerful» reaction one would get from a proctologist’s office in Mao’s China, circa 1969.
I *won’t* be back, and I warn all readers of this review to do yourselves a favor and AVOID. I’ll be hitting the Purell for a second self-​cleansing once I’m done typing this.
:CHEERS:

Looking for lots (and I mean LOTS) of fast and cheap Chinese food? You’ve come to the right place.
Definitely not superb quality or healthy by any means, but around what you would expect for typical fast food. Their number one selling point is their AMAZING prices, since you can basically get a large plateful of 3 or 4 different types of Chinese food for less than $ 7.
However, you get what you pay for and I definitely wouldn’t go here if you’re trying to lose weight or anything. Also be forewarned that you’ll be drinking mountains of water from the MSG.
Still! If you’re looking for cheap & good-​tasting Chinese food then Magic Wok is a perfect place for lunch.
TLDR;
Food Quality ²⁄₅
Food Taste ³⁄₅
Price ⁵⁄₅
Service ⁴⁄₅
Interior ³⁄₅
Overall: ³⁄₅

Went in around 4pm ish. This place was walking distance from the Hotel Whitcomb. Terrible environment. Came in, their menu was all hand written and no pictures were made available to accommodate their menu-​so if you’re unfamiliar with the place it just close your eyes and start throwing darts at the menu and order that way because you will never know what you’re going to get.
Anyways I ordered their beef rice noodle soup, hoping that it’ll be like phở. Paid, the lady suggested I try some of their hot and sour soup on the house… It was terrible. I am from the central valley and man if you call this authentic then whatever we have from the central valley must be like visiting heaven compared to this place.
Got my beef noodle soup, it was terrible. Bland and the beef does not look like beef. It looks like rubber. I am not sure if they deep fried it or picked it off of their trash can but it was a terrible experience. This place contributed to my terrible experience in SF.

I made the mistake of going to Magic Wok because I didn’t have much time for lunch. I asked for orange chicken & the egg foo young. Ugh! The egg foo young was nasty! It was way too salty & had too much corn starch in it. The orange chicken was okay but I won’t go back there!

Food was a 3.5 of 5
The service wasn’t great
I repeated my order several times and got the wrong thing
There was a hair in my food
I was overcharged

Fast, good and we’ll priced. The food is good and the ladies who work the counter are very nice. This is my go to place when I have a short time for lunch. 3 item plate is $ 6.50. Lots of homeless and people doing hard core drugs in front but they generally stick to themselves.

Magic Wok is authentic, tasty, fast, reasonable! Cash only. Careful ordering online when they’re closed. Oooops!

Great place to eat. Sesame seed chicken is the best I’ve ever had. Large portions and very low prices. If I lived across the street is be there every day. Thank you

Was craving Chinese food and this place was near work. Really big menu, but none of it is any good. I’d give it two stars, except that the day I went there, the cook had a big cough and didn’t have any manners to cover his mouth. REALLY GROSS!

I did not enjoy my meal and did not find the look of the food on display to be appealing. I’d honestly choose Panda Express over this location.

Used to come here a lot around 2008-​ish back when I was working at the main library afternoons … haven’t been since though. Kinda expected rent would have driven them out or driven up the prices but nope, they’re still chugging along same as ever.
There’s a full menu you can order from but the main draw is deals on 10 or 12 dishes set out in steam trays — 3.95 for 1 item, 5.15 for 2 or 5.95 for 3, just pick what you want. Rice/​noodles do count as an item, though. Serve yourself cold water and hot tea as well. Good deal for downtown SF. They give you a hearty scoop of the meat/​veggie dishes.
The food is consistently pretty good but as Brett D pointed out, it’s best to actually be there during the lunch and early dinner hours when it’s crowded. If you peek in and there’s almost nobody sitting there, the food has probably been sitting for a while and is lukewarm.

The food here is okay and the staff is friendly. I’d suggest eating here around lunch (11:30−12:30PM) or after 4:30PM when the crowd starts to pickup. If you dine here during odd hours like 2PM, you will receive leftovers from lunch that will likely be cold or maintained by a heating lamp for an extended period of time.
I’ll give this place another go and see what comes from it.

Very good food! The ladies working there do a fine job. Only a few things that I wish they can improve. The water they serve has no ice and has a weird taste. They do not seem to remember their customers although I come here almost everyday for two weeks now! It The food is very tasty and with $ 6.50 for a 3-​item combo plate, that’s an awesome deal! It is also locating in a sketchy area and the one concern is that some sketchy customers point their fingers directly above the food bypassing the glass and who knows when was the last time they washed their hands!

The Magic Wok is a very good eatery. The beef chow fun is the bomb. Their wonton soup is good on a cold day, also… highly recommended !!

Food served cold, like it had been sitting out since last night and then microwaved, but not enough. Never coming back. I hope I don’t get sick.

Awesome little hole in the wall classic greasy spoon. Although not often you see Pastry on the same header as Teriyaki. Cheap good food open earlier. Cool cast of local characters. Found this place walking around for breakfast before flight. Looks like run by a young mom and pop. Salt of the earth good people. So if you want good greasy food early am while getting a feel for the city, stop here and make notes.

This place is dangerous and not because of all the crackheads wandering around outside. They serve three items from their ready made section for $ 5.95. THREE ITEMS! Best deal in the neighborhood.
Walk past this place everyday on my way to work. My dad stopped by for lunch today and I suggested we go check it out since he loves Chinese food. The ladies there were super nice and spoke Cantonese to him immediately. Good thing my dad knows Canto! They told us the 3 items for $ 5.95 was the best option especially because we didn’t have to wait for them to cook the food. I think they don’t like when people order off the order to cook menu because its more work for them.
I got the eggplant, tofu, and the veggie chow fun. My dad told them I didn’t eat meat so they pointed out all the veggie options to me. The woman serving the complimentary soup must’ve been paying really good attention because she asked if I wanted the soup because it was made with chicken. So attentive! This isn’t your usual shitty Chinese service kind of restaurant although it may look like one!
The eggplant was bomb. Tofu was a little bland and I only got the chow fun because my dad took charge and told them I wanted it even though I did not. It was okay though. If you get plain rice it also counts as one item so its a better deal to pick something else. I would just get another veggie dish next time.
You pay at the register and self serve water and utensils to yourself. They have a jar of hot (temperature wise) sweet and sour sauce at the table, something I have never seen at any other Chinese restaurant before. I tried it and it tasted weird. Meh.
Huge portions, we both had leftovers. Will definitely come back. Would be four stars if I didn’t have some hardcore MSG poisoning going on right now AND I’M GOING TO LAZY BEAR FOR DINNER AFTER THIS. I’ve been downing water like crazy.

It’s nearly impossible to find lunch for less than $ 6 in this town — but I found it! Typically you might be able to get a sandwich, but when you can’t have bread, it makes eating out for lunch more expensive.
Magic Wok is halfway down the block from where I work, and has a lunch special as well as to go menu. Today, I went for the pre-​made options, which were recommended to me by some co-​workers.
I ordered fried rice, vegetables and beef and broccoli. It’s pretty good, def not great, but absolutely perfect for a quick dash out of the office for lunch. It’s a little greasy (as expected) and bland (needs a bit of soy sauce), but I am very pleased and wi definitely return!
Next I’m I would try ordering something to go– maybe a lunch plate of mixed veggies and chicken or something.

Dirt CHEAP place… for the price, it is an excellent find.
The interior of the place looks like it’s been there forever… but again, for the price, the food is fresh and decent.
Staff was nice and my order of wonton soup came out in 3 minutes after ordering! Love the high efficiency of this Chinese restaurant.
Order from the made to order food menu — it’s much fresher and tastes great.