HardWok Cafe

This place might only be good for a foodies Instagram photos…
After walking in, my friend and I just stood there for a bit. No one greeted us or told us where to sit. Finally my friend said, «Excuse me, can we have a seat for 2?» and we were shown where to sit. After sitting and given menus, we weren’t checked on again until we waved someone over our way. So as you can guess by now, the service here seems to be non-​existent for the most part.
We ordered popcorn chicken, two drinks, and the strawberry toast cake. They let us know that the cake would probably take 20 – 30 minutes, which I knew beforehand just from the Unilocal reviews. After we got the popcorn chicken, she quickly walked away. We had to wave down another girl who gave us the «one moment» finger, but never came over in one moment. Then my friend had to go to the front counter and ask for a sauce for the popcorn chicken. We asked for ranch, which they didn’t have, but told us there was a sweet and sour sauce and then ketchup, so we said we’d take ketchup. Again, ANOTHER longgggg wait and still no one came with our ketchup like they said. Eventually a new lady came to our table to drop off the cake and we then asked, «Excuse me, can we get some ketchup» to which she replied, «Sorry, but we don’t have any ketchup here.» …WTF?
The cake was decent, but nothing I would go back for. A lot of the toast pieces were so hard that I wasn’t able to eat them. The popcorn chicken wasn’t good at all, which is why we needed some sort of sauce to mask the real taste.
I’m sure I’ve made it clear that I have no interest coming back here. It just wasn’t any good and the service absolutely sucks.

Definitely coming back, the food tastes so great, and staff is very friendly! The honest toast gonna takes 30 mins to prepare but which it is worth to wait!

This place is super tiny so it’s best not to go in big groups. The food is yummy. I always get either the spiced meat over rice or the pork chop. Honey toast is a MUST for dessert. It does take awhile for them to make, so ordering it with the rest of your meal in the beginning would be best if you’re not trying to wait 15 – 20 min for your dessert. I recommend the strawberry one or the matcha red bean. As for service, everyone is pretty friendly but don’t expect too much.

I came here after picking up a friend from the airport. We ordered 5 items: xiao long bao, pig’s ear, wonton soup, zha Jiang mian, and a strawberry honey toast. Oh, and a bubble tea, so I guess that makes 6 items.
Firstly, let me preface this by saying that they had a full house, but mostly everyone had already gotten their food. We were told that our honey toast would take 30−40min, which we were fine with. Then we proceeded to wait. And wait. And wait. My bubble tea came out pretty fast. The rest of the food? Took about an hour. And the pig’s ear, which should’ve come out first, came out last of our savory dishes.
The noodles were extremely tasty. The chopsticks they provide are a little too slippery to eat the noodles with, but we managed. The pig’s ear was tasty as well — perfect amount of sesame oil and seasoning. The xiao long bao weren’t the best — I’ll keep going to DoughZone for my fix. I didn’t partake of the wonton soup, but my friend sure seemed to enjoy it. Of course, she was ravenous by then, so who can really tell.
The strawberry honey toast was good, but I’m not sure if it was worth the full hour and a half wait. I’ve had honey toast in Hawaii before and it was better there, also. This was my friend’s first experience of honey toast and she seemed to enjoy it plenty, though.
I’m pretty sure someone forgot to put in our order, as tables around us kept getting their food (mostly desserts, but still). Also, a table sat down beside us and had their food ALMOST INSTANTLY.
Two stars. Okay food and a loooooong wait.

The café is super small. So a wait is long. Parking in the garage underground isn’t so bad. Their honey toast is a must there! It’s heavenly. And their taiwanese noodles that I had. Well its not worth it tbh. But their duck feet, is my favorite! Pricing is cheap-​ish but the portion is too small.

I will come back and give it a try again… Food was ok, kinda bland… The sticky rice was delicious, like amazing delicious! my spicy soup was filled with fish balls… And had to much artificial spices, I will include a photo, and my husbands spareribs soup… The highlights were the spareribs but I don’t know about the noodles and broth, defiantly will come back, I love the atmosphere here. I want to give it another try, I think this is my 4^th time here
Whoever made the milk tea and the egg pudding is the best!!! Please let the same person make it forever!!! Delicious!!! The flavor has the right consistancy

The first time we came here, the service was not good even though it wasn’t very busy. We got seated after a slight wait but after that, the server didn’t even come around again. He would help everyone else that came in, give them water, and take their order. Stayed for about 20 minutes and then left.
Second time around, we actually got water and our order taken (yay). Got popcorn chicken and the strawberry custard honey toast, both of which were delicious. It was a bit of a wait for the toast but it was definitely worth it and the service this time was great.

My boyfriend and I love this place!
Go to orders are the gua bao, beef noodle soup, xiao long bao and pork chop with rice. The gua bao is soft with the slight sweet peanut and sour pickled veg. Beef noodle soup is very slightly spicy. Pork chop is juicy and crispy. Xiao long bao are really good, but the skins are broken sometimes, or break when you pick them up. Boo.
Honey toast is huge! After a full meal it’s hard to share between 2 people. You can also opt for a brick toast!
Service is fast. Groups are a little hard to bring. It’s a smaller space and if you need to pay separately, they only allow up to 2 cards per check.

I had a strawberry custard toast. Me and my friend shared one but it was more than we could finish. It was so good! Worth waiting 20 – 30 mins. The employees were really nice even though they were busy.
I’d like to try shaved ice. I don’t really see restaurants that serve shaved ice.
I will definitely come back.

Get the honey toast! Sooo buttery, toasty and lightly sugared! It takes 30 minutes to prepare, but totally worth it.
I came here finally and got to try their honey toast. The most popular choice is a strawberry custard honey toast. It takes about 30 minutes to prepare but I was completely fine with that since I was with a group. We ordered three types of shaved ice. It was more like the snow cone shaved ice which made me feel kind of sad but the toppings were good. We got taro balls, boba, black grass jelly and it came with a light syrup.
When my honey toast came out, it was beautiful! I was squealing with joy. So the box is made out of Taiwanese toast which is a bit softer and lighter than the typical American white bread. The inside of the box had crustless Taiwanese toast pieces that were crunchy and we’re covered in butter and sugar. It was topped with a scoop of strawberry ice cream, a flat circle of chocolate and two strawberry Pocky sticks. So much goodness! And yes I had to eat it with my group who demolished about 75% of it and I was in a group of four. It is definitely a dessert you need to share! And yes I would order it again over any of the shaved ice. Mind you the restaurant is kind of small and cramped but is well worth it! Honey toast for the win!

Parking is a huge pain here, but I’m glad the parking attendants are so nice!
The shaved ice was alright, definitely not the best I’ve had, but for Seattle it’s pretty rare to find shaved ice. Food was good, service was great. Good selection and the prices aren’t too expensive either.
I guess, Taiwanese food is not really my favourite food in the world, but HardWok still managed to please.
We came a bit before the normal dinner time, but as we left there were people outside waiting, but I can definitely see why it has such a huge following!

I went here with some friends because we were craving brick toast after eating it for the first time in Irvine, California (which was AMAZING). Brick toast is similar to the honey toast, but smaller in portion btw.
Sadly, HardWok severely disappointed. We tried the vanilla hazelnut brick toast with vanilla ice cream. The ice cream was delicious… the brick toast was bland, not crispy on the outside, and just tasted like a lighter pound cake.
Since we were also really hungry, we decided to order some food as well. We ordered the sticky rice with pork, popcorn chicken, spiced pork bowl, and a noodle dish with broth on the side. Overall, I was not impressed with any of the dishes. They are just… OK. Also the portions were SMALL relative to the prices. I was still a little hungry by the end.
I’m definitely not coming back here to eat any of their food, maybe I’ll try their other desserts next time.

This Taiwanese style food restaurant is good and worth a visit. Food does not seem to be typical Chinese food so if you want a different spin on Asian food this is a good place to try. Tons of great beverages as well! Their servers are also nice and sweet. Wish the place is a bit bigger though.
The menu is vast and full of interesting items for those who aren’t accustomed to authentic Taiwanese cuisine, so take the time to read through it all if you want to try something different. They have plenty of traditional Szechuan dishes for those who like their food with a spicy kick. For those who are slightly less adventurous the menu has plenty of more familiar options to choose from as well, so there should be something to suit all tastes.
The only concern is that it’s too small and sometimes you have to wait long time.

I come here mainly for dessert– there are a lot of different Taiwanese snacks and desserts, like the Honey Toast and pudding. I like getting the sweet tofu pudding (豆花) here mostly because not many places have it, and it’s really good, especially with the different toppings!
I’ve also had the small sausage wrapped in a large sausage (大腸包小腸) and the popcorn chicken and I liked them a lot as well. I haven’t had other food, but this is definitely a good place for snacks and desserts!

First time here and i was pretty impressed. The service was good, we were seated pretty quickly and they always came to make sure we were good and my water always got filled without asking which is a plus. I got the beef soup there, I thought it was really good. The honey toast was delicious, it was huge you definitely need to share this with someone when getting it. The honey toast comes with scoops of ice cream on top of it and fruits, and inside it it has pieces of honey toast on the bottom which tastes amazing with the ice cream combination. I definitely will be returning back to this place.

color me impressed. I haven’t had any of their other foods there but I have had their dessert. The shaved ice isn’t really anything to rave about but the fruit toppings on there are on point. fresh cut strawberries and mangoes drizzled with honey and condensed milk is a diabetics nightmare but i sweet tooth’s dream. The shaved ice itself is pretty standard but I prefer the ice chips that almost taste like fresh winter snow.
the other dessert (i can’t recall the name) is the little honey baked bread box with ice cream and fruit topping. It’s legit. The bread box is like eating pieces of perfect crème burlee french toast. Just the right amount of sweetness and just the right amount of crunch to get you to savor every bite.
The biggest down side is the parking and the size of this place. It’s tiny. The top floor of parking can maybe accommodate 12 cars — combined that with Asian’s parking and you can fit 9 without dinging your doors and scraping your bumpers. The downstairs garage is always packed as it shares it with employees, neighboring restaurants, and grocery stores. But if you can luck out and get good parking, you’ll most likely be forced to wait an hour to get a seat inside HardWok as their max capacity can’t be more than 30 people. Considering it takes 20 minutes to make the dessert (made to order) be prepared to wait. But if you have a sweet tooth like me… it’s worth it :)

Had an awesome lunch with a friend here. I was excited to try some authentic dishes, and she was knowledgeable enough to order just the right items. It is a fast pace café style dining, but it’s clean and pleasant.
The red plum juice was sweet and salty, a very fun combination. I loved the spicy duck feet, which come de-​boned, so it’s easy to eat it. Very crunchy!
The pork «burger» was very flavorful, but I couldn’t handle all the pork fat part. The popular ouster pancake is only for oyster lovers! Very oyster-​y, I must say, but I love it!
Definitely give this place a try if you’re into authentic dishes and love trying unique foods. You’ll find a great selection to choose from to excite your taste buds!

I LOVE their spiced meat sauce over rice, sasuage with sticky rice and popcorn chicken!
The crispy pork chop was too bland for me.
Strawberry toast is awesome too but it takes more than 3 adults to finish it all!

I am surprised it had taken me so long to discover HardWok Café. It is quite popular and every time I visit (in the evening) there is a wait.
I think their desserts are much better than their savory options. I have tried their sticky rice, garlic pork, spicy mala tang, pork cutlet, braised pork knuckle, cold appetizer plate, and popcorn chicken. I like the sticky rice, mala tang, and garlic pork. The popcorn chicken is perfectly cooked and not dry like popcorn chicken usually is. The pork knuckle is good but too difficult to eat. The pork cutlet needs seasoning.
For dessert, I’ve had honey toast, thick toast, grass jelly, and green tea jello. I am OBSESSED with their grass jelly dessert! It is a big bowl of grass jelly with syrup and your choice of three toppings. I like taro, red bean, lotus bean, green bean, and yam. Their honey toast is delicious — topped with lots of ice cream and the toast is so perfectly sweet and crunchy. It does take 30 minutes for it to come out. If you think the thick toast is just a smaller version, you’re wrong. :(
The only downside of this place is that it closes way too early!

Love this place! Seating has always been troublesome but this is a small place so expect to wait a while to be seated if you’re coming on a busy day.
They have great food here! Their soups have deep flavor and the noodles are fair consistency. One thing I noticed was that I easily get tired of their noodley/​meaty dishes. It’s just very rich, and it’s rich throughout the meal. Think of getting a light side dish to go with if it you’re getting something meat/​sauce/​soup heavy.
Their shrimp pancake is incredibly good. One of my favorite dishes there! Sounds and looks weird, but try it out!
I’ve also had a sweet bun with condensed milk. Not the biggest fan of that one. It was bland and almost dry to eat. The condensed milk saved it by a hair. Will never get again.
Their pork belly sandwich (is that what it’s called? Don’t remember) is very good but it’s very small! I LOVE pork belly, and they used it well in a nice steam bun, some peanuts for some nutty deep good flavor, and bright greens to cut the saltiness.
Their mini steam buns are so good! Very juicy, great chew and texture. The vinegar they give you pairs incredibly well with the meat inside. Use it! One of my favorites here.
I have to say the desserts here are probably my favorite parts of eating here… Honey toast is always a fun treat to have (I love the hot/​cold), and their shaved ice is very good, too. Fresh strawberries and mangoes covering shaved ice. The bottom of the ice had tapioca syrup and the top of the fruit was covered with condensed milk. :)
Also note, honey toast take a while to make so order it right away! I’ve heard they sometimes run out of the toast. So try to come in early or call to ask if they have it beforehand. Be prepared to wait 30+ minutes for it! In the meantime, try a couple of their dishes!