Food is always good and staffs are super friendly.
Charlie Huang
quality has gone down hill fast. a lot of special menu items are gone. the dim sum is now very bland and salty. service is very slow. you pretty much have to send up a smoke as signal to even get someone's attention.
Erik Foster
The wait is long, the food and food service is decent, and the parking sutuation is not great.We were 14 numbers away from being seated (during a Dim Sum service). Sadly, they didn't call our number outside where we were waiting. We waited right in front of the door for about an hour to be seated. By the time I went in to see how close we were, they were 6 numbers past ours. So we waited an extra 15 to 20 minutes needlessly because they don't always call the wait numbers outside.Check line numbers against the board inside regularly if you decide to eat here.My other gripe here is that they will charge each person in your party for "Tea or Seat" at $1.75/PP (still not sure what "Seat" means exactly). You will pay this amount even if you say you don't want tea. Because it's "Tea or Seat". Not really sure how they can charge you $1.75 for sitting in the restaurant while you're eating their food inside the restaurant, but they will. So you may as well drink the tea if you go herebecause you'll be paying for it weather you do it not.The most annoying part of this meal was when we questioned the extra $1.75/PP "Tea or Seat" charge. The server pointed to a plate and said "it's a Chinese thing". My wife, who's plate she pointed at when saying this, is Chinese. So insulting.We have decided we won't be back to Chef's Wok. That's how much we don't wish to pay again for the "forced-to-pay" ghost items on their menu.
Carol Chong
I have been to Chef's Wok a few times in the past (pre-COVID), ordering food to go. Last Saturday in the evening, my family came here for Chinese Lunar New Year dinner. There were about 20 of us dining on the fine and delicious meal.The restaurant sure got crowded with many families enjoying the holiday meal. They even had people waiting in the lobby for a table.The restaurant was very busy, and the service was attentive. Nice ambiance and there is ample parking next to the restaurant.
East Bay Area Resident
Oh...now I get it. As they say, go where the locals go and as far as good Chinese food is concerned, the locals (in Oakland) head to over Alameda where it's safer and the risk of getting assaulted go to or coming from dinner is reduced.The Chinese name of chefs wok restaurant is duhn sing boon doh ...loosely translated as maybe London city peninsula. Maybe "Peninsula Seafood" would be a more apt name but Alameda is an island....ehh, whatever..Located on Webster street near two other Chinese restaurants, Chefs Wok probably caters to a more Chinese clientele. Open and well known for dim sum, Chefs Wok is also a seafood restaurant that serves dinner.We went during Chinese new year week. The restaurant was packed with people celebrating the new year. As such , there were limited ala carte options, with staff recommending either a $488 or $588 set menu with Chinese new year " greatest hits"Overall, the food was ok or pretty good. The kitchen was overwhelmed and food came out slowly and not always hot.oh well. Front staff was polite and efficient.. table Service was ok but the staff paid more attention to tables that ordered high end seafood dishes like king crab or live snapper. Oh well.Dining area is bright and fairly clean and expansive but also shows the effects of years of wear and tear. If only they would do a full renovation...Chinese cold appetizer platter (ping poohn) - decent except the beef shank was close to spoiling.Steamed chicken : a little too salty and a little dry. They overdid it with the turmeric in the poaching liquid to make the chicken skin yellow.Mixed prawn and calamari with vegetables: ok, not much wok hay but kitchen was overwhelmed.Twin sauteed lobsters: pretty good and lobsters were nicely done but no noodles or maybe it wasn't offered. Not sure if we got the full amount.Beef with mixed mushrooms: ok but the beef was overly tenderized. Nothing special on this one.Steamed trout: pretty good. Fish was fresh (it better be)Braised pork shoulder with dried oysters and fat choi (the stuff that looks like black hair): the pork was on the gamey side but the dried oysters were excellent.Fried rice to round out the meal: kind of dry and overly salty. A small sprinkle of dried scallop (to be fair this is expensive) was added to add a touch of sophistication. It disappeared one the rice was mixed.As other have mentioned, the food here is on the salty side and they aren't shy about adding MSG. I'm told the kitchen does better on normal nights or weekends...I wouldn't know.Overall chefs wok is worth trying out.They probably do better with seafood than other stir fried dishes that contain chicken or pork or beef. I might come back.
F Yeh
Super legit. Delicious food, very crowded which speaks on its popularity. Specifically got the green rice balls, pork belly, fried fish, shanghai dumplings, all incredible and I'll definitely be taking friends to visit here again.Wheelchair accessibility: Automatic entry door button
Lisa Mckay
I've only had take out so can't comment on the atmosphere. Spicy Singapore noodles and other sides are great. The noodles were a little dry last time I had them but still tasty.
R S
Follow the leaders. Many of them come to Chef’s Wok. For the morning dim sum, or an evening dinner.Their seems to have been a big change with the recipes recently. Do you feel that way too?I know people who speak three different Chinese languages that come here because they favor this restaurant.You might notices that you can get the same dish in various styles.Arrive before they open and you’ll arrive in style. The restaurant has a parking lot. Be the first in the door by being the first to park your car. Is that a pro tip?While dining here both morning and night on many occasions, I find so much appreciation for the families that come here. Now that’s Chinese style!This place is great for groups.Many waiters, hostesses, cashiers, and servers are multilingual and I’ve spoken English here when ordering alone.There are more ways to drive here than the Webster Street Tube. I mention this because sometimes, instead of the hassles trying to get to the freeway to go south, try surface streets. Going backroads to San Leandro is far more relaxing for the family.
Francisco Leung
A great place for dim sum in Alameda. Fresh, tasty, and authentic. Service is fast and they take good care of you.There's lots of seating inside but it gets packed quickly. Parking is on the side but can be hard to find. Plan ahead.
T C.
It's a very noise dim sum place in Alameda, a lot of people keep talking/yelping right next to our table. Average food quality, service is good. But the small parking lot is terrible, always illegal parking right next to handicap. People just ignore the "no parking sign". plus restaurant allow some of their customer parking behind your car, and you have to ask and wait forever before your can move out your car.
Good food. Expect long lines, friendly and attentive staff.
Joe J.
Sorry for not posting pictures with this post. I can't close the year out without writing a review for Chef's Wok. For years, our family always went down the street to East Ocean but once a friend starting cooking there, we had to check them out. We have come here for lunch and dinner and the food is always fresh and excellent. They have a nice variety of dim sum that you can order off the menu as well as some items on the cart. Their pineapple BBQ pork bun is off the hook delicious. Crunchy topping and flavorful filling thanks to their onsite BBQ meats. There is another dish that is pea shoots and fried tofu that is amazing as well. Thankfully we are able to bring my 88 year old mom along because she knows what to order and can reach Chinese! The service that we receive is pretty good because they know my mom. One point that I will note is we celebrated my hubby's birthday so we brought a Neldam's strawberry cream cake for dessert. The hostess brought over a cardboard box with plastic forks and plates and proceeded to massacre the cake. I tried to jump in the cut it but she wouldn't let me. So, a word to the wish...get cupcakes. :(. Other than the "cake incident", there is nothing to complain about. Parking in the lot is limited but there is street parking. We usually park by the Grocery Outlet and trek over. Even though the chef we know as left, we will come back because our last meal there was really enjoyable. We all talked about it. The basics: shrimp with honey walnuts, beef cubes, veggies, roasted chicken and long life noodles because it was mom's birthday. All good! Give them a try and support these local businesses.
Olivia C.
With the variety of dim sum choices (and a menu with photos and in English), Chef's Wok is a good place to bring both those new to the dim sum experience as well as those in search of good dim sum. You know you have a thriving dim sum place based on the number of options they serve and how fresh it is. It means that if there are enough patrons that their food is not frozen long (if at all). The shrimp dumplings were fresh and the wrapper didn't stick to the bamboo container like other places. Everything was tasty! The do have a small parking lot but it is often full so plan ahead. Bathroom was clean.
Marc N.
My go-to dimsum place as well as for dinner. For Cantonese food, it's hard to find a place that isn't too salty/oily. I naturally do not have an option to go elsewhere if my parents and grandparents prefer to eat here. The location is also very convenient to eat at. I'm only going to yelp about the dim sum for now as that is what I ate that day. The food is about a 7/10 for me, but add an extra star cause the service is great, another one cause the dinner is good too, and another one cause we knew the previous owners. A lot of the servers have been there for a while too, so that tells you how small the turnover rate is. Seems like they treat their employees well.
Mark Cheung
Very traditional Cantonese dim sum. It's very rare today that Chinese restaurants still have specialty chefs making dim sum. Most Chinese restaurants serve manufacturing type dim sum from one central dim sum factory, Chef Wok apparently has the dim sum specialists making all kinds of Cantonese dim sum. Tasty is not the standard to describe the qualities of dim sum, workmanship is the key. Hand-made dim sum is fading away, having a hand-made fresh dim sum, in today's Chinese food quality standard, is priceless.
Food is always good and staffs are super friendly.
quality has gone down hill fast. a lot of special menu items are gone. the dim sum is now very bland and salty. service is very slow. you pretty much have to send up a smoke as signal to even get someone's attention.
The wait is long, the food and food service is decent, and the parking sutuation is not great.We were 14 numbers away from being seated (during a Dim Sum service). Sadly, they didn't call our number outside where we were waiting. We waited right in front of the door for about an hour to be seated. By the time I went in to see how close we were, they were 6 numbers past ours. So we waited an extra 15 to 20 minutes needlessly because they don't always call the wait numbers outside.Check line numbers against the board inside regularly if you decide to eat here.My other gripe here is that they will charge each person in your party for "Tea or Seat" at $1.75/PP (still not sure what "Seat" means exactly). You will pay this amount even if you say you don't want tea. Because it's "Tea or Seat". Not really sure how they can charge you $1.75 for sitting in the restaurant while you're eating their food inside the restaurant, but they will. So you may as well drink the tea if you go herebecause you'll be paying for it weather you do it not.The most annoying part of this meal was when we questioned the extra $1.75/PP "Tea or Seat" charge. The server pointed to a plate and said "it's a Chinese thing". My wife, who's plate she pointed at when saying this, is Chinese. So insulting.We have decided we won't be back to Chef's Wok. That's how much we don't wish to pay again for the "forced-to-pay" ghost items on their menu.
I have been to Chef's Wok a few times in the past (pre-COVID), ordering food to go. Last Saturday in the evening, my family came here for Chinese Lunar New Year dinner. There were about 20 of us dining on the fine and delicious meal.The restaurant sure got crowded with many families enjoying the holiday meal. They even had people waiting in the lobby for a table.The restaurant was very busy, and the service was attentive. Nice ambiance and there is ample parking next to the restaurant.
Oh...now I get it. As they say, go where the locals go and as far as good Chinese food is concerned, the locals (in Oakland) head to over Alameda where it's safer and the risk of getting assaulted go to or coming from dinner is reduced.The Chinese name of chefs wok restaurant is duhn sing boon doh ...loosely translated as maybe London city peninsula. Maybe "Peninsula Seafood" would be a more apt name but Alameda is an island....ehh, whatever..Located on Webster street near two other Chinese restaurants, Chefs Wok probably caters to a more Chinese clientele. Open and well known for dim sum, Chefs Wok is also a seafood restaurant that serves dinner.We went during Chinese new year week. The restaurant was packed with people celebrating the new year. As such , there were limited ala carte options, with staff recommending either a $488 or $588 set menu with Chinese new year " greatest hits"Overall, the food was ok or pretty good. The kitchen was overwhelmed and food came out slowly and not always hot.oh well. Front staff was polite and efficient.. table Service was ok but the staff paid more attention to tables that ordered high end seafood dishes like king crab or live snapper. Oh well.Dining area is bright and fairly clean and expansive but also shows the effects of years of wear and tear. If only they would do a full renovation...Chinese cold appetizer platter (ping poohn) - decent except the beef shank was close to spoiling.Steamed chicken : a little too salty and a little dry. They overdid it with the turmeric in the poaching liquid to make the chicken skin yellow.Mixed prawn and calamari with vegetables: ok, not much wok hay but kitchen was overwhelmed.Twin sauteed lobsters: pretty good and lobsters were nicely done but no noodles or maybe it wasn't offered. Not sure if we got the full amount.Beef with mixed mushrooms: ok but the beef was overly tenderized. Nothing special on this one.Steamed trout: pretty good. Fish was fresh (it better be)Braised pork shoulder with dried oysters and fat choi (the stuff that looks like black hair): the pork was on the gamey side but the dried oysters were excellent.Fried rice to round out the meal: kind of dry and overly salty. A small sprinkle of dried scallop (to be fair this is expensive) was added to add a touch of sophistication. It disappeared one the rice was mixed.As other have mentioned, the food here is on the salty side and they aren't shy about adding MSG. I'm told the kitchen does better on normal nights or weekends...I wouldn't know.Overall chefs wok is worth trying out.They probably do better with seafood than other stir fried dishes that contain chicken or pork or beef. I might come back.
Super legit. Delicious food, very crowded which speaks on its popularity. Specifically got the green rice balls, pork belly, fried fish, shanghai dumplings, all incredible and I'll definitely be taking friends to visit here again.Wheelchair accessibility: Automatic entry door button
I've only had take out so can't comment on the atmosphere. Spicy Singapore noodles and other sides are great. The noodles were a little dry last time I had them but still tasty.
Follow the leaders. Many of them come to Chef’s Wok. For the morning dim sum, or an evening dinner.Their seems to have been a big change with the recipes recently. Do you feel that way too?I know people who speak three different Chinese languages that come here because they favor this restaurant.You might notices that you can get the same dish in various styles.Arrive before they open and you’ll arrive in style. The restaurant has a parking lot. Be the first in the door by being the first to park your car. Is that a pro tip?While dining here both morning and night on many occasions, I find so much appreciation for the families that come here. Now that’s Chinese style!This place is great for groups.Many waiters, hostesses, cashiers, and servers are multilingual and I’ve spoken English here when ordering alone.There are more ways to drive here than the Webster Street Tube. I mention this because sometimes, instead of the hassles trying to get to the freeway to go south, try surface streets. Going backroads to San Leandro is far more relaxing for the family.
A great place for dim sum in Alameda. Fresh, tasty, and authentic. Service is fast and they take good care of you.There's lots of seating inside but it gets packed quickly. Parking is on the side but can be hard to find. Plan ahead.
It's a very noise dim sum place in Alameda, a lot of people keep talking/yelping right next to our table. Average food quality, service is good. But the small parking lot is terrible, always illegal parking right next to handicap. People just ignore the "no parking sign". plus restaurant allow some of their customer parking behind your car, and you have to ask and wait forever before your can move out your car.
Restaurantji Recommends
Good food. Expect long lines, friendly and attentive staff.
Sorry for not posting pictures with this post. I can't close the year out without writing a review for Chef's Wok. For years, our family always went down the street to East Ocean but once a friend starting cooking there, we had to check them out. We have come here for lunch and dinner and the food is always fresh and excellent. They have a nice variety of dim sum that you can order off the menu as well as some items on the cart. Their pineapple BBQ pork bun is off the hook delicious. Crunchy topping and flavorful filling thanks to their onsite BBQ meats. There is another dish that is pea shoots and fried tofu that is amazing as well. Thankfully we are able to bring my 88 year old mom along because she knows what to order and can reach Chinese! The service that we receive is pretty good because they know my mom. One point that I will note is we celebrated my hubby's birthday so we brought a Neldam's strawberry cream cake for dessert. The hostess brought over a cardboard box with plastic forks and plates and proceeded to massacre the cake. I tried to jump in the cut it but she wouldn't let me. So, a word to the wish...get cupcakes. :(. Other than the "cake incident", there is nothing to complain about. Parking in the lot is limited but there is street parking. We usually park by the Grocery Outlet and trek over. Even though the chef we know as left, we will come back because our last meal there was really enjoyable. We all talked about it. The basics: shrimp with honey walnuts, beef cubes, veggies, roasted chicken and long life noodles because it was mom's birthday. All good! Give them a try and support these local businesses.
With the variety of dim sum choices (and a menu with photos and in English), Chef's Wok is a good place to bring both those new to the dim sum experience as well as those in search of good dim sum. You know you have a thriving dim sum place based on the number of options they serve and how fresh it is. It means that if there are enough patrons that their food is not frozen long (if at all). The shrimp dumplings were fresh and the wrapper didn't stick to the bamboo container like other places. Everything was tasty! The do have a small parking lot but it is often full so plan ahead. Bathroom was clean.
My go-to dimsum place as well as for dinner. For Cantonese food, it's hard to find a place that isn't too salty/oily. I naturally do not have an option to go elsewhere if my parents and grandparents prefer to eat here. The location is also very convenient to eat at. I'm only going to yelp about the dim sum for now as that is what I ate that day. The food is about a 7/10 for me, but add an extra star cause the service is great, another one cause the dinner is good too, and another one cause we knew the previous owners. A lot of the servers have been there for a while too, so that tells you how small the turnover rate is. Seems like they treat their employees well.
Very traditional Cantonese dim sum. It's very rare today that Chinese restaurants still have specialty chefs making dim sum. Most Chinese restaurants serve manufacturing type dim sum from one central dim sum factory, Chef Wok apparently has the dim sum specialists making all kinds of Cantonese dim sum. Tasty is not the standard to describe the qualities of dim sum, workmanship is the key. Hand-made dim sum is fading away, having a hand-made fresh dim sum, in today's Chinese food quality standard, is priceless.