J-Wok Cafe

Which crime is worse: Mediocre food served by super sweet owners? Or a Yelper that embellishes their experience? It's super hard to be blunt when I can see the business try to give effort. However, It saddens me that the food I sampled left me extremely unsatisfied.

PRO: Service 5/5
* Owners are super sweet & helpful
* Menu has a nice variety of original Thai dishes & also a dash of Chinese fusion
* Prices are fair
* Portion size is slightly above average on (some) dishes
* Thai ice tea is tasty

CON: Food 2/5
* Pad Thai - Although a great heaping portion, the egg /fettuccine noodles substituted instead of authentic rice noodles, left the dish extremely dense and dry. The noodles sat in our bellies like a rock and was difficult to digest. The blandness of this dish left a lot to be desired. 2/5
* Mongolian beef hash - The overall dish had a prominent sour, possibly lime flavor which caught me off guard and the portion size was questionable. The "hash" portion was a tease - the "1" hash brown that you can find at Costco'a freezer aisle (I love Costco) but still, it wasn't not large enough to satisfy the amount of beef cubes and the large chunks of bell pepper and onions underneath. After 3 balanced bites with hash, I was left picking at the rest of my saucy beef and veggies wishing there was some sort of carb, or rice to soak up all the moisture to eat it with. 2/5

We were let down by our first impression of this spot, but I can see that a lot of locals enjoy the variety and the value, so I'll just leave it at that. To each their own!

J-Wok kinda reminds me of a confused Pei Wei/China One with a splash of Thai. Being in the area and seeing the high ratings, we got suckered in.

We were thinking of a noodle dish and an item off the fusion menu. As much as we were eyeing the Pad see ew and the Drunken Noodles, the owners strongly recommended the Chow Mein and Mongolian Beef Hash off the fusion side.

Tastewise, the hash was a disappointment using the same type of hash browns found at Mickey D's and the flavors just didn't mesh well together...no....just no...the Chow Mein was good, similar to what you can get at China One, but the excess oil left on the plate was unnecessary.

Overall, a weak A-Ok for me, and another place I probably won't be returning to when you got tastier oodles of noodle options in Chinatown, and be careful... The po-po may get you here for J-Wokking ...;) ALOHA! ! !

Shaka Meter: \uuu/ \uuu/ \uu 2.5

New Asian fusion spot now open on the East side, complete with a pun-ny name! They have Thai and Chinese staple dishes for the traditionalists, and some fun specials, too.

You can get any number of Thai/Chinese dishes here, and they're fairly solid- the pan fried potstickers (great dipping sauce!) and crab Rangoon (really light on the cream cheese) are made fresh daily, but my usual picks are the egg foo yung or the crispy pork with Chinese broccoli. My guy often opts for the orange chicken, chow mein, or the wor won ton soup (giant portion). If you're feeling more adventurous, they offer some fusion specials. I've enjoyed the Thai-rrito, the Thai deviled eggs, and the Mongolian beef hash and eggs. Snag the garlic cheese fries during HH.

BEVERAGES: Thai tea, thai coffee, Torani fruit smoothies, blended frappes, milk tea, flavored teas, and great honey boba. Try the Turbo Frappe for an unbeatable caffeine rush.

Family owned and operated with attentive and friendly service. Everything is made to order, so call ahead or using Eat24. Small stage area in the back for performances and special events. HH specials available 11AM-3PM, and they give teachers, EMT, police, firefighters, etc 10% off with ID, all day, every day.

December 2015 Edit: they've pared down the menu and are trying out a Sushi Tuesdays special.

[10/11/15: Just learned that happy hour is now 3-5pm daily, with entrees for $4.95. The former "happy hour" is still 11-3 daily, but it's now the "lunch special" menu and has more options.]

Considering that their music playlist consists solely of songs from the King of Pop, J-Wok's name doesn't reference the right genre. But at least their food popped in my mouth.

J-Wok Cafe is a standalone restaurant located near Sam's Club in one of those sprawling Tropicana Avenue plazas. The entrance (and therefore the best parking) is on the side facing Reno (not Tropicana). The menu is mainly composed of standard entrees, appetizers, and soups associated with Thai and Chinese cuisine. They also have a fusion menu, which I may explore at another time, as well as smoothies, frappes, and milk tea. With boba available for $0.75 extra, I wondered if it could be a decent substitute for dedicated tea shops. However, I decided not to overload on sugar today.

So-called "happy hour" specials are available daily from 11 to 3, and I chose the Pad Thai ($6 special) with chicken (tofu also a standard option, and other meats cost extra). It was presented in a plastic to-go bowl container. It was as good as any other standard restaurant Pad Thai: moist noodles, an overall sweetness that you can offset with a small lime wedge, a reasonable amount of chicken (some even with a bit of a char), bean sprouts, and greens. I barely remembered that I ordered it as a "3" (out of a spicy scale of 10) because the heat dissipated quickly. Other places are more aggressive with their capsaicin, and my sensitive palate was thankful that they went light instead. Portion-wise, it's average for a lunch special, not small as I'd originally thought.

I also picked up a $2 Thai tea. I think the large size is also the one offered on the happy hour menu, but I know with certainty that it was advertised at that price and size on their blackboard today. It's a fairly generous portion served in a plastic cup that's strongly reminiscent of a whipped cream venti frappuccino, and it's sweet but not cloyingly so. I could see myself ordering it again as a happy hour or blackboard special.

I'm not sure if this issue will persist for the rest of the Vegas summer, but it was noticeably warm when I first stepped in. They have two vertical A/C units that didn't seem to be very powerful, but it did get cooler as the meal proceeded, especially when I moved to a table directly facing one of the fans.

While J-Wok is not a complete replacement for more traditional Thai or Chinese restaurants, it definitely hit the right notes for me. It's a good neighborhood restaurant that I could see myself revisiting, although not for a very quick lunch because they took a little longer than I'd expected to cook the food (which is a good sign otherwise). Check it out if you happen to be in the area.

Double names are popular. Double names starting with the letter J are even more popular, often exuding a significant level of street cred -- J Cole, J Dilla, J J Abrams, J-Boog of the late r&b group B2K, J Lo, J Edgar Hoover... and now presenting J-Wok, the asian cafe located on the SW corner of Tropicana and Pecos. (Turn into Reno, same plaza as Sam's Club.)

For the bargain hunters like myself, you will be thrilled to hear they have two distinct specials: lunch (from 11a-3p) and happy hour (from 3p-5p). No alcohol here, but you CAN get a thai iced tea or milk tea for only $1.95 and a variety of entrees for only $4.95 -- the most happy you can get without getting sloshed with libations or taking your clothes off.

The bf and I stopped in for their lunch special. I got the garlic chicken and he got the teriyaki chicken. Both came with 2 small scoops of rice and a spring roll. Regardless of in-house dining or to-go, they use styrofoam containers. Honestly, my garlic chicken seemed overwhelmingly doused in garlic. But, with the wide variety of menu items they offer, I would not hesitate to give other entrees a chance. Especially at such a cheap price and a very friendly store owner.

Tip: Check in for a free thai iced coffee! I asked if I could get the thai iced tea instead and he honored my request. I've actually tried both, and the thai iced tea is definitely better!

I always see this place everytime I drive on pecos. It's a cute little cafe right next to the SAMs club on Tropicana and pecos. You can't miss it!

As soon as I walked in, I felt welcome. It's a tiny place, so don't expect anything spectacular and huge. But I must say, service here would probably be the one thing that would keep me coming back for more.

The lady in the register's name is Julie. She was very nice and super helpful. I came at about 7 pm at night and no one was inside. Their food menu is pretty diverse! They had Thai food, as well as Chinese. They even had lumpia and adobo on their menu! Pretty neat! I'm excited because they're so close to me.

Anyways...let's move on to the food. Honestly, I've had better. BUT, it wasn't not good, it was okay. I ordered the Mongolian beef for my boyfriend and I had the orange chicken. The Mongolian beef tasted a bit different from most Chinese places, but it wasn't bad. The orange chicken was tasty, it just wasn't as crunchy, like how orange chicken usually is. I also didn't know that the order came with rice. So I ordered an extra friend rice dish. I'm glad I did because the fried rice was good!!

At the end of my order, Julie gave me a stamp card (I LOVE STAMP CARDS!!!) for every entree you get, you get stamped, and after a certain amount of stamps..you get a free entree!!! They also have Thai tea boba, milk tea boba and different flavor slushees. You also get stamps for the drinks! After 7 drink stamps (1 stamp per drink order) you get the next for free!

See you soon J-Wok!

Sunday, take mom to lunch day, what, what, what, Asian fusion on the east side of town. Let me tell you what a pleasant surprise to have someone to explain the food (Boris is great). The place is a week new but the service has the feel of a well establish eatery.

I started with the garlic fries, the I had to order the broccoli/pork so good. Also took advantage of the happy hour special and got the orange chicken. The wor wonton soup also on the happy hour menu.

Now for the most hyped item on the signature speciality menu. Thai devil' eggs, I will try to explain this experience the hard boiled eggs is deep fried to give it a unique texture. Then a perfect sauce is added, topped off with some great green garnishes on top.

Last but not least and probably my fav is the Mongolian hash & eggs see my pictures. It's definitely filling but has an incredible mixture of flavors. Mongolian beef, eggs and has a dash of a green sauce that almost gives it a gyro flavor!

The boba Thai milk tea is definitely worth the wait! I've never had boba that tastes so fresh but with the added flavor of honey. The best boba tea I've ever had.

Fried rice and Mongolian beef to go surprisingly good. Took awhile to cook but there friendly service made up for it offering me Thai tea while I waited. Best bet is call ahead if you don't plan on eating there.

Stopped at this gem today. So glad we did. From the front was quite, upon walking in we were greeted and welcome by Jane and her son (I didn't get his name sorry) plus their other helper a cook and server he is all in one! They walked us through the menu choices and we didn't know where to begin... ok so we order a little bit of everything to try. We sat in the little dining area, as we waited you can hear them cooking. First our appetizers came out fried zucchini, crab rangoon and egg rolls. For dinner we had pad Thai, chicken Lo Mein and Kung Pao Chicken. Huge portions, fresh vegetables, smelled so good (only if there was smell-a-yelp) you would understand how good it smelled. Lol
We will be back for sure when you find a very good place that's welcoming staff, great quality of food you know you will be going back. Had to share.

In the car with my husband searching Yelp for the closest boba place and J-Wok came up. Kind of iffy about going, but we saw the free Thai Coffee with check-in and thought, well, might as well give it a shot. It's definitely a small "hole in the wall" type of place with random decor and a large tv on without sound. You order at the counter and the girl up front was polite.

They had a larger drink menu than I expected which consisted of a few frappes, smoothies, teas, and coffee. They also had a small list of basic add-ins. I ordered a jasmine milk tea with boba. It was the same size as the coffee I posted and cost $3.59. I have to say it was pretty decent and satisfied my craving. I suppose I was pleasantly surprised since my expectations were low. My husband's coffee was ok as well, they use that Asian coffee that sort of has a toasted rice flavor. It did take them a while to make the drinks. I noticed a lot of going back and forth seeming to look for ingredients? It made me think that they don't really make drinks on a regular basis.

I also ordered Lumpia (Filipino egg rolls) as sort of an afterthought, the gal had to check if they had some and I was disappointed to spy that they were of the frozen, bagged variety. They tasted fine. We didn't see anything on the menu we'd want to come back for.