Peking Wok Mandarin Cuisine
- Price Range: $$
- Accepts Credit Cards: Yes
- Parking: Private Lot
- Attire: Casual
- Good for Groups: Yes
- Good for Kids: Yes
- Delivers: Yes
- Take-out: Yes
- Waiter Service: Yes
- Wheelchair Accessible: Yes
- Outdoor Seating: No
- Good for: Lunch, Dinner
- Alcohol: Beer & Wine Only
29 reviews
Lakewood, CA
"Ok, first off: I am a HUGE Sushi Studio fan, so I knew what I wanted already. Differences is that it's not as packed in, the decor is…" read more »
26 Reviews for Peking Wok Mandarin Cuisine
nice looking restaurant inside. Service can sometimes be a little slow, but I enjoy the food. Great chow fun, lettuce wraps and sizzling rice soup. hits the spot every time!
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I've had better-by alot-just not close to here. Still searching for a *great* Chinese place in the LBC. Most of the Chinese places around here blow, so I'm starting to think my fellow yelpers are just giving Peking Wok kudos for even being in the game. "Thanks for not sucking hard like the other places-here's a nice review!"
The location is good, the decor is nice and the overall dining atmosphere is better than average. But, when it's about the food, the food is just, well, average. I've had the won ton soup, the egg rolls, the crispy wontons, the fried rice, the moo shoo, beef with broccoli, all the standards. it's just ok.
This is one of those places that I keep coming back to over the years hoping they've improved as I live close by. I always give it a second chance, a third chance, a fifteenth chance...and always am like, "meh...its ok" Then, I wish that PF changs was more convenient! Or that Panda Inn [cerritos] would deliver to Long Beach!
Why oh why is it impossible to get good Chinese Food in Long Beach? I'm not even expecting authentic here folks, I mean you can't even get good Americanized Chinese Food in this town.
The look of the place on the inside was promising, and the delicious appetizers were even more of a tease. Then the feeling like absolute hell after the disaster of a main dish sealed the deal.
We had Chicken and Corn soup that was good, but too sweet and I had to add salt and pepper to it in order to eat it.
Then we had the pan fried dumplings that were perfectly cooked, filled with wonderfully seasoned ground pork, and topped with soy sauce. This dish was great and gave me high hopes that were immediately smashed by:
Three flavor pan friend noodles in sizzling dish. Chicken, Beef and Shrimp tossed in a savory sauce atop crispy, greasy pan fried noodles and tossed with vegetables. The noodles and sauce tasted good, although a bit too greasy, and the meat all tasted exactly the same. I would say that the bland and generic taste and texture of all three meats was due to it being low quality, frozen meat. I can tell you folks that this part of the meal was simply gross.
And the feeling of absolute sickness that gripped me right after the meal until the time I went to sleep is a sure sign that I will not be returning.
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I'm going to have to pretty much mirror the review by fellow yelper "Quinn." I shouldn't even waste the time to simply carbon copy a review, but here goes.
Nice decor inside, very traditional Chinese decor.
The appetizers were quite good.
We opted for the special for $11.95 per person, and, ordered for 9, I believe.
The $11.95 special includes some wonton thing (in aluminum foil), fried egg roll (not sure if there was actually any egg present), and some wonton or hot and sour soup. All of which were fried good and hot. My cholesterol must have jumped 200 points after slammin down those delicious fried rolls saturated in MSG.
The main courses came out, and well, I think the best way to describe all the main course dishes is: about like that Panda place you can get fast food (quick search on google: it's called Panda Express). It's pretty good, but not, WOW. Like I said, if you want Panda Express food and like to be waited on, eat here. Everything kinda tasted the same........maybe the food on the $13.95 per person menu option had a little bit more pizazz?
I think the service was "C" level. Could definitely have stood to have been more attentive.
And, since my girlfriend thinks I'm the most myopic/critical person she knows, I'll add this additional critique: what's up with the soft elevator music when eating Chinese? I mean, comon, I think they were playing Sade on the restaurant's speaker system? WTF? Where's the traditional Eastern sounding tunes that really makes the ethnic experience authentic?
All in all, I'm appreciative that I ate tonight, but, I don't know if this place would be first on my list to come back to.
Thanks Mike!
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I took my girl here last night, and this place was just wonderful. It was like a fancy, nice place that wasn't too fancy and NOT expensive! Does it get any better than that?
Tea is served automatically (my partner didn't like it, more for me!), and then some crispy fried wonton strips with three different sauced. One tasted like ketchup, the other spicy mustard, and then a orange type sauce.
From the recommendation of yelpers and a friend. we both got combination plates. I got combo A, with hot and sour soup that was just normal (nothing special but not bad in any way), and it comes with a little plate of pork (I think) and an spring roll. I ordered cashew chicken as the entree, and it was delicious with lots of cashews and vegetables and chicken. I shared it with my partner, who got the combo B, wonton soup with another plate of fried shrimp and the same pork piece, and another eggroll, but she got sweet and sour chicken. Wonton soup was good but again nothing special. Her sweet and sour chicken was a little TOO sweet for me, but she loved it.
Overall-
Speedy service! Very nice servers, patient with us because we had no idea what we really wanted.
Atmosphere was VERY nice, what a great place to take a date!
The food was average to good, and I WILL be back to check out that lunch special. Mmm...
5 stars, just overall. I have no complaints, I'm sure I can find better Chinese food, but c'mon, for the price and the ambiance? You can have 5 stars for that!
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I love honey walnut shrimp and am always looking for a place that has this dish. Great honey walnut shrimp. Friendly, fast service... Nice to go packaging as well...
We dined here for dinner on a Saturday night,. We did not have to wait for a table. We had the Orange Roughy, the Moo Shi Pork and the Pot Stickers - All were exceptionally good. Others at my table had Chop Suey - average... and noodles - average.
Our party had a birthday celebrant and we were served banana bon bons on the house at the end of our meal. which was a nice touch and very flavorful and homemade tasting.
All in all a great experience - Our server was well above average - He looked more like a CEO.
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Yelpers with rave reviews drove us here for our Friday evening dinner.
Pros:
*The inside is much nicer than the outside! Loved the beautiful wood floors, modern-looking bar, and dark colors. The interior was a stark contrast to the blinding bright tackiness of the outside signs.
*We thought the dinner combinations were a good idea since you got a couple of appetizers, soup, fried rice, fried wontons AND your entree. That seemed like a good value, especially since we got the cheapest configuration at $11.95 each.
*All those appetizers, soup, and fried wontons were good.
*The service was good with lots of water and tea served and my never having to ask.
Cons:
*The fried rice that came with the dinner combination lacked the eggs, onions, or anything else that usually accompanies fried rice. It looked like unsticky brown rice, and it tasted like rice that had been tossed in butter. It was okay, but not what we were expecting.
*Our entrees, the Cashew Chicken and House Special Chow Mein, were just average. The Chow Mein especially needed more sprouts or more cabbage or something because everything those noodles touched turned into slimy sog. The brown sauce on the Cashew Chicken was ridiculously thick.
Overall:
Not the 5-star experience many other Yelpers described. Good, but not great, and not worth a return trip any time in the next few months.
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By Far the worst place I have ate at in Long Beach! The food was slimy and completely unappetizing. Both of the guest I was with tried something different and we all hated it. I can't believe it is getting such wonderful reviews here.
From the outside, it looks like a crappy restaurant, but it really is nice and charming inside.
The food is the best chinese food in long beach in my opinion!
Got the house special chow mein which had big pieces of shrimp and beef in it, which was sooo yummy, sweet and sour pork, goo pai something, and a quart of white rice which came out to 29 bucks!
But the best part about all of this, is that there is no way 2 people can finish this in one sitting, so it became lunch AND dinner the next day!!
I finally found a great Chinese Place!!!!!
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What can I say Shu the owner gits it right! I have been eating @ The Wok for easiy 15 years the original location is in Cerritos and I have eaten a combination of Kung Pao Chicken, House Spevial Fried Rice and Chow Mein everytime even when i have introduced friends and family this is what I order and it is the same everytime consitiency has kept me coming back and i think once you try you will too! *sipin on a hot and sour soup as I YELP!!!*
Pretty good, not super greasy, and they deliver. It's hard for me to find delivery in my part of the hood that isn't pizza, so I appreciate it. Chinese is my least favorite asian cuisine but I like this place and it arrives quickly. I've eaten in once and the service was friendly and they have one of my favorite beers, Tsing Tao(sp?). Bonus points for that!!
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I love Americanized Chinese food. I know it has very little to do with actual Chinese food, but I love it anyway. However, for whatever reason-- maybe the rise of Panda Express and other fast-food Chinese?-- it seems like the old-fashioned "cloth napkin, well-dressed-waiter" Chinese places around here are dying out (R.I.P. Taipan Bistro).
But Peking Wok is here to save the day.
Don't be turned off by the stripmall location and the boring, blocky exterior. Inside, this is easily the cleanest, classiest, and most beautiful example of its restaurant genre that I've experienced, and the prices are incredibly low when you consider all of that-- it's like getting the atmosphere for free. Tablecloths, cloth napkins, well-dressed waiters, excellent and extremely friendly service, big fishtank, spotlessly clean and surprisingly private booths, potstickers, fortune cookies, and kung pao everything.
Absolutely a date place. Not only are the beautiful individual booths more private than you'd expect, but the restaurant is divided into three different small rooms by fogged glass dividers, and the overall atmosphere is pleasantly quiet. Considering the prices, this would even make a fine dinner date for students-- most of the menu is in the $8.95 range, and nothing is over $16 or so. Portions are generally medium-sized. There's also a handsome bar, though no hard liquor license it seems (they have a few soju cocktails, beer, and wine).
The food is absolutely spot-on for its genre. Kung pao, orange peel, sweet and sour, etc. all taste just like you remember they should, and likely even better: everything is at least very good and sometimes phenomenal. Note however that if you order a spicy item without specifying how spicy you want it, it will come out only slightly spicy.
If you like this kind of food and like to eat it in a clean, classy setting, you'll love this place.
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Well, color me unimpressed.
The boy wanted to give this place a try on Sunday for lunch after the glowing reviews he read on Yelp. When we got there, there was no one up front to seat us. He resorted to coughing loudly while I tapped a few notes on the little xylophone sitting on a table in the front.
A curt waitress came to the front, grabbed two menus and threw them on the closest table before pushing past us to cash out the check she had in her hand. Hmm....alrighty, then. The gentleman who brought us our water and tea was very kind and a breath of fresh air. Then the waitress showed up to take our order and, lucky us, she was the same ray of sunshine who sat us. I asked for white rice with my dish and she snapped, "It comes with white rice!" Um. Ok. Sorry, lady.
The food was so-so. I got the kung pao bean curd and the boy got the cashew chicken lunch special. There was only one vegetarian lunch special option, so that was disappointing. I think next time (if there is a next time) I will see if they can substitute tofu in another dish.
It was quite nice inside, but I doubt I'd come back here again by choice.
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I had shrimp and pea pods, sweet and sour soup and chicken lettuce wraps delivered and everything was cooked to perfection. I had no menu at hand (it was my first call to Peking Wok) but the woman who took the order was patient with me as we determined what I would like. (Most order takers for delivery at restaurants are impatient and rude if you don't know what you want immediately.) The delivery was shorter than promised and the young delivery man was pleasant and could actually do addition (they had forgotten to total the bill but he had no difficulty doing it in his head). I will definitely order from this home-owned restaurant on a regular and frequent basis. (I do wish, however, that the owner would add brown rice to the options.)
Sorry another reviewer had a bad experience. I'm surprised, because I think Peking Wok is the best Chinese in Long Beach. The place is slick inside, the service friendly and attentive. The location (in the same strip mall as Enriques, LB's best Mex) is kind of off the track, so it misses the business I think it deserves.
Started going there when it was Ocean Pearl. The cuisine has changed (less seafood) but not the quality. The food is uniformly great. (OK, the Peking Duck can be fatty, but usually it's right on.) My favorites are: Salt & pepper shrimp - with a light crust, on green onions and slices of little medium hot red peppers (they make it scampi style or without the tail on request); Country Fried Chicken (bone in), with onions and black pepper; Orange Roughy, either dry sauted or in black bean sauce or in broth; Jade Shrimp, lots of them, on a bed of spinach; Mushu Pork, with a wonderful smokey flavor. And yes, there's that "fusion" Walnut Shrimp with the mayo glaze. Of course, all the Sizzling is great, too.
It's a little pricey for Chinese, but appropriate for the setting -- as another reviewer says, good date place -- and the portions are huge, so you have enough for two meals. Being Chinese, it travels well, so it's still good for the midnight raid or after sex or whatever.
I've tried the other Chinese in Long Beach, and they don't compare, except if you're near the Pike, where P.J. Chang's give great noodles and cocktails. But if you're on the Eastside and want Chinese, Peking Wok is the place. They do delivery, but I like the takeout -- it's fun to bring home the goodies.
You know, I'm constantly confused why this place isn't more crowded every time we go (unless their delivery service is booming.) Food is incredible, service is incredible, prices are great. Just an excellent, clean and high quality Chinese restaurant. We also get delivery - except for one occasion, the food is always scorching hot and delivery is quick quick quick. Recommend!
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my husband and i loves this place :) we're here all the time and the people here are sooo friendly!
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I love the food here. It taste fresh and healthy. Fast service especially for a lunch hour and great lunch prices. The atmosphere and decore are very nice, It has a nice zen feeling to it.
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Good Lunch Place
I go here about once a month for lunch (some times more) and it's pretty good. The lunch menu offers a wide variety and the prices are reasonable. Unfortunately some times the soup comes in different varities of quality and flavor but usually still stomachable. Try the 3 flavor item on the bottom of the lunch menu it's my favorite.
Also if you go for lunch go for the eggroll vs. the salad.
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Lunch! ... That's the time to eat here! You get everything for half the price of the dinner menu ... both egg roll AND soup, rice, entree, hot tea, and fortune cookie. All for about 6 bucks.
I work at CSULB and come here often. Friendly, efficient staff, and quick service. Attentive busboys filling your water and hot tea. Big tables for groups of 8, intimate booths for 2-4. Several dining areas and they spread people around. A nice looking bar, but I've never sat there.
Everybody pick an entree and do it family style. The cashew chicken is my fave, but never disappointed with other choices. Yummy!
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This place serves way above average food in a great atmosphere. White table cloths and well dressed servers make this a potential for a date night. We usually order one of the "dinners" and always get the Orange Chicken, which is about the best I've had anywhere. Toss in a bottle of Sterling Chardonnay for $20, and you have an excellent meal for two for about $60, including tip. The soups are outstanding as well. We like the Sizzling Rice and Wor Won Ton. If you come at lunch time, the lunch menu prices cannot be beaten, and they are good on the weekend days too!
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This is a pretty decent restaurant, nice decor, none of that clingy odor of your "typical" Chinese restaurants, no slight film of grease on the walls or backs of chairs.
The food is fairly excellent. The orange roughy with the sweet chili sauce and the walnut shrimp was flavorful, as was the mushu pork. Can't remember if I had the lettuce wraps or not....
The tea is a nice blend, so very smooth and delicious. Leaves you wanting another cup.
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this place is good, quality food, for those on a budget. and i appreciate good food, for a good deal like no other! my fiance and i go here, and get the dinner where you get to choose a couple of main dishes, and we share. our whole dinner usually ends up costing something like $25 for both of us. super sweet.
there's hardly ever a wait, but don't let that deter you, because what they lack in heavy business flow, they more than make up for in some good cookin in that kitchen.
yum. and i'm (literally) going there tonight!
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Apparently we live in the middle of the "delivery zone" of all the best restaurants in LB. No matter where I have lived the key to a great neighborhood is an excellent dry cleaner, a great bar and delivered food from great restaurants. Peking Wok is one of them.
This review will only apply if you live within a couple of miles from their location as they have been burned in the past and are now (understandably) very careful with whom they deliver to. We are glad that we are on the list (and don't plan on f___ing it up like Elaine on Seinfeld).
The House Special Shrimp is the best I have tasted in LB (Chen's used to hold this title until Mrs. Chen sold the joint many years ago). My wife gives a shout out to the Kung Pao Scallops. Other delectable are Moo Goo Gai Pan and Moo Shi Vegetable.
Extending on Vincent T's comments the lettuce wraps are above average as well.
Final analysis. You won't be disappointed.
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Chinese restaurants in Long Beach are a pretty sorry lot, but Peking Wok is the exception, which makes it the best in town. Fairly expensive, but big portions to take home, and really well-executed cuisine. Favorites are walnut chicken, salt & pepper shrimp and Peking Duck. Pleasant sit-down dining, with take-out and delivery. This place deserves word-of-mouth.
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