Mike "espressoshots" P.'s Profile

Small store that's big on smoothie flavor and taste!

Came here for the first time today with a friend who's been here many times. Its a small store, though neat and clean. Walls painted of green and orange, steel bar chairs with steel high tables, stone tile floor, and shelves with a few retail items. There were also two orange couches with that funky 60s look, though it seemed to go well with the rest of the decor. Overall, the place looks like a toned down Jamba Juice.

The background music they played was interesting. I called it upbeat EMO, which is a contradiction in terms. LOL.

One thing I thought was cool was the in store menu board made of stainless steel. Looked nice, modern, sleek and in a good way, different.

Service was friendly and helpful, though very busy since there were only two people working while we were there. I brought a cranberry smoothie which consisted of cranberries, several berries, sherbet and yogurt. My friend brought a strawberry and banana smoothie. When they make smoothies, they use all real fruit and or real fruit juice. No manufactured or bagged crap and they certainly don't use additives that have scientific names longer than my.... just long. Matter of fact, the smoothies were so thick they had to blend the drinks a few extra times to pour in our cups.

The verdict- both of our smoothies were ice cold, thick, full of fruit flavor, and not heavily sweetened. Very refreshing, and more so because today was a warm day in the 70s. Definitely some of the best smoothies we've had anywhere.

The only downside about this place was the small parking lot. Not a lot of parking spaces and all in an area that's much too small. Some knucklehead dude and a girl whom was with him parked their super huge pick up truck in a space next to my car.... leaving literally centimeters between my car and his huge pick up truck. Needless to say he and that girl got mine and my girl's displeasure as we SLOWLY backed out of the parking space and left the parking space. What the hell is the matter with people these days? Geez.

Other than customers who cant park their vehicles to save the Cleveland Browns season, its a great place. Check it out and get ready for icy cold yumminess!

Recently opened China Wok is an Americanized Chinese take out place with potential.

The place is brand new, so yes right now its all clean and nice. However, compared to many other Americanized Chinese take out places, the store stands out like a loud, vulgar NASCAR driver Kurt Busch and a get ready to put them up and fight NASCAR driver Kevin Harvick. When you walk inside at night like we did, you walk into a place that is extremely well lit! The bright lights made it easy to see and make the place not feel so glum, yet not overwhelming.

Also on the inside were three tables with four chairs each. Limited seating BUT the table tops were shiny! This is classy, welcome to my damn house, come inside and have a seat and take a load off and get ready for lots of good eats kind of furniture. Not what you'd expect in a take out place.

More cool things inside include Chinese style light fixtures hanging from the ceiling, a three foot high rock with waterfalls and fancy Bonsai Trees, live bamboo plants, and on the counter a large golden cat that waves! Best of all, no friggin fish tanks!

The people who work here were very nice, hard working and very business like. They care about their business and their customers.

Wanting to try out a new place, but not feeling adventurous at a combination NASCAR driver Kyle Busch and road rally racer Robby Gordon level, yet feeling middle of the road hungry, we decided to go with an appetizer well known to places like this and something we've grown fond of over the last three months- fried pork dumplings and steamed rice.

The fried dumplings had good pork flavor, were moist but not too greasy, and very easy to cut, bite into and chew.  The pan sear mark on each dumpling was large but not enough to dry out the dumplings and make them too tough to eat. Probably the best pan fried dumplings we've had yet. Furthermore, we were impressed with the packaging- the dumplings were put in a Styrofoam box made for fast food places that was secured by a rubber band. This place uses a rubber....band.... for protection. I like that bit of responsibility.

The steamed rice was pretty good. Just a wee bit on the sticky side, though we were able to loosen it up with forks for the near perfect taste and texture.

Included with the fried dumplings was that sweet sauce. Don't really care for it because I prefer spicy. Its good, though not my thing. They also have the usual packets of hot mustard, soy sauce, hot sauce, duck sauce, plastic utensils and napkins.....and fortune cookes....and take out menus. The menu has the usual Americanized Chinese food choices, lunch specials included, and in our opinion the prices seem fair.

Cant tell you about the one bathroom they have because we didn't use it. Ha ha.

Were off to a good start with this place. Next time we come here we must try the Szechaun dishes, or at least I will try those. Good fried dumplings and good steamed rice get this place off to a good start with us.

One more thing- they gave us a Wallscroll Calendar for FREE. Its a 2012 calendar with a drawing of what looks like a reindeer in Chinese clothing with what looks like a Chinese art background. There's also the name, address and phone number of China Wok. The usual advertisement. Very nice calendar. Didn't expect that but it happened and hey were gonna hang it up on the fridge!

So check out this place. Get take out dinner here, then go a short distance to the Family Video to rent a movie, and go home for a dinner and movie night. And when you're there, wave back at the golden waving kitty cat!

With prices way better than "that other video rental place"- $2.79 per day for the newest movies, $2.79 for FIVE days on most movies, and even less for older movies- AND a very easy registration process when you sign up, AND plenty of titles of movies and games to choose from, AND plenty of newer movie rentals available, the many daffy customers in the store who get in your way and make good doors and walls wont bother you the least bit.

Of course the only downfall is that some older movie titles don't have as many rentals available, hence those movies may not be available for days. But if you're here for the newer movies, and, like me, don't want the extra expense of the "premium movie channels" on cable TV, then this place may be for you!

The place was clean, the service fast and friendly. I don't need to carry around a plastic coated ID card. New memberships get discounts on rentals for the first thirty days. Awesome! But even without this discount, these prices beat "the other video rental place" :=P