Wow, the portions! Twice as much as we get at home in Newport Beach. Everything was delicious, and each dish was enough for two people! We will be back
No MSG No Garlic Foodie
13 days in Palm Desert and I’m really missing my Korean Cuckoo rice cooker. I researched various Chinese restaurants in Palm Desert and was impressed with City Wok’s website claims: “our sauces are homemade. We never use MSG. We believe in Clean…” Since all dishes are supposedly made-to-order, we felt that we should be able to order something without garlic in the sauce or content. The interior has more of a California Club ambiance than Chinese Restaurant. The host and servers are friendly enough though. We ordered Chicken Satay, Steamed+ Fried Chicken Dumplings. Braised Tofu was in the online menu, but not showing on the dine-in menu, but they agreed to make it for us. Upon request, they made our dishes without garlic, including the braised tofu. The chicken satays were already marinated with garlic and cannot be changed. First to arrive were the steamed fried dumplings which were ok as European dumplings, but not delicate enough as Chinese dumplings. Parts of the dumplings with double dough were under steamed and tough – this would never have happened in a proper Shanghai restaurant as they would have steamed or boiled the dumplings more thoroughly before frying to get the soft & moist but crispy texture. The house-made sauce was very pleasant. The chicken satays were a big surprise, we expected delicate pieces of chicken tenders on skewers, instead, they were four chicken breasts, each on a stick. The garlic was light and not detectable at the restaurant but the garlic effects was still noticeable long afterwards. The breasts were not tough, on the dry side, and BBQ’d too long, burnt like Portuguese BBQ chicken instead of tender and juicy like Malaysian/Thai/ satays. The difference may be in the size of each piece, since they are so big, they would naturally have to be cooked longer. Because they were so gigantic, it was not possible to enjoy them like bite-size appetizer satays. The rice was a bit dry (not enough water) some people like their rice tough, we prefer our rice more steamy & soft. The tofu dish was OK, again, not very authentic, the bamboo shoots were the toughest I've ever had. Our server was a very nice lady and always approached our table with a smile. She alone gets five stars. The inside section where we sat felt like a fast food place – a different feel than the patio. Unfortunately, all the outside tables were taken. One thing I forgot to try was the half size, it would have been a great idea for the chicken skewers and actually everything else as we left half the chicken and tofu as neither of us enjoy this kind of left over Chinese food as it would have been two greasy on the second day.
Atmosphere: 2
Food: 2
Service: 5
Susan Garcia
Disappointed with how the food tastedbut happy with the service
Kami M.
Ordered take out. Very pleased the food but was also especially pleased with the care with the packaging for a to go order. Ordered the Chinese chicken salad fried chicken won ton spicy chicken dumplings and Teriyaki chicken bowl.
Antonio Lopez
Delicious ?.
Atmosphere: 4
Food: 5
Service: 3
Recommended dishes: Sesame Chicken
Angie Brambila Calderon
I was there for a wedding on February 17th and it was
Atmosphere: 5
Michelle W.
I was really hungry the other night and was at the mall. I decided to give city wok a try. They it would be a half hour for a table but I could sit at the bar. Alejandro at the bar was so nice and got my order perfect with out writing anything down! The only negative was the bbq sauce for the chicken skewers but plenty of chicken cooked to perfection. I had food left to go. He boxed it all up perfectly and brought a bag without me asking for one. I didn't realize this was the city wok from over by the j w Marriott.
Costa Mesa Dave
Food was great, the service was great, we will be back!by the way I had the pepper steak and it was super yummy!
Atmosphere: 5
Food: 5
Service: 5
David R.
Food was great, the service was great, we will be back! by the way I had the pepper steak and it was super yummy!
Came here with my son for lunch. the staff was great. The bar area was nice. The food on the other hand was horrible. We ordered the chow mein, city wok chicken, and Mongolian beef. The chow mein noodles were short and thin. The Mongolian beef Did not taste good at all and the CityWalk chicken was OK. Will not be returning to this place for Chinese food.
Lisa Hill
❤️ City Wok Happy Hour. Great servers and service.
Atmosphere: 5
Food: 5
Service: 5
Ricardo N.
Horrible service. Took my family Saturday night on 2/24. The guy who sat us seemed to be in a horrible mood. Didn't even seat us just pointed to our table. We only got our drinks and never saw anyone else again. We left after waiting over 20 mins to place our orders. It was obvious they forgot about us. Even people seated after us placed orders. We ended up leaving. Please train your staff in better customer service.
Pete Hilton
Made a small pick up order.Very quick -ready in only 10 minutes from the call. Portion sizes were fine. Avoid the beef and broccoli..... unless you like eating shoe leather.
Food: 3
Scott E.
We ordered two items for takeout and one was very inferior. The hot and sour soup was way too salty, had a dark brown color (menu read as chicken based broth but looked and tasted more like beef). Very disappointing! The second dish was vegetable lo mien which was watery but OK (not good, just OK). Hard to find good Chinese takeout in PD. City Wok was no exception (not good). We will not be ordering from there again. One bright spot was that the takeout counter staff person was very helpful and nice.
Ordered thru Door Dash, $90, no condiments or fortune cookies. We also were not able to order chicken fried rice, very
Atmosphere: 1
Food: 2
Service: 2
Recommended dishes: Mongolian Beef, Sesame Chicken
Wow, the portions! Twice as much as we get at home in Newport Beach. Everything was delicious, and each dish was enough for two people! We will be back
13 days in Palm Desert and I’m really missing my Korean Cuckoo rice cooker. I researched various Chinese restaurants in Palm Desert and was impressed with City Wok’s website claims: “our sauces are homemade. We never use MSG. We believe in Clean…” Since all dishes are supposedly made-to-order, we felt that we should be able to order something without garlic in the sauce or content. The interior has more of a California Club ambiance than Chinese Restaurant. The host and servers are friendly enough though. We ordered Chicken Satay, Steamed+ Fried Chicken Dumplings. Braised Tofu was in the online menu, but not showing on the dine-in menu, but they agreed to make it for us. Upon request, they made our dishes without garlic, including the braised tofu. The chicken satays were already marinated with garlic and cannot be changed. First to arrive were the steamed fried dumplings which were ok as European dumplings, but not delicate enough as Chinese dumplings. Parts of the dumplings with double dough were under steamed and tough – this would never have happened in a proper Shanghai restaurant as they would have steamed or boiled the dumplings more thoroughly before frying to get the soft & moist but crispy texture. The house-made sauce was very pleasant. The chicken satays were a big surprise, we expected delicate pieces of chicken tenders on skewers, instead, they were four chicken breasts, each on a stick. The garlic was light and not detectable at the restaurant but the garlic effects was still noticeable long afterwards. The breasts were not tough, on the dry side, and BBQ’d too long, burnt like Portuguese BBQ chicken instead of tender and juicy like Malaysian/Thai/ satays. The difference may be in the size of each piece, since they are so big, they would naturally have to be cooked longer. Because they were so gigantic, it was not possible to enjoy them like bite-size appetizer satays. The rice was a bit dry (not enough water) some people like their rice tough, we prefer our rice more steamy & soft. The tofu dish was OK, again, not very authentic, the bamboo shoots were the toughest I've ever had. Our server was a very nice lady and always approached our table with a smile. She alone gets five stars. The inside section where we sat felt like a fast food place – a different feel than the patio. Unfortunately, all the outside tables were taken. One thing I forgot to try was the half size, it would have been a great idea for the chicken skewers and actually everything else as we left half the chicken and tofu as neither of us enjoy this kind of left over Chinese food as it would have been two greasy on the second day.
Atmosphere: 2
Food: 2
Service: 5
Disappointed with how the food tastedbut happy with the service
Ordered take out. Very pleased the food but was also especially pleased with the care with the packaging for a to go order. Ordered the Chinese chicken salad fried chicken won ton spicy chicken dumplings and Teriyaki chicken bowl.
Delicious ?.
Atmosphere: 4
Food: 5
Service: 3
Recommended dishes: Sesame Chicken
I was there for a wedding on February 17th and it was
Atmosphere: 5
I was really hungry the other night and was at the mall. I decided to give city wok a try. They it would be a half hour for a table but I could sit at the bar. Alejandro at the bar was so nice and got my order perfect with out writing anything down! The only negative was the bbq sauce for the chicken skewers but plenty of chicken cooked to perfection. I had food left to go. He boxed it all up perfectly and brought a bag without me asking for one. I didn't realize this was the city wok from over by the j w Marriott.
Food was great, the service was great, we will be back!by the way I had the pepper steak and it was super yummy!
Atmosphere: 5
Food: 5
Service: 5
Food was great, the service was great, we will be back! by the way I had the pepper steak and it was super yummy!
Restaurantji Recommends
Came here with my son for lunch. the staff was great. The bar area was nice. The food on the other hand was horrible. We ordered the chow mein, city wok chicken, and Mongolian beef. The chow mein noodles were short and thin. The Mongolian beef Did not taste good at all and the CityWalk chicken was OK. Will not be returning to this place for Chinese food.
❤️ City Wok Happy Hour. Great servers and service.
Atmosphere: 5
Food: 5
Service: 5
Horrible service. Took my family Saturday night on 2/24. The guy who sat us seemed to be in a horrible mood. Didn't even seat us just pointed to our table. We only got our drinks and never saw anyone else again. We left after waiting over 20 mins to place our orders. It was obvious they forgot about us. Even people seated after us placed orders. We ended up leaving. Please train your staff in better customer service.
Made a small pick up order.Very quick -ready in only 10 minutes from the call. Portion sizes were fine. Avoid the beef and broccoli..... unless you like eating shoe leather.
Food: 3
We ordered two items for takeout and one was very inferior. The hot and sour soup was way too salty, had a dark brown color (menu read as chicken based broth but looked and tasted more like beef). Very disappointing! The second dish was vegetable lo mien which was watery but OK (not good, just OK). Hard to find good Chinese takeout in PD. City Wok was no exception (not good). We will not be ordering from there again. One bright spot was that the takeout counter staff person was very helpful and nice.