Chef’s Wok

We came here last night for a 90^th birthday banquet and were directed to a partitioned section of the restaurant in the back just for the party. It was quite a cozy and can fit about 80 or so tables perfect for a party. We had a variety of dishes, not your typical banquet food but enough to satisfy the partygoers. We started with cold appetizers, Westlake beef soup, prawns with walnut, Peking duck with buns, lemon chicken, Monk’s vegetarian dish (jai), sweet and sour fish, and longevity noodles, roast pork, Chinese broccoli with oyster sauce and sesame balls and red bean soup for dessert. Lemon chicken was a bit dry and too tangy. My favorite dish was the Westlake beef soup and prawns with walnut.

Horrible!
We got a number and waited for a table. I was actually surprised at their attempt to be organized. The lady then called us and walked us to the back of the restaurant. She stopped walking and started talking to a co-​worker. I guess there wasn’t any seats at the back, so she started walking to the front. I saw the open table she was walking us too. As we were walking, a man walked in and pointed to that table saying he’s going to sit there. And they let him!
The waitress that was walking us said okay to the man. Then stopped us at a dirty table, pointed and left. I couldn’t believe it. Yeah, we got a table and I could have sat there and enjoyed my dim sum. But I felt it was extremely rude to give a clean table to someone who just walked in, while I waited patiently for what? A dirty table?
The sad part about this is, this review isn’t going to help them change their customer service. I understand a Chinese establishment everyone may not speak English. But honestly, speaking Chinese (Cantonese or Mandarin) helps you get better service here. Just my opinion.

Me and my family came here on a saturday morning. The flip side is that is so hard to find parking. In front their was a sign that said all parties needed to be here to be seated. The host infront notice we had a baby and seated us immediately and half of our guest didnt arrive yet but she seated us which i thought was very nice. The customer service is excellent here, the waiter and waitress were very attnetive which i love. The food was good i would absolutely come back because of their service and the food wasnt that bad, i would definitely come back and try their other dishes. If you want dim sum this place is not pack and you get seated right away.

Rating for services.
The service is terrible. First I would like to say they are extremely unorganized. The lady told me we would be seated at a specific table, but some other waitress seated another family. Secondly, the food had taken about 25 minutes before coming out. What really bugged me was when we were paying the tab. The lady rudely asked whether we were going to write down a tip on the receipt or leave it on the table. We were going to leave a tip on the table, but decided to walk out instead. Never coming back again.

This is my usual dim sum place. Their shui mai is my favorite! Sometimes you can watch an employee making them near the waiting area in the front. Their dim sums are flavorful and fresh.
They tend to have quite a wait during weekends and lunch time. Parking can be difficult since their parking lot is small so street parking is the way to go.
When I came here for lunch with my dad on Thursday, we had to wait approximately 20 minutes or so before we were called. The host guided us to our table and we sat down. The very first thing we noticed was that there was tea spilled on the table and cups still weren’t collected. We know that it’s busy and there’s not enough workers but maybe have our table clean before sitting us down?
A few minutes passed and I noticed the same host was going to guide a Caucasian lady to the table next to ours. The host told an employee to clean the table before sitting her down. Just an observation I noticed.

Likes: Great hidden place in Alameda. The food is delicious and reasonably priced. Service is very good too. The servers were very friendly and my plate was changed two to three times during the meal, which I didn’t think was necessary but it was still a nice gesture. Try their sweet and sour fish dish — delicious. Soup that comes in that tall narrow clay pot is also delicious (I forget the name)

Food is good. service is bad. I hate how they demand a tip for not so good service. got ignored alot by the cart pushers.

It was okay, the dimsum was just average. My plate wasn’t dirty, my chopsticks weren’t, and I was seated pretty quickly. The only thing that bothered me was how long it took the charts to circle around and my friend and I were starving waiting for dim sum. It was actual pretty pricy for how much we ate. If there’s too long of a line at East Ocean and I don’t want to drive to Oakland– I’ll come here.

Big standalone restaurant in the middle of the block w/​average food and decent portions. Standout dishes were the fried rice and sweet and sour pork.
Small parking lot next to the restaurant.

Its usually a hit or miss for me at Chef Wok, although I have to say I rather order carry out from here because it taste a little better to me and I won t have to deal with the crowd. This place does get crowded especially for lunch (dim sum). When you eat in for dim sum they give the a number and you wait to be called, dmv style. The only problem I have with that is that they’ll call your number and if you cant get through the crowd of people hovering over the person on the mic within 6 seconds they instantly call the next number. The food on the other hand is pretty fresh, some dishes lacking some flavor but mostly ok. We only do dinner here when we have something to celebrate and we don’t want anything too fancy. This is our go-​to Chinese restaurant to eat in at in Alameda. Pretty reasonable prices. Not too much to complain about but also not too much to rant about. Ehhh.

I went to there couples days ago with my family
Food: Real bad, they told me the chef （kitchen group) was changed. In my mind, it was much much better, all are worse now even my all family said the same.
Service: Bad & not well-​trained.
Env: Big, but old-​fashioned look, regular Chinese restaurant noisy, clean rating is 7 out of 10.
Opinion, if you are only looking for the place for gathering, many ppl, this is the right one for you. If you want good foods or not too bad quality, Don’t go there.

I came here for dim sum with my family today for Sunday brunch. We arrived around noon and the wait was about 20 minutes. We don’t usually go to Alameda, but our relatives were in town and their hotel was close by. This is the type of restaurant that isn’t too fancy nor too shabby. It provides a comfort feeling as if you were dining in China. This is the type of dimsum places that I like!
I really enjoyed my experience here today. There was a lot of food from the carts and we were served immediately. The food was actually pretty good. The only thing I did not like was the skin of some of the dimsums. The skin for the har gows– and other gaos were very thin and they break as soon as you pick them up with your chopsticks. Besides the skin, the filling/​meat was satisfying.
We also ordered half a pecking duck and half a chicken. We don’t usually order this stuff for dimsum, but our relatives are from out-​of-​state and they don’t eat this stuff often. It is pretty cheap for special bbq orders and very tasteful! The duck was half fatty (which is good).
One thing I have to mention is that the dimsum ladies all wear some type of facemasks. I have never seen dimsum ladies wear facemasks but this is a good trend! The waiters and bussers are pretty accommodating too.
Extra bonus is that they provide XO hot sauce!!! They provide it on each table without having to ask for it or paying extra like other restaurants.

Came here for a wedding and well, once you’ve been to one chinese place for a wedding, you’ve been to them all. Chef Wok wasn’t really any different in terms of food from say… Peony, but it might be a cheaper alternative. It’s smaller, but the food was okay. One thing I really liked though was their lobster. It wasn’t thick and fried with sauce like most places. I think it was steamed, and it was pretty decent.

The selections are great and mostly very delicious. Some might feel a bit greasy. Still it’s a great dim sum restaurant!

Review is for really early Dim Sum for party of 13. We met with relatives in Alameda to pass out moon cakes and showed up right at 10am to snag a table for dim sum. The restaurant has plenty of seating, but very limited parking in their tiny lot plus the curb.
The dim sum is actually pretty good! Shrimp in the har gow and seafood chow-​mein (crispy HK style) were large and fresh. Meat dishes (black bean spare rib, shu mai, and beef meatballs) were decent too. They also had a rather unique chow fun dish I don’t see often in Chinese places — curry brisket chow fun. Beef was tender and curry was good. I’m a fan.
The best part of our lunch — the price is $ 120 before tips! Lots of dim sum, seafood, chow mein, curry brisket chow fun, and seafood mushroom congee for ten.

I came here with family probably during its busiest time of day. I have experienced peak chinatown dim sum hours before and ate something small beforehand because I get real hangry. I kniw this isnt chinatown and i didn’t know what kind of line to expect, but hangry is never good. Especially, if I will be pushed around by other Asian folks who are just as hangry. We were a large group of 7 adults and 5 kids. My family usually eats dim sum in large groups. It makes eating dim sum a real treat, because you get to order a ton of stuff and it will still be worth it. You won’t be forced to finish because you have 10 other people who want to try it. Also, ordering more is a norm in my family. Leftovers means lunch or dinner. I usually go to East Ocean a block away, but my aunt insisted to come here. She has been here several times, so we will trust the straight-​from-​china Mrs.
We started with xo noodles, chow mein, sui mai, haw gao, haw churn, xiao long Bao, chicken feet, salty sweet ball, squirting custard bun. I don’t remember the rest because everything was good. Well the turnip cake was OK. Sort of bland.
My aunt had specifically ordered chicken wings stuffed with sticky rice. It was OK. I prefer my mom’s whole chicken or turkey stuffed with sticky rice. That is straight up like law my gai in a whole bird. The chicken wings version here, was dry and bland, the rice was ehhh… and it really needed some sweet sour sauce to appeal to the kids. My aunt also ordered churn fun, you know, the haw churn without the shrimp, for one of my pickier cousins (boy don’t like shrimp. I was totally shaking my head at him, but he’s family) and it didn’t come until an hour into our meal. This is the reason I took off 1 star. My lil cousin was upset he had to wait hella long to get his noodles in sweet soy sauce.
Things I liked about this place:
You get the real asian fights for a table. An old lady was all, my number is what you called and when asked to see the ticket, claimed to have lost it. But another old lady was, hold up, hell naw! The number called is my ticket number right here. I don’t even know if you get that type of stuff in chinatown anymore. My point is, if Asians are fighting to get a table here, it’s going to be good.
The haw churn was good. The main complaint I had about East Ocean, was the soy sauce is watered down and not even sweet. A huge disappointment when that’s one of your favorite thing to eat. Here, the soy sauce was good. The noodles were good, but not as great as East Ocean. However, I wasn’t expecting a East Ocean experience.
Last one, when my aunt was telling my family to meet her up there, she kept telling us it’s called half island on Webster. And I turned to my mom and was like, lady be tripping BC there is no half island dim sum place that shows up on Unilocal when I searched. I asked my mom, what’s the real name. BC I thought my aunt made up the name. Turns out the sign in Chinese says half island. Why is this place called chef’s wok in English and then the Chinese says half island. Confuses all of us up. I just thought that was funny. Haha
Overall, I liked this place. It’s good. Next time I’d get a number here and East Ocean and whichever wins, I’ll go. Lol

I’ve come here on the weekdays and weekends on and off over the past few years with my parents.
The quality is on the higher end compared to some cheaper places in Oakland. If you’re driving into Oakland, you can just make a small detour and you’ll be at Chef’s Wok.
Parking: There’s a small lot, which is a hit or miss. There’s a closed-​down Burger King right before you arrive at the restaurant, where there’s always parking on the street. Walk an extra 50 steps to avoid the parking lot fiasco.
When my party comes here, some of our favorites are:
— Cha-​siu baos, shrimp/​pork dumplings
Everything tastes fresh, and on weekdays certain dishes are cheaper. They do this because they want more people to dine here, since dim sum is more popular on the weekends for families. (cheaper items are at the bottom of the ordering slip!)
I would highly recommend anyone to try this place out. For a party of 4 people, it comes out to about $ 50, for everyone to be relatively full. If you split the check, or come in a group, expect to pay around $ 15 per person (with tip and tax). Maybe more if you get more of the fancy dishes.

3.5 stars
This is your usual overly-​crowded, loud, a bit dirty, little-​parking type of dim sum restaurant. We meet friends here, and as long as you accept all the above things as part of the deal, you’ll find some good dim sum inside. We have the usual — har how, siu mai, chicken feet, bao’s — all of it passes my test!

Forget about the fast food Chinese spots that you all go to. You know which ones I’m talking about. The ones with the basic chow mein and fried rice. Chef’s Wok has real good authentic Chinese Food.
Last time I was here I brought my friend who is from Hong Kong and she did all the ordering. I really like the dim sum here. Everything is delicious and packed with flavor. Not too greasy and they are fast with the orders. The servers are very attentive. Constantly clearing empty plates and getting you a new tea pot when you run low. Show up on a busy day which are the weekends and you’ll struggle finding parking. Chef’s Wok has a small parking lot. One way in, one way out.
During our lunch I asked my friend what she thought about the food and she said it taste exactly how they make it in Hong Kong which is a good sign.

I was pleasantly shocked upon entering Chef’s Wok. I’ve been to plenty of subpar Chinese restaurants in my life. all from the run down hole in the walls, to the fancy schmancy décor venues. I was shocked walking into Chef’s Wok, to a bright, clean facility.
It’s a decently sized restaurant that definitely can hold a medium sized banquet if you’d like. There are tv’s all around the restaurant, so if you’re stuck on watching a particular game or show you maybe lucky to have a decent dinner and catch your weekly entertainment on the tube.
The staff was super pleasant. The tables were spacious, and the seats were heavy duty. You automatically know how dirty a spot is when you try «scooting» into your seat and if your hands stick. No sticky fingers here so that’s definitely a plus.
The food was decent. Not bad, but acceptable for Alameda. The parking is kinda hard right next door to the entrance. It’s a pretty tight lot, so make sure if you’re going to park there to bring a small to medium sized vehicle or you’ll have a pain of a time trying to squeeze yourself into the spaces there.
The restrooms were typical. They could have been brighter and cleaner. Only 2 stalls and one sink.