hampstor
12-17-2008, 10:14 PM
- Restaurant name: Wokbox - Fresh Asian Kitchen
- Location: Creekside (Symons Valley Road - NW)
My wife, son and I went driving tonight looking for something to eat and ended up at the Wokbox up at Creekside.
Food: 3.5/5
I ordered the beef Dan Dan while my wife ordered the Mongolian with chicken and tofu. He asked me if I was sure I wanted it because it was really spicy - I said no problem!
http://i277.photobucket.com/albums/kk71/hampstor/Wokbox/Picture070.jpg
The "Dan Dan" on Rice: it was presented well for a stir fry. He put fresh bean sprouts and green onions on it - they were way fresher than what you'd get at any Pho restaurant (which surprised me). The carrots and snap peas were slightly crunch, but overall everything was cooked right. There were 2 small bowl sized scoops of rice on it as well. The sauce used was some house blend of the 'sriracha sauce' you can buy (the one with the garlic and seeds in it). Clearly, they used way too much of it. The hot sauce easily overpowered everything else, there was so much of it on there after a while, all I could taste was hot sauce. It probably would've been significantly better had he used 1/2 as much sauce.
http://i277.photobucket.com/albums/kk71/hampstor/Wokbox/Picture015.jpg
The "Mongolian" on Udon: Once again, presented nice for a stir fry. Same fresh bean sprouts and green onions on it (my wife gave them all to me). My wife mentioned it tasted like the Mongoli Grill - nice so I had a bit of it. We both thought like the Dan Dan, it was oversauced - not too heavily mind you, but enough that it took away from the rest of the food. The chicken and tofu were good, the udon tasted odd with the sauce. I felt it tasted kind of 'undercooked', she said it had a taste of it's own that clashed with the sauce. Overall, good, but would've been significantly better w/ less sauce.
Ambience: 4/5
At first glance, you think you're at the food court of the mall. You are greeted with a front counter/ kitchen that reminds me of an Edo Japan of sorts (except the food is prepared with the cook facing away from you). You ordered your food up front like at the mall.
It was clean, the tables were clear, they were playing the radio (not too loud), had a TV on the wall with the St. Louis game going. We took a booth and overall, it was nice. To be honest, the first time I walked in there a few months ago, I was thrown off by the guys working behind the counter - it seemed kind of odd they were making 'asian' food? Here's a view from our table:
http://i277.photobucket.com/albums/kk71/hampstor/Wokbox/Picture007.jpg
Service: 5/5
Very friendly, polite and courteous. He was not rushing us to order, and made some suggestion on size (they have 3 sizes, we both ordered regular). He cautioned me that the 'Dan Dan' was very hot and suggested if I didn't like hot to get another item (I can't recall which one he suggested off the top of my head). He let me know we could go sit down at our table and he'd bring the food to us when it was done. Took them about 10 minutes to bring the food out, the whole time I could see everything going on. He came by about 5 minutes after we got our food to follow up on how it was.
There were a few takeout orders while we were there, he was just as nice to everyone that came in. Their takeout containers are those cool chinese takeout containers with the folding tops.
Cost: 29.77 : 9.99 for the meals, 2.19 for each of our drinks and my measily $3 tip. Would've tipped more except I was paying for my food upfront and had no idea what to expect. Probably would've tipped more if I had to pay when I left.
http://i277.photobucket.com/albums/kk71/hampstor/Wokbox/Picture060.jpg
Overall:
I would definately go back and try something else next time - the variety of food is cool. It was kind of like upscale mall food in a better environment. I can get 'chinese', 'thai', 'vietnamese', etc. Next time, i'll make sure I ask them to go easy on the sauce.
Oh, the sauce that I had on the "Dan Dan" was predominantly this stuff :
http://farm1.static.flickr.com/47/107727852_317728f748.jpg?v=0
- Location: Creekside (Symons Valley Road - NW)
My wife, son and I went driving tonight looking for something to eat and ended up at the Wokbox up at Creekside.
Food: 3.5/5
I ordered the beef Dan Dan while my wife ordered the Mongolian with chicken and tofu. He asked me if I was sure I wanted it because it was really spicy - I said no problem!
http://i277.photobucket.com/albums/kk71/hampstor/Wokbox/Picture070.jpg
The "Dan Dan" on Rice: it was presented well for a stir fry. He put fresh bean sprouts and green onions on it - they were way fresher than what you'd get at any Pho restaurant (which surprised me). The carrots and snap peas were slightly crunch, but overall everything was cooked right. There were 2 small bowl sized scoops of rice on it as well. The sauce used was some house blend of the 'sriracha sauce' you can buy (the one with the garlic and seeds in it). Clearly, they used way too much of it. The hot sauce easily overpowered everything else, there was so much of it on there after a while, all I could taste was hot sauce. It probably would've been significantly better had he used 1/2 as much sauce.
http://i277.photobucket.com/albums/kk71/hampstor/Wokbox/Picture015.jpg
The "Mongolian" on Udon: Once again, presented nice for a stir fry. Same fresh bean sprouts and green onions on it (my wife gave them all to me). My wife mentioned it tasted like the Mongoli Grill - nice so I had a bit of it. We both thought like the Dan Dan, it was oversauced - not too heavily mind you, but enough that it took away from the rest of the food. The chicken and tofu were good, the udon tasted odd with the sauce. I felt it tasted kind of 'undercooked', she said it had a taste of it's own that clashed with the sauce. Overall, good, but would've been significantly better w/ less sauce.
Ambience: 4/5
At first glance, you think you're at the food court of the mall. You are greeted with a front counter/ kitchen that reminds me of an Edo Japan of sorts (except the food is prepared with the cook facing away from you). You ordered your food up front like at the mall.
It was clean, the tables were clear, they were playing the radio (not too loud), had a TV on the wall with the St. Louis game going. We took a booth and overall, it was nice. To be honest, the first time I walked in there a few months ago, I was thrown off by the guys working behind the counter - it seemed kind of odd they were making 'asian' food? Here's a view from our table:
http://i277.photobucket.com/albums/kk71/hampstor/Wokbox/Picture007.jpg
Service: 5/5
Very friendly, polite and courteous. He was not rushing us to order, and made some suggestion on size (they have 3 sizes, we both ordered regular). He cautioned me that the 'Dan Dan' was very hot and suggested if I didn't like hot to get another item (I can't recall which one he suggested off the top of my head). He let me know we could go sit down at our table and he'd bring the food to us when it was done. Took them about 10 minutes to bring the food out, the whole time I could see everything going on. He came by about 5 minutes after we got our food to follow up on how it was.
There were a few takeout orders while we were there, he was just as nice to everyone that came in. Their takeout containers are those cool chinese takeout containers with the folding tops.
Cost: 29.77 : 9.99 for the meals, 2.19 for each of our drinks and my measily $3 tip. Would've tipped more except I was paying for my food upfront and had no idea what to expect. Probably would've tipped more if I had to pay when I left.
http://i277.photobucket.com/albums/kk71/hampstor/Wokbox/Picture060.jpg
Overall:
I would definately go back and try something else next time - the variety of food is cool. It was kind of like upscale mall food in a better environment. I can get 'chinese', 'thai', 'vietnamese', etc. Next time, i'll make sure I ask them to go easy on the sauce.
Oh, the sauce that I had on the "Dan Dan" was predominantly this stuff :
http://farm1.static.flickr.com/47/107727852_317728f748.jpg?v=0