I've eaten here for many years, and it's always been a consistent value for good Chinese comfort food. There are other places in town that I go for the unusual or gourmet Chinese meal, but I always return here. You can eat in, but most people go with pickup or delivery, both of which are lightning-fast. Website ordering is easy (though I wish they had black pepper beef available online order --I've only gotten it in person). Don't skip the appetizers. One of my favorites is their chicken wings -- huge, crispy, and juicy -- nothing fancy in terms of spice or seasoning, but very satisfying. Egg rolls are small and tasty. The house special fried rice is quite good. And as far as the entrees? They have all the standards, and they're all good. First Wok has also saved me when I was sick -- their chicken noodle and chicken rice soups are huge, delicious, and comforting. And you can have it delivered! read more

I've been searching for a decent Chinese restaurant in the BloNo area and finally found one! Restaurant was clean and workers were friendly. Crab rangoon and egg rolls were delicious. Fried rice, lo mein, and the egg drop soup were flavorful and tasty. Food was nice and hot upon pickup. First Wok is definitely my new go-to Chinese takeout spot! read more

Food taste has tremendous gone down hill me and my wife used to come here but not anymore

Best general chicken, sweet and sour chicken, beef and broccoli around. Love the egg drop soup, wonton soup and egg rolls are some of the best I've ever had. Must always have the pork fried rice always hot and freshly made to order read more

My goto for fast Chinese!! Love their food and they are always fast with friendly service !!

Food was fine but the $2 online processing fee for a pick up order is insane lol. If anything, a discount maybe for making it so a person didn't have to answer the phone. But a fee?! Total scam and slap in the face to your customers. read more

We did take out yesterday and they cooked the food within 10-15 minutes. The food was really good. We enjoyed white rice, beef lo mein, orange chicken, chicken and veggies, crab Rangoon and fried dumplings. I did not have stomach ache or msg headache so that's a win! read more

Ask for Jason! Best service and love me some Chinese food!! Real deal and family owned. Will be back every Thursday!!

Order from here pretty much weekly. They have the best hot and sour soup in the BloNo area. Loaded with mushrooms, tofu,chicken and scallions. Szechuan chicken is one of our favorites, but have tried other dishes as well read more

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Average food. Nothing bad. Just not amazing. I got the General Tao Chicken and fried rice. read more

First Wok - Outside - Chinese Near Me - Bloomington, Illinois

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Small and fast. They do pick up and dine in I am not sure about delivery. This is a great choice for "fast Chinese" in central Normal/Bloomington. Prices are fair. The crab Rangoon was wonderful. I had the orange chicken and it was okay - different form what I have been uused to - not bad just not my favorite. I sampled the cashew chicken I liked it - I will try it and more. read more

Tried this for lunch. Found it was rated #2 on my Yelp search (#1 was closed on Monday). The outside was unimpressive and I wouldn't have went there without intentionally going there. You order at the counter. They have a board on the wall but they have many more options on the paper menu on the counter. The server was friendly, They have free water and hot tea in the dining room or a cooler with Sierra Must, Mountain Dew and Pepsi cans and a few varieties of 2-liter sodas as well. I had cashew nut chicken which comes with fried rice and a egg roll. I substituted the egg roll for crab Rangoon (they gave me 2) which was my favorite part of the meal. Really good! The rest of the food was good. No peas in the fried rice (which was a plus for me!). The food came fairly quickly and the portions were very large. I had to get a to-go container for most of it. They have delivery as well and were very busy - which shows they are a good restaurant. read more

First Wok - Chicken with Cashew Nuts - Chinese Near Me - Bloomington, Illinois

Poor service Poor facilities appearance. Place falling apart Food under cooked BUG on the wall Ambiance is just bad Threw utensils on table Do not eat here read more

Undercooked meat had me sick as can be. Used to love this place. The beef fried rice used to be my fav.

Food was terrible. It should be called Spanish Chinese food. The beef and broccoli was salty and oily and the lomein noodles were undercooked. I will not be going back or recommending them. read more

Very yummy! Lots of food. I had the Hunan Special and my husband had the Honey Boneless Spare Ribs, both were so excellent. Egg rolls were crispy and fresh. First time here and I expected one of those hot plate style restaurants, but the food here was made to order! I am definitely coming back. read more

Home food is the best food! First wok offers authentic Chinese dishes along with Americanized Chinese food. If you want authentic Chinese food, check out the menu that is printed and posted on the side of beverage fridge. As a native Chinese, I usually get their Beef Noodle Soup, Garlic Chinese Cabbage, and Hot Water Boiled Fish. Even their Americanized Chinese dish like Magnolia Beef are better than other places. Also, the food is cheaper here than some of other authentic places in town! Check them out with the right choices and you won't regret it! read more

First Wok - Garlic Chinese Cabbage - Chinese Near Me - Bloomington, Illinois

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I used a debit card there that I never use because they don't take my credit card. This is the only place that I have used it in the past year. 4 days later over 350.oo was used at DoorDash and WAWA. The problem is being taken care of but buyer beware. Also the hot food is nowhere near hot and had to add our own hot sauce. read more

Found this place through a Google search while visiting the area. Don't let the storefront fool you, great food!! You get a nice size portion too. I got the orange chicken combo with pork fried rice and egg drop soup. My husband got the beef and broccoli combo with fried rice and egg rolls. And my son got black pepper large portion with white rice. We loved all of it!!! Will definitely come here again the next time I come to Bloomington. read more

We tried First Wok for the first time last night. Our usual Chinese takeout place was temporarily closed and I was in the mood for Moo Goo Gai Pan. I highly recommend First Wok! The food was fresh and flavorful. It definitely tasted made to order rather than scooped from a warming station. My husband got the General Tso chicken. We ordered crab Rangoon and two pork egg rolls. Everything was delicious and fresh. read more

This has fast become my go to place for dinner when I stop in Bloomington. I have ordered twice for delivery from these guys as I'm a trucker. Both times my order has arrived sooner than promised and piping hot! I have tried ordering in various cities and this place has the absolute best house fried rice I've tried yet:) I'm a big fan of Szechuan beef and it's awesome! The egg rolls are premade I'm thinking but still pretty good. Plan on trying dragon and Phoenix next time thru. I could eat here every night if I lived here. Great food and pretty on par as far as price for delivery. read more

My first impressions upon pulling up to the restaurant were that it was a greasy, sub-par "ma and pa" style Chinese restaurant. The exterior was run down, the parking lot was small, and one of the two doors was literally boarded up as if someone came along and smashed it. After placing my order, (for which I had to wait a good five minutes or so for the clerk to notice me because he was too busy screwing around in the kitchen with the cooks,) I opted not to leave a tip for my carry out order. After all, it is only carry out, and they were lucky that I was too hungry to care enough about his antics to drive somewhere else. This angered the crazed Asian man, who angrily took back the receipt and grumbled to me that it would be about 10 minutes. At least he knew how to tell time, as I received my order of General Chicken within the allotted time frame. As I got home, I opened the stapled-shut paper bag and noticed not only did he "forget" to give me a fork, but he gave me a huge chunk of cardboard with my order! It measured about 5 inches by 3.5 inches. Real nice passive-aggressive move, buddy. Oh, and the food was crap too. Under portioned, rubbery chicken with just so-so fried rice. Bluergh! Nasty. read more

First Wok - Cardboard shoved in with my order. Wtf?? - Chinese Near Me - Bloomington, Illinois

Websters dictionary defines first as "preceding all others in time, order, or importance". It's fitting then, that First Wok uses this word. As they're of incredible importance to this town. First Wok, the first and last word, in Chinese food. read more

Large portions, food was good and fresh. Even though it was delivered, it was warm. Really quick delivery.

We got take out and it was okay nothing special but the reason I'm giving it such a low rating is the service was terrible! The girl at the front was so rude! She played on her phone the watching videos the whole time she was checking us out. When I asked about a part of my order she gave me a very rude tone. It was also pretty expensive for the quality of food we received. read more

I've been ordering First Wok for 15+years. Consistently good food and fast delivery. Best classic crab rangoon. Love the pork fried rice and boiled dumplings. Food is always made fresh. This place doesn't look like much from the outside but they are always busy and the food is good, fresh, and fast! read more

Would not eat here as they're not taking proper precautions with they're staff regarding COVID-19. Only one person in the whole place wearing a mask. Didn't see anyone wearing gloves. Not even the cooks. Definitely not a safe place to order from if you're worried about your health. Extremely unsafe. Only giving another star cause the foods bomb. read more

Talk about fast & good...we love First Wok. Our orders are always correct, they are extremely timely & it's always hot & delicious!!

I can't believe that I spent 45 bucks on food tonight and had to throw them all out. The dragon and phoenix specials are some smelly spoiled shrimp and overly breaded chicken in goopy sauce that looked and tasted gross. The veg spring roll was fried in dirty oil that had been used to fry everything in the kitchen for months. At least it smelled and tasted like it. The beef noodle soup is edible if you don't eat the perfectly cubed beef. The beef is suspiciously chewy and just strange. Don't be fooled by some of the 5 stars. I am not a food snob but I totally felt cheated by this order. Yes the portions are large but they are not edible. read more

My entire extended family has been coming here since I was a kid. Our go-to meeting place when everyone is in town. The service has always been amazing, and they even recognize our family when we return. We have seen the same people working there as long as I can remember and they are so kind and helpful. The food is outstanding. It's the only restaurant I'll go to for Chinese food. I've had so many things on the menu and have never been disappointed. A+ always!! read more

Great food always. Faster delivery than expected. Generous portions. A weekend tradition now.

I'm not a big Chinese food fan. My girlfriend is though so we occasionally order from here. I only like eating General Tso's chicken. It's pretty good. If you order the large potion you will get a lot of it. The restaurant itself looks a little dumpy. It's still open so I tell myself that they clearly keep up to the Health Department's standards in the kitchen. I dislike picking up our orders here. I swear each time the guy tried to help me while on the phone with someone else. I can't tell when he's talking to me or the person on the phone. Luckily last time a delivery driver came back and helped me. read more

Before I review First Wok, I'm going to let you in on the deep, dark secret of Chinese food in the BloNo: you ain't in NYC, LA, or even Chicago anymore. There is *no* top-notch Chinese around here, nor within an hour's drive of here; the places that everyone raves about as being "the best in town" are expensive without being good. I say this as a guy who prefers Asian food to almost any other kind, and who travels constantly: the best here wouldn't rate a second look anywhere else. The places with Fu dogs outside, or terracotta warrior statues inside will charge you $50 for dinner that's worth $5 at most, and have waitresses that will automatically ask you "is that *AAALLL*?" when you order and sneer at you if you refuse their suggested foofy alcoholic drinks. You've been warned. Having said that, there is a way to get your money's worth of food - and that experience *is* similar to what you'll find in the big city. The trick is, go downscale. Don't think "Upper West Side"; think "Bed-Stuy". Think of that skanky-looking Chinese place with the broken yellow sign - the one between the Jamaican oxtail shack and the African hair-weave shop - where the cook is three times bigger than you, always has a cleaver in his hand, never smiles, and will make you a HUGE container of pretty damn good roast pork or a pile of crispy, still smokin'-hot chicken wings for a couple of bucks. Got the picture? That's First Wok. I got their honey boneless ribs; since I was extra hungry tonight, I ordered two of those plus chicken wings with pork fried rice. That was a mistake, because I'm only in town for the week - and I don't think I'll be able to finish it all! Maybe if I pack a lunch?... all that came to under $20 - and literally filled a shopping bag. Call it four, maybe five good meals for that price. All three containers were bulging at the seams, and the rice was stuffed in between all the chicken wings that were jam-packed in the big foam box. Yowza! Was it good? I'll tell you what: if you add "...for the money", then it was freakin' outstanding - I don't think you can get any more value for your buck. Judged on some imaginary absolute scale of Chinese food? Well, I've had some pretty incredible Chinese, so that's not really a good question to ask me - but for the average person, I'd say that it's about like eating at Denny's: nothing incredible, but pretty decent. A good solid 6 on a 10 scale. I don't know that I'll come back here - I'm an occasional visitor to BloNo, and there's a number of other places here that I'd like to try - but overall, First Wok left a good impression on me. (Pro tip, though: get it delivered. Looking at their, um, decor will not add anything to your enjoyment.) read more

Usually has decent food, it's the best Chinese I've found in the city so far, and we always finish it all (no leftovers) even though they have large portions. We have only ordered delivery, so I can't speak for the actual place, but they are always super fast with the food and all of the delivery men have been incredibly nice (especially since we tend to order in the worst weather). The chicken fried rice is delicious (I didn't really enjoy the house fried rice) and crab Rangoon is not too cream-cheesy. Look for their menu, it has coupons on the front, including one for a free crab Rangoon for any order over $10. read more

We wanted to try a few things, so we ordered the following: Sweet and sour shrimp (small size) Beef with broccoli with regular fried rice (large size) Black pepper chicken with beef lo mein (large size) Pork egg roll Sweet and sour chicken (small size) (came free with the meal because we spent more than $20 - if you spent $10, $15, $20 or $30 you get a choice between three free things) The sweet and sour shrimp and chicken came with the sauce on the side, so you can add as much or as little as you want. Everything was really good! I was surprised as I'm usually disappointed by at least one thing when trying out a new Chinese place. The prices were very reasonable - we paid a bit less than $30 for all that food tax and all. They have a convenient online ordering system that allows you to really customize your meals and add what you want. They also have delivery in a 7 mile radius for an extra $2. We picked ours up, but it was hot and ready when we got there (in about 15 mins). Will definitely be eating here again! read more

I'm updating my review to "Yay! I'm a fan" of a new order that I discovered, in part, thanks to Yelp. If you're looking for an order for 2 people (or you love leftovers, or you are a man with twice my appetite) read on. When I reviewed First Wok back in 2009, I believe I was the first and I'm glad to see that many people have given it very favorable reviews. Brad E's review caught my attention so my wife and I took a break from General Tso's chicken and ordered the Sesame Chicken instead ($7.15 w/ fried rice). We also ordered a small vegetable lo mein, which put our total over $10 and -- thanks to a Yelp offer -- meant we received 4 crab rangoon for free! And just like that, we found a new favorite order. read more

Updating. Ordered lunch today for two of us. I wanted Kung Pao Chicken without all of the vegetables most places put in it. Wanted the more authentic version. So I ordered it that way online. It turned out perfectly. Couldn't be happier. Probably doing it again this weekend. read more

There aren't a lot of restaurants near IWU's campus, so I was really happy to find out that one of them was Chinese! They sell amazing authentic Chinese food for a pretty good price. I come here probably once a month with friends since it's so close. Things I'd recommend getting: 1. Lo Mein - I always love getting noodles here, usually the vegetable one but the ones with meat are good as well. You can taste the sugar but still very good all around 2. Dumplings - either fried or boiled! Love these things 3. Egg foo young - I think it's a somewhat American-Asian dish but I love it because it's part of a lunch special they do 4. Beef noodle soup - never actually have gotten this myself but my friend tried it and loved it! It looked kind of like a pho noodle bowl. I've seen professors from IWU get this too, so it has to be good, right? 5. Crab rangoons - they use imitation crab but it is NOT vegetarian (vegetarian friend learned that the hard way, yikes..). I love these things (and the fried wontons) even if they're greasy and I'll regret it later read more

I have tried all the Chinese joints in town and First Wok has the best quality food. We order delivery often and the person who answers the phone is very nice and helpful. The Crab Ragoon is awesome and also all the main dishes I've tried. read more

My go-to Chinese takeout in all of Bloomington-Normal. I usually get the simple but always tasty egg drop soup and pot stickers/dumplings for starters... TIP: get them fried, sooooo much better. Then the house lo mein is always tasty, and any of the combination platters that come with fried rice and egg rolls are a sure bet. They are usually quick and polite when taking orders on the phone. But their website and easy-to-use ordering portal is the best. Their delivery is also just as great. Thanks First Wok! read more