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    First Wok

    4.0 (58 reviews)
    InexpensiveChinese
    Closed 11:00 am - 9:30 pm

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    Steamed tofu with broccoli, baby corn, mushrooms, bell peppers, and other fresh vegetables.
    Karol R.

    I wasn't sure what to expect since First Wok is tucked next to a small grocery store with a few empty buildings around, but it turned out to be a really pleasant surprise. Their website was very easy to order from and pickup was quick. I tried the steamed tofu with vegetables and rice, with the sauce on the side. The veggies were fresh and cooked just right, and it's a great option for anyone trying to eat whole food plant based or vegan. The portion was generous and very satisfying. Friendly service, simple menu, and a spot that's worth supporting if you're looking for something wholesome and tasty. I'll definitely be back.

    Beef with chinese veggies
    Will T.

    $7.50ish for lunch special. I had the beef with chinese vegetables and it was a lot of food in the rice box. However, I came here after going to the gym so I ate everything regardless so I can feed my muscles. Would definitely come back since it's right next to Planet Fitness.

    Char siu lao-mein.

    Nice taste and big size at a reasonable price. First Wok turned out to be a good choice for a quick and home sickness comforting diner. Will come back for more meals.

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    4 months ago

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    5 days ago

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    5 days ago

    First Wok is first in my heart, damn good food. I said what I came to say now the rest of this is just filler until it lets me post

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    1 year ago

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    2 years ago

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    1 year ago

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    2 years ago

    The portions are smaller than they used to be and yet still very tasty. Fast service.

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    2 years ago

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    7 years ago

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    4 years ago

    Best Chinese in Champaign/Urbana....the prices are reasonable and the service is prompt. What more can you ask for?

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    7 years ago

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    4 years ago

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    3 years ago

    Tasty, fast, and inexpensive. A nice place to try. Ambiance could use improving, but otherwise good.

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    8 years ago

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    5 years ago

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    8 years ago

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    9 years ago

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    17 years ago

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    19 years ago

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    6 years ago

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    15 years ago

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    10 years ago

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    15 years ago

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    15 years ago

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    7 years ago

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    12 years ago

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    7 years ago

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    7 years ago

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    8 years ago

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    8 years ago

    I absolutely love this place. Anytime I'm in CU I have their chicken fried rice and egg rolls!

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    18 years ago

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    10 years ago

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    9 years ago

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    14 years ago

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    10 years ago

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    12 years ago

    Price is great, quick service, good food, good portions. In not so desirable neighborhood. Situational awareness!!!!!

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    Review Highlights - First Wok

    ! Cheap, quick, and delicious if you get the right thing!

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    Northern Cuisine - B1 Crispy Pork in Sweet & Sour Glaze 锅包肉 ($19.95)

    Northern Cuisine

    4.3(30 reviews)
    2.4 mi

    Got some great authentic tasting Chinese food at this restaurant in Champaign. It has more…read moreAmericanized options if you would rather be safer. Northern Cuisine is popular with the Asian students because they're most of the people eating in there. Basically it shows it's good enough for them so it's good enough for everyone. The prices are pretty okay for portions. Came in and looked at the menu. It's certainly a big one. There's tons of meaty and plant friendly options to get and they get spicy. Felt like feeling a burn. It's about $15 for an entree which is okay because you get a lot. Also has more authentic options that get even crazier. I got the Mapo Tofu. A great thing is it's not a recipe that uses pork. This is soft tofu with a spicy ass sauce. Could have used a few vegetables in it. This was still pretty good though. Have to say it looking for authentic Chinese to come here. It's located on Green in the middle of the campus bars and restaurants. There's a few things for vegetarians.

    Like we stepping into a mini China, with top chart new c-pop playing and foods served beautifully…read more Flavors are all pretty good. The two dishes we ordered were a bit on the sweet side, which isn't atypical for the dishes themselves, so kind of an error on our part. They had celtuce so we had to order it, it was tender and light and flavorful. The dumplings is good but a bit meat heavy than I would've preferred. Skin is very thin, like wonton skin. The scallions pancakes are perfectly panfried. The Beijing yogurt is not at all correct, it's stickier than I'm used to and not as smooth and flavor is a bit flat than the actual ones. Coconut pudding was unremarkable, doesn't stand out. Overall, the foods were good. We probably could've ordered better.

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    Northern Cuisine
    Northern Cuisine - A1 Soft Tofu & Scallion Salad 小葱拌豆腐 ($7.95) - good!

    A1 Soft Tofu & Scallion Salad 小葱拌豆腐 ($7.95) - good!

    Northern Cuisine - E26 Spicy Lamb Neck Bone Dry Pot 干锅羊蝎子 ($22.95)

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    E26 Spicy Lamb Neck Bone Dry Pot 干锅羊蝎子 ($22.95)

    Aroma Garden - Braised pork W rice noodlles

    Aroma Garden

    4.4(20 reviews)
    1.6 mi

    A solid option if you're looking for a less busy Chinese restaurant near campus with spacious…read morecomfortable seating, full sit-in service, and a fairly varied menu with good prices and generous portions. If this restaurant were located in most cities in Illinois, it would be one of the nicest and best restaurants around. The competition around Champaign Urbana for Chinese food is very high however, and this one is a little less refined for flavors and textures than some of the popular spots around campus. With that said however, the food is still highly enjoyable and the more authentic dishes are considerably better than the Americanized options. For example, the cumin beef has a nice tender texture with good sear and flavor coming from the onion and mix of spices. The orange beef also has a nice citrus flavor and tender beef that's not overly sweet. The pineapple sweet and sour pork was passable, but not really as sweet or crunchy as expected. The egg rolls were done very well, similar to how my grandpa prepared them. Overall, this is a delicious spot for Chinese food with plenty of parking and much more relaxed dining. Food is good here, but for me just a little less refined than the best options available.

    Great place for family style meals for big groups! We made a reservation for a party of 7!…read more The food was delicious, we got 7 dishes to share and it was plenty of food! My favorites were the cumin lamb, dry pot chicken, and the rice noodle with beef. The lamb was perfectly seasoned and not gamey at all (coming from someone who doesn't usually like lamb). The beef in the rice noodles were so tender and a group favorite. The egg drop soup serving was massive, enough for everyone to get two small bowls. I was most disappointed by the twice cook pork, it was extremely dry. The rice was also quite dry as well. Overall a place I would love to visit again!

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    Aroma Garden
    Aroma Garden
    Aroma Garden - Must spend time on aroma garden

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    Must spend time on aroma garden

    Golden Wheat - Dry beef noodle soup

    Golden Wheat

    4.5(15 reviews)
    2.2 mi

    I was really pumped to try Golden Wheat because my friends raved that this is the #1 noodle place…read morein Champaign. The restaurant is operated by super friendly and nice Chinese owners. It appeared that they do not speak the best English, but we didn't have any trouble ordering as there was an English/Chinese menu printed out, which we used to point to the item that we wanted to order. What we got: Beijing style JaJangmyeon: I had Korean-styled jjajangmyeon, so I didn't know what to expect at first. The portion size is beyond generous and the amount of topping on the noodles was more than enough. The noodles were soft and chewy. The dish tasted like peanut noodles which I am not the greatest fan of, but my friend loved it! Spicy fatty beef slices noodles: this was really good! I am a big meat lover and the amount of meat that came with this dish made me really happy! The dish was not too spicy and well-balanced. I wish there was a bit more soup because it was just a lot of noodles, but I think this is supposed to be more noodles than soup because it was one of their 'mixed noodles' dish. Overall, it was a very hearty meal. The owners were super kind enough to give us a free bok choy+fish cake side dish which we enjoyed as well. Despite the communication barrier, the service was great and the owners are super sweet people. I will definitely be coming back!

    Stopped by after a few friends recommended this place! The noodle soups are amazing. Here are a few…read moretips for non Chinese speaking customers like me. It took a little effort to order due to language BUT it was totally worth it! ORDERING The owner who was originally taking my order was so friendly but only spoke Chinese, so someone else had to step in and help me translate. I asked for the most popular noodle soups and he pointed to "dry beef noodle soup" and "pork shoulder noodle soup" so we ordered both. After you pick your dish he asks if you want spicy or non spicy. We got one of each. I personally liked the "spicy" version and thought it wasn't spicy at all! FOOD I ran into a friend there who knows the owner. He told me everything is made from scratch! Including the noodles. The broth was perfection. So fragrant, flavorful, well seasoned, and clean tasting. Meat was super tender (both beef and pork) and pretty much melted in our mouths. The "dry beef" in the name is totally misleading because there is nothing dry about the meat. ATMOSPHERE It seems like the restaurant kept most of the interior decor from PvP bakery so the aesthetic is pretty nice. Simple, clean, modern, minimal. It's sort of a self serve style in here so you have to get your own water. Just like most Asian restaurants. PACKAGING I ordered our meal to go but the restaurant IS also open for indoor seating. Our food was packed with care! The noodles and soup were packed in separate containers. I will add a note of caution while carrying the food. The hot soup warped the plastic container quite a bit so by the time I got home I noticed that the lid was just barely hanging on and on the brink of busting open. As long as it's held upright though it should not be an issue. Overall, if you're looking for a non frills place with good authentic Chinese food, this is the place to go! Price was pretty good too especially for how good the fooAbout $11 per noodle soup which is much cheaper than mid summer and golden harbor. We will definitely be back!

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    Golden Wheat
    Golden Wheat - The inside

    The inside

    Golden Wheat - Dried Beef Soup Noodle - Spicy (not spicy at all)

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    Dried Beef Soup Noodle - Spicy (not spicy at all)

    Golden Wok - Pho tha chin soup

    Golden Wok

    3.8(150 reviews)
    2.5 mi
    $

    Amazing service amazing people amazing food. I've tried almost every Fried Rice near UIUC, and…read moreGolden Wok is by far the best. I would compare it to Hibachi fried rice but it's the best chicken fried rice I've ever had. Not only do they bring the takeout food to you, but if you stay to eat, they bring you a cup of ice water and refill it. I've come back several times over the past 2/3 years and I've never left dissatisfied. The interior is also very cozy and always clean.

    Finally some good Chinese food! This place has been here most of my life, and I only discovered it…read moretwenty years after moving away. Oh the wasted years... On a visit back home my mom said there was no good Chinese food spots anymore. I said "challenge accepted." I knew I was in for a treat when I saw this place served 'hot braised chicken.' The last time I had hot braised chicken was from a restaurant called China Express that closed down back in the 90s, and I longed for it ever since. I placed my order and waited excitedly. An older gentleman in the restaurant said he likes coming here because it's the only place that makes Chinese food like he used to get in Chicago. You can't beat that kind of endorsement! Golden Wok did not disappoint at all! It wasn't the same hot braised chicken like China Express, but it was its own kind of delicious! I let my mom try some and we went back the next day for more! The fried rice is real fried rice. Not that yellow stuff they dip out of a big vat. This is the real deal! I will always come here when I visit home!

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    Golden Wok
    Golden Wok - Chicken Fried Rice

    Chicken Fried Rice

    Golden Wok

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    First Wok - chinese - Updated September 2026

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