Fat Wok Restaurant

CLOSED. I’ve come here for lunch for over 20 years and it always used to be packed at lunchtime. The food was great and they were super fast. But the last couple times I was there it was practically empty. Now it’s apparently closed. I don’t know what happened. Sad to see it go.

Oh Kathryn, what happened??? You guys left so abruptly! We really miss this place, it was our favorite home style down-​to-​earth Chinese restaurant. LOVED your fried pork knuckles, salt and pepper fish, braised tofu dishes, and the special fish ball soup.
Let us know if you set up shop somewhere else, please!

Honey Walnut Shrimp. So. Good.
That’s all that needs to be said. Awesome service, great vibes, love the place. Always hit this place up whenever I’m in town

OMG is this the best chinese food or what! The lunch menus are a bargain, but I usually frequent Fat Wok for dinner and have for 30 + years, first coming here with coworkers from Kaiser and after I moved on to teaching school.
I’ve been here when it was just me and a friend, when it was bustling and full of voices and dish clinking, once even at a 1-​year celebration for their month old family baby, complete with mounds of red eggs up front for patrons to share.
You HAVE to try the Szechwan shredded beef, my favorite dish here. But the shredded pork in garlic sauce, general chicken, sauteed tender greens, bbq pork fried rice (or chicken), the moo shu pork, lemon chicken, and kung pao shrimp are all equally amazing. The po po asorted appetizer tray is yummy.
I’ve eaten the dinner specials and enjoyed the won ton soup and other parade of courses, but I just like to choose and experiment with the ala carte choices. The dishes have varied over the years, some discontinued very missed like the deep fried whole dungeness crab. Mmmm. But I keep coming back and bringing friends who love it, too.
The atmosphere is pleasant with huge panels of artwork and service friendly and fast. I really like getting take-​out at times too. All this for reasonable prices, better than others I’ve seen when the food wasn’t anywhere as good.

fat wok is closed forever

HEY, what happened? I went there for lunch on 10 Jan 2013 and the
business was closed. I peered in to the restaurant and everything was
gone…THEY CLOSED UP. too bad so sad, Fat Wok was my favorite
restaurant in South San Jose, besides Ocean Delight on Monterey Rd.
They have been there for over 30 yrs. No postings as to why they
are closed. Kathryn and her husband (the cook and artist that painted
that HUGE painting) will be missed. I realize that the sour economy
had an impact on sales and may be the reason. I was disappointed
that no note was left on the window to express appreciation for
all the short and long term customers over the years. If anyone knows
what happened or if they opened another business, please post here on Unilocal

WEIRD.
The husband claimed that this Chinese restaurant was more authentic because they had specials on the front written in Chinese. He convinced me to give this place a try and if we don’t like it, we’ll never come back. Okay, sounds good to me.
When we walked in, the place was pretty much empty, but we had to wait close to 5 minutes for anyone to acknowledge us. And trust me, they saw/​heard us… our kid is pretty loud.
We asked for a booster chair when we sat down and the guy that seated us told us he didn’t know what that was because his English wasn’t that good. Understandable. Instead, we just asked for a high chair. What he came out with was the nastiest, oldest (this chair could not have passed today’s safety regulations) chair in the world. I think it was one of those restaurant high chairs that were around in the 80s. I usually don’t wipe chairs down, but this one was so gross that I had to use a wet wipe.
We ordered our food and it took FOREVER for it to come out! My kid was getting restless (I don’t blame him for once, he has an internal clock when it comes to meal times). So we walked around the empty restaurant so he would be distracted. I asked for chopsticks while we were seated at the table and the manager (?) went and got it for us. He ended up giving me my chopsticks when I was walking around the restaurant holding on to my son. Weird… my husband was sitting at the table, why you giving the chopsticks to me?
Our food finally arrived but it wasn’t that great. We always order beef chow fun and the fun here just tasted rotten. Everything else was a bit mediocre too. The manager (?) guy could be heard yelling at the non-​speaking English server guy in the back. It was just not a pleasant experience. We were pretty much the only people in the restaurant when we asked for our check. It took another good 5 minutes for us to be acknowledged. The non-​speaking English server looked more into wiping down a table than taking our bill.
Anyway, not interested in coming back. Ever. Yucky food. Yucky service.

Great place… Really enjoyed sharing the pupu platter with my wife. Nice place to go with some friends for some Chinese food.
Went back the following week and ordered a bowl of the wonton soup to share with my wife. Was one of the best bowls on wonton soup I’ve ever had.
Can’t wait to go back.

Anytime I’m craving Chinese food, I come here! Again, you can get really screwed if you pick the wrong Chinese food place in San Jose. Let’s be honest, how many of us have been totally disappointed after trying a new Chinese food spot only to find out you just order some super dried out fried rice with shriveled up peas and carrots or chow mein with absolutely no flavor whatsoever. It’s the worst right!!! Right.
Welp, not here. Frankly, I’ve been emotionally scarred by the disappointment of other Chinese food spots in SJ so I stick with a good thing I found at Fat Wok. I’ve been coming here since 2002 and I always order the house special fried rice and/​or house special chow mein. I’m not sure how they get it to taste so amazing but I haven’t found another spot that compares yet.
Thanks for adding that dash of awesomeness in my order everytime, Fat Wok.

I’ve been to Fat Wok before for some take out, but I forgot how the food tasted so we thought to give them another try… Plus, we found a coupon Oak Ridge mall for a decent deal. Upon our arrival at Fat Wok, I was upfront with the coupon, but the employee said that we could only use it for dinner and for dine-​in only, and can only be used for some items in the menu. Nowhere in the coupon it stated those! The employee sounded rude and didn’t seem to care.
I definitely will not give them another try. I will stick with Hong’s Chinese Food Take-​Out a few doors down.
Boo!

Decent Chinese food. The lunch menus were cheap, but 2 stars because of terrible service. First, the owner forgets to serve me «soup,» 10 minutes after the main dish arrived (soup comes first, didn’t you know?) Then he overcharges me by $ 2 (wow, the bill magically says $ 7.50 when your menu states it as $ 5.50!) Worst of all, refuses to pay any attention to the error. I decided not to argue further.
Avoid!

Me and my friendsS love coming to Fat Wok for some authentic Chinese food.
We came here for lunch on a Friday, and I was surprised that we were the only table around noon. However, around 12:30pm, the place was more packed with customers.
Fat Wok now offers 3 dishes for $ 15, but it is for dine in only. We decided to order a few dishes from that menu. We also ordered a few dishes off the Chinese menu.
1. Lion’s Head (Chinese menu) — Fat Wok seems to be the only place that makes this. Its basically 2 huge meatballs in a claypot filled with napa cabbage and noodles. The meatball was tender and juicy. I loved eating the napa cabbage and noodles, too.
2. Fried Pork leg (Chinese menu) — The pork was very tender inside, and some parts of the skin was a bit crispy. My friends love ordering this dish.
3. Braised tofu and fish in garlic chili sauce (House special) — This was a really tasty dish. I loved putting the garlic chili sauce on top of the rice. The fish and tofu was delicious, too.
4. Smoked Chicken — We got served half a chicken, and it tasted pretty good.
5. Mongolian Beef — The beef wasn’t too spicy. I was surprised to see bamboo shoots in this dish, which isn’t common in Mongolian Beef.
6. Salt & Pepper Pork spare ribs — The pork rib was crispy on the outside, but some parts were fatty.
Overall, the food and service is pretty good here. I’d definitely come back if I want more Chinese food.

Highly Recommend:
Tea Duck (wonderful aroma)
Fried Pig Feet (crispy and tender)
Do not recommend:
Sesame Pancake (cold, stale)
Spicy Fish with radish (too oily and spicy)
Beef Chow Fun (tiny portion)
The waiters are slow and one of them looks like he was sleep walking the whole time ignoring our wave.
Will have to try their 3 dishes for $ 15 next time, which sounds like a good deal!

Stopped at this place off Santa Teresa in San Jose on the way up to San Francisco. I thought that since we were going to the Bay Area that we could get some decent Chinese early for lunch, without having to wait all of the way to the City.
It was fresh, fresh, fresh. Wow. Fat Wok has managed to bring out the real flavors of your typical Chinese. You will find no MSG in these dishes which are prepared with super fresh ingredients with only vegetable oil. The result: bright, happy Chinese food that will satisfy any craving without weighing you and your gut down for the remainder of the day.
Instead of sloppy, limp vegetables that taste like the rehydrated black sheep of the produce family, the cabbage, broccoli, mushrooms, baby corn and bok choy that comprised my Moo Shu Vegetable dish were firm, crisp and cooked to the point where each natural flavor really made itself known. We also got the Honey Walnut Prawns which were excellent.
We also ordered: Egg Rolls and Combination Fried Rice
Now I know this might not be a very adventuresome selection for someone who can read Chinese, but we can’t and we loved the dishes.
Overall, I would and do recommend this place to anyone who likes Chinese. The ingredients are fresh, well-​prepared and the portions are typical– well maybe except for the large Fried Rice which was packed so densely I’m pretty sure it weighed about 2 pounds… no exaggeration.
It was not too pricey, and you get what you pay for: fresh, quality ingredients, well-​prepared favorites that all arrived at our table piping hot. The one caveat was that we had to chase the waiter a little to get water and the bill. But overall I would definitely recommend it.

They’ve been around for a really long time and have become a favorite for many people who live or grew up in the area. I was introduced to Fat Wok by a guy who would come here at least monthly with his family growing up, so that in itself was already special because he was sharing with me a part of his life story. Food was good, but not memorable to me. Service was friendly and inviting, with the owner’s wife eager to converse with us about the restaurant’s history and artwork.
I think they celebrated their ten year anniversary in 2008. Cheers to them!

Came here with Mr. Malaysia; I wasn’t hungry but decided to get the chow fun. The chow fun came with green peppers. I do not like green peppers. Mr. Malaysia was kind enough to pick them out for me. We had a good laugh over the HOT tea though!

Terrible. Tuuurribbble (charles barkley voice)
And I havn’t even got to the food yet.
The lady behind the counter actually sneered at me when I walked in, then took off towards the back of the restaurant. The dude who took my money wasn’t much better. Why do these people act like they don’t want customers?
and as far as the food goes, I’ve had way better at Panda for 5 bucks and change.

I’ve been coming here since about a week after they opened and, as a matter of fact, stopped to pick up lunch today: Hunan Bean Curd with steamed rice and hot and sour soup for $ 6 — how can you beat that!?! Do I have favorites? You bet, the list is LONG! Besides today’s entrée,
General’s Chicken (NO vegetables in this one, just well-​prepared chicken and sauce),
Kung Pao Chicken (the chili pods are left in the dish so you can see just what you’re dealing with),
Szechwan Shredded Beef (sometimes the beef is just downright crispy, yum!),
Hot and Sour soup (made with white pepper and actual PORK, unlike a lot of other places — yes, there’s white pepper on the table, too),
Sizzling Rice Soup (rice crisped perfectly so it stays crunchy in the soup),
Pot Stickers (not the huge mutant ones with a super thick skin the kind that lets you taste the filling and the char on the bottom of the dumpling)
Bean Curd with Spicy Black Bean Sauce (but you’ve gotta like black bean sauce and I DO!)
Fried Pork Ribs with Spicy Salt (when you’ve just gotta have fried!)
Shredded Pork with Garlic Sauce (aka Yu Shan or Yu Shang or Yu Shiang Pork)
Twice Cooked Pork
and on and on and on
Yeah, my tastes run to the garlicky and spicy dishes. I’m never disappointed but neither is my usual dinner partner who doesn’t prefer the spicier side of life. They will customize the spice and other ingredients to your specifications. And if you don’t like the way it was prepared or you’re just not happy with the quality of the ingredients, tell the owner, Kathy. She’s almost always there during lunch and dinner service and anxious to help. Have I ever been less than satisfied? Sure, once in a great while but Kathy’s always made it right and that’s another reason I keep going back.
You can eat cheaply if you like or go crazy with appetizers and soup and drinks and I’ve done both, never really spending more than about $ 50 for two when the two of us had soup and appetizers, two entrees, rice and some wine.
Is it a 5 star place? You betcha! Not because it’s fancy but because it’s good food, done the way I like it from people who care.

Chow Fun — Flavorless
Beef and Broccoli — I wasn’t sure if that was really beef
Egg Plants — Looked really old
Kung Pao Chicken — Not enough chicken at all.
I ordered to go, but that’s still no excuse for it’s sub par taste.

Last time I came here was before the entire plaza got renovated. Service here is always pretty decent. Depending on what you order, the food can be pretty average. But this time we came in a big group of about 20 people, and got to order off some special menu not given to normal customers. We had some nicely cooked sole, honey walnut prawns, lettuce cups, some ground pork and veggie soup, spicy bamboo with bean curd, and then for dessert we had sweet sticky rice with red bean. The wait staff was very accommodating and food was delicious.
My family has also gotten catering from them before for parties and the food was always excellent.