Main Wok Chinese Restaurant

Been eating food from Main Wok for almost my entire life which is 20+ years. The ownership may have changed several times but generally I have excellent reviews for this place. Be mindful that this is an American-​styled Chinese takeout restaurant, bottom line.
Main Wok doesn’t use any MSG in their food and cooks with vegetable oil. Generally, they cook with fresh oil and not leftover oil. The pork fried rice is tasty and fluffy, not too oily which is an indicator of a good takeout restaurant. The chicken wings have evolved over the years; or sometimes they’re different on different days. But generally lately they’ve been large, with layers of crispiness which I like. I always get their wings with fried rice because it’s a nice bed of textures. The prices are great.
Their food portions are very sufficient– my beef and broccoli was overflowing the box which is amazing for the price ($ 7.55 with fried rice and an egg roll). The wait time was about 40 minutes which was fair, and the food was piping hot. They gave me a baggy full of condiments like hot sauce, soy sauce, duck sauce and fortune cookies. In the past I’ve also gotten General Tso’s, Pu Pu Platters (great sampling plate of fried foods to share with people), Shrimp with Lobster Sauce, Moo Goo Gai Pan, Chicken with Broccoli, French Fries, Fried Dough etc and they’re all very good– large portions, fluffy rice or with the right amount of moisture and crisp (chicken fingers). None of the food ever looks like it was something from the bottom of the pan. Really the only time I felt a little dissatisfaction when the chicken wings years ago didn’t have as much crisp as I wanted, but that has since changed.
They have Slim and Trim options, which are healthy vegetable or meat and veggie combos with white rice. I highly recommend getting the lunch combos that last until 3 PM on most days.
Now Main Wok has an online ordering menu which is very efficient and handy. As for the actual establishment, apparently it is a lot cleaner and nicer. They have a buffet which I’ve never eaten at, which has your classic Chinese takeout dishes, and they never seemed to me to be old but rather quite freshly cooked off the stove. The employees are patient and friendly, even striking up nice conversations with me during pick up.
In my opinion, in the 413 area this is one of the best American style Chinese takeout establishments. Nevermind the interiors, the food is amazing for a night in to sit back and relax to movies with soda/​beer. Among other Asians, we tend to say that it’s usually the «dingiest» establishments that have the best food!

Delivery took about 45 minutes on a week night. Not terrible, but not great for a place that is nearby our hotel. We ordered the pu pu platter and Hunan chicken. The pu pu platter was an exploration of badly fried food. The chicken fingers? nuggets? appeared to have decent quality chicken, but the batter coating was running inside (yuk!). The enormous fried chicken wings were over the top bad and weird (but great for those who love KFC). The Hunan chicken was the real disaster, however. It looked like the kitchen sink — black beans?, onions, canned mushrooms, few dried out carrots, few snow peas and a TON of onions — like 90% onions. All of this in this goupy brown gravy with no heat and no flavor — just really greasy. For nearly $ 10, I expect something besides onions. The rice was overcooked and smooshy. The only highlight was the eggroll — it was tasty, if a little sour. So, needless to say, we will not be back.

I recently tried this place as I was told they had a cheap but good lunch buffet. Yes, so true. I believe it is around $ 6.00 and includes unlimited fountain soda — how on earth do you beat that price ?!
Have tried in several times and each time it was identical so that is the only issue but they had fried chicken, lo mein, fried rice, wanton soup, beef with broccoli, General’s chicken gold chicken fingers and egg rolls as well as crab ragoon and fried donuts for dessert. Everything I tried was really good — some of the food I don’t eat anywhere but my son tried it and gave it a thumbs up. Family place, small, not the cleanest looking but really good for the price and always lots of people. They are doing something right.

Cheap decent Chinese food. The lunch buffet is pretty good for the price. Even if you get the to-​go container for the lunch buffet it’s a really good deal. You can stuff a lot of food in there. The crab rangoons are really good here as well

Maybe it’s not authentic Chinese food as other reviewers say, but it’s good food! I’ve been coming here for at least 7 years and they have been consistently good. The staff seems to be the same after all these years. They all seem to be family and are friendly.
They do have really good prices on their menu, especially their combo plates (lots of food and good value). Their lunch buffet is also cheap, but they do lack variety. Either way, it’s not disappointing. As previously mentioned, their combo plates are great and this review is primarily based on the items in these meals. I usually get the super combo plate #1. The rice is solid (real good with their duck sauce). The chicken teriyaki is really good, along with the crab rangoon which is pretty much right up there with the best I’ve had. General tso’s chicken has changed in recent years, but is still pretty good. The chicken fingers isn’t impressive, with good chicken, but too much of the fried batter and spare ribs can be a bit too chewy. Either one isn’t a deal breaker though imo. As of today, combo plates are priced at $ 7.65. Can’t beat that!
This place is usually empty (they do way more business with takeout and delivery) and a radio plays, but it’s fairly calm and quiet here. Definitely not a place to go to for a first date, or to impress, but it’s good Chinese food. I recommend this place if your looking for good value, flavorful quick cooked to order dine-​in, carry out or delivery.

If you are looking for high end, super authentic Asian cuisine, this is not the place. Some of the food is pretty good, if you know what to order. I wouldn’t say this place is horrible, the people work hard and are very nice for the most part.
Best things:
They have a cheap awesome buffet from 12−2ish for $ 5.50
(Again, not amazing but definitely not bad for 5 bucks)
They also have 2 combination dinners (an Item #1 or #2) for $ 7.95 Comes with a little bit of everything, totally worth the money.
Fried Chicken — Seriously… they would make more money and be so much more popular if they just were a fried chicken place. Theirs is amazing.
Worst things:
Pretty much the only bad things about this place are the selection is bland, and some of the food is just average at best.
Consensus:
Not bad but not amazing. Specially if you’re trying to save a buck.

My parents recently had their anniversary and we decided to get some take-​out for dinner and had settled on Main Wok. We each got the same meal (General Tso’s chicken, chicken fingers, boneless BBQ pork, pork fried rice, crab rangoons and teriyaki beef) and each the same results. The rice, a staple of any Chinese restaurant, was oily. It was as if rather than frying the rice they poured warm oil over it instead. The teriyaki beef was decent. nothing bad but nothing worth bragging about either. The crab rangoons were chewy with virtually no crispness, again as if they were not properly fried, and were light on the filling. The chicken fingers should have been called chicken finger tips because they were so tiny. The boneless BBQ pork was dry and hard to chew. The best part of the meal was the General Tso’s and that was not what one would expect, either. Rather than the mild heat one would normally expect from the dish, this was just strongly flavored with garlic. Not bad since I like garlic (although even I felt it was strong), but entirely not how the meal is expected to taste. I would definitely have to say that I was not impressed with the food. I’ve made better fried rice and crab rangoons in my own kitchen. My suggestion is to stick to Wong Wok if you’re in the Springfield area.