Been here many times in the past. Â Something change because the food got worse. Â Ordered the beef and broccoli, very salty and too much beef and maybe 5-6 pieces of broccoli. Â I love beef but there was too much and too less vegi. Â Also ordered the salmon skin hand roll which looked like it was rolled by a 2 year old. poorly made. Â The specialty roll which I can't remember the name but there was so much going with ingredients and not sure what I was eating. Â The waiters were all over the place and couldn't explain the dishes they brought out. Â Very poorly ran and food is a big disappointment. Â Fail!
Review Source:Everything is delicious after a night of drinking, right? Not necessarily. A few of us went to Wokcano after having lots of martinis at Equator.
We ordered one roll, calamari, and noodles to share. I can't even remember the specific dishes we ordered, because they were that forgettable. The Melon martinis we tried were not good at all and tasted very artificial. The server was nice enough to change them to the Lychee Pear flavor, which was better but still disappointing.
Only reason I'm not giving 1 star is that this place is open late and the service was okay.
Food barely passable. Service really awful. Came in on a Monday night. Maybe 2 or 3 other parties eating. I ordered from waitress. She brought water and dumped it on my table while having a conversation with another server. She brought maybe one of the 3 dishes I ordered with a lame "no problem" when I thanked her. Other people brought the rest of the order. I literally never saw her again except to hold up my water glass as if to say, "Hel-lo, Emp-ty F---ing glass" from 50 feet away. Bus guys brought the water and check and took the money and that was that. Â Place had a kind of dirty, stinky college bar vibe. Not the kind of place you want to be eating raw fish! Won't be coming here again!
Review Source:My friend and I were looking for a place to have some sushi. We ended up here at Wokcano. The food was okay, but the service was terrible. The bar area in the back was cute, but we sat at the bar in the main dining area. It was slow that night, and even though it was slow, no one seemed to want to help us with our orders. All the waiters were congregated together standing there talking to each other. We placed our orders with the sushi chef, but also ordered from our waiter. Apparently it wasn't important, because they didn't even bring us what we ordered. I was a bit disappointed.
Review Source:Back patio is pretty at night. Food is just okay, but I can't complain, because they conveniently accommodated my party of 35. Our server was very patient with us, taking orders as guests came in at different times. I even got a free birthday shot! Overall, I probably wouldn't come back here for dinner, but I recommend it if you're panning for a large group of people.
Review Source:Just okay on their food they are located right in the alley i only had sushi and a couple of drinks when stopped here so i can't really rate the rest of their food, Â but the atmosphere was alright and it seemed really small inside so i wasn't that comfortable thank god we only stayed a short time.
Review Source:I should have listened to all the posters here that said stay away. Â I live a few blocks away so I walked down to get some Walnut Shrimp and steamed rice to go. Â I have never been here before, so I thought I would try it. Â I will NOT be going back. Â The service was ok, there were four young woman at the register/podium when I walked in so one of them took my order pretty quick and said that it would be about 10 minutes, which it was. Â This was at 7:45 p.m. and it wasn't busy at all which surprised me being Old Pasadena on a Friday evening. Â When I got it home I opened the to go box and 1/4 of it was broccoli/veggies and 3/4 shrimp. Â There were only 14 shrimp and a few walnuts and it wasn't very good. Â So in short, it was $17.00, wasn't very good and there wasn't much shrimp. Â It didn't even come with a fortune cookie!!
I would suggest going to Grandview Palace at the other end of town. Â You get quite a bit more shrimp, it's better and also a couple of bucks cheaper.
After work last night me and a couple coworkers decided to go out and get some drinks since we got off at 11:30 we decided wokcano would be a great choice to have a couple of drinks because they're open late and the bartenders are excellent big shout out to Jeff and Kay great drinks quick service and very knowledgeable about alcohol the only thing I do not like is that the bar is just a little too small there is a live DJ playing great music on night however the dance floor area next to the bar its just a little too small. The food is good not the best sushi around but good I love the black dragon roll here black dragon . So if you're looking for some late night fun and good quality sushi you should have no problem Wokcano is open late I believe they're open until 3 a.m. you might want to check the website to confirm that.
Review Source:Kind of disappointed. I expected better.
Ordered the pad thai, Â chow fun (chicken), 2 black dragon roll, 1 volcano roll, korean short ribs (The best!) and baked mussels
The pad thai and chow fun was soo salty! It's not even leggit. If you're gonna order it ask them to put lesser salt.
The rolls were way too oily, it even tastes a bit soggy to me. The eel was like the type were you can just walk into a asian market and buy a pack of eel. The skin of the eel was pretty slimy and gross for me.
I think the baked mussels was the worst because none of us wanted to eat it. We all thought that there's wasabi in it....weird
Check total was I believe $91
pricey and not that good. They do like japanese, chinese, and thai food. None of them were leggit.
Plus for us was that the service was pretty good!
Went in on a Sunday night at 7 and got seats right away.
This place is okay. I have been here a couple times now. I have ordered some of their Chinese food as well as their sushi. Their food is pretty bland. The service is just okay. Not very attentive.
At night, the back is a nightclub. The last couple of times I came to the nightclub I felt like I was in a can of sardines packed from wall to wall. It was so hard to move that my friends and I just left.
Overall, I would only eat here again after I am done partying at the other spots in Pasadena even then I rather go get tacos from the taco truck instead.
I've been to the Pasadena locations a few times and the food is always great. Service, not so much. This last time I went I feel it suffered a little bit because we were seated outside & then our waiters go switched & no one told us. Regardless, it was happy hour so we weren't complaining.
Review Source:This place is absolutely terrible! DO.NOT.EAT.
I went here for a friend's birthday. Service was really bad (took a year to get anything - I'm not getting any younger here people).
The sushi is c-grade at best, and everything else on the menu seems to be fried.
I had the orange chicken (which I thought was a safe bet). It had an odd consistency to it. Later on that night I got horrible food poisoning (god knows what was in that chicken). I called the next day to let them know, and essentially the manager said tough luck - no apology, no nothing!
Other than it's location I don't know why anyone would eat here ... AVOID AT ALL COSTS!
Been here twice. It's nothing to write home about but definitely not horrible. Prices are decent. Service is good. Park across the street for 5 bucks all night and make a full evening on eating bar hopping and dancing afterwards.They've accommodated a large group both times I went. Would go back.. not in a rush to do so though.
Review Source:I was taken here for dinner on a date last night. Our whole evening together was pretty wonderful. Unfortunately, our experience here was less than par and really didn't measure up the expectations we had to keep our evening going on a high.
We chose to sit at the sushi bar, which I think was our big mistake. We were seriously overlooked throughout the night by our server. He greeted us at our initial seating and got our drinks. He returned once to refill a beer that quickly disappeared, but didn't bother to pay any mind to my empty glass. We spent the next 30 minutes waiting for him to come back. At one point we noticed him on his phone at the front of the store. I'm not sure how long he was talking, I just know that my glass was empty for the majority of my meal. It may not seem like a big deal, but drinks were our waiters only job while we were at the sushi bar, we didn't order anything else from him. Another server mistakenly brought another beer to our seats that we hadn't ordered, that server also rushed away before we could order my drink and didn't notice the empty glass. We finally flagged down a random server and asked for a refill. The server returned with two glasses of soda instead of one. I think he just didn't bother to listen to what we had asked for.
After we finished a couple rolls, we stacked the sushi plates neatly for the server. We left our actual plates pushed to the side. Another server came up and requested to take the sushi plates, we agreed. The server then gathered up all of the plates in front of us... I guess we are finished.
We also had to wait a considerable amount of time for our check to be picked up.
Unfortunately, neither one of us are the type to complain or confront a server when we aren't getting something that we need. Speaking to someone during our visit probably would have been easier than suffering through our poor service, but who wants to take that on the middle of a date?? No point making a bad experience worse just to bring light to a problem or get a couple bucks refunded.
This place is not bad. Â The food is good, the lunch deals are better than dinner. Â Portions are definitely decent all around. Â Good for sushi and Chinese food, so variety is not an issue.
Gets a little busy at nights compared to the quiet lunch times.
The decor is all right -- kind of tacky in some ways, but no problem.
Nothing to die for but good place for a generic bite.
Not sure why people give this place some poor reviews.
I love the indoor area, with the roofed seatings.
The food is amazing. I usually get the terriyaki chicken, orange chicken, the chow mein, broccoli beef, and the veggie dishes.
They have a sushi bar too but I have not had sushi there.
The portions are HUGE - definitely a great place to share amongst friends.
They have great lunch deals which comes with miso soup, salad, and your entree.
Their green tea is tasty as well.
Service is great.
Place is clean.
Pleasant people.
Good vibes.
The mixed sashimi salad was decent size and good amount of fish including salmon, tuna, and yellowtail. Â Rolls are pretty good but I think they were a bit expensive... taste good though. Â I wasn't too crazy of their shrimp tempura (Tiger roll) and softshell crab (Spider roll) because I felt there was too much batter therefore I couldn't really taste the shrimp or the softshell crab. Â
I came for lunch so it was very quiet. Â
I also ordered Pad Thai and Singaporean Fried noodle; they were surprisingly good. Â Singaporean fried noodle had plenty of shrimp and other toppings and had a nice curry flavor. Â Pad Thai could use more bean sprouts but it also had plenty of toppings.
My review is based on an event I threw here recently. Â MIKE, one of the 3 managers, did a fantastic job at keeping on top of my party the entire night. Â He made sure all our guests received their wristbands (for drinks), ensured the buffet was constantly replenished, and made himself available for any questions/concerns I had throughout the night! Â His availability prior to the date was also fairly good, whether it was through email or phone. Â This put me at ease as I wanted to make sure everything was set.
We had our party in the outdoor patio (covered, with heat lamps), which was spacious enough to accommodate 150 people. Â Although it's covered, I'm sure not quite sure if smoking is allowed, since I didn't really see anyone lighting up inside there (could be a courtesy to others though).
The bartenders were friendly and also fairly quick despite the hustle and bustle of people at the bar.
I heard from several people who attended the party and they were all pretty happy with the location, drinks, and food that night.
I highly recommend contacting (only) Mike if you ever have a need to throw an event here.
This place is a pretty cool restraunt.
I wanted to order some oyster shots, but FAIL! They did not have any. On a more positive note, they had UNI! I ended up ordering some uni shots along with some hot sake bottles :)
For our dindin, we got the sashimi deluxe which included 12 pieces. Salmon, Tuna, Yellowtail, striped bass and albacore. YUMMY! Slices were thick and fresh!
Nothing to extravagant to give this more then the average stars.. Sorry..
The only reason I am giving this Wokano three stars is because of the happy hour menu. Week days from 4-7 pm. The sake bombs are $1.99 and come with half a beer and a solid sake shot. The beers are about $2 too for draft. Surprisingly, the sushi isn't the best deal for happy hour- the garlic jalepano chicken wings are really good and they give you a good amount. The hand rolls are pretty good quality too.
Now for the bad. This wokano is hit or miss. The menus are dirty, the staff is completely disinterested in actually serving anybody and they make mistakes with orders sometimes and deliver a different dish entirely. However, these last few things aren't enough to keep me away from this happy hour!
I've been here on many occasions, have been to their restaurant only, bar only, and even ordered take-out, so I feel I'm pretty qualified to review this location.
Their food is pretty good, a bit pricey but it is good. Â My girlfriend really liked their pad thai and said that it tasted different from any other pad thai she's ever had. Â The drinks are all right as well. Â The bartenders in the little dance-club-bar thing they have in the back are better with the drink making than if you just get the drinks from the restaurant itself. Â
The ambiance is all right, it is a little annoying however how when patrons get drunk (or arrive drunk as the case usually is), they tend to make quite a scene or try to interrupt your own evenings (I definitely got a few hoots and catcalls when my girlfriend and I held hands and had a small kiss over dinner which was rather rude). Â
It's really not an amazing place, but it's not terrible. Â Honestly, pretty average, and the quality of the food is the same. Â If anything, go on an off night and hang out in the bar area with some friends, that has shown itself to be the best night for me because the bartenders are friendly with fewer patrons and the music in the back can be pretty fun to dance to when you have room to dance (at times, particularly weekends, this place gets so packed, when you enter, you pretty much prefer to head to the exit rather than even attempt to get to the bar for a drink). Â Not a place I'd necessarily recommend, but definitely safe in terms of palates who are not used to a lot of more authentically asian foods and who are looking to be in a more "party" atmosphere.
I work a few doors down and tried this place for the first time. Â The hostess was really sweet when I got in. Â More importantly the food was really tasty. Â I had the Pad Thai w/ chicken and shrimp. Â Really, really good. Â I haven't tried my sushi yet, but that stuff is all the same to me. Â On happy hour the sushi is a decent price for the portions. Â I would say at full price, it's pretty small portions. Â The regular entree portions are perfect.
I'll eat here again.
Usually when you're hammered, food is suppose taste so much better. Came here after a couple drinks, basically it was the nearest Asian food place open. I ordered the yang chow rice. Also tried some Pad Thai which somehow ordered.
The rice tasted like would be considered my poor attempt at making chinese food, I ate it only cuz I was hungry, but was a bit disappointed. The Pad thai was worst, noodles did not seem like a typical pad thai noodles and seemed rather blah.
Would I come again, prob not, I will probably stick to my hometown alhambra food and make the drive no matter how intoxicated.
I had always wanted to walk through a restaurant as if I was some big shot to the back that had some secret underground thing like a mob deal or secret club that the people who were dining would be totally oblivious too; exactly what you see in the movies. Well I was able to do just that on Friday at Wokcano LOL.
My friend walked me straight through the restaurant passed all the dining individuals to a little room that was crowd to the max with people having a good time and dancing the night away. My movie tale dream came true. Â I'm pretty sure though the guests who were eating weren't entirely oblivious to what was going on because the music was bumping and people were spilling out onto the outdoor patio because it was so crowd and again really hot in there but who cares. We danced for a song or two before making our way to the next place but it was so much fun and again I got to check something off my bucket list LOL.
I'm sure next time I'll grab a bite to eat before making my way back to the dance floor.
This is base solely on the back bar... little bar that they have open at night.
Went bar hopping with some buddies this past weekend. The actual bar area is very small. No sitting area.. standing room only. They do open up the patio later on for bar guest and dinner guest. There was a DJ playing 90s hip hop music. Nothing special at all. People tried dancing with the space they got.. most people just stood around looking bored... the place really wasn't popping.
Drinks were decently priced..probably about $7 for a redbull vodka. The bartenders all looked pretty bored too. Most of them just stood behind the bar and texted on their iphone phones.. wasn't really attentive to their customers. Definitely not a place worth checking out
I was very excited when I finally had the chance to come here. Â I'd heard a lot about the place from many of my friends and it was all good reviews. Â The place itself looks great and is decorated nice. Â It's a nice size place... Â not huge, but not small either. Â I liked the overall ambiance of the place and I felt very comfortable and cozy while dining here. Â
The quality of the food was decent, but not great. Â I've been to better sushi places and I thought that the sushi here was overpriced. Â The rolls that we ordered were around $15 per roll and they weren't even all that good. Â I've had better quality rolls from other places that were cheaper then that. Â It wasn't that I didn't like the food, it was more of a, why would I pay for this when I can go to a place that I like and spend equal to or less money type of thing and actually enjoy the sushi more. Â
The actual sushi was priced normal to most other places that I've been to. Â $4-$5 for 2 pieces is an average price. Â Again though, it was good, but I've had better sushi.
The one really cool thing about this place is that it's open late. Â Where else could you eat sushi at 3-4am? Â That is an awesome thing especially if you're leaving the bars in the Old Town area.
Overall, Wokcano is decent, but it's nothing that I'll crave. Â I'll pick other sushi places over this anytime. Â But I can picture myself coming here when I'm in the area and it's late at night and I want some sushi.
The server was nice, helpful and attentive so that was refreshing.... but still, this is a weak excuse for an "Asian Fusion" restaurant. Â
We started with the Chicken Satay and it's $7 for two???!! I can get four or six for that same price at a Thai restaurant!
The Philadelphia Roll with smoked salmon, cream cheese and avocado was nothing special. Tasted like something from 7-eleven. A little small though. I believe there were four pieces? And smoked salmon? Why not the fresh stuff???
We also had the Pad Thai noodle with chicken, shrimp, onion and egg, topped with ground peanuts. The noodles weren't cooked evenly as chunks were still stuck together. There weren't much sauce coated, but they did give you more than enough chicken and shrimp. The portion was enough for two and we even had a little left over.
The place was very dimmed and filled with young couples and groups of youngsters. The patio/ bar area looked so ghetto we immediately bounced! There's plenty of better bars and lounges down the street!
This place is in need of some serious class and quality!
Happy hour!
We mostly came here for the $2 sake bombs, which we enjoyed very many of (and ordered 3 more rounds of at around 6:58 PM). Draft beers are also $3.
Food from the happy hour menu is around $3 or $4 for most rolls (your usual spicy tuna, California, spicy yellowtail), sushi combos, calamari, garlic wings, spicy tuna on crispy rice, etc. Most HH items range from $2.99 to $8.99. Not the GREATEST deal for most, but the food was pretty good and in large portions. I really liked the garlic wings, which we couldn't finish.
Unfortunately, happy hour only lasts until 7, even in their adjoining bar. Our server was pretty difficult to flag down or to get attention from, and we were slightly panicking that we wouldn't have our order in before 7. Don't judge. Missing out on more $2 sake bombs is something to panic about.
Overall it's a decent happy hour.