WOKSTAR STORYContest
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Wokstar Story Winners
First Place
Craig Dunlap
Second Place
Julie McDaniel
Third Place
Rebecca Himmelsbach
This is my daughter Ava. We adopted her from South Korea when she was 11 months old back in 2010. From a very young age (like 11 months and 2 weeks)she has always loved Oriental Wok. We would feed her rice with our chopsticks. However, that’s not the WokStar Story. When we took her to OrientalWok for her 14th birthday (her choice), we found out that she shares a birthday with one of your daughters. But that’s not the WokStar Story either. May 2020 was a tumultuous time for everyone. She was wrapping up 5th grade and she had to miss all those awesome end of elementary activities. Her 5th grade graduation was a drive-through ceremony. We wanted to make the day as special as possible. After all, you only graduate from elementary school once...and what a lousy way to go out. We told her, “We will get you dinner from anywhere you want!” Her answer... “Can I have Oriental Wok for dinner and Graeter’s for dessert?” Absolutely! Of course, 4 years ago, we weren’t allowed in the restaurants, so it was take out only. Here she is enjoying her General Wong’schicken and egg roll. (That girl loves spicy!) Thank you for making her specialday even more special! Over the years, Oriental Wok has been synonymous with celebrations in our family, but you need to know that our Asian American daughter would eat at Oriental Wok once a week if we let her. Y’all are the WokStars!
On Friday, May 10th, we celebrated my mother's 88th surprise birthday at her favorite restaurant (the Ft. Mitchell location). From start to finish the experience was more than I could have hoped for due to your wonderful staff, the server and Mr. Wong. I called to request the room off of the bar, told the hostess that it was a surprise birthday with 13 guests, and we were going to have an Elvis impersonator sing a few songs. I was hesitant that we would not be allowed to have Elvis, but the hostess said, "oh that is going to be so much fun!" I was so excited!! I also asked if we could put "Happy Birthday Joyce" on the sign out front and they did. During the party, Mr. Wong brough over hats and we all took pictures that we will always treasure. We brought a cake which your server cut for us, but before that a "firecracker" type candle was placed on the cake and your staff sang "Happy Birthday". Mr. Wong even gave us a bottle of champaign. It was absolutely fantastic! My mother was truly flabbergasted by the surprise and so touched that the staff, the server and Mr. Wong would show so much attention and kindness. Thank you from the bottom of my heart for making my mom's b-Day one of the best days in her life!!
I discovered Oriental Wok (Ft. Mitchell) through a friend at the age of 16 who described it as the Ritz Carlton of Chinese restaurants (pre-internet so actually had to use my imagination when trying to picture it and I was nowhere close). Iwas in awe when I walked in immediately noticing the high ceilings, lots ofgold, real fish ponds, a pianist, and a Budha on top of a gong being pulled around to those at tables celebrating a special event. Then there was themenu! It was a notch above any other Asian restaurant I had been. They used to have plates wrapped as samples, it was the neatest thing so you could see what the dish would look like. The real surprise during my first visit was Mr. Wong with a style of his own that only he could pull off and only jokes he couldmake funny. He lit-up the room visiting each and every table, his wife sitting atthe hostess stand greeting guests and leading them to their tables with theirdaughters helping.From that moment on, I only referred to the restaurant as “Wong’s”. It becameour place to celebrate. I grew-up here celebrating all of life’s firsts (I turned 21 here and received a huge flowered cake that Angela organized, had my first JTM hamburger here (you read that correctly) grilled by Mr. Wong himself, celebrated our engagement, had our rehearsal dinner here even receiving marriage advice from Mr. Wong, announced pregnancies at the table at the top of the steps, had carry-out surprises after births, celebrated grandparents birthdays and eventually our children’s birthdays, family graduations, rang inthe New Year several times, and even gathered around a large table when a loved one passed). I didn’t know 26 years ago walking through that rotating door would continuously bring me back to celebrate (or just to sit down and enjoy a good meal). We have been blessed with some of the best memories and meetingone of our favorite families right under the roofs of these restaurants. They have done so much for the community and for the customers. We sit at their tables but get so much more in return.