Wei's Food to Go (cart)

In a word: Has a ways to go.

The specs: #0736  
Address, hours & details via Isthmus; reviews at AV Club, Isthmus,

Latest Wei's Food to Go news and reviews

JM ate the box lunch with chicken fried rice, chicken nuggets, a chicken egg roll and a fresh lemonade.
Nichole ate the pork fried rice with a vegetable egg roll and a spring roll.
The bill was $16, or $8/person, plus tip.
JM gave Wei's Food to Go a B-; Nichole gave Wei's Food to Go a C+ (see our grading rubric).

Wei's is a shiny and spacious cart that was parked up by King Street during the 2011 season. They have a very short menu (no rangoon, zāo gāo!) that includes some hibachi and cold noodle dishes, but it was a cold and windy day and we selfishly both ordered fried rice to, you know, stimulate our yang energy - acupuncturists' orders.

JM's came in a "box lunch" that included chicken nuggets (! someone should put these in a faux chicken tempura sushi roll) and an egg roll. Nichole just got the rice and egg roll.

The rice itself was somewhat dry, but far prettier than it ever turns out at home (ours often gets lumpy and grey - probably bad technique). Theirs was deep brown, mostly distinct grains of rice, light on the oil and heavy on meat.

The chicken nuggets were as standard as they come, if anything moreso. That said, they do work well with the sauces provided. The big chunks of smoky BBQ pork were quite good. Formerly frozen peas were the only, and we mean only, vegetable we could find in the fried rice.

The egg rolls were tight; the chicken one was chewy and crisp in turns and the veg one was semi-smooshy inside. The spring roll was a misstep. Vermicelli, a little tofu, bean sprouts and romaine lettuce in a gummy rice wrapper added up to ick, but the salty/hot/anise-flavored sauce enhanced the fried rice, at least.

The service was pretty good and they have a loyalty-card box. But given the competition inherent in food cart choices, where something more tempting is a few steps away, we can't see ourselves thinking of Wei's first.

Comments

[Kristin]

I'm sad you didn't have a better experience -- I love the fragrant pork at this place! It comes with an addictive cucumber-celery salad, too.

[Nichole]

That sounds so good. I think we were a little lazy that day. Makes me think we should have set up some sort of "tell us what to eat at ___ " long ago!

[Kristin]

Well, I feel like you should be able to order what you want and enjoy it at a truly good restaurant (or cart), but a suggestion box might be a fun way to find some hidden gems on a menu.