Did you partake in Chinese takeout over the holidays? Was passing containers of lo mein, honey garlic chicken and beef and broccoli around the table part of your annual tradition?
If so, you’re in good company. It’s a popular choice for many amid the hustle and bustle of the season — whether you just don’t feel like cooking or you’re looking for a meal on Christmas Day when many restaurants close. Plus, it’s a convenient and tasty option for any other day of the year!
For our Best of South Florida Dining series, we asked you, our readers, to share your top picks for the best Chinese takeout spots in Palm Beach, Broward and Miami-Dade counties. The nomination round yielded these top five finalists (in alphabetical order):
We collected your votes during the week before Christmas while visions of egg rolls, fried rice and wonton soup danced in our heads. And now, we have our winner … Bamboo Wok!
If you’ve never been, this family run place is a must-try, according to its many fans, who voted it No. 1 for satisfying their Chinese takeout food cravings.
Louis Liu works the wok at Bamboo Wok in Coconut Creek. (Mike Stocker/South Florida Sun Sentinel)
THE RESPONSE
“It’s honestly a huge honor, and we are so happy about it,” said Steve Zheng, who manages the Boynton Beach location. “It really put some weight behind all the effort that we’ve put forth over these past 20 to 25 years to ensure that we were able to serve our community.”
Recently, he saw firsthand “how incredible and rewarding it is to be able to serve so many people and so many families throughout the holidays,” he said, which is “historically the busiest time of the year for the restaurants.”
His cousins came from California and Illinois to jump in and help, Zheng said.
“I truly think that a good part of our success is due to the fact that we have such good backing from the family,” he said. “They all come back and take time to help out during the busy season so that we can properly serve everybody.
“Because at the end of the day, this is a very special time for us, and it’s also a very special time for everyone else. We want to be able to provide food for everybody without reducing the quality of food, without having to cut corners.”
Bamboo Wok is owned by the Liu family, who came down to South Florida from New York in 2001. (Mike Stocker/South Florida Sun Sentinel)
THE HISTORY
After working at Zheng’s uncles’ Long Island restaurant for several years in the 1990s, the Liu siblings — Lin, Cynthia, Louis and Tina (Zheng’s mother) — moved to South Florida in 2001. That’s when Lin Liu opened Bamboo Wok in Boca Raton, serving a menu of dishes influenced by New York-style Chinese takeout.
Louis Liu started the Coconut Creek location a couple of years later, followed by Cynthia and Tina with the Boynton Beach spot several years after that.
“We did take a little bit of time to scout out locations, but we also didn’t want to compete with each other,” Zheng said. “We wanted to be within proximity but not also overlap. And that’s why you see the restaurants built from Coconut Creek to Boca to Boynton.”
While there’s no talk right now about opening other restaurants, he said there’s potential for that in the future.
Some of Bamboo Wok’s most popular dishes include sesame chicken, chicken and broccoli, lo mein and crab rangoon, among others. (Mike Stocker/South Florida Sun Sentinel)
THE FOOD
The Lius started with the same menu at each location, adjusting items over the years to accommodate their customers’ preferences, Zheng said.
You’ll find all the familiar favorites, such as General Tso’s chicken, chow mein, egg foo young, sweet and sour pork, as well as BBQ spare ribs, egg rolls, dumplings (steamed or pan-fried), wonton and egg drop soups and fried rice, available as lunch and dinner specials.
There’s also a selection of house specialties and a diet menu with steamed meats and vegetables (New Year’s resolution, anyone?).
“We take a lot of effort to ensure consistency within our food and also to just maintain the core concepts that we brought down,” Zheng said. “We came down with an understanding that if we do things properly, the way that they were taught to my uncles to do whenever they were training, and we use quality ingredients, provide good customer service, that’s really all there is to it, right? To create good cuisine.”
They stick to the basics, he said, but have refined their recipes through the years to ensure keeping up with the times and customers’ changing taste preferences.
Louis Liu works the wok at Bamboo Wok in Coconut Creek. (Mike Stocker/South Florida Sun Sentinel)
With fresh, raw meats and vegetables used to prepare everything in-house, Zheng said it’s a scratch kitchen behind the scenes at every Bamboo Wok location. The only frozen item they use is shrimp.
“It’s quite honestly a labor of love,” he said. “I’ve been working in the kitchen for the past year in the back, and it takes a lot of effort to make these things, to create the dish.”
The sauces? Well, that’s where Zheng said Bamboo Wok really stands out. Each one takes a couple of hours to prepare and then they marinate over three to four days before being served.
“That way it really captures the full assets of the flavor that we want to imbue in the food,” Zheng said. “We do take a ton of time to make these sauces, to make sure they’re consistent and perfect every single time.”
They come in an hour before the restaurant opens to start cooking the soups and chopping vegetables, and they make their own egg rolls in-house every few days.
House special fried rice is on the menu at Bamboo Wok in Coconut Creek. (Mike Stocker/South Florida Sun Sentinel)
“We understand is it is very time-intensive and labor-intensive, but those are corners that we feel as a family cannot be cut in order to maintain the quality of the food,” he said.
Sesame chicken is one of their most popular dishes, and fried crab rangoon is tops among appetizers, but Zheng’s go-to order is the shrimp and garlic sauce.
“It’s got a nice tinge of sweet tangy to it as well, and we do add a little bit of spice,” he said. “It’s a good blend.”
How about the fried rice, the must-have side for any Chinese takeout order?
“Our pork fried rice, we’ve been doing it the same pretty much for 25 years now,” Zheng said. “We take raw pork and we roast it over several hours to turn into that nice roast pork and then we cut it up and we use that for fried rice.”
Fried crab rangoon is a popular appetizer at the Bamboo Wok in Coconut Creek. (Mike Stocker/South Florida Sun Sentinel)
WHAT FANS SAID
Bamboo Wok fans singled out several dishes in their nominations, including the orange beef and chicken, sweet and sour chicken, General Tso’s chicken and Hunan beef.
Among the best appetizers receiving nods were spring rolls and crab rangoon, which Boca Raton resident Rachel Mikulinsky described in her nomination form as “stuffed with filling, so creamy and yummy. And cheap!”
Delray Beach resident Richard Pachter told us in his nomination form that he orders steamed vegetable dumplings and fried rice for lunch or dinner.
“All the usual Chinese American favorites are expertly prepared,” he wrote. “They’ve been consistent for several decades now. Excellent family-run business.”
Chicken with broccoli at the Bamboo Wok in Coconut Creek is a customer favorite. (Mike Stocker/South Florida Sun Sentinel)
Chicken and broccoli is Boca Raton resident Stacy Lamont’s go-to order for lunch or dinner, according to her nomination.
Her appetizer of choice?
“Bone-in spare ribs, nice and sticky cooked to perfection,” she wrote. “Their food just has the best flavor; always spot on, never any issues.”
Bamboo Wok has three locations: 9181 Glades Road, Boca Raton; 12040 S. Jog Road, Boynton Beach; and 4660 W. Hillsboro Blvd., Coconut Creek. Visit bamboowok.com.
And don’t miss previous Best of South Florida Dining series winners!
Louis Liu works the wok at Bamboo Wok in Coconut Creek, Tuesday, Jan. 6, 2026. Bamboo Wok, which has locations in Boca Raton, Boynton Beach and Coconut Creek, is the Best of South Florida Dining series winner for Chinese takeout. (Mike Stocker/South Florida Sun Sentinel)
Bamboo Wok is owned by the Liu family, who came down to South Florida from New York in 2001. (Mike Stocker/South Florida Sun Sentinel)
Bamboo Wok in Coconut Creek, Tuesday, Jan. 6, 2026. The restaurant is the Best of South Florida Dining series winner for Chinese takeout. (Mike Stocker/South Florida Sun Sentinel)
Louis Liu works the wok at Bamboo Wok in Coconut Creek. (Mike Stocker/South Florida Sun Sentinel)
Louis, Lin and Ping Liu work the woks at Bamboo Wok in Coconut Creek, Tuesday, Jan. 6, 2026. The restaurant is the Best of South Florida Dining series winner for Chinese takeout. (Mike Stocker/South Florida Sun Sentinel)
Louis Liu works the wok at Bamboo Wok in Coconut Creek. (Mike Stocker/South Florida Sun Sentinel)
Sesame chicken is one of the dishes available at Bamboo Wok in Coconut Creek, winner of the last installment of our Best of South Florida Dining series for 2025. (Mike Stocker/South Florida Sun Sentinel)
House special fried rice is on the menu at Bamboo Wok in Coconut Creek. (Mike Stocker/South Florida Sun Sentinel)
Fried crab rangoon is a popular appetizer at the Bamboo Wok in Coconut Creek. (Mike Stocker/South Florida Sun Sentinel)
Bamboo Wok, with locations in Boca Raton, Boynton Beach and Coconut Creek, is the Best of South Florida Dining series winner for Chinese takeout, Tuesday, Jan. 6, 2026. (Mike Stocker/South Florida Sun Sentinel)
Chicken with broccoli at the Bamboo Wok in Coconut Creek is a customer favorite. (Mike Stocker/South Florida Sun Sentinel)
Some of Bamboo Wok’s most popular dishes include sesame chicken, chicken and broccoli, lo mein and crab rangoon, among others. (Mike Stocker/South Florida Sun Sentinel)
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Louis Liu works the wok at Bamboo Wok in Coconut Creek, Tuesday, Jan. 6, 2026. Bamboo Wok, which has locations in Boca Raton, Boynton Beach and Coconut Creek, is the Best of South Florida Dining series winner for Chinese takeout. (Mike Stocker/South Florida Sun Sentinel)