Wooden Bar

Ted Ngoc Phan

a year ago

I visited on a friend’s recommendation and was blown away. The food was sublime: inventive take on Asian fusion, flavorful with edgy twists, and incredibly fresh ingredients. Love love love the bok choy with sweet sauce and the crab caesar salad. The drinks were exciting flavors, and the dessert was heavenly - you don’t want to miss the chai creme brulee. Very fun and cozy vibe. Truly a top-tier dining experience. Will come back often.

Ann Elworthy

2 months ago

This place is a hidden gem. Funky atmosphere, cool drinks, attentive staff and delicious ramen that warms your soul. We will see you soon.

C wad

Edited 10 months ago

Been to quite a few joints around Worcester, and I can honestly say this is the BEST ramen I've had outside of Shinagawa (or chitown). The black sesame ice-cream was also superb (like I was back walking the streets of Kanagawa). If you're seeing this, round two. Again this place does NOT disappoint. Rotating menu, it was excellent, unfortunately no black sesame ice cream, however, they did say it will be back in the near future. Definitely worth a visit to this, um, particular area of town.

Dianne Paul

a year ago

I am usually pretty good at finding the right places to eat for. So much so that people frequently turn to me for recommendations when they need a place for a particular occasion. So while my husband trusts me to find great places, I have to admit, he gave me the side-eye when we drove in. It’s not exactly the area or building that you would expect to find a great place to eat. However sometimes the hole in the wall type of joints turn out to be the best finds. Wooden Bar is such a place. While to some the menu may look limited and the ingredients somewhat intimidating, that is actually it’s strength. The best chefs usually understand quality over quantity: you can’t offer 20 or 30 entrees and expect to deliver high quality on them all. So limiting the offerings mean you can focus on those and ensure they are of the highest quality and that is what this place does. And in terms of the ingredients, though some of them might make some people a bit nervous, especially if they have a more limited palette, again a good chef knows how to pair and balance flavors that makes a dish sing in a way that frequently a flavor one doesn’t typically like, nonetheless enjoys the dish. For example, I have a pretty broad palette and there isn’t much I don’t eat, however one of the few things I really dislike is uni. However I had it at the Eiffel Tower and actually loved the dish. It was the one and only time I have enjoyed eating it either prior to after that experience. So I encourage people to give this place a try. I mean really, you can get a good burger anywhere, and even a great burger relatively easily. But to find food that is this unique and inspired is much harder to find, and well worth the effort to do so. We chose a few different plates to get a decent sampling. We started with the potato salad, then had the pork slider, and of course as they specialize in noodles, we had to try a spicy noodle dish, and finally the chicken confit. I won’t get into details for each one, b

Maria Arcuri

a year ago

Our first time visiting Wooden Bar in Worcester was an experience. With a monthly rotating menu, I wanted to order everything. Went dined in on Friday night, the place was full but we didn't have to wait too long for a seat. I started with a Rita Margarita and Brussel Sprouts with a peach buffalo sauce, which was subtle but then packed a nice kick at the end. I ended up getting the Ginger Mazeman with sake meatballs and pork belly. My lovely friend had the Gnocchi Lasagna with green beans. Everything was full of flavor and fresh. This is a hidden gem in Worcester and has recently started offering bakery items during the day.

Phil Lorrain

2 months ago

I really can’t say enough about Wood Bar. The food is always on point and always changing but I’ve never had a less than great meal with their inspired Asian dishes . Service is a bit different , where you go to the bar to order but for this type of place it works well, and the staff is always kind and accommodating. When a friend was looking for a darker beer they found a Porter they weren’t even serving and hooked us up. With the feathers of food and service in their cap it rests upon the backdrop of atmosphere which is that of dark almost noir-rustic vibe. You descend down the stairs to the open of the bar space and forget you are in heart of Worcester, you could be anywhere, anywhere where people have a subtly attention to detail to make the space have an energy of its own. It feels like you are being let in on a community secret, and that’s exactly how I feel when I show someone new Wooden Bar, and leave with saying “Now you know, can we do this again in a few weeks?”

Adam Bergstrom

8 months ago

What a delightful experience! We walked in shortly after they opened on a Friday. Staff met us with big smiles and warming welcome. They were very helpful in selecting the food. We ended up going with the pulled pork sliders for an appetizer, the spicy tantanmen and beef stir no fry for entrees and wrapped it up with the peach creme brulee. Food came out very quickly and was very hot and fresh. The pork sliders? The bread is made in house and you can tell. Super fresh, soft, delicious. The pork sliders are an absolute must, though there's two, so if you have a larger party I would order 2 orders. The spicy tantanmen was incredibly rich and had a very good spice level. It was too spicy for my wife but if you like spice, I would totally recommend it. The pork belly was soft and delicious, and the egg and noodles were cooked to perfection. The beef stir no fry is brothless, so make note of that if it's your play. The noodles are so incredibly fresh and delicious. Beef was well seasoned and tasty. We ended the meal with a small peach creme brulee, which was a very interesting take. Crunchy top combined with the rich peach custard was unfamiliar but absolutely divine. Portions on the food were generous. We definitely did not go hungry and felt meals were very fairly priced for the quality of ingredients and preparation that must go into the dishes. The staff were incredibly friendly, accomodating, and checked in on us frequently. Overall, highly recommended 5 stars across the board, we will definitely be going back to check the rotating menu options!

Elizabeth Daly

a month ago

It was so delicious. Mindset going in-it’s not a typical restaurant but it absolutely doesn’t matter. You figure it out and it’s soo good. You get a table number, place your order at the bar and food comes quick. They had brown butter ice cream on the dessert menu… insane. The drinks were amazing. Just go. You won’t regret it. We will definitely be coming back.

Lilliana Moynihan

a month ago

Wow!! I haven't been this impressed by a meal in a long time. 9 times out of 10 im disappointed by any ramen in this area but Wooden Bar knocked it out of the park. So much flavor and richness, they really nailed the umami necessary to make a meal stand out. Marinated egg was also the best I've had! The vibe was really cool in there and I love that the menu rotates, makes me look forward to coming back and trying something new! This will be my new go to spot for sure and will reccomend to anyone looking for an amazing meal!

Emily I

6 months ago

This place was everything I needed and more! We took a ballroom dance class near by and needed a good place to eat. Wooden Bar had plenty of parking and an entrance that made you wonder for a second if it was the right place. We visited on a Friday just before 7pm and had no trouble finding a seat right away. Inside, you seat yourself, there are menus on the table as well as water. When you’re ready you place your order at the bar. The menu seems to change monthly and there were specials on the board. The drinks and food came out quickly. My drink, the Pandan Milk Punch, was one of the best cocktails I have ever had. The flavor was unique and slightly sweet. For our meals I got the pulled pork sliders and my husband ordered the beef stir no fry. Both were delicious! I loved the bread on the sliders. Everything that walked by looked equally as good. For dessert we ordered the black sesame ice cream and the ube crème brûlée. The ice cream was good but a little more sesame than I liked, but I enjoyed it and was glad to try it. The Ube crème brûlée was brilliant! The marshmallow topping was fantastic. The vibe was low key with fun music.