Take-Out by Wonder

By The Three Fare Ladies

Sounds great! You probably got the same brochure in the mail we did about a new idea for restaurant dining. The team at Wonder search out the best restaurants and their best dishes. The local Wonder chefs obtain their recipes and duplicate them. All you have to do is order - free delivery or eat at Wonder.

We had to try it and pass our experience on to you. Michele volunteered to do the ordering and host the meal. Each of us and husbands Dave and Martin chose from the Wonder menu one appetizer, one main dish and one dessert. Our critiques were generally positive but we had some caveats.

Ordering By Michele

Ordering online was a challenge. I placed the order for the five of us. Note, Luci, Billa and Martin were not with me at the time. As I started to select items, many were sold out or components within the recipes were out of stock, i.e. lettuce or rice for bowls. I had to reach out to Billa and Martin to change their selections. Even second selections were either sold out or had to be customized. Customizing the dish options was a challenge. When I selected one protein, for instance, and wanted to add another it unselected the first protein. This happened so many times that we changed the order completely for Billa and Martin, as it was quite frustrating. 

The Final Menu

Additionally, Wonder offered 50 percent off on the first two orders and when I applied the coupon code it only gave us the maximum discount of $20 on our order as is stated in the fine print. Lesson, read the fine print.

What worked well was the delivery. I was informed when the dishes were being prepared, when en route to our location and finally when it was about to arrive at our door. The delivery was within the timeframe promised and the delivery person was friendly and courteous. The hot dishes were warm, and the cold dishes cool. 

Food Reviews

Dave Salomon

Dave’s appetizer was a wedge salad from Mainstay. He thought it was one of the best he’s ever had. The Iceberg lettuce was crisp and topped with pickled red onion, chopped tomato, crispy bacon bits and a tasty blue cheese dressing.

As for his entrée from Maydan, Lamb Shawarma, that was a different story. Dave said the lamb was grizzly. After a few bites he had me throw it out. This was very unusual for him, as he eats almost anything.

Lastly, for dessert, Dave had the Banana Pudding by Magnolia Bakery. This was a rich pudding with swirls of chocolate. He loved it!

Michele

My appetizer was corn bread from Mainstay. I wasn’t particularly pleased with it as I found it to have an oily taste. 

My entrée was Mustard roasted chicken from Bobby Flay. I was really impressed with this dish as the chicken was moist, came off the bone easily and was extremely tasty. The portion was too large, but nonetheless it was a hit with me! The left-over chicken wasn't as good because reheating dried it out somewhat.

My dessert was terrible! Sorry to say Dana’s Bakery Cookies & Crème Krisp Bar was way too sweet. Maybe a child, accustomed to the super-sweet dishes of so much of today’s food, would have liked it, but it was not to my taste.

Billa

For his appetizer, my husband, Martin, ordered a spinach artichoke dip from chef Marc Murphy’s restaurant Mainstay. I sneaked a taste and was glad I did. It was creamy, savory, and tangy with a bit of spice that made it even more interesting. Martin, too, thought it was excellent.

I ordered coleslaw as my appetizer from chef Marcus Samuelsson’s restaurant Streetbird. It was okay, but nothing special. 

For his main course, Martin wanted salmon, but, unfortunately, all the restaurants appeared to have sold out of fish. He ended up getting eggplant parmigiana from Alanza, an Italian restaurant. It was perfectly cooked: tender eggplant, tangy, slightly sweet tomato sauce, gooey mozzarella, all topped with sharp parmesan cheese.

I wanted to have a poke bowl for my entree. But after many unsuccessful attempts at ordering one, I gave up and chose shrimp fried rice from SriPraPhai, a Thai restaurant. The shrimp was well cooked, fresh-tasting and not mushy. However, the rice that accompanied it was dry and bland. The little squares of canned pineapple did not help much.

For dessert, Martin had pumpkin spice banana pudding from Magnolia bakery. He found it to be creamy, smooth, and rich with warm flavor.

My dessert was a pair of cupcakes from Magnolia bakery - chocolate and vanilla. They looked yummy, but I thought they were just okay - much too sweet.

Luci

My appetizer was WONDERFUL! 

Mushroom & Goat Cheese Bruschetta from Walnut Lane by Jonathan Waxman, described as: “crunchy, toasted bread and creamy, tart goat cheese are topped with roasted oyster, cremini, and button mushrooms for the perfect starter or side.” 

The first bite exploded in the mouth, jam-packed with umami and then a surprise sparkle of tartness. With an assortment of tasty mushrooms and cheese, the prevailing umami taste was no surprise. The tart sparkle in every bite seemed to come, not only from a tart goat cheese, but also, possibly, from lemon zest. Whatever the ingredients, the taste experience was perfection.

My choice for the main dish was Drunken Noodles with Chicken from SriPraPhai, a Thai restaurant. Its description: “Want to feel the heat? Wide rice noodles, sliced chicken, and bell peppers in a savory, Thai chili–spiked sauce. Finished with fragrant Thai basil.”

Unfortunately, this dish did not impress. The sauce covering the noodles and chicken was quite fragrant, not overwhelmingly hot but had no real character. The noodles were cooked well, a touch past al dente but the thin slices of chicken were rubbery and lacking a good chicken flavor. There was a very generous amount of food, far too much for me to eat in one sitting. As a leftover the next day, the dish lost flavor. All in all, it was ok, but just that.

Dessert was a winner, Chocolate Pecan Pie by Four & Twenty Blackbirds. It lived up to its description: “Lightly toasted, buttery pecans, blended with a classic (but not too sweet) pecan pie style custard, atop a decadent layer of dark chocolate ganache. A perfect slice from a bakery started by two sisters, where tradition meets Brooklyn charm.” It was everything one could want in a pecan pie and then some. I appreciated its moderate sweetness and the luscious taste delivered by every bite.