Cafe 88

To be quite honest, this used to be one of my favorite restaurants in Stillwater. That was until a visit last week when I decided I will not spend another dollar at this business.
Last week I called to place an order for pickup. The guy who answered the phone was very rude from the first «hello» but I thought, oh well. It was about 8:10 and maybe he was supposed to get at 8 and was the only one able to answer the phone. I understand the dynamics of working a job you don’t quite love. So I started placing my order and decided to ignore his complete lack of customer service. I asked for an order of orange chicken, at a ²⁄₅ spicy. I then asked for an order of sesame chicken, not spicy, with brown rice. He replied «we don’t have brown rice.» So I said, «alright that’s fine steamed rice will be fine.» He said okay and hung up. Didn’t give me a total. Didn’t tell me how long it would take for my order. Just hung up.
Then I get to the restaurant and a different woman rang up my order. I see a guy, who I assumed by his body language was the man I talked to on the phone. He was leaning onto the prep station eating (so unsanitary. ew). But then it made sense. My first assumption was right and I am sure when I called he was clocked out and tired and hungry. WRONG. I WAS SO WRONG. The woman who rang me up went to wait for my food to be ready and I heard her make a comment about my receipt. Something questioning why it said brown rice. The rude man who was eating over the prep station replied «yeah some lady was dumb enough to ask for brown rice. So I put some soy sauce on steamed rice… Brown enough right?» And he laughed as if it was the most hilarious thing. (His language was actually much more offensive but I’d rather not repeat it). He then put his food he was eating on a different counter and without washing his hands he started packaging my food and grabbed my plastic wear to put it in my bag. When it was all ready he turned around to see me standing there and while making eye contact with he he said «oops, guess she heard me» with sarcasm so thick you could cut it with a knife.
So I got white rice with a disgusting amount of soy sauce and orange chicken that was inedible it was so spicy, along with being called some pretty offensive things.
This man should be fired, but either way I will not be giving money to a business that supports this type of customer service.

It doesn’t look like much from the outside, but Café 88 is one of my favorite restaurants in Stillwater. The food is delicious and the atmosphere is great. Their orange chicken is the best I’ve had.

I love this place. The food is fantastic and all the flavors are original. They often run out of seating but it’s worth it to get your food to go or sit with another friendly patron.

Absolutely delicious Chinese food with great portions. Prices may a little bit higher, but the portions are worth it!

Really great Asian food and very affordable prices — great for students on a budget! They are very accommodating with different levels of spice per dish. The bubble teas are also amazing!

Solid food and a big menu in a great location across from campus. It’s a really small place, so sometimes it’s cramped.

Foods are ok. But service during peek hours is terrible. I have waited for 30 mins for a soup and still waiting when I am typing this.

Ambience is not so cool. Haven’t got the place for 10 mins.
Cleaning service has been sluggish.
Food Many varieties are available.
Chicken fried rice is very tasty.
The best part of this café is Litchi Green tea with jelly.
Overall, food is very good.
Service is okay.

I love this place! Good for that isn’t ridiculously priced. Best to get it to go due to small amount of seating.

It was fine, just nothing special. Service was excellent. Very friendly. Tried the bubble tea and can mark that off my list. Just not a fan of sweet drinks.

Visited on: multiple dates from 2012 to present
This place is okay. It’s not terrible, but it’s not extraordinary either. It’s a good lunch spot because it’s reasonably inexpensive and it’s close to campus. Space is limited, though, and I always feel cramped and dirty every time I’m there. One distinctive thing about this place is that they cover their plates in aluminum foil, which is something to get used to.
I have to admit that I used to like this place more before Boba Fusion Café came along and stole its thunder by offering better (i.e., more authentic and just plain tastier) Chinese food in a much nicer environment.
Café 88 has a regular menu and daily (or weekly?) specials that are off the menu. The regular menu is, for the most part, Americanized. I’ve had the following:
A4 — Fried Pork Wontons — bleh
E2 — Fried Pork Chop — this was okay; it’s a lot like Japanese katsu
S2 — 3 Cup Chicken — okay
S4 — Spicy Diced Chicken — okay
R3 — Shrimp Stir-​Fried Noodles (with Curry flavor) — fine
R4 — Combo Stir-​Fried Noodles (with Regular and Curry flavors) — the Regular was too sweet; the Curry is fine
N1 — Curry Rice Noodle — not bad; this might be the best thing on the regular menu
I’ve also had the Strawberry and Passion Fruit Slushies, and they’re fine.
The best part about Café 88 is that they have specials, which are much closer to authentic Chinese food. For the specials, I’ve had the following:
— lu rou fan (braised pork over rice, a classic Taiwanese comfort food) — pretty good
— hong shao ji chi (chicken wings with oyster sauce) — it was okay
— suan miao la rou (cured pork belly with leeks, my favorite Hunan dish) — very good, but they barely ever make it and I don’t think they’ve ever officially offered it; I think the one time I had it it was leftovers from a meal that the chefs cooked for themselves, and were nice enough to share with me
— tomato beef over rice — not bad
— ji rou plus pei gen plus dou gan plus bao xin cai — this was a hodgepodge of chicken and bean curd thrown together with some random cabbage-​type vegetables; it was good
Even though the specials are more authentic than the regular fare, they still don’t quite make it all the way. For whatever odd reason, the cooks always insist on using broccoli for both regular items and specials. They also like to randomly throw in fried eggs and sweet sauces. I much prefer the food at Boba Fusion.
Oh, and there’s some kind of minimum total for using credit or debit cards. I think it might be $ 5 or $ 8. I recommend bringing cash.

Café 88 is my favorite Chinese food place in Stillwater. It is a tiny, hole in the wall type of place, with authentic Chinese dishes. The portions are ample (but not ridiculously oversized) and very full of flavor. They aren’t over-​sauced and goopy, they are just really good. Get there early or late for a table if you want it. The food is terrific. The iced tea tastes kind strange though — stick to other drinks. A great food option, and relatively inexpensive.

Café 88 is a little Asian place near the OSU campus. There aren’t a whole of tables, so sometimes it’s better to just do takeout here. The food is always good, and they are pretty fast at making it, usually 5 – 10 minutes. My personal favorite is the Singapore Curry Noodles. The servings are fairly big, so you will probably have some leftovers. The bubble tea is pretty good here as well, and I think it’s one of the only, if not the only pace to get boba in Stillwater. Give this little place a try!

It’s my favorite place to get Chinese food in Stillwater. I love their tea as well. It’s a tight squeeze inside, but the service is very fast.

Great spot right next to campus, just be sure to get there super early for lunch if you want to dine in. The seating is quite limited, as in roughly 4 tables, 2 high-​tops, and one large table. I often ask to sit with strangers. The diced chicken is my favorite, and I usually ask for a 15 – 20 spice on the 1 – 5 spice chart, which they are happy to do. Also, if you don’t like runny eggs, ask them to cook your egg that they put on your rice a bit more and they will happily do that too. Great service every time, delicious food every time.

«Been a OSU alum for 17 years and know all the great places to eat. 88 is a great little place tucked in on knoblock and wow it was a great place to eat. Be prepared for take out seating is limited. But if your looking for a fresh new place to try drive to 88 and enjoy a great meal.»

One of my favorite restaurants in Stillwater! Definitely my go to place for Chinese food in town. It is incredibly convenient, located close to campus, and the food is very good. Also, it is not strictly a take out restaurant as the atmosphere inside is very clean and nice. Now that I live out of town, I definitely miss Café 88.

The food here is excellent, and it’s among the best of its kind in Stillwater. Also, they are the best choice for Bubble Tea in this area. The staff is very friendly and the prices are average to slightly above average.
If you plan on eating here, beware that it is a very small restaurant. It doesn’t accommodate large crowds easily. Often times, it isn’t air-​conditioned well which is desperately needed in such a small enclosure. Also, parking is an issue as you will have to park nearby and walk.

Best Chinese food in Stillwater! We always get the Café 88 Chicken and the Curry Chicken to split. They also have yummy teas and smoothies. On game days, they have a really yummy chicken sandwich.

My third favorite place in Stillwater. Their dinners come with your choice of meat, rice with a fried egg on top, and broccoli. I always tend to gravitate towards the bourbon mushroom chicken.
Their slushies are good as well, mango is my favorite.
They also serve fried rice and noodle plates as‘well as bubble tea.