Has anyone tried the Wonder Restaurant in Marlboro (Kohl’s Plaza on Routes 9 and 520)? Any yeas, nays, recommendations of what to order, etc.?
(My friend and I concluded the best description of it was a virtual food court.)
Tried it 2x 4 different meals all terrible microwave food IMO
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I have not tried it personally but have heard similar bad reports from friends who have tried it.
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There’s a thread here (I think in NJ section, but I can’t find it now) that explains Wonder is similar to airport food (not airplane food). The concept is that restaurants in an airport don’t have the space/equipment/people at the airport to cook most of their menu from scratch on-site, so they prep the meals off-site and then just finish at the airport. Similarly with Wonder – prepped elsewhere and finished at the restaurant.
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I went today with a friend. She got a shwarma; I got a spicy salmon and tuna poke bowl. The food was okay; I liked that I could get mixed greens instead of rice. Mine, with a green iced tea, was about $21.
The main problem was that the sound was awful. First, the music was too loud, but they did turn it down a bit (possibly because we were the only people actually dining in). But there was some awful alarm-like sound coming from the kitchen quite frequently; it was almost as though they had a microphone pointed at the fryer timer and piped it into an amplifier. 
This was most unpleasant.
But, as I said, we were the only ones dining in. (They have seating for only about a dozen people.) There were a lot of people picking up, including delivery services. I can see how a family ordering food might like the fact that everyone can order the sort of thing they want. But I have no plans to go back.
(Ordering on the kiosk is a bit of a problem, because rather than one menu, each “sub-restaurant” has its own menu, so if you’re trying to browse, you can’t see everything at once.)
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I went to the one in Shrewsbury. I expected to hate it and was pleasantly surprised. It’s not really meant for dine in, the idea behind the place is like, you can be sitting at home day or night and order a steak and a poke bowl and Thai food and… basically just about anything you can imagine and have it. I think what you said is exactly the market, families who like the idea of everyone getting what they want for dinner. I actually kind of hate this idea on a social level but it’s a plan. Also I’m sure there’s someone out there who wants an orgy of steak and sushi at midnight delivered for a private mukbang or a party.
My friend was manager at this one and I got to check out the kitchen and it is MASSIVE. Like 10 times the size of the front. Based on what she told me they actually do a lot of the cooking in house, they’re not just sending out nuked products.
I also got a poke bowl and went with my godson who got the wings, we shared both and enjoyed the food, it was perfectly acceptable and I have nothing negative to say. The poke was actually pretty generous, surprisingly good considering my expectations. It’s an interesting idea but I don’t think I would ever get food from there again, it just feels really soulless to me, almost like you’re dining in a factory employee break room or something.
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Before we had lunch at Haldi Chowk, I looked in to the one in the same strip and that’s EXACTLY how I felt - it was soulless, despite all of the famous chefs listed on the window. I’d much rather patronize a local restaurant!
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Trust me–the food was much better at Haldi Chowk!
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I had to google “mukbang” (and was a little nervous doing so). I gather the trend has made its way to the USA, but I had never encountered it before!
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Drongo my friend have you been in a coma for the last 10 years? 
The trend is on the tail end by now.
Yeah exactly. And I just do not get this kind of model, but I guess that’s how it is with me and most new corporate food concepts.
