The Wok Lobster runs out of a shipping-container stall at Gather GVL, the open-air food hall on Augusta Street just off downtown and a short walk from Fluor Field. You order at the container and carry your food out to the shared commons under the string lights, which is half the appeal of eating there.
The cooking is Asian American comfort food, Southern flavors pushed through high-powered wok technique, and it leans into lobster harder than you would expect from a food-hall stall. The signature is the Wok-a-roni and Cheese, wok-fried noodles and lobster folded with cheese and deep-fried into a riff on Japanese takoyaki, finished with lobster sauce and bonito flakes. Around it sit a ginger scallion lobster fried rice, a lobster corn dog on a stick, the Inside Out Eggroll they bill as a fan favorite, and red velvet cake eggrolls to close.
It is the work of Chef Lakisha Powell, who started The Wok Lobster as a traveling food truck in 2018 and built it into an award-winning Upstate name before setting up a permanent spot at Gather. Expect a short wait for made-to-order food, then something genuinely inventive eaten at a shared table with a drink from one of the neighboring bars.