A & J Restaurant
- Hours:
Mon-Fri 11:30 a.m.-9:00 p.m. - Price Range: $
- Accepts Credit Cards: No
- Parking: Private Lot
- Attire: Casual
- Good for Groups: No
- Good for Kids: Yes
- Takes Reservations: No
- Delivers: No
- Take-out: Yes
- Waiter Service: Yes
- Wheelchair Accessible: Yes
- Outdoor Seating: No
- Good for: Lunch
- Alcohol: None
160 Reviews for A & J Restaurant
Having just moved up from SGV in southern California, I have been on the search for some hole in the wall place where I can find me some beef noodle soup and milk tea. Well I won't have to look any further because I've found A&J. The spicy beef noodle soup was delicious. I got the thick handmade noodles and devoured the entire thing over lunch with a friend. The broth was somewhat spicy and the beef was tender - just the way I like it. Afterwards we made our way to Fantasia (around the corner) to get some ice cold milk tea. What a day! I'm thankful that I discovered this plaza. Next time I definitely want to try their stinky tofu. Nasty to others but heaven to me.
I love this place. I like to go here for food when i feel like i need some real home style cooking. I love the little dishes, and the beef noodle soup. Its the closest to the real thing as I can get. The only bummer is that it takes cash only.. so we have to make sure we have cash on hand when we go, because who carries cash anymore??
Meat-a-tarians, swine enthusiasts, bovine-o-philes take note at A&Js, you do not want to miss two key cold appetizer dishes here:
1) soy sauce marinated thinly sliced beef flank (jang niu jien) - garnished with a bit o' cilantro and some sesame oil on top
2) soy sauce marinated pork (I want to say shoulder or hock cut), thinly sliced, with the fatty collagen inter layers too. (jang juo or jao zi)
You see the average wait time for a bowl of their signature Taiwanese style beef noodle soup can vary depending on backlog of orders and how busy (or not busy) the restaurant is at the time. If you are starving and are in dire need of shoving something down your pipes that is delicious animal protein, one of the faster ways is to order either 1) or 2) along with your entree (hopefully beef noodle soup, the spicy/chuan wei version where the meat flavor shines through in the broth). The cold dish(es) will arrive within a minute or two, that's how fast it can be. A quick fix.
That way you get a c0ckt3ase of cold meat before the real headliner, in the form of sexylicious cross cut hot pieces of beef flank with strips of tendon in between show up in your bowl o' authentic Taiwanese style beef noodles.
Anyone notice how lame A&Js are with providing vegetables on their beef noodle soup (or any noodle soup for that matter?). It is almost like a sad excuse to meet some FDA RDA (recommended daily allowance) of greenery in one's internal pipes. We're not talking a schlort handful of green, but ONE FREAKIN MINI STALK, typically Tsing Jiang Chai (the "shanghainese" short but thick stem green veg).
I am reminded of the Foster's Australian for Beer commercial.
Synopsis: A stick of parsley on a steak
Caption: SALAD
Oh well, I guess that's another artistique way of making beef the main theme of the day here. :-)
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1 Previous Review: Show all »
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09/27/2007
Revising my review for quite possibly a 3rd or 4th time.
Once in a while, man (or woman) gets into a… Read more »
3.5 Stars. I think this place was slightly overhyped in my mind. However, it IS pretty good. We got the beef noodle soup with the thick noodles (loved the noodles - tastes like a sliced up thick dumpling wrapper), pork with green mustard (also w/ thick noodles), thousand layer pancake, XLB, garlic chili cucumber cold plate, and soy milk. The beef noodle soup was tasty, but a little bit on the salty side - and as someone mentioned before - how come they can't add some veggies to this! I guess it's "inflation"...The pancake was good, but on the sweet side. Soymilk-tasty!, The noodles with pork and green mustard were pretty delicious, if you like it. XLB were defn not the best I've had, lacked soup, wrapped just tasted thick - I feel like a good XLB has a slightly thinner skin and is exploding w/ soup...and last but not least our cucumbers tasted on the slightly old side - you could see at the end of our plate that the cucumbers were not that crisp fresh look, but overly soggy and somewhat clear. Will I come again, probably...I like noodles and soup! :) but I wouldn't mind trying a few other niu rou mian places first.
I always get the niu ro mien (beef noodle soup) here with the thick noodles. It's pretty good and it's always reliable. Don't expect anything special in terms of service or decor, though. It's your typical Chinese restaurant--you might even have to share a table! The staff barely speaks English and the menu is all in Chinese, so go with someone who can speak/read or memorize the characters for the items you want (that's what I've been doing)! Being a Taiwanese restaurant, they do serve stinky tofu, so consider yourself warned if someone orders it. The place is not big, so you'll smell it from across the restaurant! The scallion pancake, potstickers and the cold bead curd noodle things (gan si) are all really good.
Typical Chinese restaurant: small, dirty looking, sharing tables, quick service.
Everything I ordered was ok, nothing to-die-for. Prices were reasonable. For $23 we got:
- sweet soybean milk
- chinese donut
- chinese donut wrapped with sticky rice
- stir fry rice cake (yes I order it everywhere I go when it's on the menu)
- green onion pancake (it's the thick & really greasy kind)
- spicy beef noodle soup
I thought everything I ordered was decent and everything tasted as expected. I'm surprised the portion of the stir fry rice cake was a lot smaller than most restaurants. The chinese donut came out scalding hot & oily (so I knew it was fresh) and it was not overly fried.
All in all I had a good experience and I would definitely go back.
BTW - It's Cash only
This is a "hole in the wall" in the Ranch99 area at Cupertino Village, next to Joy Luck. I've been going here since ~2001, and the prices have only gone up slightly since then. Reasonable, since they only accept cash.
I usually get the fried chicken over rice or with thick noodle soup. I tried the thin noodles once, but that was a mistake. The thick noodles are much better. The chicken comes with chopped green mustard on the plate, and a small bowl of soup with shredded fried egg.
We always get some of the same excellent appetizers: spicy cucumber, shredded bean curd, seaweed with garlic.
If you want ice water, they serve it in a tea kettle, and give you small styrofoam cups. The service is lacking sometimes; you'd have to try hard to get their attention.
If the place gets crowded, you'd have to put your name on a waitlist on a clipboard tied to the door. If you're very hungry, they may ask you to share a table to avoid waiting much longer.
If you want some ghetto ass service at a ghetto looking restaurant, then look no further than A&J. The food here is actually not too bad at all and I do like their Fried Pork Chops over rice and their Beef Noodle Soup, but man, why do Chinese people have to be so rude? I guess this place is in Cupertino Village (aka Cupertino's Chinatown), so it should be expected for the most part. But they never smile, sometimes throw your food on to the table, and I think they genuinely just don't care whether you have a good experience there. Just eat your damn food and pay.
Last time I was here with my coworkers and they made us sit next to a stranger at a table. Pretty awkward... especially we were having a debate about whether men will always be superior to women in sports, and the stranger we were sharing a table with was a woman. Probably not the best topic for discussion.
The food is adequate. Not everything is good, but stick with the typical Chinese food and you should be okay. They also give you this scallion soup thing during lunch, but it basically tastes like water with a slight onion scent. I would probably give it more 2 1/2 stars rather than 2, but due to limitations, 2 stars it is.
SUMMARY: Cheap, great-tasting Chinese food in a ghetto environment.
THE GOOD:
- Everything here tastes wonderful and is unbelievably inexpensive. Great beef noodle soup with homemade noodles. Fried chicken over rice. Stinky tofu. Scallion pancakes. Potstickers. Spicy chilled noodles. All top-notch.
THE BAD:
- Someone else orders the stinky tofu and you're downwind. Ew.
- Long wait at meal times and they don't take reservations.
- The ordering slip is in Chinese, which sucks if you're like me and look Chinese but can't read. Either bring someone who's literate or you've got to play the matching game where you take the menu that has both English and Chinese, figure out which words mean what, which lets you order on the Chinese-only ordering slip.
- If you've got a small group, they'll stick you at a table with other random people. This sounds like it has the potential to be good but usually it's not.
- Efficient, but unfriendly service.
You wouldn't think this place would rock despite all that, but it does. Cheap and good.
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The service here is not so great. Once, the server track us down because we under tip. Tip is for the service not the food....dam Asian people. The noodles are hand made. Usually, I order it with the deep fried pork chop with the noodle soup. FYI- they offer stinky tofu, be prepare, the table next to you might order that. Yes, you can smell it two tables down.
I used to think Asian people had that special gene that allowed us to properly identify the nationality of another Asian person. In fact, I know some people who can narrow it down to province or region.
Now my world is being turned upside down.
The Kid and I were on another guy's night out, and we decided to do something different this time. I had a hankering for Spicy Beef Noodle Soup and the Kid wanted bap (rice), so I stopped on by A&J for a quick bite.
After a few minutes of parking lot poker, we stepped into A&J and were barraged by a wave of Chinese spoken in rapid fire. "But....but....ummm...Hi!" More Chinese. "Ummm....okay."
I suddenly had this fear of being mistaken for a Chinese ex-pat who has thrown away the mother culture. I felt the weight of dirty stares in my direction. The Kid....the poor Kid....it's not his fault...we're not Chinese! I wanted to scream out "What about the Kid!!! Puhleeeze! I don't understand." But then, I might be pointed out as a Sino-phobe, so I just went along with it
Next item, the menu...whew...thankfully in English, but the ordering slip....all Chinese. Crap! I knew I should've paid more attention to my Han Mun (Chinese character) classes. Now I have to fumble through matching character with character. I might be stuck here for the better half of the century.
Okay, at this point, I had to relent. "Hi...ummm....we're not Chinese. Can you take our order for us?" Whew. The waitress now had that look of understanding....I think. Actually, it was more like "I got no time for your non-Chinese speaking ass...it's busy tonight." Oh well.
Service was quick and efficient. I ordered the Beef Tendon with Garlic Sauce for an appetizer, Spicy Beef Noodle Soup and the Fried Chicken with Rice for the Kid.
Beef tendon, for me at least, it's all about texture, the combination of firm and soft. It's really a savory jello, and before you jump out of your seats, is really very tasty. Done right, it's also fun to eat. A&J's version with garlic sauce is very good. It has the right mix of soft and firm and the spiciness of the garlic sauce makes a nice contrast to what is usually a flavorless protein. It would go very well with rice.
The fried chicken, similar to a chicken Karage, was also very good. Well seasoned skin with tender chicken and a very tasty fried rice underneath, it is one of the better chicken dishes I've had in awhile. The Kid ate it up. I would do without the pickle relish as a side dish, however. Korean moo kimchee would be perfect, or for adults, a spicy fermented chili or pepper (banana chili, jalapeno, etc.) By the way, the dish comes with a side of soup.
The Spicy Beef Noodle Soup wasn't as spicy as I would've liked and the beef a bit on the tougher side, but it's still very good. I usually spice it up with additional hot oil. It could also be a bit larger for the $6.00 price. This would make it price competitive with the Pho dishes I usually get.
All in all a great place for simple, home style food.
But it's gonna take awhile to regain my faith in the Asian ID gene. Another comfortable myth bites the dust.
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Alameda could use a place like this...except with better service and an ordering menu that's also in English in addition to Mandarin! I'm Chinese, and I speak Mandarin, but I don't read or write. So we had read through the normal menu, and then fill out the ordering menu, but because the ordering menu was in Mandarin, we had to spend a bit of time comparing the Chinese characters to make sure we were ordering the right things. Weird.
But man, we ordered a bunch of good things!! Pan-fried vegetarian buns, onion pancakes, potstickers, soups, noodles. Oh god. I'm drooling on my keyboard.
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This place is good and cheap especially for the spicy noodle beef stew. I like the bigger noodles. ok..... but the service is not great. the spoons are usually dirty. i found hair in my soup before. but i gotta admit, it's good regardless of the dirty side.
Pretty good restaurant for certain Taiwanese food items. What I usually get here is this corn/rice porridge that they serve on the weekend. Yes, by itself, it's pretty much flavorless, but it's the best thing when accompanied by their beef pancake/potsticker thing. It's basically a round shaped potsticker filled with beef and scallion. It's the perfect combo.
My friend took me there several times, but I never wrote a review.....
So what I like about their food?? Basically I love noodle soups(especially RAMEN) but I love all kinds of noodle soups.
- Beef Noodle Soup
- Hot & spicy beef tendon noodle soup
- Pancake
- Stinky tofu
These are my favorie. Since i don't speak Chinese, my friends ordered for me. I wish I could explore what's good about the restaurant myself. OR I wish THEY spoke English....
It's cheap and i like their dishes.
I come here for two things: Braised Beef noodle soup with wide noodles and noodles with hot & sour sauce. Someone with me usually orders the potstickers, but it's so greasy. If you want cheap, greasy chinese food that packs alot of flavor...this is a good choice.
Bad service, but what do you expect from this type of place? I went for what my friend said was good, but it turned out to be a bad combo. We got a scallion pancake, fried chicken rice, and beef xian bing... too much greasy food! We should have swapped one out with the beef noodles... Overall, the food was good, but too much grease.
From the dinner crowd alone, you can see how popular a place A&J's is. Thankfully, the shopping center lot makes parking a piece of cake.
Service was efficient for a Chinese restaurant, I didn't find it to be bad at all. A waitress seated our party of three (we shared a big table with one or two others), gave us a teapot with cups on it, and walked away. A few minutes later, she took our order, and returned in about 10 minutes with our food.
Speaking of food, they serve Taiwanese cuisine. My friend ordered the spicy beef noodle soup for me, which was delicious - the broth, the meat, the whole shebang - what a treat! Stop by A&J's if you're in the area!
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So I hear great reviews of this place and I am all excited to eat there.
I order the beef noodle soup with thick ramen and stinky tofu... my mouth waters in anticipation until my order arrives. The bowl of noodles is tiny and ultra oily. I can literally see the soup floating in oil. :( The beef is nearly non existent, instead I have beef fat with small morsels of beef attached to it. The stinky tofu was the wrong kind. I guess I was too excited to see it on the menu to notice that it was the steamed version... ewww~ I like stinky tofu, but I hate it when it is steamed. We ended up offering one of our extra orders of stinky tofus to our neighbors, but I guess they ended up not touching it either. Well.. I got to give them that... they do make it stinky. Also, I don't think the restaurant was Taiwanese, more like northern Chinese.
Ok, so this isn't gourmet food - if you want a private table, friendly service, and a place that's friendly to illiterate Chinese folk, pick a different place....
We come here for 2 things: cheap eats & satisfying food. There are a couple of dishes we always get: hot and sour noodles with thin noodles (not in a soup, and not cold) and beef noodle soup with tendon. The hot and sour noodles are delicious - you get a real kick from the szechuan peppercorns in the sauce; it's different and unique...definitely worth a try. But be careful - I ordered on the phone once, and got a cold rendition that was NOT tasty. The beef noodle soup is pretty standard; satisfying but nothing to write home about.
Their fried pork chop rice is also pretty good, but don't waste stomach space on what my husband calls the "hockey puck" (ground meat wrapped in dough and pan fried like a flat potsticker)...the filling is dry (no characteristic puff of meat juice as expected) and tastes exactly like their potsticker filling...go with those instead!
Always one of my favorites for a fast weekday meal (that I don't have to cook), but be sure to bring cash.
I come here rather often, so I'm surprised that I've forgotten to review this place up until now. I love the noodles and onion pancakes here, and occasionally stop by to eat while I'm doing my monthly shopping at Ranch. I usually order the dandan noodles... cheap, simple, and tasty. I've also tried the fried chicken and noodles in soup, as well as the spicy beef noodle soup, though only once each. Both of those were also very good, and it doesn't feel like they use too much MSG in any of their dishes. You have the option of getting the wide or thin noodles (I usually get thin for dandan and beef, thick for fried chicken), and while I don't know if they're handmade or not, they're cooked very well and have the consistency and springiness I expect from good noodles.
The wait can be kind of long around lunch on the weekends, to the point where they'll ask to see if you're willing to share a table with other people. Being used to eating in Taiwan, it's not something I mind doing at all, especially when I'm hungry. The service is okay: it's been neither terrible nor amazing. I kind of wish they took credit, but again, it's not something that surprises me.
Ending on a positive note though, the serving sizes here are pretty good. When I go and do my usual order of onion pancake and dandan noodles, I always have enough left over for another meal (two meals for about $6 or $7 isn't bad at all).
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I must say that their Spicy Beef Noodle Soup was delicious. Although, I perfer the Spicy Beef Tripe Noodle Soup at Dim Sum King (in Daly City).
Their Vegetarian rice is okay. Not that great.
Their soymilk is not worth it. It was made of soy powder... not freshly squeezed soymilk (as I had expected).
And their turnip pastry is terrible. It was hard and flavorless. All I got was tons of calories...
However, the service here is terrible. The food comes quick, but it takes forever to get a waiter/waitress to notice you.
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Ah, I love their red braised beef noodle soup! I could come here almost everyday, and I wouldn't get sick of the stuff. This is one of those restaurants I'll always go to, whether by myself or with a group of friends. Tonight, I had dinner here by myself. I just wanted something quick, something filling and satisfying, and something warm. My standard order of the red braised beef noodle soup with fat noodles fits the bill exactly. I was in and out within 35 minutes, leaving me enough time to get my groceries done at 99 Ranch and run a couple of other errands.
Their other dishes aren't bad - I remember my friend ordering a delicious tofu stir-fry once - but that's not what I come for. :-) It's the beef noodle soup all the way!
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A few things to keep in mind when dining at A&J's:
1.) Gets extremely crowded at around 7 PM.
Yes, every single night. Especially bad on weekends! i suggest coming earlier at around 6 or a little later at 8:30. They close at 9, so keep that in mind! Parking sucks when it gets crowded, so instead of competing with those crazy cupertino drivers for a spot, i suggest parking in the neighborhood behind the plaza (take a left on homestead and a left on linnet ln) and cutting through the walkway into the parking lot (this puts you right in front of fantasia).
2.) if you are in a party of 1-3 people, be prepared to share a table with another group of 1-3.
yea, that's the taiwanese way... squeeze as many people in as you can to maximize business!
3.) sharpen your matching skills.
so if you are like me and cant read, write or speak chinese, you may have a bit of a problem ordering food here. when you sit down they give you a menu, which is in chinese and english (so far so good), and an order sheet (where you mark off what you want and in what quantity) which is in ALL CHINESE (oh god!). so what do you do? the ghetto-fab way that i like to go is find what i want on the menu in english and match up the chinese characters to the same ones on the order sheet! and voila! the shame of being a taiwanese girl who doesn't know any chinese is instantly gone!
4.) beef noodle soup and the fried onion pancake
I prefer the clear broth (with the thick noodles and a ton of white pepper) versus the spicy broth because i think its less oily. the fried onion pancakes are sooo good... thick and flakey, just like i remember from when i was a kid. that's my exact order every single time. that paired up with good company = fun times and good eats on any night of the week!
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I love A&J cause it's authentic, tasty, and cheap!
Sure the decor is simple, it sometimes smells of stinky tofu (which is great for some, but not for me), and you often have to wait for table (only goes to show how popular this place is). However, this place has awesome Chinese comfort food. The beef noodle soup is awesome (I like knife cut noodles) (very intense deep flavor). The home style tofu is awesome (great flavor, fried on the outside, soft the on inside). The soft sweet tofu is awesome (very delicate). The green onion pancake is good (I'd prefer more green onion). The pot stickers are good (I'd prefer more doughy). And man do I love soy milk with the fried dough stick. I love these items so much that it's hard for me to order new things to try when I'm there.
Sure the service and ambiance might not be awesome, but I'll take less than stellar service with great food over great service with mediocre food any day.
When I think of A&J... I think of beef noodle soup.
And the spicy wonton appetizer.
Every time I go there with Chinese people they order the fried chicken dish with rice and pickled greens on the side. Apparently it's supposed to be really good?
Food is great... it's always crowded so don't be surprised if you get seated with a random group of people in one of the big tables. The service sucks... but all 'quick' Chinese restaurants have crude inattentive dish throwing servers so it's not unusual and/or offensive.
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This place is pretty much known for their spicy Beef Noodle Soup. I LOVE IT. It's not too spicy and just the right flavor. They have a choice between fat or small noodles, I usually get the small ones but the Big noodles look good too. There is a few pieces of bok choy and slices/chunks of meat. The appetizer range from onion pan cake to pot stickers and I forget what its called specifically but theyre little wontons in this hot oil and its really good.
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people who complain about this place have no clue what they're talking about. what they're saying about A&J is the equivalent of going to a chicken and biscuits joint and saying everything is fattening, and that "their aunt nellie makes better fried chicken". yes. i'm sure she does.
but you can't find better spicy beef noodle soup anywhere. this place has taiwanese comfort food down to a T. i always get a bowl of beef noodle soup and split a thousand layer pancake with whoever i'm with. yes, the entire meal is easily over 1500 calories. the 1000 layer cake helps a lot. i'm not going there to lose weight.
the service is trash, but at least it's authentic! and for those that can't read mandarin, don't fret. the ordering sheet is optional. the waitress will come over. tell her what you want in english and she'll order it for you. i, on the other hand, only know how to say 1000 layer pancake and spicy beef noodle soup in mandarin. (i think it actually translates directly as grab-biscuit and red burn beef noodles). anyway, i digress.
it's a good place for what it is. don't hate.
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You don't come here for the service (I was once told I was asking for too many napkins and asking for a cup of water and a cup of tea resulted in me being scolded)..
BUT.. the beef noodle soup with thick noodles (spicy or not) or the fried chicken noodles (thin) are delicious!! I also love their bok choy, very fresh and tasty - have to order verbally, it's not on the menu. They've got nice small dishes too. Their onion pan cakes are pretty good.
You do have to match the menu to the order slip if you don't read Chinese, I speak but don't read, now I've memorized where my favorite items are on the order slip. :D
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I'm going to rate it based on just the food ~ I don't know of anywhere else in California that has Beef Noodles as good as theirs. You can order more then one type of noodle based on preference also. I really also enjoy their Fried Chicken cutlet over rice! Taste, Quality, and Solid Competitive Pricing @ the village. This is THE Beef Noodle Place.
One note of warning they don't seem to have employees that are capable of smiling, don't expect a warm human being under the skin that is your server!! That is why this rating is just based on the food. Tehehe..
Came for the northern chinese/ traditional taiwanese breakfast, which means, sweet soy milk, salty soy milk, fried donut, and sesame bum.
The soy milk, both the sweet and savory ones are really good. Not too diluted yet no weird beany taste. Drop some hot pepper sauce in the savory one....yum. The fried donut was quite good, but still not as crispy and airy as they are in Taiwan, a little bit on the bready and soft side. The sesame bun/cake that you wrap the fried donut with, is not good, at all. Greasy and soggy. It's so heavy when the sesame cake and the donut are put together, which is supposed to be the perfect combination.
Beef noodle soup....good but not that great. The noodle was very very good though, all hand rolled, especially the thick noodle. The side dishes are pretty nice, the Buhda's delight, the cucumber, and the scallion box (my own bad translation, jiu-tsai-he) was surprisingly good.
I wish we have more places like this in the city ....
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A&J has been a staple in my Cupertino Village diet for at least 4 years now. Like many of the other places in Cupertino Village, it's generally not safe to go unless you have a mandarin-speaking person with you.
The consequence of going without a Mandarin-speaker is that you get the dreaded caucasian menu. Usually, this menu consists of the typical Americanized Chinese meals (Kung-Pao Chicken, Orange Beef, General Tso's Roadkill), instead of the tasty, lead-laden treats these restaurants would otherwise offer.
In any case, my favorite menu items here are the scallion pancakes (though, my GF makes MUCH better ones), the soy milk with chinese donut - both the savory and the sweet one, and especially, the fried chicken noodle soup. Get it with the thick noodles.
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Beef noodle soup was good. I ordered the fat noodles. They tasted really fresh. The beef was soft and tender. Broth had a nice flavor and had a good spice to it. For whatever reason, I had no vegetables at all. Maybe they made a mistake because I ordered it to go. I added a flair of my own when I got home. I added chopped sour veggie and green onions and it made all the difference.
I also had the stinky tofu, which was kinda weird because I was expecting fried stinky tofu. It was a piece of stinky tofu in broth. Oh well, best to stick to the beef soup.
I had some high standards for this place because I love Taiwanese food and they had my favorite dish, fried pork chops over rice with relish. But there was something wrong with the fried pork chops, they were under battered and really dry. I was sad, and when Dan is sad, he doesn't enjoy his meal. The service was poor like Anita and others have said. Tofu dish we ordered as well was poor but the wonton soup was priced cheap and good for its size. Everything else, not worth coming back but at least everything was edible. Parking, not the fun part either especially at Cupertino Village.
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A&J feels like a slice of Taipei (down to the lingering rotting smell of stinky tofu), and perfect for satisfying your cravings for hand-pulled niu rou mian (beef noodles) and other Taiwanese-oriented food. The beef in the aforementioned soup is pretty fatty and chewy, but the secret's in the perfectly spicy soup.
Straight outta Taipei also means lousy service and the silent treatment if you can't speak Mandarin. Have your non-Chinese reading friends play "matching" with the menus - because in order to be fed, you have to tally up menu items on a piece of paper printed entirely in Chinese.
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We finally got to try A& J Restaurant for lunch. It's good, though too far for me to go all the time. It's in the Cupertino Village, on the left of Joy Luck Place. The parking lot is too crazy for me. Since we got there around noon it was packed. We parked across the street and worried that the car was gonna get towed--lucky it didn't.
We didn't have to wait for a table which was nice.
We got these dishes:
Hot & Spicy beef noodle soup $6 - nice, tender beef, 5 good-size pieces, I picked thin noodles and they were ok. Broth I didn't drink, so can't say, 1 small piece of bok choy.
Hot & spicy beef tendon noodle soup $6-hubby liked it, though he wish he got my dish for more beef. Next time will get the side dish of tendons for $3 & add it to the dish per Ken K.
Thousand layers pan cake $2.35-it was very flaky, like a real good roti. Only thing i wish they had was a curry dipping sauce, because it was kinda boring by itself.
tripe w/ hot oil $2.95-hubby liked it, not my thing.
bean curd w/ salted mustard greens $2.65-just ok for me. Hubby liked it.
CASH ONLY! My total was $21.60 before tip. Cheap!
Separate bathrooms to the right once you enter.
Other locations: Beijing; Taiwan; Irvine, CA; Rockville, MD
Hrs:
Open Daily. M-F 11:30a-9p; Sat-Sun 9am-9pm. Something in Chinese 9a-12 noon.
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This place is my favorite for spicy beef noodle soup. The soup is beefy and oily, but could stand to be spicier. They put a generous amount of sliced beef in the soup, along with some bok choy. There is a choice for thin and thick noodles. The thick noodles are the way to go, fat and chewy. Along with this soup, I order cold beef tendon, cucumber, onion pancakes, and bean curd side dishes. The onion pancakes are really good soaked in the soup and eaten with the broth.
You may be asked to share a table with another group if it is crowded. To order, I use the menu with the American translation and Chinese characters and match them with the appropriate choices on the order form. It takes some getting used to at first, but its part of the fun for me. I haven't had a problem choosing from this menu using this system.
Among my friends, this is a favorite quick bite to eat (and hangover cure) for its authentic flavors and unpretentious atmosphere.
Step 1: Order the niu rou mian.
Step 2: Sate your whiny Taiwanese girlfriend.
Step 3: Profit.
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My friends and I usually get the spicy beef noodle soup and the fried onion pancake.
spicy beef noodle soup: awesome! especially with the thick homemade noodles. One of my favorite dishes!
fried onion pancake: just the way I like it, flaky on the outside and soft on the inside.
Service sucks but I love the food. Long wait during the weekends and faster if you volunteer to share a table. I personally haven't had any particular rudeness directed at me, but my friend told me the wait staff stopped her family for not paying enough tip!
While the shopping complex has a lot of parking, it is always difficult to find parking.
For cheap quality Taiwanese food, this is the only place you'll ever need to go to for that fix here in NorCal.
I regularly eat here 2-3 times a week, depending on how much energy I have left for the trek out to Cupertino after working with high school students for 10 hours a day. Unfortunately it's been quite busy here lately and I've only been able to go once a week.
Spicy beef and tendon noodle soup (thick noodles) is all I ever get. I haven't grown tired of it since I found this restaurant a few years ago.
Admittedly the service really sucks unless you're 1) white or 2) a regular. Luckily I am the latter and my Asian friends and I are always looked after - with a few side dishes on the house here and there if it's not too busy.
But it took us a long time to get to this point. So for those of yall that are looking for better service... either bring a couple of white friends or learn to deal with it until they consider you a regular.
Note: for optimal service, make sure to have a couple white friends and one Mandarin speaking friend just to cover all the bases.
And for those that are sensitive to smell, you may also want to bring some nose plugs or something. The restaurant is always impregnated with the nice aroma of stinky tofu ordered by not so courteous customers. I can't stand the smell and I like to give the customers who order them the stink eye. But I've learned to deal with it. After all, the food is just too good to pass up when I'm itching for Asian food - which is pretty much everyday.
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