Little Taipei Plaza

 

17

91

Peter L.

Milpitas, CA

i used to come here every week when i live in fremont.  its cheap and the food is decent.  some times i would get something off the menu and eat there.  most of the time, i get my chinese fast food, the buns, the chinese rice ball, which is rice stuffed with chinese donut inside.  its a chinese breakfast. and various items on display.

actually, if you order the taiwanese dishes from the menu, its actually expensive.  when you compare it to taiwan, since its essentially taiwanese street food....  damn $5 for pork blood soup, its like 35cents in tainan or pingdong.  sometimes its free with the meal.  everything is $5...  always seems like a rip off to me, when its less than $1US in taiwan... and it tastes the same.  i know its unfair to compare and should just be grateful there is a place where i can find taiwanese street food.  

damn the rice sausage is also $5.  i can get that for like $1 and it comes with chinese sausage.  and if i get lucky playing dice with the street vendor, i get some for my friends for free as well!

Bookmark   Send to a Friend Link to This Review

Elite '08

35

138

becky s.

Fremont, CA

This is the only place I know where I can get a Taiwanese style fan tuan and Taiwanese style porkchop. And theres a small boba cafe at the plaza's entrance, which I don't know the name of since I know enough Chinese characters, that has the yummiest peanut boba I have ever had. They don't use regular peanuts but they blend Chinese peanuts with milk tea so you get to eat pearls, peanuts, and drink at the same time! Taiwanese are so efficient w/ time! Other than that, this is a boring plaza.

Bookmark   Send to a Friend Link to This Review

Elite '08

135

230

Eric W.

Hayward, CA

Anchored by the Lion Supermarket, this somewhat small Chinese/Taiwanese plaza also has a variety of good restaurants:

Cafe Ophelia (http://www.yelp.com/bi...) - This is an awesome place for a date. If I could ever find a girl stupid enough to want to go out with me, I would take her here. Although it is a western style Chinese restaurant, the decor is more remininscent of French cuisine.

Won Stew House (http://www.yelp.com/bi...) - I love this Taiwanese bento shop, cooking up nothing but all your favorite stewed items. The bentos are served with your choice of meat entree, tofu, egg, vegetables, and rice. Not bad for six bucks.

Fishi Cafe - They used to have live karaoke here on Fri and Sat nights, which attracted large crowds. For some reason, they cancelled it, and when I pass by nowadays, and it is mostly empty. The food, however, is still pretty much as good as always. It's basically your run-of-the-mill Taiwanese style Chinese food, which in other words, is pretty darn good! I guess the one thing that may scare people away is the somewhat high pricing, and the upscale decor may be a bit of overkill.

Shanghai Garden formerly 3-6-9 Cafe (http://www.yelp.com/bi...) - This restaurant recently changed names from the formerly wildly popular 3-6-9 Cafe (no relation to MC Hammer's dancers). I have not tried the new place yet, and I'm not sure if they just switched the name or if they are completely new owners. The old cafe was my spot in town for stinky tofu and stuffed bean curd. They also made a mean spare rib. Hopefully, the menu remains intact.

Vietnamese restaurant in the corner - This location has changed more times than Jay-Z's clothes, with various types of cuisine. Every time a new place opens, it may get somewhat busy for a week or two, then it's back to swatting flies with the newspaper. This is the first Vietnam restaurant to take up this spot, but don't expect it to last more than a few more months.

Sogo Bakery - This is your typical Chinese bakery, serving the traditional Chinese steamed goods (cha siu bao, turnip cake, egg custard, pinapple bun, cocktail bun, etc.) as well as western style sweets (birthday cakes, lemon/chocolate swirl rolls, etc.). They also have full meals such as chow mein, and a variety of rice plates. It's nothing spectacular, but it will certainly fill you up without any complaints.

Champion Teppanyaki (http://www.yelp.com/bi...) - This Taiwanese restaurant is managed by the same crew who runs Ophelia. As many of you all know, Taiwan is basically a little brother to Japan, as they have adopted many of their customs. The Japanese word, teppanyaki, is in reference to the heated steel plate used to cook a variety of items, such as steak, chicken, heck, even all the rice and vegetables. Think Benihana, but with Chinese chefs instead of amigos. Champion has existed over the years as a high end establishment, mostly for Silicon Valley execs to take out clients. Due to the prices (the cheapest combo is upwards of $30 apiece), rarely do you find young adults in groups or families with kids. Then again, you can't really see inside most of the time because the curtains are all down.

Lion Supermarket - All supermarkets are the same to me. Just get in, and get the heck out. This one is good enough, as far as I can see.

The best thing is that since this surrounding area as a whole is home to some of the wealthiest Chinese people in the US, and one of the highest ranking high schools in the state (Mission San Jose), there are never any thugs or trouble makers hanging around the premises.

Bookmark   Send to a Friend Link to This Review

 

0

135

Samson W.

Milpitas, CA

This is the only Chinese shopping center in South Fremont.  It is anchored by Lion Supermarket.  Of all of the Lion Supermarket's that I have been to, this is by far the smallest one.  No problem, though, as you can still get all of the same items that the larger Milpitas location has.  There also plenty of restaurants located within the shopping center, such as Cafe Ophelia and Fishi Cafe.

The only downside is that it is very tough to get a parking spot during weekday lunch or on the weekends.

Bookmark   Send to a Friend Link to This Review

Elite '08

194

559

Seong P.

Oakland, CA

this plaza is really close to my office and even though there are a lot of restaurants, i've been there maybe 4 times in the last year.  the chicken pho at the pho place is pretty good but the food from the lion's food court was terrible.  

i ate at fishi cafe today even though i was concerned about the name.  the shrimp with snow peas was fine, no worse than anyplace else i have been, and it was inexpensive.  they had some other stuff on the menu that i wouldn't eat so i think i have confirmed that i am not a fan of taiwanese food.

Bookmark   Send to a Friend Link to This Review