Joy Palace

The basil clam, clam soup, large potstickers were pretty good, but the hand-​cake though was somewhat underwhelming.

Overall, a pretty solid place for Taiwanese cuisine! Relatively small store front, but there weren’t many people here today on account of the Super Bowl. It’s in the same plaza as Chen Mama’s, so parking can be tough when its peak meal times. In general, the staff was very courteous and make sure to look around to see if anyone needed anything.
Food-​wise, we got an assorted of dishes, including potstickers, four season peas, leek pancakes, garlic beef, the hand-​cake, and sweet & sour fish fillet. Potstickers were good, with a crisp underside, a good amount of pork filling and the open-​top that’s expected of Taiwanese potstickers. The garlic soy sauce it came with was a perfect match too. The four season peas were prefried and then sauteed, so had a nice strong flavor to it. The peas were also crisp (not soggy and soft like I have had at other places). The leek pancakes were good as well, with a generous amount of filling, but I still prefer the potstickers. Garlic beef was also good — they use steak meat, lots and lots of garlic cloves, and diced onions. I would prefer the onions to be cut in slightly larger pieces, but they were flavorful and well seasoned as part of the dish, so I’m not complaining. The hand-​cake (抓餅) — I have no idea how to translate this dish’s name — was nostalgic! I haven’t had the mixture of crispy outside and soft, tender inside of this kind of pancake in years. Definitely reminded me of Taiwan :) Finally, sweet & sour fish fillet was also good — great flavor and a good amount of fish for $ 12.
I haven’t tried the dim sum here yet, but their regular menu has me sold already, so this is definitely on my foodie list now :) Oh, and extra bonus, they use metal chopsticks instead of the (low quality) disposable ones.

We came here thinking we could try some Taiwanese food. But to our surprise, most of the Taiwanese dim sum are only available during weekend. So we ordered a few dishes to try. We found a piece of plastic embedded in the chives dumpling. The waitress basically gave an attitude of no big deal and said «oh well, we’ll just give you this dish free». The noodle soup was good. But the Xiao Long Bao was very mushy with very thick skin. The pot sticker was all stuck together and the skin was coming off as you separated the pieces. Very disappointed place.

We actually visited the place next door which was closed for lunch due to an issue, then noticed a health department notice about a failed inspection. Then, we went next door to visit an old restaurant we previously ate at to discover that it was under new ownership. We decided to try Joy Palace out.
The restaurant was redecorated and clean, which was refreshing compared to some other small restaurants in Cupertino. A minor faux pas was the restroom which had a filthy light switch.
It being after the lunch hour, there was only one other party finishing up their lunch. We ordered clam and loofa soup, beef chow fun rice noodles, stir fried calamari and shredded fried bread. Interestingly, they only brought us the dinner menu while when the next party came in about 15 minutes later, they brought them the lunch menu.
First, they brought out a lukewarm hot and sour soup which was pretty tasty, somewhat spicy, but not even close to hot. It also had enough corn starch to make it excessively thick. The loofa and clam soup had a good portion of melon, but only a few clams. The chow fun did not have much rice noodles, but had lots of sliced white and green onions. The fried bread was fresh and crispy but small — about the size of a fast food burger from a value menu. The calamari was tough and sparse of calamari, although it had a very high abundance of onions.
The total, excluding tax, came to $ 37.65 which we thought was WAY excessive for the miniscule amount of named ingredient in each dish. A Calamari dish which cost $ 12 should have more than a few pieces of Calamari and at least as much as the onion filler it was stir fried with. Ditto for the $ 11 clams. Ditto for the rice noodles which were even difficult to find. The bread, although cheap at $ 4.25, was a far cry from the ones at competing restaurants — we expected something the size of full size dinner plate. The way less than hot soup was probably a health issue. At least the tea was hot, though never refilled. I don’t know when the restaurant changed hands, but the food before was much better.
In short, while the dishes were tasty, the miniscule portions were overpriced and not competitive with other restaurants in the area.
We tried Joy Palace, but we won’t be back.

Love love love! Service is on point. Food is on fire! Plus it’s close to home, so for a quick fix by Joy Palace is perfect! Boss man is awesome man, the owner is very ginuwine. Should come here for your lunch breaks or bring your family’s here if you are lazy to cook. And besides we order to go often :)

Had dinner with relatives tonight. Service is excellent while most food are authentic. Tofu and 腐乳meat are my favored. It needs to be recognized as good Taiwanese food around Cupertino. Parking is issue though but will be fixed soon.

Taiwanese restaurant. Takeout very good deal. They have a 21.99 $ special for 3 take out dishes betewen 530−9pm. Menu in chinese though. Ask for a translation if you cant read chinese. Great deal.

I like the spicy food here. Always order the spicy fish slices and the long beans. Very tasty and very spicy. May not be suitable for people who can’t take spicy food. The restaurant itself is normal, pretty clean and always have sufficient seating. A good place more for takeouts.

… We ordered beef it didn’t even taste like food it wasn’t fresh, chicken was chewy like. gross, horrible service laughing when being told the order was incorrect, the forks were. Sticky also after a while your stomach hurts a lot and I’m not the only person who feels sick after eating there food looking over other reviews… I was disgusted. Overall it was miserable and I will never ever ever come back.

Very mediocre chinese food. Everything tasted bland and nothing stood out to me. Might as well head next door to Little Sheep for hot pot or head down Stevens Creek to Pot Sticker King for some better chinese food.

Felt nauseous the entire night after dining in here… Threw up the next morning… Not sure what’s in their food, but definitely way too much MSG…
Also, if you are still going to dine in this place, make sure you order the hot dishes, not the cold ones. They basically just pull those cold dishes out of the fridge and bring them right to you. When did they make those cold dishes? Nobody knows and you probably don’t want to know either…

I’ve been a long time fan of Joy (or 5 Joy) in Foster City. The selection of Taiwanese dishes and a solid rendition of beef noodle soup and spicy wontons has made it a go-​to choice when driving up further north or going to SFO airport.
Thus, I was excited when I heard they were opening a new South Bay location and chose a convenient spot in Cupertino. It’s in a strip mall best known for Little Sheep Hot Pot but also Mama Chen’s so the parking lot can get a bit crowded.
Crowds hadn’t quite yet discovered the place on a weekend lunch and we were among one of several patrons in the restaurant space. It’s not as large as Little Sheep or Mama Chen next door but has numerous family tables and smaller tables for party of four or less.
The menu looks even more expansive than the Foster City location and is most notable for having several items «bi-​feng» style. I’ve had that deep fried, garlic rendition of crab in Hong Kong, but they also offer it here for shrimp and fish filet. For the weekend, they also offer a Taiwanese brunch selection. We were given too many recommendations and told to order quite a few things, so we did sample a broad selection. Our order:
Sweet Soybean Milk and Salty Soybean Milk — the sweet soybean milk was standard, just heated sweet soybean milk. The salted rendition has a few pieces of Chinese donut and some very mild seasoning. It’s absent dried shrimp, preserved vegetable or any real flavor. There are no condiments on the table but we asked for soy sauce, chili oil and vinegar to improve the salty soybean milk. Perhaps its a Taiwanese version, but they only had black vinegar and chili paste.
Chinese Donut — we ordered one and it was prepared well. It’s a very generous portion. They kept on recommending we order 2 or 3. Glad we didn’t listen.
Stinky Tofu — perhaps their signature dish and the aroma of this well known dish definitely permeates the restaurant. I’ve had this perhaps 10 or more so times at the Foster City location and enjoy the rendition. The waitress spoke Mandarin but I did point to the menu several times, and unfortunately, a hot pot version of stinky tofu came out instead of my expected deep fried version. When we explained the misorder, there really wasn’t anything to be done (ie: it’s cooked, that’s what was ordered, can’t do anything about it) so can’t say I was exactly thrilled with the service.
On the other hand, the dish, despite the completely different preparation is quite tasty. The tofu are cooked and boiled, but the broth is flavorful and spicy. Several pieces of pig’s blood are included and they taste good too. Overall, if you like stinky tofu, double check they give you the deep fried version. I’m positive that’s what most people think when they think stinky tofu.
Knife cut Beef Noodle Soup — this is a favorite at their Foster City location and I’m glad to report it’s similar here. Great broth flavor, several pieces of tender beef, and the coarse cut noodles I like.
Xiao Long Bao — I’m pretty sure I’ve ordered this at Joy and didn’t like it, but I decided to order here after the same waitress said it’s one of their best items. It isn’t. The xiao long bao are way too thick skinned and have barely any soup broth at all inside. It’s not too much better than frozen versions I’ve made at home. However, given the poor state of Bay Area Xiao Long Bao, I won’t give them too hard a time.
Deep Fried Stinky Tofu — they ended up forgetting another item we ordered so we decided to get the deep fried stinky tofu we actually wanted. It was great. Deep fried, piping hot, served with sweet and sour cabbage and a nice mix of chili paste and sweet soy sauce. This is stinky tofu!
Thousand Layer Pancake — very similar to a roti prata. A bit thicker and deep fried to a more hard condition but very tasty and good for dishes with sauce.
Overall, we had a solid meal at Joy Palace. I’m glad to have it further South in Cupertino but think the Foster City location is superior. Service was definitely uneven with several being very friendly but a few miscues with dishes ordered, being able to fix an incorrect item, and some of the suggestions (I felt we were just being ordered as much as possible versus being given best of restaurant recommendations). I’d come back, but will stick to ordering what I know and pointing at the menu for all items.
Joy Palace accepts credit cards, but not American Express.

We were underwhelmed by the food here. The dishes that we tried were somewhat insipid. And the proteins were tough and chewy.
The service was mixed. The Mandarin-​spewing waitress was sullen and rude. The English-​speaking waiter, however, was much more professional and courteous.
Given the mediocre food and the spotty service, we felt that the price was unduly high. Our bill averaged out to around $ 18 per person.

I’m not a frequent reviewer but after this dinner I am.
Stopped by and wanted to give it a try, I really hoped the food would be great, but certainly there’s plenty of room for improvement. The waiting staff were ok, but the food was rather a turnoff. Two of us we ordered 4 dishes, none of them were good, especially the spicy chicken cubes, DO NOT ORDER IT. It was bland and tasteless like the chef cooked it with no flavour. We left the whole plate almost untouched.
If you want authentic Chinese/​Taiwanese food, I don’t recommend here.

The waft of stinky tofu is strong here (in a good way)!
New taiwanese joint — we ended up here twice when I was home for xmas.
: Food :
Must haves are the pork chop with noodle soup and the Chunghua Road Pot stickers. The pork chop is served on the side as it is fried and not get mushy. The broth of the noodle soup is super tasty — i think its because of the fried onions in it (the super tiny crunchy kind you find in a lot of SE asian soups). Not an onion fan but I can deal with that. The CR Pot stickers are long and thick and tasty and pan fried in a way that the bottom kind of connects/​congeals/​fries up.
The hand-​cut noodles were soft and chewy in the soup with braised beef, still liked the pork chop noodle soup broth better though.
Green beans are good. Mabo tofu is alright. Green onion pancakes are ok.
Avoid the XLB/​shang hai dumplings — the skin is a bit too thick and its not so juicy inside.
: Service :
Service was a ok — don’t think they understand much english though. They actually brought out like a special child cutlery set for my niece which was cool (bowl, spoon, fork).
: Parking :
There is a lot, and it gets super packed. There is also neighborhood parking.
Need to try stinky tofu at some point

Came here on Thursday night with my mom, place was decently packed at 7:30 but we were still able to snag a seat. The place is not fancy but décor is cute, old school paintings as wallpaper and mini chandeliers throughout. Service was pretty pleasant, which is like an a+ for chinese places.
Onto the food:
Leek boxes (jiu cai he zi) — these were awesome, perfectly pan fried and the filling has glass noodles. The boxes were decently sized so actually would make a good 4 person appetizer, if only it didn’t come out last!
Garlic fried fish (suan xiang yu pian) — was kinda worried when I first saw this because the batter looked kinda thick but actually it was spot on perfectly fried! Super tender fish filets, well salted, no oil pools. Bonus points for the bajillion little bits of fried garlic.
Snow cabbage tofu pork (xue cai bai ye rou si) — exactly those three ingredients — snow cabbage (this is like a salted mustard veggie), tofu (these are the «sheets» kind, not tofu cubes), and sliced pork. Super simple dish but they make it well. All that is missing is bamboo! :)
Prices are reasonable, would totally come back to try a few more dishes.
P. S. they serve stinky tofu here so if that smell makes you gag… you have been warned.

I’m fairly disappointed after coming here on a Saturday for lunch. There are much better Taiwanese/​Chinese food places in the area for a much better price. The seating arrangement was strange, my family of 4 sat against left wall and the spacing was so tight we actually had to shift the table and chairs so we had more place. Can’t imagine how this place would look like if it were crowded. Good thing I don’t expect it to ever be. Though given that this place is new, I’ll give them the benefit of the doubt. If you get white rice, you can order 2 servings for $ 3 and get unlimited free servings afterwards. You probably won’t do that though because their rice is pretty sticky and dry. Also, they don’t serve it to you in those cylindrical black/​red rice containers, but just put it in a medium size bowl. Not a big deal at all, but I’m a person of presentation. If you’re just here for a casual lunch it’s nothing to worry about.
We ordered the thousand layer pancake, sesame cold noodle, some spare ribs, and shanghai dumpling. The thousand layer pancake was probably the best of the four items. The skin has just the right amount of cirspiness and it melts in your mouth when you bite into it. The sesame cold noodles was a little too overpowering with the sesame flavor, and it was pretty dry. The spare ribs had very little fat in them, which is what I appreciate whenever I order any kind of spare ribs, but the portion was pretty small when you consider the amount of bone. The shanghai dumplings was a nightmare. No soup/​moisture when you bite into it, and the wrap itself was dry and too thick. The meat inside was slightly pink as well. Don’t order shanghai dumplings here.
Too pricey given the portions and quality of food.
Overall not impressed. Although I’m willing to give this place the benefit of the doubt and hope they will improve food quality in the future. I probably won’t come back here in awhile, though this is an ok place if you’re looking for a quick lunch.

I hope not to offend any readers out there but up until I ate at Joy Palace I didn’t really think anything special of Taiwanese food. In most cases, I felt that the flavors were a bit more bland when compared to other Asian cuisines.
Came with a group ordered a variety of things from: scallion beef (a lot like mongolian beef/​chinese beef with broccoli texture), sauteed green beans, clam with basil, stinky tofu (still not a fan of any stinky tofu but this was definitely less pungent), mapao stinky tofu, pork belly with minced meat and the star of the meal was meat ball in clay pot soup also referred to as Lion’s Head. Pork Belly, Scallion beef (decent amount of beef for sharing) and Lion Head soup are all recommended. The others were average and can be found better else where BUT not bad to the point where it’s not edible. This place is still new and has long lines.

Now ive been to Joy in Foster City a number of times and always enjoyed it. It’s just a pain in the ass to get to. I remember leaving from Redwood shores during rush hour one time and Marine Pkwy to Hillsdale (1 exit) took 20 minutes. Then i had to drive deep into the bay. To get ere. Given it’s not always that bad but still driving out to the east side of the bay is not fast. Glad to see one way closer to me. Met up with some old friends in from Paris. basil fried chicken, fish filet bi fen tang style (?)’ thousand layer cake, chive voulavent, satay lamb, and sting beans was the spread. All delicious. Even the staff are friendly which you dont see too often. Sad that Michele’s pancakes did not survive but they have a worthy successor. 4.25 stars

I don’t usually visit Chinese restaurant, but when I do I choose Joy Palace.
Great news for an extremely popular Chinese restaurant opening their second location in South Bay! Dishes are as brilliant as they always been because main chefs are working here. Expect long wait during peak hours but hey it’s definitely worth waiting!!!
Service is friendly compared to most Chinese restaurant out there. Tips for non-​Chinese customers: please excuse some Chinese servers as they have different culture and logic. They are friendly and sincere after all.
Will I come back? Most definitely!!!