Southland Flavor Cafe

The have large portions and a nice homey feel. Overall enjoyed my experience here. I had the special egg benedict. I like their selection of goodies and very resonabilty priced.

Authentic Taiwanese food with lightening fast service. My friends suggest coming here for Chinese food for dinner. He speaks highly of this little restaurant and I have to admit it truly stands out. Restaurant is not fancy but very family style. However, their service is just as warm as a family restaurant would offer.
We took a look at the menu (they have pictures with every dish in case you have no idea what you will have, which is extremely helpful) and quickly decided what we wanted to have. We ordered the fried spicy chicken, fish ball soup, sha-​cha beef chow mien, stir fry greens, milk green tea and another dish that I couldn’t find on their menu. Their service is probably faster than McDonald if I have to describe. It almost shocked me but when you taste the piping hot food, all your Chinese cravings are satisfied. This place is by no means your American Chinese food, it is authentic Chinese flavor, nothing greasy or sweet.
My favorite is the spicy fried chicken and sha-​cha beef chow mien. It is cooked on high heat and you can taste the little charred flavor from the wok. I am a big fan of the sha-​cha sauce btw.
What made me even happier is the price is so cheap without compromising the quality. You can order so many items here with dirt cheap. After eating here, part of me almost wishes that I could live in the bay area. Love it!

Southland is pretty good! Huge selection and the photos ease the ordering process IMMENSELY. Service is wicked fast — almost like they knew what we were going to order. The food itself I would give it like a 7.5÷10 rating just because I’m Chinese and have a pretty high standard for Chinese/​Taiwanese cruising, but for the average person without expectations it’s very good. Overall, I would say it’s definitely worth trying out!

The server was very patient with us even though we didn’t know what to order right away. Very helpful. Loved the pictures on the menu :) a very cozy atmosphere. Has a few tvs with Koop playing and news. I got the pork soup dumplings I don’t think the tray was cleaned when I got it. They were very light in flavor more of a comfort food. The tea was refreshing though!

The Good:
+ Really extensive menu. They literally have hundreds of items of Chinese and Taiwanese fare.
+ FAST. We ordered, and the dishes were flying out of the kitchen within minutes.
+ Traditional Taiwanese staples were all accounted for (oyster pancake, soup dumplings, oyster vermicelli, stink tofu, etc)
The Not So Good:
— Service was very lackluster.
— Dishes were fairly overseasoned, but your experience may vary.
Bottom Line:
Great if you want a quick fix of Taiwanese food. Service and cleanliness both have opportunities for improvement.

Cheap, ALOT of food selections. Good thing is they have pictures in their menu.
Highly recommend their pig ears, beef noodle soup is decent, not the best but good enough, and the glass noodle with ground meat soup is my favorite! I don’t know how to say it in Chinese but look at pictures below. So good.
I got their xiao long bao but was disappointed, it came out so long and was dry, not a lot of soup inside the dumpling. Don’t get it.
Overall, very affordable and decent Taiwanese restaurant.

You come here for the Taiwanese dishes, quick and simple stuff. The menu prices are affordable as well. I ordered the pork chop and rice dish, I left super thirsty from this meal. Not sure if its packed with sodium but it was still good, definitely not the best pork chop as some pieces were overcooked and dry.

This place was ok. I’ve had better.
The good: fried daikon cake (crusty on the outside which I like), taiwanese sausage fried rice
The ehh: ba-​wan, taiwanese fried chicken
The bad: squid potage soup

OBSESSED WITH THIS PLAAAAACE. O_​_​_​_​O There’s SO much on the menu; it’s always difficult for me to narrow down what I am physically able to eat. These are my favorites:
— Bamboo Shoot with Mushroom — This is my favorite dish, but I am biased because I really like bamboo shoots. I actually didn’t used to like shiitake mushrooms, but I am now in love with them because of this dish. Now my friend and I fight over the mushrooms when we come here, hahaha. They also make a version of this with pork, but I don’t order it anymore because I want extra bamboo and mushrooms.
— Deep-​Fried Stinky Tofu — Not too stinky, which is nice for the people around me. Obviously not as good as what you get in Taiwan, but you have to lower your expectations for this dish in America, okay? They give you the soy sauce on the side, and you have to dip the tofu. I prefer the kind where the sauce is mixed in, but oh well. I used to get my stinky tofu fix from China Bee in San Mateo (which is closer to where I live), but the stinky tofu here is MUCH better. Wish they included more pickled vegetables on the side though.
— Ground Pork Rice — Pretty solid, no complaints here. Big portion too. It’s enough for 2 – 3 people to share.
The appetizers are good, but I try not to get them because it’s pretty expensive considering you get a really tiny dish. The popcorn chicken is just okay. The chow mein is really horrible; don’t order that.
Sometimes, it gets really busy, so you have to wait for a table. But once you’re seated and order, the food comes out SUPER fast.

Oh, what’s this? Its my Mandarin covered in rust and dust. Indeed, indeed. I wasted your money on those 6 years of Chinese school, sorry mother.
A restaurant is quite authentic when everyone in the restaurant speaks the language. It wasn’t too difficult communicating with them though as they spoke some English, and they semi understood my broken Chinese.
Pork Chop & Rice (6.75): very simple, literally the pork chop, some green veggies, and rice. BUT simple never tasted so good. Loved how they cooked the pork and seasoned it. Super delish.
Beef Special Noodle Soup (8.25): WARNING, a kick of spicy to it. Yo girl over here cant even handle hot cheetos, so this was SPICYYY. BUT it was SO good, I downed it anyway. The noodles were soft yet «bouncy» and the meat was so tender it melts in your mouth. The broth was super good paired with it too.
Their menu seemed to have infinite number of choices. I almost needed some reading glasses for it.
Parking was not a problem as they had a big parking lot.
Overall a super authentic place with very cheap prices. FELLOW COLLEGE STUDENTS, come one, come all!

11÷1÷15: About average as far as Taiwanese food goes. Well, slightly below average. Some good dishes. More that are bad. Kinda averages out to okay to okay minus.
1. Coke (can) $ 1.25: Can of Coke.
2. #208 Steamed Meat Ball $ 5.25: My favorite Taiwanese food! I order this at every Taiwanese restaurant I got to, without exception. And that includes restaurants in Taiwan! Each place makes this slightly differently – different sizes, some small variations in the sauce, etc., and I’ve tried many. So, I think I can judge this one well enough to say it’s sub par. For one, this one is far bigger than any I have ever tried – it’s huge! And you’d think that would be a good thing, but unfortunately it just made it too much to take in per bite. Their meat is really dry too. I dunno what the deal is, but that meat tasted like it had cardboard mixed in. Well… not that bad, but yeah. The shell is fine. Sauce is okay. But overall just doesn’t taste as good as the more traditional smaller ones. ³⁄₁₀.
NOTE: The traditional «meat ball» is lightly fried or braised in pure oil. Not steamed. So, I dunno if this is just bad naming or they really steamed it, but just wanted to point that out. Either way, the shell tastes fine to me, so I guess whatever they did worked fine.
3. #210 Taiwanese Hamburger $ 5.50: So this is like their version of the Chinese «rouburger» that is becoming more popular. Instead of the double baked bread they use a steamed bun. But the really strange thing is that they put SUGAR in it!!! Yeah, SUGAR. We’re not talking that it’s sweet – I mean there is a spoonful of sugar mixed in with ground peanuts. Yuck. It’s too bad cause their meat is actually pretty tasty – I think some kind of pig’s feet maybe cause I see chunks of skin in there. ³⁄₁₀.
4. #408 Bitter Melon With Black Been Sauce $ 10.95: Okay, so for all those that do not know what «bitter melon» is, just move on. You won’t like it. Now, as for the rest of us that have grown up eating this and have accliminated to its super strong taste, and actually like it like me!, this one is pretty good! Lots of flavor in the sauce, and the bitter melon is cooked just enough not to be raw, but not too tender either. It’s pretty good. Again, love the sauce. ONE THING though: this one is $ 11 for vegetables! I’ve never seen bitter melon even close to this price. So I would have given this ⁷⁄₁₀ for flavor, but given the retarded price: ⁵⁄₁₀
5. #626 Beef Noodle Soup $ 8.50: While my gf lectured me on the history behind this dish, about how it came from China to Taiwan and became the country’s most famous food, I ate… pretty good I say. The soup is very flavorful. The meat’s nice and tender. Good amount of pickled vegetables and such. My gf wasn’t too impressed with the noodles, but I thought they were fine. Not sure what she thought wasn’t great – they taste perfectly fine to me. Anyway, pretty good. ⁶⁄₁₀.
6. #532 Sauteed Rice Cake With Bai Choy $ 7.75: Sigh… I guess averaging in this last score tips the food rating below average. Pretty bad dish. Was super bland. And also, though the name says rice cake with bai choy, it’s more like bai choy with some rice cake. Totally a veggie dish, and not the typical rice cake /​rice noodle dish you’d expect. Also, it’s really dry – typically there’s more sauce, but this one is as it says – just sauteed. Yuck. ³⁄₁₀.
Looks like this place is very hit and miss. So choose carefully. There is some good stuff in there, but lots of not so much.
²⁄₅
#taiwanese #chinese #taiwanesemeatball

Wow. I usually love this place so when I was feeling sick I ordered from here with DoorDash for that home cooked Chinese food cure. My sore throat was craving something soupy and satisfying so I settled on the «seafood congee.» Wtf. To call this congee is false advertising! It was basically regular rice floating in hot water with a variety of seafoods — imitation crab, mushy artificial meat balls and rubbery oysters. To charge $ 9 for this crap is a joke and basically straight up robbery. I ate one bite and threw it all away and am now disgusted at how little regard this place must have for quality food. See picture… I bet you will laugh out loud because it is so pathetic! None of this review is exaggerated. I hate you Southland Flavor Café.

For cheap food this is the place to go! I’ve been here a couple of times and so now I decided to write a review.
I always get the minced pork over rice. Probably the only thing I’ll get here. My boyfriend had something similar to mapo tofu and the other time he got sha cha chow mien. Let me tell you… SOOOOO MUCH OIL! I felt so gross when I tried it and my stomach hurt after.
I would pass on the Shanghai dumplings. There was no soup. Disappointing.
Don’t get my wrong it doesn’t taste bad but I wish the food wouldn’t be so drenched in oil.

This restaurant is located in Cupertino Village Center towards the back where Fantasia is located. Parking in this center is always hard to find during lunch & dinner times. They finished building the free public garage, so it’s helped a little bit but it’s only two stories. A few tables for large groups but mostly tables for 4 are setup. Tables are a bit wobbly with sticky tabletops. One bathroom for each gender.
Our Order:
#214 Green Onion Pancake: $ 6.25
#216 Shanghai Dumplings: ($ 9.75) 8 pcs
#510 Dry Noodles & Spicy Bean Sauce
#629 Beef Special Noodle Soup $ 9.95
The XLB were decent but they didn’t have too much broth in them. At least the skin wasn’t too thick. The green onion pancake had crispy edges but on the thin side. There wasn’t a lot of oysters either unfortunately. Loved the Beef Special Noodle Soup with the wide and slightly chewy noodles, pickled mustard greens, tender beef and baby bak choy. It was a bit spicy but not too much where I couldn’t handle it. My BF liked my dish better than the dry noodles that he ordered. He actually had to add some soy sauce to his as they didn’t put enough bean sauce in the dish.
With such a huge menu, there’s something for everyone. Definitely would come back for the Beef Special Noodle soup and to try more of their menu.
Credit Cards accepted

One of those places where you’re tempted to order everything on the menu –_​_​– First world problems…
Southland specializes in legit TW food and is located in the giant and chaotic Ranch 99 plaza i.e. easy to find parking, but you have to wander around the maze of stores for awhile before finding your destination. The ambiance is simple and homey, service is efficient, and there is a backdrop of conversations in Chinese… feels like a portal to TW in California weather.
The menu is huge (including adventurous traditional dishes involving organs) and n00b-​friendly, as it is an extensive booklet of glossy pages with pictures of literally every single dish. We opted for classic TW food:
(++) OYSTER PANCAKE: The boo thought it could have used more green onion, but I really like their rendition: crispy edges, the size of your face, and more egg-​based so it’s almost like a flat omelette (the oyster and eggs combo taste reminded me a little bit of the hangtown fry, the southern brunch guilty pleasure of fried oysters embedded in scrambled eggs)
(++) TW GIANT DUMPLING: Snacky street food on point. A dash of Savory sauce with flavorful meat wrapped in thick, fresh, and chewy glutinous jelly (which sounds horrifying I know, but glutinous starch is neither gluttonous nor gluten-​ful).
(+/​-​) JAJANG MYEON: Not bad, especially since it’s not swimming in oil like how some restaurants make it. However I was unimpressed by the plain noodles which tasted suspiciously like spaghetti, and the amount of shredded cucumbers and carrots was lacking… not to be that annoying health freak who complains about Asian restaurants not offering kale salads, but the veggies usually add a nice crunch to jajang myeon, so even from a purely culinary perspective it fell short.
Overall the food was quite salty and I am skeptical for MSG because I ended up chugging copious amounts of water later… But in any case, the tasty meal was worth it :3 Also quite a good deal because the bill came out to just over $ 20 for a delicious and satisfying feast for two (though there was still room for dessert).

We love coming here for their oyster pancakes. This a staple dish in our order. But always try to order something new on top of our favorites.
In our last visit, we ordered their Crispy Fried Intestine, which my hubby lives. Surprisingly, our two toddlers loved ‘em too. It’s nice to see our kids willing to explore and expand their palate. I think having tasty and crispy intestine helped in making them try something new.
This place serves typical Taiwanese dishes that we’ve always enjoyed from other cities that we’ve lived in. We’re glad that we found this place. We like their Fried Chicken, Pork chop, Pork Pottage Soup, and the Rice that’s topped with stewed Ground Pork with Preserved Vegetable.

They open until 9:30PM, so that’s always a plus if you’re looking for a late dinner or «small eats» in Taiwanese cuisine.
I’ve been here multiple times over the past decade at least… with my family and friends, and Southland is definitely a fixture in Cupe Village. When I used to eat meat, I had their bamboo rice and beef noodle soup. But now that I am pescatarian, I’ve realized that their menu is pretty lacking in affordable veggie-​friendly options.
When you’re here… and want some legit Taiwanese food, you GOT to get their stinky tofu. It’s pretty pricey at $ 6-​$ 7 for one plate, and each plate has like 6 – 7 tofu pieces on it – so don’t waste any bit of it! My mom and I really liked their oyster pancake (also another traditional Taiwanese dish)…I’d say it’s probably one of the best in Cupertino (much better than PotSticker King’s that’s for sure). However, with these two must-​order dishes, I wouldn’t say that every other food item we’ve had is 5 stars. Their menu is pretty extensive, but not that cheap I’m sad to say. Portion size is pretty small, unless you order a rice or noodle dish that’s about entrée size.
They give you complimentary tea, and service is pretty quick and hometown-​feely with lots of Asian mom-​ish servers milling about and the lady boss who sits behind the counter and watches her patrons eat. Southland is a Cupe Village fixture here, and I don’t see them leaving anytime soon… so I’ll probably find myself popping back in again from time to time if I am ever looking for some late-​night noms.

Experience authentic Taiwanese cuisine in the heart of Cupertino. This strip mall adjacent to the 99 Ranch shopping center, has a vast assortment of eating choices: from bakery to bubble teas. This small restaurant appears to be a local favorite. Casual, Chinese comfort food, perhaps the equivalent of an American dinner. The staff was very friendly and patient with new comers. They serve several «hardcore» items; such as deep fried pig intestines. I will try that one on my next trip.
For my first time, I selected the ground pork with vegetables, a shoyu boiled egg over rice. Great flavor and value for $ 6.25! I would be describe this item like a Chinese bibimbap.

I’ve been coming here for quite some time now — my favorite place to get Taiwanese food in the Bay Area.
I always order the minced pork over rice (rou zhao fan), cucumbers (huang gua), tofu (dou gan), and eggs (lu dan). Those are the go-​to dishes, then my family and I change between other dishes like some cold chicken noodles or green onion pancakes. Minced pork over rice is soooo good, we used to share it between my family members but I had to start ordering my own bowl!
Some of their dishes are a bit different now and maybe even a little smaller. I came back recently after not having been back for at least a year, and the cucumber cold dish I usually order was now spicy! (Unless I ordered something different? But I really don’t think so.) Well, that was still good but the original recipe was better!
Will be back again and again anyway. :) The plaza this restaurant is in has some other great places too for desserts or snacks after your meal.

Overall a decent place for some chinese food
The place is actually pretty decent. The soup dumplings were pretty good – they were all intact, hot, and served fresh. We also got sacha beef, which was heavily marinated with some veggies tucked underneath – good call! Since the veggie absorbed most of the sauce on top!
The wait staff are pretty nice as well. The vibe inside is ok, with normal lighting/​furnishing etc – nothing special.
The menu had a lot of options, and a lot of them looked really good – it was too much to comprehend! Will definitely come back to try the other stuff