Jacko’s Chops and Noodles

noodles were ok, their pork chop ribs were cold, oil and not so tastey…
the wait staff was friendly, but not much service. no more water but no refill either…

I really had high expectations for this place since it claims to have the «best noodles and pork chops». The pork chops are pretty good, nice and crunchy. The noodles aren’t anything special though. The beef soup flavor isn’t my favorite. What’s sad is that they only have pig intestine noodles on weekends and I never get to go on weekends to try! Boo! The wontons were ok, my grandma’s are better.
If it was a real taiwanese place, then I wouldn’t have to come on a weekend just to order the pig intestine noodles. haha!

First off, the restaurant name really cracks me up! JACKO?! this is what i call my friends when i am trying to say Jackass in a nice way.
Anyhow, since it was the busiest restaurant in the area, we thought to try it. We ordered the dan dan noodle, the pork chop over rice and the stinky ass tofu. We liked everything, it wasn’t the best taiwanese food we’ve ever had, but it was still good.
the service was good, the space looked clean until we looked at the ceiling and noticed a shitload of dust on the vent. and when i say shitload, i mean it was completely grey, you wouldn’t even notice the vent! All i can say is that i am so glad i was not seated underneath that, it was pretty gross.

This place closed and had a change of ownership. The new place is called something like «King of Taiwanes Porkchop» and has similar menu as Jacko’s but it’s totally AWFUL.
The noodles were sticking together. The porkchop had a lot of fat in it and was not well-​fried. The fact that the name of the restaurant bears the Taiwanese name is a disgrace to all the tasty Taiwanese porkchop places out there.
One star!

I’m pretty sure this place is gone now, the other day I saw it was replaced by some sushi place, but while it lasted I thought this place wasn’t terrible like some reviewers felt.
I had the pork chop there which was pretty good and their noodle soups are pretty delicious, but lots of MSG of course. They did have my absolutely favorite thing at these types of restaurants which is fish balls! Too bad this place is gone though, it was great price for the portion you get and a good variety, they had square bowls too which were edgy.

Me and my friends came here to eat because of the clean, nice setting, and for the ridiculously cheap menu prices we saw from the window outside. Also, there were not that many people inside, so we were able to be seated at a table very quickly. What really caught our eyes was the Plasma TV on the wall. A big college football game was on for the entertainment of the customers. I thought to myself, «This place really knows what is best for the customers!» Haha. I’m an avid fan of football, which explains my assumption about the restaurant knowing what is best for the customers.
I ordered the chicken chop with Taiwanese noodles soup (had the choice of either rice or noodles, chose the noodles because I was freezing and was looking for something hot and fulfilling), which only cost about $ 8. It came to me in about 5 to 7 minutes; pretty fast for a big meal.
The Taiwanese noodles soup was plated in a big square bowl. The amount of noodles and soup were tremendous. Although, the soup clearly dominated the noodles in the soup-​noodle ratio (terribly small proportion of noodles), but I still somewhat enjoyed the dish. The soup lacked flavor, so I added the Sriracha hot sauce to give it a little kick. The noodles were delicious. I was able to finish everything in the bowl. The employees will have no difficulty cleaning my bowl.
The chicken chop was plated on a very small dish with cucumbers and ginger to the side of it. I was confused because the chops were supposed to be Jacko’s special, but it did not look that special to me. In fact, the dish looked very dull and it had a ridiculously small serving of chicken chop, which made me regret ordering the dish. When I tasted the chicken chop, it was slightly good, but was too dry (had to consume a lot of water).
The restaurant has a really clean bathroom, so no need to worry about the bathroom being dirty/​filthy.

this place rocks yo. good reasonable prices.
i ordered the garlic pork and potatoes with rice and it was good. good seasosong on the pork and nice sauce to go with it. the potatoes had good ttexture and it tasted fresshh. my whole plate cost like only 5.99 which is cheap.
also tried my friends chicken chops with taiwanese noodle soup and it was bomb. the chicken tasted great and and soup was good too, not that much flavor, but still good.
the place was clean and kinda crowded which is sorta good. nice crowd. has a small lcd with football games on. i also like the clean bathroom. the service was also good. the staff was nice.
ill be back for more!
man next time i gotta try the special soup and fried chicken rice plate

Visit number two was not so good. I came with three of my friends and our dishes came out 5 – 10 minutes apart, except for the last one which took another 20 minutes from the dish before it. The pork chops were good again, but I wouldn’t suggest getting anything else here. My friend ordered the stewed pork rice and there were like two small specks of meat and all rice. Then I ordered the jiang jian mien and it was HORRIBLE. It tasted like vinegar sauce. Service was slow and pretty poor.

I came here last night for a quick bite.
— deco: this is a new restaurant that popped up in the competitive Milpitas sq. Clean and straight forward.
— pork chop over rice: this dish is great, greasy part aside. I wish we had ordered the $ 7.99 version for 2 pieces of pork chops instead of the $ 5.99 combo version.
— seafood noodle soup — blend, fresh ingredients though, probably much healthier than NTK.
— spicy chicken wings — this is close to the dry Korean fried chicken wing versions I had in Santa Clara, the garlic spicy sauce is excellent! =)

This really deserves a 2.5 rating.
The foods very salty. It’s a good place for quick lunch.
We ordered the fried oysters, steak bites combo and the bean curd noodle dish. They were all a little too salty for our taste.

Food ok. Manager and wait staff nice.

JACKO! You are lucky I heart pepper hard… because if I didn’t I would give you a 1 star. Ok, a star. Maybe I am not asian enough, everything had a funky smell to it, and I get a little ill eating hear after wards, but I have a sensitive stomach, and I think they must have used some kind of pork based broth for their soup, and I have a reaction to pork… I know I am cursed, I can’t eat pork or else I will die… food was ok, really not too great, but portions were pretty damn big.
Everything is pretty much sprinkled with a mad amount of white pepper, I can smell it before he even put it on the table.

after a trip to taiwan, i really wanted to find a good taiwanese restaurant besides ay chung. no, i’m not taiwanese. however, being married to one… well, i’m a convert ‘n have developed a palate for it. after paying couple of dollars in taiwan for braised beef noodle soup ‘n pork chop, it did hurt to eat @ this restaurant. however, it was my third time ‘n we had a good time during my initial visits.
we ordered the calamari steak, pork chop, ‘n accompanying rice noodle in soup. i just love how taiwanese food includes rice noodles rather than egg-​based noodles! anyhow, the chops were a little greasy, but after we blotted out the freshly fried chops we enjoyed them.
i love the modern environment ‘n atmosphere. i enjoy the trivia questions that run across the wall as well as the flat-​screen tv. the only thing was that they were short-​staffed the last time we went. it appeared to me that they’re looking for more workers. our cashier went to the back after she took our order ‘n cooked! our food did take awhile, but because i thought the quality of the food was good i gave it 4 stars.
one other thing… i thought by now they would have a credit card machine. being cash only made that place less desirable to enter. it’s really too bad, because i love how they serve in huge ceramic bowl shaped in modern styles reminiscent of my own collection of dishes.

Was hoping to find another good Taiwanese place and stopped in tonight after reading Ken K’s review.
The menu is pretty simple with a bunch of staple Taiwanese street food. Since they advertise their strengths as noodles and pork chops, I went with the pork chop with dry noodle (gan mian). Also, since I’m always on the lookout for a good bowl of minced pork over rice, I got one of those too. Both are supposed to be specialties/​strengths (at least according to the menu).
The pork chop with dry noodle was surprisingly good. There were two pieces of pork chop, each nicely done Taiwanese-​style. Appropriately tender, not too greasy. The dry noodle was done pretty well too, though they really skimped on the toppings with a few shreds of cucumber and a few pieces of minced pork. And at $ 8, a touch overpriced. But, good enough that I would get it again.
The minced pork over rice wasn’t nearly as good. The rice was flavored — perhaps with herbs — and was decent. They REALLY skimped on the meat, though, with maybe a teaspoon full of meat over 1.5 bowls of rice. On top of that, the meat was dry and tough. There was only one piece of pickled radish too, plus a tea egg. At $ 3, definitely not worth it.
The interior is simple and clean lines, with glossy wooden tables and chairs contrasting the dark floor and medium-​colored walls. The walls are decorated with pictures of their food in a faux-​artsy fashion (like Breaktime in CV) — thought it would’ve been cooler if the menu had actually been posted on the walls. Cash only, which sucks, but it’s nice that they use actual silverware and plastic chopsticks. And the square plates and bowls are definitely unique.
Overall, right in the middle of the pack in terms of food, ambience and price. Would maybe come back again for the pork chop noodles, but otherwise you’ll probably find me at Ay-​Chung.

Stumbled into the restaurant for lunch without previously reading any reviews. On a hunch, ordered from the first few pictures on the menu: deep-​fried steak cubes and calamari with chiles. Also ordered steamed rice. With 2 soft drinks, total came to a little over $ 16.
Excellent flavors (not bland at all) and presentation. Generous amount of food for 2. Will return soon to try other menu items.

Shameless update just to get this entry into the Beef Noodle Soup list I’m compiling…
I finally paid attention to Jacko’s Chinese name (the restaurant that is). It is Goji, yes as in the Goji berry or Chinese cranberry, used as a key ingredient in herbal broths. Yet the English name, the part that mentions Chops, refers to Taiwanese style pork chops, that this restaurant still seemed strongest in (even though it’s a good effort nonetheless but falls several steps short).
And it was no surprise that the last time I was here earlier in the year that they also used it when I finally tried their Taiwanese style beef noodle soup. Elegantly plated in an almost squarish looking bowl, and indeed as I had mentioned in the original review the overall look and feel DID somewhat resemble the Wei Chuan brand of microwaveable beef noodle soup (excellent in its own right for home consumption) but more so those noodles which were flat versus tubular.
The broth was very interesting and different from any other Taiwanese or Northern Chinese restaurant. It actually had stronger herbal undertones with lighter flavors and texture, unlike some Northern style soup bases that are mostly soy sauce, brisket sauce and boiled water.
I can’t quite remember if they used brisket or flank cuts here, but it was certainly nothing super, but the overall package was decent. It’s a refreshing take on the classic beef noodle soup dish (using a herbal broth) that is very common in Taipei but rare here (it’s way too Chinesey/​Taiwanesey for many). The effort is there nonetheless but doesn’t quite warrant a return visit when the same coinage could be spent elsewhere for spicier and juicier cuts of meat, better noodles, and broth.
ORIGINAL REVIEW:
This place has no relation to the wacko prefix or Michael of Neverland Ranch and Hamburg baby dangler fame (plus other scandals). A sign from outside in Chinese claims to bill itself as the Taiwanese king of pork chops, a boastful yet curious statement that finally lead me to give this place a try today.
The owners were nowhere to be found and the kitchen staff stayed well behind the scenes. There was one server/​cashier person and he did the best he could, though he didn’t speak any Chinese.
The menu is 2 pages, has some Taiwanese small eats (meatball, gong wan, fishball in soup) and their signature offerings, pork chop, fried chicken chops over your choice of rice, noodle soup, or «dry» noodle (in quotes because it is not fully dry but the style).
I ordered the signature pork chops to see if they are worthy of the name king. My order came out within 10 minutes, probably less. The bowl of noodles came in a square shaped bowl, rather elegant looking. The pork chops were two modestly sized pieces, uncut and whole with bone, and not too thick. Taste wise I would say this place is above average compared to other restaurants trying to do the same kind of dish, but in Southern Calfornia where there’s a huge Taiwanese expat population and thus competition, this restaurant might not garner much interest. It is not as good as A&Js in Cupertino who make the best fried pork chops (Taiwanese style), though not as delicate as the bento version in Won’s Stew House (also very good). Though the marination is not bad. My 2^nd piece felt a little bit dry, but the first piece was done nicely.
The noodles… very interestingly done. They call it dry noodle, but it has been blanched in a very flavorful broth, with some of the broth at the bottom of the bowl. Served with thinly sliced julienned cucumbers and a dash of minced pork. The noodles were very ramen-​esque kind of noodles, cooked just right, and served almost hot.
They have beef noodle soup too, so I might try that out next time. They have a picture of it on the menu, and strangely it looks almost like the Wei Chuan brand of frozen beef noodle soup that you can get at 99 Ranch or Marina Supermarkets (which is also excellent as a late night home snack, but high in MSG, sodium, and quite authentic), at a measly $ 2.50 a box (microwaveable too).
Not busy at all today as well as other times I’ve passed by previously.
This place could have some potential, but as it is on the other side of the mall, overshadowed by the newer E-​noodle and Ay Chung which is excellent in its own right, they need to spice things up to get more people interested and improve things.

It’s good to see a Taiwanese place with Taiwanese staff (unlike the Tainan place in Cupertino). The staff recommended items and were very friendly. It has a homey feel. Sometimes too homey… like when they ask customers to just use something else in place of a regular spoon because they ran out, or when they said they ran out of what the customer ordered but offered to replace it with another item that was less priced.
Went with a group and tasted the following:
Beef noodle soup, pork stew vermi. soup, stewed tofu, fried shrimp, pork chop noodles, fried fish fillet.
The only item I recommend is the pork chop with noodle soup. The soup was good without msg.
The beef noodle soup was not good, the pork stew was bland bland bland, the stewed tofu was nothing I want to have again, the fried shriump was ok but little for the price ($ 7~8), the fried fish was not bad.

I love Jacko’s. My favorite is the Fish Chop w/​dry noodle. I get a sauce dish with hoisin sauce, garlic chili sauce, and some vinegar to dip my noodles and fish in. I’ve also had the pork chop, chicken chop, popcorn shrimp, chicken wings, salt & pepper ribs, fried calamari, cube steak and cucumbers. Usually my friends and I share our dishes with one another so we can taste everything.
Almost all the dishes I’ve ordered have been deep fried and they typically have the same seasoning. What I’ve noticed from my other friends who have eaten here is they either like the flavor in the seasoning or they don’t, but nothing really in between. If I had to guess, the seasoning is some sort of curry or tumeric blend. So if you like those types of seasoning, then you’ll probably like Jacko’s. If you don’t like these types of seasoning, then I wouldn’t reccomend this place for you.

I really liked the beef noodle soup. The broth was particularly good. It had an oniony and garlic flavor that was perfect with the beef and noodles. It also came with a side of pickled mustard greens — good. My gf got the dan dan mien which were hot noodles with a sesame sauce on the bottom that you mix up yourself. The place is a bit small, about 9 or 10 tables. You have to grab your own utensils and condiments.

P. and I went here for lunch on Wed 10÷25÷06 and was surprised to see the set up like a fast food place. There is a soda fountain near the counter, and you order at the counter.
It’s a Cash Only place.
The menu is pretty big for this small place. These are what we ordered:
Appetizers:
1. stewed tofu $ 3.50-tofu served w/​special sauce. I couldn’t tell what kind of sauce it was, just a sweet brown sauce.
8. garlic cucumbers-​$ 2.25-I liked this dish, lots of cucumbers cut up and sprinkled w/​raw garlic, hard to screw this up.
Chops & noodles
16. calamari chop-​deep fried calamari steak seasoned w/​Jacko’s seasoning. $ 7.99. My friend got this an enjoyed it, he also got a soup noodle that’s a big bowl separate from the fried calamari steak.
Jacko’s favorite
#17. Taiwanese stewed pork-​pork stewed in a rich broth served over rice. $ 3.25 This was not very good. Too much rice, not enough meat. And the meat is just little cubes if that sprinkled over the rice. Had to eat lots of the garlic cucumbers and the stewed tofu to make me full.
Total $ 20.02 Cash Only. Maybe the other dishes are good, hard to say. We were the only table from 11am-​12 noon.