Liang’s Kitchen

Given the large percentage of Taiwanese people living in the San Gabriel valley I decided to try Liang’s kitchen under the recommendation of my Taiwanese friend.
Upon entering the restsurant at 8pm on a Friday night I was shocked to find nobody there and left to question the authenticity of this place.
FOOD
We ordered the dry mixing beef noodle slice and beef tray cake. I really enjoyed the texture of the noodles. The beef tray cake was also very large true to the American portion size. Two dishes were more than enough to keep us satisfied.
OVERALL
Whilst not amazing, this place still manages to satisfy any Taiwanese food cravings.

So much hate! If I knew it was at a 2.5 star average, I may not have graced the place. But here is why I’m glad I did:
1. NRM. Pretty legit style beef noodle soup. The soup can be a bit salty. The tendon and the beef are so melt in your mouth soft. The soup is less Northern, more Taiwan flavor. They have the thick noodles, which are my fave.
2. Beef rolls. These are good solid beef rolls. The beef is tender and the dough is flaky. Not too salty, not unflavored.
3. Fried pork chop rice. The pork was fried with a deliciously crisp batter, more starch than flour. Cooked perfectly, and there was a bit of stewed pork on top of the rice.
And because we’re in Asia, remember you have to flag down your waiter/​waitress if you want anything.

Love their pork chop with noodles and beef roll. I guess maybe I never had any problems with ordering because I speak Mandarin but I really didn’t have any problems with the staff or the restaurant, period.
Some menu items I don’t like but then again, the whole idea of the chain is «comfort food» so maybe their style/​version is supposed to be different than other places’.

If you are into mini-​games this is the place for you!
–When you first walk into this restaurant, it’s a wheres waldo scene of finding exactly which person in the building works there (no employee dress code/​uniform).
–When placing your order on the sheet of paper they provide with the menu, you’ll soon realize the numbers on the paper and menu DO NOT MATCH! thankfullyorder sheet is in english so non-​chinese readers can survive.
–When your order comes out, servers (or at least our guy, decked out in flamboyant attire with the bright yellow polo collars popped! Holla!) will not say which dish is which, leaving your table to wait until all orders to come out for the matching game to begin
Food was decent at best. My party ordered the black bean noodles and minced pork noodles which had flavor, but my gawd your breath will stank afterwards. Stay away from their fried or cutlet dishes… not sure if bbq meat is supposed to turn out sour?
This place has the definite Mainland China-​man feel: Always in a rush, plates being dropped or tossed on your table, and LOUD NOISES!
They refused to take credit card even though there’s a darn VISA logo on the front door and the tray that holds the receipt reads «We gladly accept VISA» on top… way to save 2% Liang’s.
Bottom line: Mama Liang would be a sad :*(
p.s This place refuses to serve you a full cup of water, and its all ready in the back of the counter pre-​poured… dusty water anyone?!

hmm. for the experience, i guess it’s a 2.5 star?
ordered the oxtail w/​rice, steamed tofu, mustard green with tofu skin. the little dish of greens was $ 4.25…with barely any tofu skin.
oxtail rice flavoring was good but not much meat. small oxtail with a lot of bones. steamed tofu was okay.
for what you get, it should be cheaper. if we ever come back, we need to order noodles instead.

WOHOOO!!! the one over by Garden Café closed, but mourn no more!!! Delicious freshly made noodles in beef noodle soup can be found in a cleaner store!
Still expect to run into some snags if you can’t speak mandarin, but at least their menu is filled with pretty pictures!!!
Really good spicy wantons.. which.. .are not spicy.. . at all.. .
Also really good beef, green onions pancakes.. . meat + carbs + fried.. how can you not like???1

I don’t know what’s with all the hate for this place. It’s average at worst. I came here because I had a VERY FOND EXPERIENCE at the location in Arcadia.
The fried green onion pancakes with beef here were as crispy, savory, and enjoyable as I remembered. I ordered the braised pork feet with rice and it was very good and homely. It reminded me of my childhood. I could have done without the peanuts in the dish, but I think that’s just how it’s traditionally served. My girlfriend ordered the beef noodle WITHOUT soup, which I thought was weird. I had it with soup and loved it. She enjoyed it dry, but I thought the taste was a little off, maybe too much vinegar?
The service is definitely Taiwanese oriented, BUT we made due and they were very friendly and quick! I don’t know why everyone is so impatient and fuming. In terms of pricing and quality I think it’s perfectly fine, but it seems like it’s not up to par with its other locations.
I wouldn’t mind coming back!

I came here for lunch the other day. My friend said it’s a happening Taiwanese place where the food is good and plentiful… OMG. What a mistake! I have never felt so ripped off in my life. The proportions were so small that the three dishes we ordered was more fit for one person! We ordered the Russian Ox-​Tail, the Ox-​Tail soup with Veggies, and an order of Taiwanese pancakes. Maybe we should have tried the Beef Noodle instead? But from what I read below… it’s probably a bust too. For the couple orders of ox-​tail, I counted no more than 5 small pieces! All I saw was leaves of cabbage and some carrots along with a few yellow beets on top of the rice!!! My ox-​tail was tiny and cut in half… and was also a bit on the fatty side. The only thing plentiful was the bone! I am totally unsatisfied with my experience here. I would give it no stars if I had the chance to do so.
Liang’s, please shape up. Cleanliness does play a part. Your prices is okay. But the proportions needs major improvement. Sorry and thumbs down!

I’ve had 2 experiences here. I would actually like to rate a 2.5, but meh. Ill give them the extra half star.
First, nobody speaks english here. And second, when you tell them that you dont speak chinese, they continue to not speak english.
On my first visit, I ordered the Beef Stew. They mistakenly brought out the beef stew and tendons or whatever. I LOVED it. I asked for the big round noodle, but they gave me the big flat noodle. No matter, it was a delicious mistake.
On my second visit, still no english. No biggie. I ordered the beef stew and the flat noodle. Order up, and the broth is all grease with a side of soup. I really didn’t care for this dish and am surprised that it was so different from its sister dish.
Onion pancakes are alright here. I’m not sure if the difference in broth is different on a daily basis or what, but the grease soup was a no no. yuck.

Came here for lunch with the family over the weekend. I loved the location in Irvine so we were hopping this one would also have our favorite dishes. But like with all restaurants it depends greatly on the cook you get as the flavors will vary from location to location or even from shift to shift. Sadly we must have gotten the apprentice cook or new cook because all our usual dishes turned out pretty mediocre.
I ordered my usual dry garlic tomato sauce with thick noodles. But somehow either the chef either forgot about the garlic of put so little that you couldn’t taste it at all. Then the sauce was all watered down since they didn’t properly drain the noodles. So if this had been my first time here i would have ranked this dish a measly ²⁄₅.
For sides we had the tofu stew which again was missing the soy sauce paste on the bottom? I was beginning to wonder if the cook even knew how to make this dish since they just served it on the plate with some chopped cilantro with a drizzle of the soy sauce with the hot sauce. I mean cmon the whole point of this dish is get that sweet soy sauce paste on the bottom with the spice from the hot sauce. Our other side dishes the seasoned squid was the typical serving since it was pre-​prepared and the mixed tofu/​peanut platter.
We also got the dry onion noodle with the fried egg on top. Luckily this dish was pretty simple that they didn’t screw this one up.
Overall i would have a mixed review of this location since the last time we came it was pretty good, but this time it was again quite meh. The service was lacking as the waitress repeated took her sweet time to even come take our order even though the place wasn’t busy at all. Again she took her lovely time to pickup our check. Maybe they wanted to give us a free meal for such a horrible dining experience? Keep wishing i guess…

I liked how the restaurant was super clean and kinda modern for a Chinese restaurant. The TV was on so I was able to enjoyed watching TV while dining. And this place had a giant aquarium ;) Dining with Nemo and Dory is always fun!
Ordered stinky tofu, ja jiang men, beef noodle soup and iced honey green tea.
Stinky Tofu: I wasnt used to eating soft stinky tofu so I was kinda disappointed with my soft tofu. The waitress actually recommended this. 3 stars!
Beef Noodle Soup: nothing special. Just a bowl of beef noodle soup. 3 stars!
Ja Jiang Men: Did I really eat this? I remember nothing special either. 3 stars!
Iced Honey Green Tea: I remember I really enjoyed this drink. Very refreshing and it was mixed perfectly. 4 stars.
My service was amazing. The waitress explained the dishes one by one and even recommended some dishes. 5 stars!
3.5 stars!
Liang’s Kitchen’s Iced honey green tea is yummylicious!

Service was terrible. Three servers and three tables of customers. What gives? Water was dirty and after asking to have it changed, water came back with something floating in it. So I gave up asking.
They’re not very English friendly here. Half rude about it too.
But onto the real thing in question. The food. Beef noodle soup. Three chunks of meat, a grip of noodles and cold veggies. (Clearly thrown in from the fridge). Yeah. Almost flavorless with really disproportionate amounts of each item. Not worth the $ 6.25. And the Thai Coffee? It was the lifesaver but at $ 3.00 a glass. It definitely left me wanting more.
Conclusion? Not worth your time. I can’t believe this place is a chain and I doubt it will last in this plaza.

Ordered the Three Taste Chicken and Rice. It came with three sauces: Some kind of special soy sauce, ginger & green onion sauce, and i dont know what the other was, but it had a very unique taste, and it was chunky brown colored. The chicken is very fresh and soft. Comes with white rice. Their rice had a really unique taste to it! I have no idea what it is, but it was super yummy. The whole meal was, actually.
Boyfriend ordered Beef Soup and it came with a side of Green Onion Pancakes. I stole some of it and it was so good, soft and thin, just how onion pancakes are suppose to be!
Service was alright, had to flag them down to get the check, but i was in no hurry so whatevers.
Prices are average. $ 6ish dollars

«Grand Opening» said the sign outside. Well, Liang’s Kitchen is not so grand after all. In actuality, it’s your standard restaurant for Chinese food… not too shabby but nowhere near remarkable either. Their cold noodles (liang mian), tomato noodles, and pork chop noodles (pai gu mian) are… well, decent. BOGO on average boba milk tea; however, make sure you do get milk tea with boba. Otherwise, you won’t get your money’s worth because foregoing boba means foregoing at least an inch and a half of milk tea! Cheap Asians…

I wanted to try this place after reading an article in the OC Weekly and I was excited to find a branch close to my parent’s home. As I walked in, I hesitated a little though since the place was empty. I figured for a Sunday evening and a newly opened restaurant, that this place would be a lot busier.
I ordered my old stand-​by, the dish recommended in the newspaper, stewed beef noodle soup. I opted for the thin noodles and all meat, no tendons. I also ordered their green onion pancakes.
My order came out pretty quickly. I carefully tried a spponful of the broth. Wow, a previous Unilocaler was correct when she said how oily it was. You know it’s oily when you feel like applied an entire stick of lip balm after sipping a spoonful fo the broth! So I skimmed off some of the oil and hoped it would help. The broth itself was a little too salty. You could still pick out the flavors of anise and peppercorn, but salt definitely dominated. There was not that much meat. What meat there was could have been cooked longer, it was a bit tough and chewy. I am glad I opted for no tendon, I can’t imagine how tough and chewy that would have been.
The noodles, although not hand made, were cooked to a nice chewy texture. They were definitely the star of the dish.
The green onion pancake was thin and not a whole lot of green onions, but it was good, surprisingly. Slightly crispy on the outside, a bit chewy on the inside.
The noodles and green onion pancake carried the day today. My tab for my dinner was $ 10.80 without tip. Overall, I feel driving around the corner to the Noodle House for their version of the two dishes I ordered is a better choice.

Lay off the Yo’ Mama Jokes, cuz Liang’s Mama can cook better than yo’ mama.
As my family wandered around Diamond plaza, looking for a place to eat, we noticed that most of our regular places changed owners or shutdown. Drawn by the «Grand Opening» sign, we found an oasis of cheap eats in the dying Diamond Plaza.
Liang Mama’s Kitchen was a typical noodle house; simply decorated serving a variety of noodle soups and Taiwanese dishes. I ordered the beef noodle soup + scallion pan cake. At first, I thought it was some sort of combo deal for 6.75, but to be delight it turned out to be a generous portion of the broth + fixin’ of their beef noodle soup without the noodles. Apparently, you’re suppose to dunk the pancake into the broth and eat it that way. That’s the first time I’ve seen it served that way and I found it quite tasty. My dad ordered a Beef noodle soup and I tried some of his noodles. They use a homemade wide noodle, which gives it a slightly chewy texture and it goes great with the broth. My mom ordered this light noodle soup with just veggies and what appeared to be dried baby shrimp. Our total bill came out to be less than 20 bucks and the 3 of us were comfortably full.
I would definitely come back again and try their other dishes.
A little about my credentials:
I first got into cooking & food when I was in college. After being rejected by numerous girls and getting zero action, I decided it was time for a change. I needed a new makeover to boost my geeky, engineering image. I applied for a cooking position at a Mediterranean-​Italian Restaurant near my home and learned to cook all sorts of pastas and dishes. I never became a professional chef, but I continue to enjoy & love food. 8 years later and 55 lbs heavier, I am now an engineer that travels all over the world trying new foods and learning about different cultures.

Eat at Liang’s and it’s a surefire way to completely ruin any workout you’ve done for the day. It won’t even be hard, really.
All you have to do is order:
the beef tendon soup— lake of oil. honestly. i looked at it and thought. omg that’s what the oil spill looked like on the gulf coast!!! 2 – 3 pieces of meat and a few veggies swimming in a LAKE OF FRIGGIN OIL!
scallion pancake — this was really good. very very crispy. i think they double fried it to get it so crisp. you take the pancake slices and dip it into the lake of oil and eat it. lake of oil + doubly oiled food = ocean of oil in arteries?
taiwanese style fried pork «bento» — i’m a huge fan of fried pork chops and i usually do not order it unless i want to treat myself. this order was really disappointing. aside from it drenched in oil (which, i know is the whole point). it had almost NO meat on it! talk about really skimping it guys.
service was meh. didn’t really get paid attention to until we had to wave them down even though it wasn’t crowded and the waiters were standing around chatting. this wouldn’t have been an issue had i not been annoyed by the lake of oil. no wonder they didn’t have a lot of people in here even though they were still advertising their grand opening.
this place isn’t very cheap for the amount of food they serve.

I can’t say this is the best place for beef noodle soup but it’s not bad. Very much on the bland side with a lot of oil though. You have a choice of thin noodles or thick noodles (think small version of lasagna pasta).
I like their simmered tofu, it’s delicious. On the other hand, their «jiao huo jiao huo» (spicy mix of pig’s ears, fried tofu, peanuts, cilantro, tripe and chili) is not that great (Ding’s garden still has the best!). Also tried their bento lunch (a plate that comes with choice of meat, rice and veggies for like $ 7?) and I had the fried chicken leg set. The chicken was very greasy and soaked in oil… On the salty and over fried side… I’d stick to their noodles next time.

Angela C declared Liang’s Kitchen (aka Liang’s Village Cuisine) as having the best Beef Noodle Soup for 2010 in her review – followed by JJ Bakery & Café and FFY Noodle House. I recently had JJ Bakery & Café’s Beef Stew Noodle and I LOVE IT. I had to do some investigating myself @ Liang’s Kitchen.
Service — Okay — Standard greeting, ordering, delivery of food, and check
Cleanliness — Excellent — very clean
Price — $ 8.85 (including tax and tip)
Seafood — Yes, smoked fish or fillets
Meats — Yes, beef, chicken, pork, duck, ox tail
Vegetables — Yes
Dessert — Yes, assorted Sweet Rice Cake & Honey Bean Shaved Ice
Fruits — N/​A
Other — (1) Large private parking lot or additional underground parking as well, (2) Located in Diamond Plaza towards the Life Plaza area, (3) Accept credit cards
What was ordered:
Beef Soup Noodle ($ 6.25) — Excellent/​Good — Chinese/​Taiwanese noodle soup made from stewed beef, beef broth, greens, cilantro, scallions, Suan Cai (Chinese sauerkraut/​pickled cabbage), and Lapian Handmade Noodles. Let me deconstruct the Beef Soup Noodles in its major parts:
Stewed Beef — Excellent — Quantity: Large chunk of beef; Quality: Some portions of the beef were very tender, but there were portions that you really need to gnaw on with some chewy fat/​tendon; Flavor: Extremely delectable beef flavor.
Beef Broth — Excellent — Quantity: A nice large metal bowl filled earthy, wholesome broth; Quality: The broth is less greasier than JJ Bakery & Café’s, a bit clearer broth, and very good nonetheless; Flavor: You have nice beefy flavor and it is very delicious. I think the loss of some of the grease takes some of the flavor away, but everyone has their own preferences.
Vegetable Greens — Okay — Quantity: I think they need a bit more greens; Quality: The vegetables in this dish were very good – with a nice green color; Flavor: The vegetables were perfectly seasoned and tasted how they were suppose to good. I love vegetables and I enjoyed what was provided.
Suan Cai (Chinese sauerkraut/​pickled cabbage) — Excellent — Quantity: Standard amount given except they already put it in for you; Quality: I love the stuff and it is just excellent; Flavor: Awesome pickled cabbage flavor and love the texture. Melds very well with the beefy flavor of the broth and beef. The first thing I scarfed up.
Lapian Handmade Noodles — Okay — Quantity: Provided good amounts of thick noodles (approx. 1 inch in width); Quality: The noodles were soft and chewy. The texture of it felt like they were just made; Flavor: The noodles takes on the beef broth flavor very well. In combination of the texture made it pretty good; Other: They give you an option of (L) Lapian Noodles or ® Regular Noodles – which I did not know. I was expecting ® Regular Noodles and was a bit surprised that I got (L) Lapian Noodles instead. Make sure you let them know when you order.
Overall, I would still say that I’m a FAN of the Beef Soup Noodle here – no doubt it is good. However, I would still put JJ’s as my first option – Liang’s Kitchen would make a wonderful mistress. I personally think it is a matter of preference so I am not knocking Liang’s Kitchen at all. No matter what you still get great food and a happy stomach.

I’m going to award this place with the best beef noodle soup (regular noodle, not the long flat noodle) of 2010 in Rowland and Hacienda Heights! The runner-​ups for beef noodle soup are at JJ Bakery on Gale and FFY Noodle House (on Gale next to Home Depot). Liang’s Kitchen beef noodle soup had a complex base that was not too overwhelming with MSG nor Anise; All the flavors worked well together. The noodle tasted fresh and the beef chunks were extremely tender without being overcooked or being too fatty.
My husband’s sesame noodle dish was also an interestingly good combination of sesame and peanut sauce.
The servers were attentive, but you could still tell that the staff were «working out the kinks».
My main complaint was that the booths were so cheaply made that if anyone sitting on the booths moved, the entire booth shifted and felt like an earthquake.