O Taipei Cafe

This place has good food but I guess if your American they don’t help you to fast or was it just us I guess, Service was not to good this is our second time there last time the forgot a order this time was the same they forgot a plate, utensils they need to definitely hire more staff one person for the whole place that crazy and also went there for lunch with my Co workers so slow we walked out not enough time to wait a half hour just to get service.

The food was really good. The price is very reasonable. We took the whole family there for Chinese New Year lunch. The kids loved the shrimp and sweet pecan dish.

The food is good but… the service was bad just like all the other bad reviews about this place. They really need to stop being cheap and get more workers to help out.
1.) Many tables are left after eaten and are not cleaned so it looks messy.
2.) the old lady who’s the head server is super rude: we asked her for a suggestion and she’s like I’ll give you more time and walked away before we finished asking her something !
3.) there was TWO pieces of hair found in TWO different dishes ! And when we were trying to explain to the lady she rushed away AGAIN without out us finishing.
Where’s FDA When you need them !!!
TERRIBLE
SEE PHOTOS FOR PROOF!

The food was great, but the restaurant has some serious problems with their customer service. It was terrible!

The food gets 4 ½ stars because it is good and the prices are very reasonable. The service gets 1 ½ stars because while all the service staff is working hard, they just can’t keep up, so be prepared to wait to have your order taken and to get your check.

This restaurant is off the beaten path on Fullerton Rd. It’s located in the residential area in a super small plaza, but parking is plenty. My family came on a Saturday back in October. The place was full when we walked in.
We ordered a bunch of different things, but my favorite was the stir fry thin rice noodles with lots of veggies. It tasted very much like home cooking, something my aunt would cook in her kitchen. The stir fry octopus was also tasty, NOT artificial or drenched in sauce. The other dishes were good too, but nothing too memorable. However, everything paired really well with plain white rice.
Restrooms were clean, ambiance inside was ok, service was slow, but I didn’t mind. From what others have said, just don’t be in a hurry. Prices were really fair, dare I say cheap?! Perhaps that’s why there’s a lack of staff members. I would definitely come back again with my family.

The service is awful and its cash only. We walked in and the waitress immediately told us that the food was going to take a while so she suggested that we should leave. We took her advice and walked out the door. As soon as we left, another waitress walked out and told us that it wasn’t going to take a long time. So, we walked back… that same waitress (the one telling us about wait time) saw us and said, «Why are they back? Impatience won’t get there food any faster so they should just leave again.» If we came in with a bad attitude, I would’ve expected a bad attitude from staff as well… but we didn’t.

Good food with terrible service. Whenever I come I have to question why their still in business with workers as incompetent as theirs.
I once waited an hour for a phone order I called in 30 minutes before coming to pick it up. Just now, the same worker asked me how many were in our party 4 times in a 12 minute period of time (they aren’t even very busy) because she kept getting distracted and forgot.
Their food is amazing and very genuinely Taiwanese compared to other restaurants in the area, but if you’re looking for fast and friendly service,

Slow slow service ! We sat down for 45 minutes before we were offered any tea or water.
When we were ready to order, the waitress just handed us her writing pad and told us to write in our order ourselves and rushed away .
They are short staffed!
It was 90 minutes before our food arrived.
The food is good, but too much MSG! I had a headache after.
Please be sure you have 2 hours to kill before you set foot in this restaurant

Been here a couple of times, including this past weekend. They gave us the Mon-​Fri menu, 3 dishes plus soup for $ 19.99. We asked and made sure it was applicable on the weekend and they said yes. As before, the food is pretty good, pretty authentic, though not large portion (but enough). This time, we got a fish dish, black pepper beef, and a salty sliced pork. All good. I think seafood you add $ 1 on top of the $ 19.99. Even the included soup is good. We also got a bowl of pork chop noodle, where 2 thinly sliced porks were good.
I admit the service maybe a little slow but for us, I think they were doing their best. Just to prepare for the first timers, the place has low ceiling so it feels old and not very bright. The building is probably old. However, yesterday we saw the male owner working outside along side the waitresses. They probably see that 2 waitresses weren’t quite enough so the owner was helping out. He was friendly and talked to us for a while.
Our last trip, I recall we had a bowl of noodle soup with lamb, and Chinese herbs. The taste was different but good.
So if you don’t mind the first impression of low ceiling and somewhat-​dark interior, I would say the food is what you come here for.

If I could give less than 1 star I would this place is atrocious. The service is non existent and they are extremely rude. I asked for a glass of ice water and after waiting half an hour for someone to see me she didn’t even let me finish my sentence before taking my cup and returning my cup with another moldy cup. Utterly disgusting and I will be placing a complaint with the better business bureau. Do not come here !!!

The food here is one of the most authentic and truly Taiwanese restaurants in OC. The portions are very generous and are suitable for bigger parties. They also served the dishes really quickly. The overall ambiance is nice and I have no complaints. The prices are low as well which is a huge plus. That being said, the service could definitely be improved. I came on a Tuesday night and there was only one waiter serving around 8 tables and I definitely saw a lot of customers get impatient. I would definitely recommend here for the great tasting food though!

OK I was wrong about service being improved, they did hire 2 more waitress but they only have one working during lunch at a time, and it was a busy day (well 4 tables, but that was more then she could handle) and guess what she was overwhelmed and forgetful, I literally have to go to her to let her know we been sitting at the table with out being acknowledged for awhile and we need to order, and did the same when I asked for check.
I kept coming here from time to time is because I do think the food is not bad and the portion is big, we always have plenty to take home for a second meal, but each time we had to endure the lack of and sucky service, I always get frustrated but I let it go since my mother likes it here, I really don’t think I would come if not with my family, I really suggest the owner here to hire more qualified waiters, but I know this is like a family business and they have a very Taiwanese mentality as how to run this restaurant, which is too bad, because I do think they can be more popular only if they can change the service issue.
Well all 3 stars for the food. Service here is a minus 2 stars.

It pains me to give low ratings, but this place is something else. I had a bad feeling when my mom decided to take me to this place for sizzling steak, but I was open minded and open to try it. To get straight to the point, the sizzling steak was a gigantic disappointment for me. It was the smallest piece of steak I have ever been served for $ 12.99 (plus tax). Along with the steak, which had a nice flab of fat still on it, was a bed of plain noodles with a cut of raw onion. Black pepper sauce was served to me on the side. Steak was bland. overall, everything put together was just not appetizing. Salad was a fist full of lettuce and a dollop of a very pale looking Thousand Island dressing. If you want quality sizzling steak, then i suggest going somewhere else in Diamond Bar or Roland Heights.
As for service, although the waitress seemed nice, the serviced definitely needs improvement. Waitress came up and asked my mom what she would like to order, my mom said her order but the waitress suddenly left without saying anything to bring another table their stinky tofu. Needless to say we were left feeing a little awkward. When it was time to ask for the check, my mom called for the waitress, who was literally 5 – 6 feet away from us, but couldn’t get her attention until she went up to her herself to ask for the check.
I have to say I was extremely disappointed with my «splurge» today. The day I told myself I was going to treat myself to a good meal and ended up with this.

I liked the food here. It was pretty good and I’m pretty sure I’ll find myself back here from time to time. The 3-​cup frog legs was a fun experience, the herbal soup lamb ramen had a good flavor to it, although the ramen can’t really be considered ramen, and both the oyster pancake and the oyster noodles [o wa mi swa] were devoured. Tasty.
That being said, yeah, brace yourself folks, the service here is pretty poor. You NEED to know Mandarin or else, it seems like it will be a world of hurt. We had to flag our server down several times in order to get what we wanted.
They do have quite a variety of foods on their menu, but try to exercise caution as you order, knowing that, if it’s not Taiwanese, it probably won’t be done well aka walnut shrimp.
The portions are pretty generous and the prices are pretty good for what you get [except for $ 15.00 for a 3-​cup chicken. that crazy talk there].
If you can bear with the whole unreliable customer service thing, the food’s not bad. It could get greasy/​salty, so you may want to request for less salt when you order.
Plenty of parking in the lot.

My cousin put it this way: «If you aren’t in a rush and have some time to kill one, this is the place to come».
Now it isn’t as bad as it sounds. The food here is definitely well worth the price. I got the Sizzling New York steak and it was well worth the price. I’ve been to other restaurants where a dish like this would be around $ 20 but it was only around $ 12 here! The steak was super tender and the noodles were satisfying with the black pepper sauce. One thing I found strange about the place was their supply of food. Three people in our party had order that dish, but right when the waitress put the order in she came out to our table to say they only had two portions of the Sizzling New York steak. And guess what… we were the first party in the restaurant. I can understand if they ran out mid-​way through service, but we literally were the first people they were serving on a Saturday afternoon. How does this place even make money if they can’t supply a staple like steak?!
Another thing that turned me off was how unstaffed the place was. It was obvious that the ONE waitress managing the floor was extremely overwhelmed. When we pestered her about missing components about dishes, she was genuinely sorry and apologetic. If we were to pester someone like that at another restaurant we would definitely wonder if the waitress would spit in our food. If someone that manage this restaurant reads this post, you all definitely need to hire more people. Your food is great and affordable, your service just needs a bit more work.
Will I be back here? Maybe… if I have the time. The portions are definitely large enough for you to take home for another meal. It’s just whether or not you have the patience to wait for the one waitress to frantically make her way to your table.
So in the end:
Food: 4 stars
Service: 2 stars

I will only come here for the intestine hot pot. It’s soooo good and that’s what my stars are for.
Yah, I said it. intestines… large intestines. It comes in an individual sized pot with veggies like nappa cabbage, carrot, spinach, mushrooms, glass noodle, and a bowl of rice. The soup base is the perfect blend of spicy and sweet. There are other hot pots you can pick too… the other one I was thinking about getting was the lamb.
Oyster Pancake — this was just okay to me. Nothing special but supposedly it’s really really good here. I’m not a big fan of it in the first place so don’t take my word for it.
The service is really slow here and the restaurant itself is kind of dirty/​sticky but what authentic ethnic food restaurant isn’t?

I came here on New Years because a few family friends recommended that we try it.
The first thing I noticed when I walked into the restaurant was the «Please wait to be seated» sign. My family and I stood there for a few minutes before walking through the hall and into the dining area since nobody helped getting us «seated.»
As soon as I walked into the dining area, I noticed two waitresses running around (despite a half-​empty restaurant) and the manager/​boss behind the counter dealing with a few other customers. We waited a few minutes, hoping that the waitresses would notice us and get us seated, but they didn’t. Instead, we had to ask them TWICE before they finally told us to sit wherever. At this point, we were getting a bit impatient (like the rest of the customers at the establishment). The waitresses were still running around taking care of their duties one-​by-​one. Some of the other customers wrote down their own orders because they couldn’t wait any longer, so we followed along and did that as well.
Next thing I noticed was that the table mats had oil stains, so I’m guessing they either reused some older table mats without replacing them, or they forgot to wipe the table. Nonetheless, it’s unacceptable. After we placed our order, the waitresses brought us our tea and it tasted just like warm tap water. Did they dilute it several times throughout the day or did they just want to conserve on those tea leaves… who knows?
There wasn’t anything special about the food here. My friend had recommended the minced pork rice, but in my opinion, it was alright. We also ordered the Taiwanese oyster pancakes, 空心菜 (a stir fry vegetable dish), and the 羊肉爐 (lamb pot?), none of which were that great. Compared to the other Taiwanese establishments around the area, this place is pretty bad.
Midway through our meal, the chef and his wife came to speak with our family, since we knew them when they used to work at a different restaurant at the Pacific Plaza food court in Rowland Heights. As we were discussing the recent rainstorms, the owners said that they asked a few employees to stay home since they expected heavy rain (making it inconvenient for them to drive) and a few customers. I’m sure they just didn’t want to pay extra to their employees for working on a holiday.
One thing I really hated was that they didn’t turn on their heater. Not only was I freezing, but the food would get cold within 5 minutes. Several customers went to speak with the manager/​boss, but she didn’t turn on the heater until an hour before closing. Bravo.
Short version: The service and cleanliness of the restaurant was terrible. The food isn’t terrible, but it’s nothing special. I’m only giving it two stars, because I feel like some of their food isn’t that bad, but that’s just me.

Don’t come here. I’m an elite, and I know what I’m talking about… at least i hope i know what i’m talking about…
This place is the very definition of a one star restaurant. Service sucked, food was sub par, they forgot my grandma vegetarian food so she was starving for a while and rude and forgetful waiters. Honestly, please do not come here and support this place. It pains me to say that, cuz they’re a Taiwanese restaurant and i’m usually biased towards Taiwanese things. However, my experience here was awful.
When we arrived, it was pretty empty. Only two others tables were occupied, and thought to ourself that service should be pretty speedy. So we ordered like 7 or 8 dishes. Nope, service was slow as hell! We asked for hot tea and iced water… Guess what? They forgot that many times. I seriously lost count on how many times we had to remind them for the hot water and iced water. It was infuriating.
All of the dishes we ordered the only saving grace was the stinky tofu… But then again, how does one mess up stinky tofu?!? The other meat, chicken, and seafood dishes were dry and tasteless. Notice how I didn’t write any veggies dishes… Yeah, cuz they fucking forgot it. My poor grandma was really hungry and by the time her food, and everyone else at the table already finished, so we just decided to box it to go home.
we decided to ask for a comp for the veggie meal since it took over 40 mins to get it, but they were so stingy to give us any discount. i mean… you make someone wait that long and don’t do anything in their favor? They didn’t even say sorry, and gave us a bullshit excuse as to why it took that long. «we had to wash everything to make sure nothing is contaminated with meat.» wtf, it takes 40 mins to wash dishes?! fuck that.
I will never come back to this place. I don’t understand how other people can say this place is similar to homecook or authentic Taiwanese food. NO. this place is where you go if you want to be treated poorly, have mediocre food, and wait for eternity for your food.

Been here a couple times; the Chinese name is 台北老街 with literal translation of Taipei Old Street. There are lots of selections on the menu including hot pot, Taiwanese street food, noodles, rice, Taiwanese style steak (served on sizzling hot plate and egg), and other dish on the secret menu. However, food here won’t wow you, and the price (starting $ 8 and up) is okay since they give you above average portion.
We come here because there usually is not much wait for tables. The restaurant is located in a remote and tiny plaza. The service is a hit and miss as it’s a mom and pop shop with few staff working. They are friendly but can’t seem to keep track of the orders and need reminders a few times.
Oyster Pancake — the only place that add mushroom in oyster pancakes, still edible just different
Stinky Tofu — average, not that stinky and served with few pickled cabbage, not enough to pair with stinky tofu
Hot Pot — individual size pot served with tray of veggies (spinach, nappa cabbage, glass noodle, few slices of kabocha, fried taro) and fish cake. There are lots of soup base to choose from
3 Cup Chicken (三杯雞) — good flavor but the sauce was bit gooey
五更腸旺 — don’t remember the English name — spicy and love the duck blood cubes
Stir Fried Mustard Green with Bean Curd Knots (雪菜頁結) vegetarian dish — veggies/​knots are not chopped into tiny pieces like it should be served which made it difficult to eat and subpar flavor. Surprised they messed up this dish as this was listed in their secret dish menu and it’s hard to make a bad one.