Best Taiwanese food in the Bay Area! My husband and I eat here every week because there are so many choices and they are all authentically delicious. I gathered my 9 foodie friends, including my husband, when I saw their Chinese New Year banquet menu. The ten of us sat at their brand new big round table, we stuffed ourselves with amazing traditional Taiwanese banquet gourmets, (totally different from the regular menu.) We also had boxes of leftovers for another meal. $600, 12 dishes, more than enough for 10 people; it equates to $5 per dish per person! After 10.75% tax and 20% tips, it's still less than $6.54 per dish per person! Plenty of food for 12 (or more if you're watching your weight. ) We ate 12 incredible dishes (see menu and food photos,) and we were 10 happily stuffed foodies wanting to do this again. The proprietor said to please give them at least two weeks notice for them to make a new banquet menu and buy the fresh ingredients anytime we want to taste another special meal. They are ready now for you to make a reservation and come enjoy the wonderful Chinese New Year banquet meal. Happy Eating!
Edith C.
Really authentic menu, friendly service, nice spacious restaurant. The portions were generous and food was great.
Katherine L.
So excited for another Taiwanese place! Came here and ordered take out. The woman taking orders was very friendly and spoke English very well. These are the things I tried: - Rice in a barrel: taste was good but disappointed that it didn't have much or any at all of meat and mushrooms. It also didn't come with the red sweetish sauce. - fried chicken roll: the inside filling was a bit mushy but otherwise delicious! - fried pork chop: nicely flavored and fried with a nice light breading. - oyster omelette: the red sauce was solid and the omelette itself was good but the oysters were quite pungent. - string beans: overly cooked but maybe because of the take out, had more onions than I had expected, but had good flavor. Overall not bad and I am glad that they have many options.
Joseph
This time my wife and I had stinky tofu, oyster pancake, veggie with meat sauce, steam meatball, and squid soup. 5 stars for the food and service. All the dishes I mentioned above were done just as I had in Taiwan. Great stuff. Will go back soon. If you are from Taiwan and missing the night market food then this is the place to go.
Atmosphere: 4
Food: 5
Service: 5
Recommended dishes: Wok Fried String Bean, Taiwanese Sausage, Egg Plant with Basil, Beef Soup, Oyster Pancake 蚵仔煎, House Special Chicken, Hot and Sour Soup, Deep Fried Oyster, Taiwanese Fry Chicken, Stinky Tofu
Judy C.
I've been to chef Cho many times; every time I crave Taiwanese snacks, I come to this place. They offer a wide variety of dishes at reasonable prices! The restaurant has plenty of seating, and there are many parking spaces outside. I would actually give the score 4.5/5 to them. Dish Recommendations: - Stinky tofu $9.5 It's sufficiently stinky and juicy; I order it every time I come! - Rice cake cooked in barrel $6.35 The rice cake is very flavorful. - Crispy pork intestine $9.5 I've tried other intestine dishes before, and they were all pretty good. - Dried sergestid shrimp & egg fried rice $16.75 The shrimp flavor is delicious! Not Recommended: - Oyster pancake $9.75 Ordered it twice; even though there's a lot of oysters, the fishy smell is too strong. The smell even affected the nearby egg; couldn't finish it.
Sici T.
Food was so so, chef forgot to put seasoning in one of our dishes. No service at all! The lady gave us a piece of paper to write down our order. You do feel like you are eating street food (on the street) as there's no decorations. Won't go back.
Great food. Truly authentic and delicious. Very friendly staff who are clearly from Taiwan. This is a good thing. I hope this place does well. Stinky tofu is the best.
Atmosphere: 5
Food: 5
Service: 5
Eva L.
There are barely any Taiwanese restaurants in this part of the east bay so I was very excited to try out Chef Cho. We came on a Saturday evening and there was no wait. It's located in the same plaza as Ranch 99 so there is plenty of parking spots. The restaurant is pretty big and all the tables are evenly spaced out. It's a good place to have a casual lunch or dinner with friends or family but it's probably not the best place to bring a date. After quickly seating us, the waiter gave us water and hot tea. It's our first time here so we wanted to try a good amount of food on the menu. We ordered oyster pancake, house special (3 cups) chicken, seafood chow mein, stir fried veggies and the Hsinchu duck noodle. Our #1 favorite was the house special chicken, it was tender and flavorful, you can taste the soy sauce, rice wine and there's also a kick to it. The basil added that extra touch to the dish. Portion size was good and cost was very affordable for Bay Area living standards. The portion size was adequate for the other dishes and the price was reasonable but they didn't stand out to us in terms of taste compared to the house special chicken. Our least favorite was the Hsinchu duck noodle. Service was very attentive and the waiter who helped us was very comical. The food is a solid 3 stars but the good service alone deserves an extra star. If you happen to be in the area, this is a restaurant worth getting your Taiwanese food craving satisfied.
Po-Cheng Pan
Taro and pork ribs soup: The taste is just like the authentic crispy pork ribs soup. The taro is in small pieces.Stinky Tofu: Stinky but too little kimchiChicken steak: similar to the common chicken steakPan-fried shrimps: quite delicious. The sauce is sweeter in southern Taiwan. The big buns are small: really useful. The large intestine is on the outermost edge. It is not just rice sausage wrapped in sausages, but the rice is oily rice with peanuts.
Atmosphere: 2
Food: 4
Service: 2
Recommended dishes: Stinky Tofu
Susan T.
We came here to get some stinky tofu and oh my god my boyfriend was in love. He said it taste pretty athletic to him. The lady at the front was super sweet honestly all the food is so fresh. There were a lot of family that came here to eat. The place was super clean would we definitely come back.
Solid food, really friendly staff
Atmosphere: 5
Food: 5
Service: 5
Great Taiwanese food! The meat soup with rice noodles and oyster omelette are both of high quality, and the glutinous rice sausage is also delicious.
Atmosphere: 5
Food: 5
Service: 5
The Best Taiwanese Restaurant in the Bay Area!!! Delicious, authentic food and great service.
Atmosphere: 5
Food: 5
Service: 5
Diverse choices, authentic Chinese cuisine, good service, and convenient
Atmosphere: 5
Food: 5
Service: 5
Recommended dishes: taiwanese braised pork rice 卤肉饭, 蕃茄炒蛋
Best Taiwanese food in the Bay Area! My husband and I eat here every week because there are so many choices and they are all authentically delicious. I gathered my 9 foodie friends, including my husband, when I saw their Chinese New Year banquet menu. The ten of us sat at their brand new big round table, we stuffed ourselves with amazing traditional Taiwanese banquet gourmets, (totally different from the regular menu.) We also had boxes of leftovers for another meal. $600, 12 dishes, more than enough for 10 people; it equates to $5 per dish per person! After 10.75% tax and 20% tips, it's still less than $6.54 per dish per person! Plenty of food for 12 (or more if you're watching your weight. ) We ate 12 incredible dishes (see menu and food photos,) and we were 10 happily stuffed foodies wanting to do this again. The proprietor said to please give them at least two weeks notice for them to make a new banquet menu and buy the fresh ingredients anytime we want to taste another special meal. They are ready now for you to make a reservation and come enjoy the wonderful Chinese New Year banquet meal. Happy Eating!
Really authentic menu, friendly service, nice spacious restaurant. The portions were generous and food was great.
So excited for another Taiwanese place! Came here and ordered take out. The woman taking orders was very friendly and spoke English very well. These are the things I tried: - Rice in a barrel: taste was good but disappointed that it didn't have much or any at all of meat and mushrooms. It also didn't come with the red sweetish sauce. - fried chicken roll: the inside filling was a bit mushy but otherwise delicious! - fried pork chop: nicely flavored and fried with a nice light breading. - oyster omelette: the red sauce was solid and the omelette itself was good but the oysters were quite pungent. - string beans: overly cooked but maybe because of the take out, had more onions than I had expected, but had good flavor. Overall not bad and I am glad that they have many options.
This time my wife and I had stinky tofu, oyster pancake, veggie with meat sauce, steam meatball, and squid soup. 5 stars for the food and service. All the dishes I mentioned above were done just as I had in Taiwan. Great stuff. Will go back soon. If you are from Taiwan and missing the night market food then this is the place to go.
Atmosphere: 4
Food: 5
Service: 5
Recommended dishes: Wok Fried String Bean, Taiwanese Sausage, Egg Plant with Basil, Beef Soup, Oyster Pancake 蚵仔煎, House Special Chicken, Hot and Sour Soup, Deep Fried Oyster, Taiwanese Fry Chicken, Stinky Tofu
I've been to chef Cho many times; every time I crave Taiwanese snacks, I come to this place. They offer a wide variety of dishes at reasonable prices! The restaurant has plenty of seating, and there are many parking spaces outside. I would actually give the score 4.5/5 to them. Dish Recommendations: - Stinky tofu $9.5 It's sufficiently stinky and juicy; I order it every time I come! - Rice cake cooked in barrel $6.35 The rice cake is very flavorful. - Crispy pork intestine $9.5 I've tried other intestine dishes before, and they were all pretty good. - Dried sergestid shrimp & egg fried rice $16.75 The shrimp flavor is delicious! Not Recommended: - Oyster pancake $9.75 Ordered it twice; even though there's a lot of oysters, the fishy smell is too strong. The smell even affected the nearby egg; couldn't finish it.
Food was so so, chef forgot to put seasoning in one of our dishes. No service at all! The lady gave us a piece of paper to write down our order. You do feel like you are eating street food (on the street) as there's no decorations. Won't go back.
Restaurantji Recommends
Authentic Taiwanese snack
Atmosphere: 5
Food: 5
Service: 5
Great food. Truly authentic and delicious. Very friendly staff who are clearly from Taiwan. This is a good thing. I hope this place does well. Stinky tofu is the best.
Atmosphere: 5
Food: 5
Service: 5
There are barely any Taiwanese restaurants in this part of the east bay so I was very excited to try out Chef Cho. We came on a Saturday evening and there was no wait. It's located in the same plaza as Ranch 99 so there is plenty of parking spots. The restaurant is pretty big and all the tables are evenly spaced out. It's a good place to have a casual lunch or dinner with friends or family but it's probably not the best place to bring a date. After quickly seating us, the waiter gave us water and hot tea. It's our first time here so we wanted to try a good amount of food on the menu. We ordered oyster pancake, house special (3 cups) chicken, seafood chow mein, stir fried veggies and the Hsinchu duck noodle. Our #1 favorite was the house special chicken, it was tender and flavorful, you can taste the soy sauce, rice wine and there's also a kick to it. The basil added that extra touch to the dish. Portion size was good and cost was very affordable for Bay Area living standards. The portion size was adequate for the other dishes and the price was reasonable but they didn't stand out to us in terms of taste compared to the house special chicken. Our least favorite was the Hsinchu duck noodle. Service was very attentive and the waiter who helped us was very comical. The food is a solid 3 stars but the good service alone deserves an extra star. If you happen to be in the area, this is a restaurant worth getting your Taiwanese food craving satisfied.
Taro and pork ribs soup: The taste is just like the authentic crispy pork ribs soup. The taro is in small pieces.Stinky Tofu: Stinky but too little kimchiChicken steak: similar to the common chicken steakPan-fried shrimps: quite delicious. The sauce is sweeter in southern Taiwan. The big buns are small: really useful. The large intestine is on the outermost edge. It is not just rice sausage wrapped in sausages, but the rice is oily rice with peanuts.
Atmosphere: 2
Food: 4
Service: 2
Recommended dishes: Stinky Tofu
We came here to get some stinky tofu and oh my god my boyfriend was in love. He said it taste pretty athletic to him. The lady at the front was super sweet honestly all the food is so fresh. There were a lot of family that came here to eat. The place was super clean would we definitely come back.