Found this place out of some nowhere blog recommendations and it took me some effort to convince my husband to give it a try. It is just hard to find authentic Taiwanese food here in LA. And out of our surprises, it is more than just good... As a born Taiwanese, I can confidently say the food reminded me of my hometown especially the mochi. It tasted exactly like the one I had in my childhood. Lol And the Dan-Dan noodle, hot/sour soup are also very very delicious. And big plus to the service/staffs here, they are so friendly and attentive. Will definitely come back!
This is my thing…Love the thousand layer pancake with “everything” on it!If you’re getting this to-go you need to eat it fresh out the restaurant!It’s hot and crunchy, cheese is melted through has egg in there….and the basil with the chili sauce takes it up there and that’s on me!!The Chiayi chicken rice with scallion oil and house made pickles another top hit of mine.
WOW. Before i start talking about the food, let me just say the atmosphere is very calm and chill, but warm but also not too intimate. Perfect for a first date or friendly dinner or even with a longtime partner and y’all show up every 2nd Wednesday for like a year straight. Music is a mix of lo-fi and rnb and also hip hop and tame impala and some house. Pretty solid. Staff are all cool and are all pretty unique in their own way. Very helpful and don’t mind answering questions.I had to show y’all two pics of the bao because it was that fire. I was using their chili/red pepper oil like a mf’er goes perfect with everything. Not really that spicy until you put the other thicker chili sauce on too. But bao was pretty fluffy steamed bun. And pork cuts were thick and seasoned very well. Just needed some extra sauce fr.The layered pancake was so worth it, i got everything on it cuz that was suggested by the waitress. And dawg that tasted like one of the items they have to be known for. As you can see i added a lil sauce on this one too. ??????I completely forgot the name of the soup i had(slack season) but i remember it had shrimp inside and i also ordered the five spice beef on the side and threw it into my soup. Crazy enough, it wasn’t dry whatsoever but retained its moisture even outside of the broth. Because i definitely added it to my noodles. And as you can see i cleaned the whole bowl out.The only thing i wasn’t too much of a fan of was the rice pudding. The sweet potato taro inside however was actually pretty good and i enjoyed that but the texture of the pudding mixed with the overall sweetness just didn’t sit right with me. I will get the mochi next time for sure.They also have an extensive selection of beverages. From teas to booch and sake you really can’t go wrong at all. Overall this place brought me total joy from beginning to end. And i was doing my happy dance while eating the whole time. Would definitely recommend 10/10.
Lives up to the name. The decor and food is very cheerful and a celebration of Chinese flavors. I recommend the mapo tofu and the pork rice, but there are some more interesting dishes to try as well.
A little gem in the middle of HLP.Best dandan noods outside of SGV!Love the open seating and the ambiance of this place. Love the cold dishes as well and their mochiiii OMGGG!! MY FAVE!!
Nice place for some Taiwanese food. Minced pork rice was decent, a bit on the salty side.Mochi was great, but also somewhat salty.
We ate dinner here. Waited about 30 minutes to order and be seated. It was very good. Prices are reasonable. Helpings are generous. I had hot and sour soup, bean curd salad. Everything we had was delicious. I will return.
General thoughts: Joy is the kind of place where you can order a bunch of different stuff to try them out. It finds a perfect balance between traditional flavors and the modern style dining experience. You order at the counter grad a number, food would be brought to your table. However, the service is still superb.DISHES - I really liked the portion of each dish. My favorite is the Mapo tofu, while the dish is not traditionally from Taiwan, Joy does provides with an authentic taste, the slickness and the silky texture of the tofu is just right. It was so perfect to have it with a bowl of rice. The minced pork rice is a classic dish and this place didn’t let me down, either. I found the thousand layer pancake very interesting, it certainly tastes nice, but I found it to be slightly too oily and greasy. Wonton soup came in small portion, but the quality was really high.I def hope to visit this place again if I’m ever in the area. I really look forward to trying the dessert options here!
Great experience! The thousand layer pancake with cheese, basil, & chili sauce was definitely good however it was slightly hard. The Dan Dan noodles were okay, not a fan of peanut sauce, but I added chili oil and hot sauce and it made it taste a lot more balanced. Had the fruit shaved ice cream and I think I ate it wrong but SUPER GOOD. I think I was suppose to mix it. Overall great experience for first time.
Fantastic place to eat ! Everything was fresh and served extremely fast. The environment of the restaurant is modern, spacious and wonderfully bright. There was a very good vibe. Please taste one of their drink ! The only minus side is the food is a bit too salty. Felt all day thirsty