Java Cafe

Pretty genuine Taiwanese food here. Stir fried dishes are good. I like the green bamboo with pork and Taiwanese style noodles.

The food makes me nostalgic because it is so authentic and really brings back those hot and humid days in Taiwan, where I enjoyed bomb ass food every single day :)
Also, knowing my parents were vegetarian they cooked special dishes for them excluding onion and garlic (because we don’t eat that either), yet everything is will so delicious. The servers were friendly, nice and cozy space, good food.
I really recommend the 小籠包 (xiao long bao)
Eat here if you want a taste of REAL Taiwanese!

Love this place! Food is delicious. The only downside is the service is more or less nonexistent. Also highly recommend coming here with someone that speaks mandarin.

Just feel customer service can be smarter. It is very hot day, waitress didn’t ever ask water or hot tea. She just give hot tea.
This small restaurant really need friendship to make it success. Or make each customer feel happy to eat there.
For example, I order a clear beef noodle soup. I need extra stuff — Chinese sauerkraut. No we don’t serve it at clear beef noodle soup. This is really hurting customer feeling.
Anyway,
Food taste: 5 stars
Customer service: 1 star
Environment: 4 stars
Price: very expensive. Is it worth? My answer is NO.

A hidden gem in Rowland Heights. This place is really good Taiwanese food and is a step above the casual popcorn chicken stuff you’ll find at other places. This place is actually more of a restaurant than a café, and it is a great place to take your family.

I really feel like this place should have changed their name — this is not the same restaurant that it was 2 – 3 years ago — they’ve since changed owners and chefs, but for some reason decided to keep the name «Java Café» and subsequently all of the crappy reviews that were meant for the previous restaurant. This place is definitely deserving of 5 stars. I always have a good experience here and the food is always on point. My regulars are a-​cai, wonton soup, mapo tofu, fried rice, and a couple meat dishes. I also love the peanuts and other small starter dishes that they give you for free. Yes, there is a slight smell of chlorine, but this comes from the spa next door that is connected to the restaurant and it’s probably something that they can’t help.

This is a great, authentic Taiwanese restuarant. It’s cozy, and the owners and servers are friendly. Most importantly, the food is delicious. It’s some of the most authentic Taiwanese food I’ve had outside of Taiwan! I can’t wait to go back again.

Small but warm. Simple yet hearty dishes which you can tell someone put their heart into it. Magical how this place invoked a sense of home.

Not good — not coming back at all

Finally tried it a few days ago. I always wonder how this place was after many years. First of all, I thought it kinda smelled in here. 2^nd of all, their service is horrendous (i mean i guess you expected it but it’s still bad.)
My mom got this pork belly combo dish. I thought it tasted pretty good. Just very oily and felt like I could drink a gallon of water. They had like nice sidedishes too which was quite nice. Bean curds w/​meat and cabbages.
I got the chef recommendation of salted pork. It was alright. It was around $ 11 but they give a good amount of pork. It gets deadly as they all have fat on it and it gets kinda bland as you eat the same thing over and over. They give you vinegar which I thought you don’t really need and doesn’t complement w/​the pork.
Idk if i’ll be back… i mean it wasn’t the worst food i’ve had but when you kinda drop dishes on my table and not even treat us well when we’re your only customers during that span… well what can i say?

Great Taiwanese food for a great price. Small coozy place with a nice lady in the front.

Had it for the first time a few weeks ago, went back again today with the parents and kids. It’s located next to Rennaissance Spa across the street form Speed Zone, not quite hole in the wall but probably not where I’d be looking for restaurants. We were referred here by a good friend and our first experience was good enough that we brought back the whole family. We liked the unique flavor this place brings, not your usualy «restaurant» flavors, ie, not the overly spicy, oily, or flavored food. It’s more like the family fair that you get from an auntie who’s like a weekend Michellin Star chef. Very Authentic Taiwanese flavors with cilantro, basil etc, not heavy in the oils and no excess flavors. Like it a lot.
The menus change with the seasons, ask the waitress what’s available and fresh. We had the salty pork (not very salty at all, very good texture), some veggie called «dragon whiskers?» very good, the hollow tube veggie (garlic style, very good). We had bamboo shoot stir fried shredded pork (highly recommend), stinky tofu (awesome!), stir fried rice vermicelli very good. Pork cheek meat was good too. There are many other dishes. Will take a few more trips to try them all.

First visit to this Taiwanese food restaurant. Upon entering the restaurant, was greeted by a friendly lady who was very passionate. We asked what were their specialty dishes, she recommended the beef noodle soup and the 3-​cup chicken. We also ordered some cold appetizers (seaweed, tofu and eggs). Overall, the food were very decent + felt very healthy. Will definitely return again for the friendly service and great food. Keep up the great work.

ORDER: House special beef noodle soup, minced pork over rice, Taiwanese sausage, pan-​fried leek pies, mixed combination
GOOD:
+ Food: I’m not sure if it’s because I was starving after using the spa facilities next door or because it was just that good, but the food was so… so good. So good. Maybe it was a combination of both. But I do recommend eating there instead of taking it to-​go. Food just tastes better when it comes straight out of the kitchen!
+ Service: I was always served by the same woman, so I can’t say anything about any other people, but she’s pretty nice and quick with everything. I like her. :)
+ Price: Average/​fair for Taiwanese food
+ Parking: Private parking lot available shared with other businesses, lots of parking but sometimes they get a little crowded
+ Atmosphere: nice, clean, quaint, and very chill. They actually have a connecting door to the Renaissance Spa facility’s common area, which I think is AWESOME. I walked in to the restaurant barefooted and in my after-​spa shirt and shorts. I don’t know how many places are cool with that, but I thought it was so cool of them!
+ They do take card (not cash only)
BAD:
— Food: This is a personal preference kind of thing, but I wouldn’t recommend the pan-​fried leek pies. They’re a little dry… (probably wasn’t as good because I took it to-​go too, so I’m willing to try it again when I have time to sit down and eat it then and there). My boyfriend had the noodle soup, so I can’t really say about that one either.
— Seating: probably not a good place for a huge party, but good for 1 – 6 people?
OVERALL: OH HECK YEA I’m coming back! I’ve got lots more to try. :P

Best Taiwanese food in Rowland Heights area! Been here 5 times and tried out quite a few dishes and I have to say they’re all authentic!

This place is connected to the Korean spa, Spa Renaissance, next door, so don’t be surprised if you see customers like me coming in wearing slippers and uniform T-​shirts and shorts! :)
The restaurant closes from 3 PM to 5 PM, so the door was locked from the spa side. By 5:15 PM, we had to knock on the door to get them to unlock because they forgot to do so… But anyway, I ordered the black bean paste noodles while my boyfriend ordered some kind of meat cutlet. I actually really enjoyed my noodles and my boyfriend enjoyed his meal as well. The food was freshly made and well-​seasoned. All the side dishes that came with his cutlet were also really tasty. For dessert, they ran out of shaved snow, so we ordered the black sugar shaved ice instead. It was HUGE, too big for just two people, but it was extremely refreshing to eat after spending some time at the spa.
I actually really enjoyed the food here, although the service is a little lacking. I thought prices were okay. I think there are other Taiwanese places that are more generous with their portions, but the portions here will satisfy. It’s a convenient place for some yummy Taiwanese food if you’re in the area or at the spa next door.
Based on this experience alone, I’d give this place 4 stars for the yummy food. Good eats after a day at the spa!

Food was good… but service is quite lacking. We were ready to order and it took almost ten mins just to put in our order. When we got our green onion pancake, we asked for soy sauce… the lady was like you want it. Why? And why didn’t you ask in the beginning? (actually, this exchange was translated from the man, I no speakie the mandarin).
Uh. Wow. That’s all I can say. Couldn’t believe it.
Food was really tasty… *sigh*
What we ordered —
Green onion pancake — decent. Crispy in the outside, inside is all nice and warm
Shredded pork, tofu, squid and celery dish. No rice.
Clear beef noodle soup. pretty tasty. Tidbit from the man — Apparently you can’t really find this noodle soup everywhere. I guess it’s not a common style of beef noodle soup that is served in the states, but you can find it in Taiwan. Um ok. :D So, it’s a clear beef broth with noodles and beef stew. It’s marinated but not braised.
Braised beef noodle soup comes with picked vegetables on the side you can pour in.
So the man and I were happy about the food, but HATED the service. He said I’m not leaving a tip because we didn’t get any service. So we left without leaving a tip, and the angry lady server came out and told us we forgot to leave a tip. The man told her that you get tips for service and we didn’t get any. WOW. hahahahah I still laugh about that incident.
Hopefully the next time we come the angry lady/​server isn’t here because the food was so delicious.

Wow. How can a business like this DOUBLE SWIPE my debit card?
Yes, I got charged twice for my order. I had to find out through Chase Online.
I think I know why though.
If you’re a young teenager or you look like a young teenager, stay the hell away from this place. They’ll take advantage of you as much as possible.
First of all, we had a waitress with horrible green eye shadow serve us. She was ridiculously pushy and spoke to us in a patronizing manner. When my friend asked the waitress whether they had anything particularly spicy, the waitress told us ‘no’ and kept on assisting my friend to buy a entrée that IS their ‘spiciest’ one yet.
My friend told her no, but no, that waitress did not stop.
When the waitress seated us a table, she basically threw our utensils and cups on the table. Did she bother setting it? No. In her eyes, we looked young, so she assumed it didn’t matter.
Not only that, she had a friend customer enter in after us. Her rude personality instantly changed into something more pleasantly sweet. She sat her friend on the next table, and blatantly talked about us in Chinese.
«Yeah, it’s interesting how all the 小朋友點不同的菜 (little kids ordered different kinds of entrees).»
«Yeah, I wonder where their parents are at.»
«You know, their rich parents probably took him there before. That’s why they came.»
It was funny because she knew we spoke Chinese. She knew we were right there.
The point is: she didn’t care.
We came in there only because it was attached to Spa Renaissance. This horrible b– killed my spa mood.
Yeah, I get it. Asians look young. Even Asians like that waitress gets fooled too.
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DON’T ORDER ANYTHING WITH RICE.
You THINK it’s not possible to screw up rice?
THEY’LL SHOW YOU!!!
It’s MUSHY and horrible. You don’t need to try to believe me.
The only upside of their restaurant was the free tea and their taiwanese beef noodle soup base was great. I just had a runny stomach after eating there. Hm… suspicious?
Now that I’m thinking back… I’m pretty damn sure they’ve overcharged us. My friend’s beef wrap should’ve not cost $ 8 bucks +. I didn’t double check. I just wanted to get the hell out of there.
NEVER COME HERE. You can’t trust the waiter. You can’t trust the receipt. And you sure can’t trust their food unless you want a runny stomach too!

I was lured here by the signage on the street that proclaimed «Authentic Taiwanese Little Eats» 真中台灣小吃. There are plenty of Taiwanese eateries in the Los Angeles area. But you can literally count the good ones on one hand. I decided to give this place a try since I’ve never been there.
The place is next door to a popular Korean spa next door. That is not the ideal location for a restaurant. Upon entry, there is an unmistakable chlorine stench in the air. Big minus! The overly eager mainland Chinese waitress immediately ordered me to sit at any table. Another big minus.
I scanned through the menu and I was a bit disappointed. Most of the dishes are Chinese dishes with a few Taiwanese dishes thrown in. The standard Taiwanese «little eats» were there but not the true Taiwanese ones that I was craving like Sticky Rice in Clay Cup and Fish Paste Soup. So I decided to play it safe and ordered a Popcorn Chicken meal and a Sausage in Big Rice Roll 大腸包小腸 that is rare in the US.
The complimentary braised peanuts were delicious. Very flavorful and nicely cooked all the way through without being soggy. The Popcorn Chicken meal came out first. To my surprised, it came with a couple of veggie side dishes — soy bean tips and celery and an ice tea. The Popcorn Chicken was okay. Not very crispy and the flavor was mediocre.
The Sausage in Big Rice Roll, something I was definitely looking forward to, was simply terrible. The sticky rice was dry and they cut it in pieces and obviously reheated it causing it to harden. They cut the sausage in pieces as well and simply put it in between the sticky rice. Not the most authentic at all. That was definitely not worth the $ 6.95 price tag.
The whole meal came out to a almost $ 15 and with the tip was $ 18 for 2 dishes. I’m fine with the pricing if the quality is up to par. Needless to say I won’t be coming back and this is definitely not worth writing home about :(

Two because I have experienced better. If they clean up their act, I’ll be back.
The food? It’s a 3-​star place. Food is average, restaurant is kinda small with hodgepodge sized tables. The sign makes the place look a lot bigger than it really is.
As far as flies and bugs, yeah, we had some in our soup too. The manager took it off our bill but still. Come on. You can’t say it’s because you didn’t see it when you washed it, I’m sorry. You’re a restaurant.
So service was more of a 1 star but you’ll get that a lot at these sub par places. It’s not horrible but it’s only going to survive if they step it up.