Red Hot Wok

Note to vegans: ask them to hold the complimentary soup. It’s a sweet & sour with egg in it. Yuck.
So, I tried the vegi-​noodle dish here and it was fantastic. It came out hot, and perfectly seasoned. You can tell this place cooks with a big open fire.
The only problem I have with this restaurant is that they have yet to offer vegan mock meat proteins. Those products from Vegefarm, Beyond Meat are available in bulk from restaurant suppliers. It’s cruelty free and gives you as much protein as their meat counterparts. it’d be easy for the restaurant to get the new ingredients as well. Vegan Vegi-​protein crumbles are similarly easy to find. Places like Veggie Garden and Garden Fresh in Mountain View offer asian vegan foods. In case the business owner/​manager reads this review I’ve supplied a link to a resource that explains exactly how to get these veggie protein bits: The full list of restaurant suppliers is on page 17 here:
Here’s a short list of bulk suppliers I found searching «vegan meat alternative bulk supplier»
There are a number of suppliers who offer them. Vegefarm, listed in the first two links below is right there in North San Jose. It’d be easy to add this stuff and it would further increase your customer base.
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Chow for now ;-)

Yass this place is so good! I love their lu rou fan (minced pork belly over rice), it’s mixed with the perfect amount of fatty pork belly meat, covered in a saucy marinade, with a delicious egg and pickled veggies, and the bowl is fairly big! The taiwanese sausage fried rice is ranked 2^nd to me. We also ordered the fried pork intestines, and I just don’t think you can really go wrong with a dish of fried food.
Everyone raves about the 3 cup clay pot chicken, and yes it was saucy and delicious, but to me, it wasn’t my favorite dish there. Lots of bones in the little pieces of chicken. It seems like it is marinaded in a blend of soy sauce and ginger slices.
5% off of you use cash here, and minimum $ 20 to charge it on the card.

Food: pork over rice, 3 cups chicken with bones, green beans with garlic.
Everything was delish and tasty and we would reorder these dishes.
Food came out fast and service was surprisingly good. They actually checked on how we were doing and refilled our water.

Red Hot Wok has the BEST minced pork with rice dish (ru rou fan). I have had this dish at many different restaurants in the bay area, and nothing beats Red Hot Woks version. Trust me, it’s THAT good. I also tried their 3 cup chicken, 3 cup bamboo and mushroom, green onion beef, and black pepper sizzling beef. All of these were very good. If you have any room left for dessert, they have snow ice. My favorite is the mango snow ice, but recently I tried the milk with grass jelly, ai-​yu, and subbed red beans for taro; very tasty as well.

I have been living 9 years in Taiwan and I was so happy try out that little Taiwanese spot, that seemed to fit right in the spirit of local Taiwanese beer houses: Large choice of dishes to share among friends, Taiwan beer (Yey!!), dishes menu in Chinese only on the wall (BTW I dislike that. We are in US. English please), very loud and super crapy music!
Cool.
I went there for lunch with my coworker. He had a bento box (Bien dang) with Kung Pao chicken, and I had a la carte 3 cup (San Bei) mushrooms with plain rice on the side.
Verdict: I found the food quite Americanized. My dish was drenched in very liquid and over sweetened sauce (3 cup is supposed to be a little dry and the sauce shouldn’t be that sweet. Seriously, it was like liquid sugar!). It was lacking of garlic. The shrooms were good and well cooked. I’d say «not too bad» but definitely not so great. The portion was huge.
Same verdict for the Kung Pao chicken: drenched in liquid sweet sauce. But why adding red peppers? not sure.
Don’t get me wrong: it wasn’t bad. The quality is «ok». Portions are large. The value for money is very fair.
It just didn’t trigger anything in my mouth and definitely not the «wow» I’d get when I was in Taiwan eating 3 cup dishes.
I think this place could be fun with a bunch of people sharing dishes and drinking beer. I’ll definitely go back, try more and hopefully update my review.
Between you and me, I cannot wait to try the bitter melon with salty eggs… (Hsien Dan Ku Gua)…so…let’s see!
Good service, friendly staff.
Music way too loud.

This place has authentic Taiwanese food and it almost feels like you’re in a small Taiwanese diner when you come here! It’s very crowded and they have wooden desks with benches as seats (so not the most comfortable). But usually, they ask to take your order while you are still waiting to be seated, so your food will come really quickly once you do get seated. Unfortunately, there is no standing room inside, so you end up standing outside in the cold (by this, I mean the Californian definition of «cold») while you wait.
The food smells and tastes like Taiwan! :) Dishes I always get here:
— 月亮蝦餅 (moon shape cake): shrimp cake made with real shrimp (you can tell from the texture). I love love love this dish! The dipping sauce is light and tart, perfect for the crisp and flavorful shrimp cake. The coating on the outside is also thin and not overwhelming, just enough to cover the shrimp-​based filling. Definitely recommend this dish!
— 香腸炒飯 (sausage fried rice): this literally tastes like fried rice I have had in Taiwan. The chef is definitely on point about getting the spices and flavoring right for this. Plus it has some crunch from the vegetables, with solid sausage slices (they don’t skimp either!)
— 鐵板牛柳 (sizzling beef in black pepper sauce): a solid portion of beef and a lot of bell peppers and onions for $ 11. This is the biggest portion size of this dish I’ve seen across many Asian restaurants that I’ve visited. The flavor is solid and there is plenty of pieces of meat, which is also complemented by generous portions of bell peppers and onions. This is my favorite dish here :)
— 雪花冰 (snow ice): they have plenty of flavors ranging from mango, taro, green tea, to chocolate, strawberry, milk (plain). I’ve had both the taro and mango — both of which come with fresh taro and mango, respectively, on the snow ice — most places only give you the flavored snow ice without toppings. Granted it is $ 8 for the large order, but totally worth it in my opinion!
Parking tends to be an issue, but you can park down the street or in the parking lot of United Furniture across the street (especially when they’re closed at night). The wait varies depending on your group size, but we’ve experience anywhere from 5 – 20 minutes for 3 – 4 people. They also serve Taiwanese beer if you miss that! :)
EDIT: Update to include the new dishes I’ve tried!
— 清炒絲瓜 (sauteed luffa): $ 10 bucks for the biggest bowl of luffa I have ever seen! Definitely worth the price and the taste is solid and on point. Recommended!
— 三杯豆腐 (tofu clay pot): for anyone a fan of «three cups» flavor, any of the 三杯 (three cups) dishes are solid as Red Hot Wok does an amazing job with the flavoring with for these. I’m especially a fan of the tofu version because the tofu is crisp on the outside, super tender on the inside, with the powerful flavor of 三杯 (three cups) permeated through and through. The chicken tends to be on the bony side, so if you don’t enjoy picking bones out/​off your meat, give the tofu a try!
— 客棧雙拼 (house special combo with sausage and chicken fried rolls): plentiful helpings of both, which were both flavorful and delicious. The sausage even comes with sliced garlic like it does in Taiwan!
Overall, I’ve liked every single dish I have gotten here and I’ve always experience great service. Definitely a spot I recommend for authentic Taiwanese cuisine!

Seriously, this place is the most authentic Taiwanese restaurant I’ve ever visited in the US. It reminds me of the restaurant/​bars that I used to visit in Taiwan. So delicious. Some of our favorite dishes:
— San Bei Yu — Three Cups Salmon. I’m used to having Three Cups Chicken which is a traditional Taiwanese dish with chicken, soy sauce, rice wine, and basil but this one is a little bit of a twist on the original and instead uses salmon. It is delicious.
— Niu Rou Mien — Beef Noodle Soup. Such a staple and the flavor was on point and heartwarming. Perfect for a cold winter day!
— Si Gua with Salted Duck Eggs. I’ve never had si gua (kinda like a spongy squash) stir-​fried with salty duck eggs before but it was a fave of the group.
— Xiang Chang Chao Fan — Fried Rice with Chinese sausage. Yum.
I mean really anything you order will be flavorful and tasty. Best part is that they offer flavored snow for dessert. It’s hard to come by the creamy flavored shaved ice that’s from Taiwan so I was excited to have it. We tried the taro, green tea, and mango. My favorite was the taro of the three but they were all delicious.
I heard that it gets pretty busy, especially on weekends. But, we came for a late lunch (around 1 PM) on a weekend and were seated immediately.

I came here on a Wednesday night and it was pretty crowded. However I got seated right away since there was just 2 of us. The menu had a big variety of different dishes. We couldn’t decide what to get, but looking at Unilocal reviews and pictures, we decided to order the:
–3 Cups of Chicken with bones: flavor was on point, however the server asked us if we wanted with bones or without bones. She recommended getting it with bones so thats what we did. BIGGEST REGRET! GET IT WITHOUT BONES!!! when the dish came out, the entire bowl was covered wth chopped chicken with bones, but the bones were so small, every bite we almost had to spit it out because it was so hard to separate the meat with bones. We kept biting into small bones inside the hot stone pot and it was very annoying. There is also a lot of ginger pieces in here, so for those who do not like ginger, be careful of biting into them as well. Everything in the bowl is the same color because of the sauce. However, the dish was very flavorful, but a little bit on the sweet side.
–Mapo Tofu with pork: Big portion!!! which i love! I also love how they dont skimp out on the ground pork in here. You actualy get a good amount of pork put inside the bowl. There was also a lot of tofu and sauce as well. My only concern of this dish was the sauce was SO SWEET. This was the sweetest mapo tofu i had ever tasted. It was delicious at first bite, but after a while, i just become really jaded of it because it was so sweet…
–Green beans with garlic sauce: Good flavor and good crisp on the green beans. They were nicely sauteed and had plenty of garlic flavor without over powering the entire dish.
–Taiwanese Pork Belly rice bowl: This was a really good dish! I was very happy with it for anyone who loves pork belly. Because the pork belly was nicely flavored and melts in your mouth! the pickled greens also complimented the dish very well. the egg was just hard boiled… like really hard boiled! because the yolk became grey. Overall, very good dish.
Service here wasn’t that great. We had to ask for our water 3 times… and we still never got water… We also asked for extra napkins twice and they didnt give us napkins until around 5 minutes after we asked the second time. Pretty disappointing…
IF YOU PAY FOR CASH YOU GET 5% OFF!
This is also a pretty small restaurant. Which is pretty cute in my opinion. We were pretty satisfied with our trip, but there were just some kinks and parts of the dishes that just made our trip just okay. I would give them 4 stars if service wasn’t so bad the night I came.

Everything was tasty but most dishes were overly sweet or ladened w/​MSG.
The best dish was the Sautéed Kang Kung ($ 10.95). The veggie was deliciously yummy but by the looks of the leaves, it was overdone. The 3 Cup Chicken was super sweet. All I tasted was sugar. The Braised Pork Rice was super fatty and the rice was drenched in sauce. The soup made me incredibly sleepy. Too much MSG? Pork intestine was ok. The Unilocal reviews all said that the Mango Shaved Ice was the best… ummm, I now must question the reviewers’ taste. It was ok but the mango chunks were old and the condensed milk made it too sweet and slimy. We ordered rice and was charged but never received it.
The wait is crazy w/​all tables filled w/​large groups of teens. The restaurant is unbearably stuff w/​no ventilation. There’s also exposed nails on the bench seats. Be careful.

— 卤肉饭 — The night we went, the pork belly was melt-​in-​your-​mouth. We may have lucked out.
— 三杯鸡 — Was a little too sweet for my taste, although I am comparing it against how my mother used to make it.
— 沙茶羊肉炒空心菜 — This was done very well. Even more delicious as a left over!

Long wait, even for lunch. Come before noon or after 1pm. We waited for 40 minutes when we arrived at 12:10pm on a Friday.
Braised pork rice was just ok. Huge portion, but the flavor was not quite there. The dish also comes with egg, but it was way overdone (yolk was grey).
Skip the water. It was really moldy tasting. :-(

We came here on a Sunday early afternoon, just the two of us. We had only a 5 – 10 minute wait outside and got seated at a big wooden table inside. There are about 10 tables inside, small space but not too tight next to other tables. We ordered a stir fry beef noodles and mapo tofu (not Sichuan style, but Taiwanese style), which both came out in great portions. The mapo tofu was flavorful, and I had half of it to go and ate it as leftovers and it was still filling!
The stir fry beef noodles were good too, but I didn’t find it very flavorful. It was the typical take out quality, but my boyfriend liked it anyways.
Rice is extra charge, about $ 1.50 a bowl if I remember correctly.
The total was about $ 23 + tip.
I’d come back again as a quick weekend lunch, but not as a dinner meal on a Friday/​date night type of place.

After my friend took me to Sinbala in Arcadia, I craved Taiwanese food, so I started to scour Unilocal for «taiwanese sausage rice.» I found Red Hot Wok whose lunch special is to die for.
$ 8 for a huge bento box with a large serving of rice, vegetables, soup, and your choice of meat.
The mango shaved ice is AMAZING. Save room, I implore you.
Unfortunately, I would not recommend the sausage here. It is too dry. The three cup chicken is my favorite followed by their chicken roll.
Warning: if you order takeout, their boxes are prone to breaking and spilling. Tell them to double up for you.

The standouts: three-​cup chicken (三杯雞), watercress with garlic, and fried rice with shrimp. Eat the fried rice with shrimp carefully as the shrimp heads get pretty sharp and they can poke you, not a good thing.
Get the mango shaved ice if you are into desserts, it was delightful.
Food was great, prices are very reasonable, and the staff is attentive. They had a line by the time we were done with our meal and we felt a bit rushed towards the end, but the staff remained friendly throughout.

Excellent place for Taiwanese food. In my opinion, it is very authentic. They have wide range of dishes from snacks, main dishes, deserts. They also have Taiwan beer. I always get the fried basket (chicken, squid, green beans, and pork blood rice cake) as appetizer. For dishes, the minced pork rice is a must have. Some of the favorite dishes are mapo tofu, bamboo stir fry with pork, and three cup chicken. We also tried Satay beef today, it was very yummy. I love that it had veggie in there (kong xin cai), stir fry green beens (nice and crispy, not too salty), and a fried egg thing with veggies in the middle.
Finished off with a large mango shaved ice, as always. A great desert for the 90 degree weather today.
I also like to say they have excellent service. Today when they served one dish slightly wrong: for the appetizer I originally said no pork blood rice cake but more of the chicken instead, but it came out with some in the basket. They ended up getting me a whole plate of the chicken for free without me asking. They are also very attentive when you ask for more napkins or water.

This place feels very Taiwanese so I had high hopes for the food here. Unfortunately I thought the food was okay but not super delicious. I’ll eat it again but I wouldn’t go out of my way to do so.
We got the braised pork over rice, the three cup chicken, and the sizzling plate beef. The braised pork flavor was pretty tasty although the rice was drowned in the sauce. I don’t think it’s generally drowned like that. Also the pork was not ground pork, but fatty slices.
The sizzling plate was pretty disappointing. The beef pieces weren’t that good and a bit chewy. I also thought the dish was too saucy. Usually for sizzling plate it’s not super saucy and there’s a lot of black pepper.
The three cup chicken had a lot of bones and a lot of ginger pieces.
Rice is also $ 1/​bowl which is unfortunate because you kind of need rice to eat a lot of Asian dishes.

My Taiwanese coworker recommended this place and I was so happy to finally find a good Taiwanese restaurant in the South Bay. My boyfriend had also been here a couple times with his coworkers and kept raving about the food so I was really excited when he finally took me here.
The food is authentic and really really good! The restaurant itself is very cute. It’s hard to miss because the building is orange and it says Red Hot Work in red. The only downside is that it’s kind of small so there aren’t that many tables. I came for a late lunch on a Saturday so I didn’t have to wait for a table, but I’ve heard it gets pretty busy during more popular times.
Stir Fried Clams w/​Basil– overall this dish is excellent and reminded me of my mom’s cooking (she’s Taiwanese). The clams tasted fresh and the basil adds a lot of flavor to the dish.
3 cup chicken– served in a claypot, this dish is AMAZING! The chicken is marinated in a delicious sauce and I love the flavor from the basil. The chicken does have a lot of bones, but I think chicken with bones is always more flavorful. It’s cooked till it’s tender and is perfect with a bowl of white rice.
Stir Fried Green Bean in Garlic Sauce-​This dish is a little oily, but it’s still quite delicious. The green beans are cooked perfectly. I don’t like when they are too soft, but this was not the case. The garlic sauce makes this dish a star!
I can’t wait till I get a chance to come back and try more authentic Taiwanese dishes.

The moment I walked in, it’s like I hopped off Eva Air and have arrived in Taiwan.
«Quick stir-​fry» is a distinctive style in Taiwanese cuisine, and is in my opinion the best way to enjoy fresh seafood, along with some gold medal Taiwan beer of course. Red Hot Wok features this style of cooking, and does this as well as similar restaurants in Taiwan.
Fresh seafood is awesome. Too many Chinese restaurants serve flaky fish and slightly smelly oyster. When I took a bite of the clam stir-​fry, I knew I was in for a delightful lunch.
This restaurant is crowded during peak meal hours, so plan accordingly.
Service for us was fast and friendly, and price was very reasonable.

One of the few authentic Chinese restaurants I actually love to dine at. Service is always very friendly. My parents introduced me to this restaurant when it was first opened a few years ago. Ever since then, I haven’t stopped coming back.
Some of my favorite dishes that you MUST try: garlic eggplant, mapo tofu, three cup chicken. I have never had better in any other restaurants in the area. Highly recommend.
Also, although Red Hot Wok doesn’t specialize in shaved snow like some dessert places in the area, their desserts ARE comparable in quality. Very flavorful but not too overly sweetened.

We made reservations for a party of 8 about 2 – 3 weeks in advance! Good thing we did because there was a line out the door when we arrived on Saturday evening at 6:30 pm. Guess this place is pretty hip on a weekend evening.
We were seated at a long picnic table, and asked to order our food pretty fast. I think they felt rushed because there were people waiting outside — who were looking to get seated! So we ordered the following dishes:
(1) eggplant basil — so good, 4 stars
(2) 3 cups chicken — 3 stars, prolly would pass on this next time
(3) green onion & lamb — yes, delicious 3.5 stars
(4) sha-​cha beef — 3.5 stars
(5) silk squash + clams — 4 stars
(6) green beans — didn’t get to try this
(7) veggie fried rice — 3 stars
(8) clay pot tofu — 4 stars, so soft
(9) grilled calamari — 4 stars, yes!
(10) pork intestine w/​tofu stew — 4 stars, satisfied my craving
(11) mango shaved ice — 4 stars, refreshing and cold
Every dish was packed with flavor and delicious! :) I was drooling just thinking about the meal and all my friends loved it too. So glad it was a hit, and we were able to celebrate Lunar New Year festivities together! Fun times and great vibe too.
They didn’t rush us to leave after we finished our meal, we also ordered 1 dessert to share, since they’re so well known for their shaved ice!
Free parking, and takes reservations! This is hard to beat! Loud though,