Nice Time Cafe

The beef noodle soup is the best thing here. The broth is amazing, and comes with a good amount of meat and noodles. My family and I also tried the Xiao Long Bao and potstickers. We didn’t bother getting Green Onion Pancake cause my mom says it isn’t very good here.
I liked the beef noodle soup, but I wasn’t a fan of the steam dumplings. I thought they were flavorful but they weren’t hot enough and aren’t as good as Mama Lu’s. There was definitely more meat in these dumplings but it doesn’t excuse the fact that these dumplings weren’t even hot. That bothered me a bit.
We also ordered Spicy Wontons but one, they weren’t spicy, and two, they had a weird taste to it. I think it may have been an overuse of garlic or some other spice. It didn’t taste right. i understand that a lot of places make it differently but this was so far off, that I had to add my own chili to it.
I will be back for the beef noodle soup because it’s amazing, but I probably won’t order anything else.

Really good place for classic Taiwanese dishes. Everything we ordered was super tasty and well seasoned. My favorite dish was their spicy pork blood and intestine stew (五更肠旺). This dish was seasoned to perfection and not too spicy. I love the modern décor and casual atmosphere. Service was quick and friendly. This place definitely hits the spot whenever I am craving Taiwanese food.

Came here with my mom when I was in town because I miss minced pork with rice, said to be the bread and butter of Taiwanese food by a friend (I’m Cantonese so I can’t speak for it!)
Arrived at the place around 2pm on a Saturday and sat down as it was not crowded. Hot tea is free, which was nice for the gloomy day. We ended up ordering 3 dishes, more than enough for my mom and me really.
Minced pork with rice — we forgot to ask for it to be more juicy/​saucy, but it still tasted good for me. I’m always in favor of a good balance of meat and veggies (it comes with an egg too)
Chinese okra — my mom’s pick for the veggies. It did seem a bit oily but it was fine for me (Felt fine even after the meal, which is usually not the case for overly oily foods for me) I did see some specks of what’s probably from the stir fry wok, but perhaps that’s understandable if they don’t thoroughly scrape the wok for every dish??? Didn’t bother me much.
Beef (brisket?) noodle soup — pretty standard Taiwanese dish as well. The soup and noodles were well done and tasty. I would’ve liked the beef to be less chewy, but it is brisket after all.
So, sure, there’s probably better Taiwanese food especially around this area, but perhaps it is enough to satisfy my taste buds compared to my options up in SF.
P. S. The white walls brightened up the place and the restroom was pretty spotless, which is usually reflective of the cleanliness of a restaurant. :)

Good Taiwanese food. Nothing extraordinary. Service is attentive but they could move a tad faster :)

Taiwanese Restaurant
Nice Time Café is a small eatery located in the Atlantic Times Square (near the AMC Theater). They have a large selection of Taiwanese appetizers, soups, noodles and rice dishes.
My personal favorite is their SESAME CHICKEN NOODLE SOUP. The broth itself is made with chicken, ginger and alcohol, and eating this dish will warm your body up and make you break into a sweat! Most menu items runs from $ 7 – 10. Definitely one of my cheap eats in Monterey Park!
Restaurant itself is clean and well lit, but it does get busy during weekends. It is extremely short staffed and the kitchen can be slow. You would need to have patience if you want to eat here.
* CASH ONLY *

We were so hungry today since we skipped lunch because we were busy exploring Universal Studios. First we went to some dimsum place (Ocean Star, I think?) in Monterey Park but discovered they were closed in the afternoon (around 3pm).
We stumbled upon this place and it looked inviting. The waitress greeted us in Mandarin when we walked in. The food took a little longer than we normally are used to, but that could have been because we were extra hungry and time seemed to pass slower than usual?
We ordered xiao long bao, which was decent. The ground pork looked a little more red than I’m used to. I still prefer the XLB that we had the other night at Dumpling Hut, but my husband says it’s because that place specializes in stuff like that.
They didn’t have the beef onion pancake. Not sure if they sold out or they just don’t carry it anymore. :(
I had the cha chiang mein. It was ok. I need cucumbers or some kind of vegetable in my noodles and this didn’t have any. It was basically like a Chinese-​style spaghetti with soy sauce pork or something. My husband got some rice noodle thingie which didn’t appeal to me but he loved it and gobbled it up. Our friend ordered the tomato beef over rice and gobbled that up too. I guess the food was pretty good and we were hungry so we were happy. Lots of great things on the menu that would be fun to try! If we’re ever back in the area, it’d be fun to check this place out again. I just won’t order the cha chiang mein because there’s no cucumbers!

I recently moved here from Taiwan and have been looking for a restaurant that serves authentic Taiwanese cuisine. I was told by a friend to come here and have since loved the food and come here several times a week. I order the pork chop rice, beef noodle soup, and fried oyster with egg which are my favorite dishes. The food comes out fairly quickly when I’m there and the prices are reasonable for the amount of food given. The service is mediocre like many other Asian places.

there’s probably no other restaurants so homely and down to earth feeling such as this one. I really enjoy this place as a nice alternative to driving to arcadia for sinbala for the spicy wontons…
actually who am i kidding. it’s not as good as sinbala, but it’s still a good alternative if you are not willing to drive
ordered beef noodle soup, i feel like you get what you pay for, the price is lower so does the quality
the spicy wontons are the only redeeming factor… do not order xiao long baos here, you will only disappoint yourself…

Hello my Unilocalies,
This place is located right in Atlantic Time Square. Parking is convenient because they do have a huge underground parking lot.
This is my first time here at this restaurant, walk in thinking I may have a chance to have some delicious authentic Taiwanese food. The atmosphere is pretty okay, what got me very confused is the variety of choices, they have so many different things that I have no idea what to order so ended up just ordering the steamed dumplings. My friend order Satay beef with rice which came out within 5 minutes, mine didn’t come out till 35 minutes later. I understand that the steamed dumplings does take some time for it to cook, but at the beginning we did mention it will be great if they can bring out all the food at the same time, but since we had to wait 35 minutes for my food he was already done eating his.
I’m a very understanding person but since I waited 35 minutes for my food I do wish that the food quality will be at least decent. I couldn’t even finish more than 5 of them, there was no juice inside, the skin was extremely thick and the meat inside was definitely way over salted. I’m definitely very disappointed with my food.
As for their service, it is pretty average. They are very friendly and they did apologize for making me wait so long for my food so I definitely have no complained there.
Overall, 4 stars for service, 1 star for food, 3 for décor and 2 for atmopsher. Probably won’t come back in the near future. But thank you Nice Time Café.

I love love love this place. I grew up on the nice time cafes back in san gabriel and arcadia but those have since closed down. It has a few of my favorite dishes and I always have to come here or to any other nice time cafes or delis to get them. The same ladies have been working here since the place has opened and I think they’re great. It’s a bit harder if you don’t speak Chinese but the menu has pictures and translations of course.
My favorite dish here is the squid potage. I’ve been eating that since I was in elementary school and I think it’s even better than having it in Taiwan (Probably grew too used to it here). It tastes even better with black vinegar. Some other dishes I also usually get here are the cold intestines that come with garlic soy sauce and tempura.
Their other dishes are just alright in my opinion. I never order anything else there besides those.
They got new teas since I’ve last been there and I tried their chrysanthemum tea. They call it daisy tea for some reason. They can do it hot or cold, add boba, change sugar content. I asked one of the waitress and she was more than happy to help me adjust it to my liking and even asked if I liked it after she brought it to me.
I wish someone would open one of these in the OC!

Unfortunately, nothing particularly wrong with this restaurant other than «Meh…I’ve experienced better.»
I came here on a lazy Sunday afternoon and was turned off from the crowd waiting for the new restaurant next door. Since I’m always down for dumplings and soup noodles, this seemed like a viable alternative.
I ordered pork chow nian gao and pan fried dumplings. I am a huge fan of chow nian gao and go through highs and lows searching for restaurants that does it well. Unfortunately, Nice Time Café doesn’t fall into that bracket. The nian gao was soft and chewy, but lacked flavor. They were also stingy with the veggies.
As for the pan fried dumplings, not only did it lack flavor as well but also presentation. When the dish came, the dumplings were just sloppily plopped on the plate. Looked more like a dish that was put together at home, rather than coming from a restaurant kitchen. Even Xiao Mei has better presentation with their dumplings.
Overall, not a place I look forward to coming to again.

Very slow. Not enough people to serve people. I was late to go to the movie because I needed to wait for the food. The food quality was not good either. The price was high for the amount and the quality of food that I got.

I love with my boyfriend come to this restaurant，and he always like the house
special chicken.

A dependable option in atlantic times square. The sibling raves about this place, so I was surprised to see this place gets three stars (at the time of writing).
Service was fine. Their counter has a plain view of all the tables. Raising our hand to order and get more water was pretty effective. The server was remarkably solicitous when we inquired about vegetarian options. they have quite a few. He actually went out of his way to ask whether we wanted Buddhist-​style vegetarian (no green onions, garlic, etc.) or just meatless.
All the things we ordered – tomato with egg, stir-​fried nian gao, dan dan noodle, mapo tofu – were delicious. Minimal MSG syndrome an hour or two after eating. Very reasonable prices.

Lots to choose from. Over 150 different choices. If you’ve never been here before, you’ll need some time to review the menu.
Food is really good. Great prices and large portions. The restaurant is small so during peak hours you might have to wait a bit for a table.
Service was just ok. For some reason it took a while to get our food. Had to ask a couple of times what was taking so long.
Overall, good food, large portions and great prices.

BACKGROUND
I eat here at least once whenever I come home. This is my first and most frequently visited Taiwanese restaurant. I have also called in for take-​out and went to the store to order take-​out. Both times, food came quickly and the portion were the same as if you were eating in.
FOOD
+ They have a huge selection of dim sum (Taiwanese xiao chi), dumplings, rice plates, soups, etc.
+ They are all yummy and taste authentic!
+ Portions are large
+ Price is cheap, $ 6 – 7 for a rice plate
+ Food comes out quickly, except for the xiao long bao (that takes forever for some reason)
SERVICE
+ both ladies are nice to me probably because I speak Mandarin with them (one of the lady does not smile but she frequently tries to set me up with the bigger table even though I have a party of 2 or get me a window seat, etc.)
— the man is curt, doesn’t smile nor make small talk but takes your order and fill your water glasses
— small restaurant so during peak hours, they run out of tables and may rush you

This place taste similar to the original nice time deli. My mom used to work at the original year ago so she knows the owners. But we came here to eat the other day because we were in the area. I got the oyster chitterling oyster noodles and I think my mom got the goose soup noodle. We also ordered the cold appetizer which had the pig ear, seaweed, and her boiled egg. Another appetizer we ordered was the chicken roll which I though could have been a bit more crunchy. Overall they have a real authentic taiwanese taste! Will come back again!

My husband and I love coming here to eat and/​or for to-​gos. We love their pork chop rice, beef noodle soup, and there is one more noodle soup which I do not remember what it is called in English but I think it has pork meatballs in the noodle soup. Their congee, kongbao chicken and mapo tofu are also very delicious. There are a few appetizers and entrées which I tried I did not quite like; however I think it is just personal preference so I would say that if you have a chance you should try as many dishes here as you can to find the ones that suit your palate. I tried a few on the menu and I found the ones I mentioned above that suit me the most and now I can say that I am addicted to these dishes.
The staffs are very nice and friendly. You can pay by credit card only if you order over $ 20. Overall I would recommend this place. Come try it if you’re in the area.

Pros:
–Decently priced for decent quality food
–Good customer service
–Clean eatery
Cons:
— Spacing makes it difficult to accommodate a party of 5 or more
— By decent food, I mean it was a wee bit on the oily side

[I did review this place! It’s actually Nice Time Café, not Good Time Café!]
With the closing of the Good Time Café in Rowland Heights, my heart (or more like my stomach) was crushed! So imagine my surprise when I found this place in Monterey Park! Some of the staff even came over from the Rowland location. I’m guessing some of the cooks did as well because the food tastes just as good as I remembered it.
Now this is not a place where the service is superb. You might even find some plates aren’t as clean as you like it to be. But with that being said, if you ever asked me to come grab a bite to eat here, I would never turn you down.
This is the only place where the Cold Cut Intestines is made exactly how it’s suppose to be. I’ve searched high and low after the closing of the Rowland restaurants and nothing compares. So if you haven’t tried this dish before, this is the place you should try it at.
Another dish I always get here is the Chitterling Rice Noodle Soup. The portion is generous. Lots of chitterling ;) Just add some white pepper powder and you’re good to go!
Intestines people! This is what this place is all about!