Simbala Restaurant

All I have to say is YES! Everything here is legit. You can rack up a bill pretty easily and realize that you don’t have enough cash… but I’m not sure if that’s because the prices are a bit higher than the usual TW joint or because the food is so good I keep ordering more!

My family used to come here quite a bit when I was a kid, but we randomly stopped coming. I came with my mom one day since it was on the way home, and I remember really liking their Taiwanese sausages. Since they have them frozen so you can just heat it up at home, we just ordered hot food for linner — not really sure *what* we got (thanks ma) but there was a tempura dish, a tea egg + bean curd + seaweed thing, and popcorn chicken. The food was mediocre, service was also mediocre (chinese restaurant, though). We got frozen sausages and dumplings to take home and while the sausages were really delicious, the dumplings were pretty tasteless.

My go-to’s here are the Sausage Rice dish and the Smoked chicken rice dish.
My first time trying Taiwanese sausage rice was at Simbala. I like how this meal (and I noticed many Taiwanese dishes) is packed with a bounty of flavors and textures. The rice is topped with the Taiwanese sausage plus another type of flavorful ground meat, and you also get sides of the creamy and slightly tangy tomato egg, and garlicy marinated broccoli or cabbage.
The other dishes I’ve tried were also good, including the cold chicken noodle. I love the flavorfulness of this dish using the peanut sauce, garlic, and chili oil.
I also tried a Taiwanese shaved ice for the first time. The toppings were pretty good, but the ice was hard, not soft or «snow”-like fyi. I think this is what traditional shaved ice is supposed to be like though.

The Taiwanese sausage plate is very delicious. Love how it tastes. The price range is cheap approximately $ 6 – 10 bucks per menu.
Their egg with oyster is interesting, but wouldn’t get it again next time.
Customer service was average, it depends on how busy it is.

Fantastic Taiwanese cuisine. Everything I’ve tried here is delicious. Popcorn chicken and their sausages with garlic are highly recommended. I would also recommended their beef noodle soup.
The wait can be quite long as it’s a small restaurant, but I believe it is worth waiting for. Service is also friendly and quick. The staff speak English so don’t worry about awkward communication moments where you panic and fall into a downward spiral of depression since you can’t comfortably order what you want. Fear not my wayward son.

Had a quick, delicious and easy lunch here the other day.
My friend and I did what seemed to be the thing to do here — ordered a plate of their Simbala sausage. You have the option of ordering just one sausage ($ 2) or you can opt for 3 sausages for $ 5. The standard sausage comes with sliced garlic, but you can also choose toppings to dress your sausage. We played it safe and went bare minimum. The sausage, like other varieties of Chinese sausage, has a sweet underlying flavor. It wasn’t too overwhelming, and pairing it with raw, sliced garlic gave it a nice flavor.
We also ordered:
–spicy wonton dry ($ 5): Good, hearty dense wonton chilling in chili oil and topped with scallions. The wonton had a real meaty filling. I thought these were great.
–fried radish cake ($ 5): Delicious. The cakes had just enough crisp on the outside and the inside of the radish cake was nice and doughy. They came out piping hot and tasted fresh.
–fried pork chop plate ($ 7.25): Good pork chop portion on a bed of rice. Comes with boiled cabbage, some scrambled eggs, and corn which is typical of most Taiwanese rice dishes. This was good, wasn’t amazing by any means.
This place is great for Taiwanese specific dishes. Stop by if you happen to be in the area.

I’ve been 3 times in the past week and I live 45 minutes away! I drive for food but not repeatedly unless it’s good! Good thing simbala isn’t super close by or I’d be here everyday!
Food: I’d say comparable to food I had in Taipei! The spicy beef noodle is spicy! The broth want too salty as salt is my enemy! The garlic sausage is a must! After my mom tried the sausage I brought home from lunch the first time she made me drive her back here twice in 2 consecutive days to buy more for our relatives! I heard the turnip cake and popcorn chicken are really good also. I haven’t tried it yet as I’m sitting here waiting for my orders! Eeeekkk! Can’t wait to try them!
Drink: I love the milk tea! You can actually taste the tea! Dare I say it’s almost comparable to Tea Station?!
Service: superb! Everyone is so nice and friendly! I ordered take out (a bit too much to carry myself) and the staff offered to help me carry my food out! This place gives me a family vibe!
Cleanliness: tidy and clean!
Tips: bring CASH!

When my potential trip to Taiwan got cancelled, I decided I wanted to sulk by finding a tasty Taiwanese hole in the wall in socal to gastronomically pretend I was there. Met up with a few of my friends to catch a quick bite. This was one of the local Taiwanese eateries suggested to us.
It’s humble. mom and pop style. the menu has a lot of different things to try. I’ve had some but not all the dishes. so it was exciting to try something new. Oyster pancake was definitely something new… interesting. a little goopy. but definitely big chunks of oyster in an almost glutenous sauce that was kind of sweet. The popcorn chicken here was delicious, as was the turnip cake. I ordered the spicy beef noodle soup and it was a deep rich broth (a little on the salty side). Noodles were tasty and there was a lot of meat. Tasted awesome as leftovers too. The onion pancake was crispy and tasty. I wasn’t a huge fan of their «house special sausage»… it’s like the cured sausage you buy at the market but «fresher»… similar in flavor. but I did like the fresh garlic slices to kick it up a notch.
Overall not too bad. I am not familiar enough with Taiwanese food to rave whether it’s the best around but some of the dishes had here were yummy. Can’t say I would go out of my way to return. but it was a good exploration experience. If you’re in the area and wanting some Taiwanese food munchies and basic dishes. it seems like a great place to hit up. Cheap and tasty and lots of parking.
Service was also on-​point. Caution if you’re Chinese or Korean. they may take you to be Taiwanese. slight language barrier but they have staff members that can speak English in case the one that chose to serve your table does not.

I love coming here for Taiwanese cuisine.
Food:
oyster pancake ⁵⁄₅
one of my favorite. this dish may take a little to get use to if you’re just trying out asian cuisine. It’s basically an omelet with oysters and some gooey ketchup sauce on top. For ~$ 6, its huge. Something about the slightly salty and slightly sweet aspect of this dish is so delicious.
Chinese Sausage Rice 5/​/​5
another favorite dish of mine. My go to dish. You really can’t go wrong with chinese sausage, scrambled eggs mixed with their tomato sauce, sautéed vegetables and rice. ~$ 7 its worth it. Simple, huge portion, and tasty.
Service: ⁵⁄₅
super fast and friendly.

Still my favorite place to get shaved ice. But I think they have up the price to $ 6 now. It used to be just 5.25 then 5.50 then 5.75 and now 6, I guess lol… Last time I came in I felt like they really ripped me off of my toppings cause I ordered rice balls twice and I can tell they only gave me 1 serving instead of 2.
Also I waited 20 mins to get my shaved ice which is not acceptable and took them almost 10 mins before they came to the table to order. So customer service has slacked a lot.
I also saw an old man waiting for his togo shaved ice lol he was like «IT’S BEEN 15 MINUTES!!! IT’S SHAVED ICE! IT SHOULD BE FAST!» lol as sad to say… I completely agree with him.
Sooooooo…food here is kinda of too salty for me. So I usually don’t come here to eat anymore.

Finally made it here after I have book marked this place forever.
Came for some light food and mainly shaved ice. We ordered the smoked chicken leg rice and a plate of their famous sasauge with garlic slices, and a shaved ice .
Smoke chicken leg rice– ⁵⁄₅ ;the smoke chicken has very good flavor, and the side veggies are also delish for being just side dishes, I would definitely order this again .
Sausage– ⁵⁄₅ $ 2.00 most delish assuage I have had, it’s so flavorful with the garlic slices, they also offer all kinds of extra toppings at $ 2.50 each, I mean there is anything from basil to pineapple, I definitely will try this again with toppings next time .
Shaved ice 5÷5− for $ 6.50 this is the traditional type of shaved ice with caramelized black sugar syrup, but I would say I’d prefer this then the snow ice, and they let you select 5 toppings instead of 4 like most other places, and it’s a pretty large portion I would say it can also be shaded by 2. I got taro, black grass, barley, condense milk, and green beans, the taro is cooked just right so creamy and yummy, all the other items tastes fresh as well, I’d say this is the best traditional shaved ice have tried in this area.
Definitely will come back and try more dishes. And highly recommend this place for Taiwanese cuisine.

It’s a 5 for regulars who want the specific flavors/​dishes here (sausage rice, spicy beef noodles)
Generally though, my thoughts:
1. Green onion pancake: less chewy/​flaky/​greasy for better or worse than dumpling houses. Less oniony too. Overall I liked it less, but it had good crisp.
2. Spicy beef noodle soup: good level of spicy, good noodle consistency, but it’s SWEET. not super sweet, but a huge difference from other places you may frequent. Like how a Chinese sausage is sweet.
3. Sausage rice: comfort food. Specific mix of flavors you won’t find elsewhere.
4. Shaved ice: pricey ($ 6.50) but quality ingredients.
Cash only!

3^rd location that I have been to and this one was a sub par experience. First off, they need to turn on the AC, its humid in the place and does not help when you start breaking a sweat while ordering your food.
Not sure how fresh the food is — but my stomach did not feel right after eating here. Its not the first time its happened to me at this chain but the first at this location.

It’s more of a 3.5 star place with highlights and some things to avoid. First of all, A+ for friendly staff. Felt like eating in your grandmother’s home. So, if service is your thing, then visit this place and enjoy some decent Taiwanese food. Here are my thoughts:
Simbala Sausage with garlic — very good with hints of sweet and salty, coupled with a firm yet soft texture. I even ordered a pack of their sausages to eat later.
Beef noodle soup — very spicy to the point of numbness. Beef was a bit tough, but noodles were nice. With all the rave reviews about this soup, my expectations were really high. Unfortunately, I give the infamous beef noodle soup a 2 star.
Tempura — just ok and a bit on the rubbery side than crispy. It comes paired with a sweet dipping sauce that helped elevate this appetizer. Worth trying.
Fried tofu — crispy outside with a nice gentle tofu essence in the middle. The only downside is that if you don’t devour it upon delivery, you’ll be disappointed because the crispiness loses its effect a few minutes later (softens).
Pork chop over rice — where’s the meat? All rice and corn, and limited portions of pork. In addition, the pork lacked a nice crispy katsu crust.
Squid noodle soup — a bit too salty, but the noodles were good. It came with white cabbage and not enough green veggies. Wasn’t prepared in the traditional format. Sadly disappointing.
As you can see, this place has high notes and some low ones. It’s worth checking out and the parking is ample since it’s in the SF Market shopping center.

Taiwanese food? Yes please, I was in the mood.
Simbala is famous for its Taiwanese sausage. The taste is authentic and it also adds an extra kick if you eat it with a garlic slice. On top of that, I also like their spicy beef noodle soup. What makes them different from others is they pre soak the noodles before they serve it. The noodles are already spicy on its own and make the dish more intense. While the flavor was really good, the actual beef was dry and chewy and cause disappointment. They also sell frozen dumplings but I wanted to try it first, so I ordered pork with napa cabbage. It was OK but the dipping sauce that came with was a little too sweet. Would I buy the frozen one after I tried it… Probably not.
The facility has free WiFi and kept it clean. The service was decent for a Chinese joint. I would go back more often if it’s not a cash only restaurant.

This is one of the better Taiwanese restaurants in the area in my opinion. I have been to several others and I keep finding myself coming back here because no other place serves better Taiwanese sausage than Simbala!
My favorite item is… you guessed it! The oh so delicious Taiwnese sausage! I like that it’s mostly lean meat and doesn’t have all that fat the other places offer. My boyfriend happens to be Taiwanese and he tells me that the sausage they serve is pretty much authentic. I love that it comes with garlic, which really brings out the flavor of the meat.
I also really enjoyed the spicy bean curd, fried tofu, and spicy dry wontons. I like to order multiple small dishes/​appetizers at places like this so I can try several items rather than 1 entrée. The fried tofu comes out really hot so be sure to wait for it to cool down a little before chowing down. I appreciate that it’s not super fried so the tofu is still soft and tender with a light crispy edge on the outside. The spicy bean curd is not too spicy or salty, which I appreciate.
Tip: CASH ONLY
Also, the water they serve is apparently filtered water! Woohoo! Another plus.
Side note: Free wifi is available

What better way to celebrate a friend’s birthday than to shotgun a random place in Rowland Heights on Unilocal?We filled up our pockets with cash (Rowland Heights FTW) and trekked out to Simbala Restaurant.
I got the simbala taiwanese sausage rice dish, which comes highly recommended on Unilocal,the onion oil cake, and the radish cake (white carrot cake? Sorry I only know the Cantonese name).
I dunno why there weren’t more mentions of the sausage tasting like char siu, but it does. Eating it with rice almost feels like a betrayal of senses. Delicious char siu, but wait, where’s the delicious oily bread? Where’s that red char siu sauce I’ve come to love? I dunno, but if you like char siu bao (BBQ Pork Bun), order this dish.
The onion oil cake thing is alright. There are thinner, crispier, tastier alternatives out there (Only $ 3.75 though). Definitely not the worst I’ve had, but not a highlight of the night.
HUGE surprise with the radish cake, though. It’s probably one of the best radish cakes I’ve ever had. It tasted like a McDonald’s hash brown, but denser and Asian. That should be reason enough to order it!
One thing that is very apparent here: Very Asian flavors. Good for me and my party (All Asian), but I can’t imagine my Mexican friends meeting that radish cake with friendly taste buds.

FOOD:
This place is soooo good! I loved the beef noodle soup, the dry noodle with pork, the sausage and the green onion pancake! I don’t even like pork but these dishes were really good! Highly recommend the beef noodle soup that was my favorite! Also try some green milk tea, I loved mine!
SERVICE:
Food comes out really fast!
TIPS:
Wait is usually long so go at off-​hours
WOULD I RECOMMEND IT? YES!

Very good stewed pork and an abundance of sauce were found in my tainen dry noodles, i.e. soup-​less, that made it taste so good. It was slightly smaller than noodle dishes found elsewhere, but I didn’t mind adding noodles — a hearty addition with even more sauce — for just a buck. The sausages were also good.
For a simple, warming, and homestyle meal for a really good price, this place was a good choice and had a unique selection that set it apart from the other Taiwanese restaurants. The waitresses also came by several times to ask how we were doing, so it felt like a nice friendly place.

While Simbala has some pretty bomb Taiwanese sausage, the real MVP is their Tainan E Noodle (Dry). I recently discovered this (perks of dating a Taiwanese) and holy sh*t…it was love at first bite/​slurp.
The noodles are cooked perfectly (aka ‘Q’ as the boyfriend calls it) and whatever sauce they cook it in is PHENOM. They add in minced pork, shrimp, slices of pork, bean sprouts, green onion, and a hard boiled egg. Basically… everything you would want in a noodle bowl.
Some other really good dishes are their Beef Stew Noodle Soup and Fried Radish Cake. Both are approved by my Taiwan-​born boyfriend, if you need more convincing.
Lastly, it wouldn’t be a legit restaurant in Rowland Heights if it wasn’t: CASH ONLY!