| Value priced chinese food in the Cupertino Village |
Reviewer: Jason
Total Reviews: 1012
Reviewed: 3/15/2007
Rating: 7
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We arrive during the lunch rush and stood by the door for less than 5 minutes. The lady waved us towards a table and we stared at rock bottom prices. A & J has steep discounts on meals. Most dishes are under $6, a la carte items are in the $7 range, and appetizers ~$4. Another waiter did a drive by and dropped off set of plates, cups, and teapot. He didn't even setup the table. Well I guess we know what areas they're cutting to deliver these cheap prices.
We sat and sat and wondered where the heck our waiter was. I had to flag him down and he proceeded to mark down the white menu which btw is all in chinese. I was almost tempted to just mark some random selections and be surprised.
For an appetizer, we ordered bean curds with 3 types of mushrooms (image 4). He dropped this plate off and it looked like wet cardboard with black electrical tape. Served cold, just ok, only $2.60 but I've had much better elsewhere.
I ordered the rice and fried pork chops (image 6). For $5.60 it's nearly the same price as a big mac value meal. The portion size is large and wanted to die when I saw a big heaping of what looked like relish. I had Terry try it out and he confirmed my biggest fear.....pickles...bbblllaaaahh. I plucked it off and tried to eat around the green mess. The pork chop had a light batter and wasn't served hot. Tasted as it was fried earlier in the day and reheated. Still tasted good though. The rice was mix of cabbage and bits of broccoli. I like my white rice plain thank you.
A & J serves authentic cheap chinese food. If you want to order off the white menu, you better start bringing friends who can read it or play the guessing game. Service was non-existant and kinda kicking myself for leaving a 15% tip.
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RETURN VISIT for Jason! 10/18/2007 - 7.5 Rating: The white menu is entirely in Chinese and I think it's suppose to be for the waiters. I didn't know and placed an X by a mystery appetizer. Thank gawd it ended up being a flakey daikon bun with pork? It was just ok but had my Beef Noodle (thin) soup to fall back on.
It's kinda like Japanese Ramen but without the seaweed/nori taste. Broth was oily but full of flavor. Beef was fatty like the outer edge of a rib eye. Noodles almost tasted like the noodles at Hana Restaurant which I had the other day.
Lunch was good but probably 2x better if you go with someone who can speak and read Mandarin. |
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Reviewer: Terry
Total Reviews: 738
Reviewed: 3/15/2007
Rating: 7.5
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It was Jasons first day back after his vacation to Peru and we were eager to get back into the swing of things here at Jatbar. We were both kind of short on time, so a quick jaunt to A & J Restaurant was perfect. The place was busy but not packed so we took a seat and waited. Unreasonably long. Finally after about 10 minutes we flagged someone down and they took our order for us. I guess the trick here is to be aggressive.
I went with the vegetable delight over rice. The dish also came with a bowl of soup. Jason ordered the bean curd & mushroom appetizer, which I also sampled.
The bean curd looked quite a bit like waterlogged cardboard. The flavor was rather bland save for a slight sweetness. I doubt I would order this again, but it wasn't bad. Soup was decent. Bland. The highlight for me was the veggie delight. It included a lot of fake meat and (real) veggies atop a pretty large bed of rice. I had no problems finishing it off. I was not stuffed after this meal, but it hit me about right. There is nearby tea shop Ten Ren tea to the rescue, for a small dessert of iced tea.
Prices were low, which was good. Service could have been more attentive, but in the end the food was delivered to the table fast, so it balanced out. I would return if in the mood for a quick authentic meal.
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Reviewer: wchane
Total Reviews: 147
Reviewed: 3/17/2007
Rating: 7.5
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A&J is almost a weekly destination. The food is flavorful, and the servings are just - it's a great place if you know exactly what you want and hungry. My only complaint here is the service, it's absolutely terrible. Just this location as well, the San Jose location is remarkable, and they also serve hot pot.
Anyways...I tend to stick to 2 items here - the 'light' braised beef noodles (make sure you get the thick cut noodles) and the pot stickers (8 per order).
I don't know anywhere else that serves 'beef noodles' with a clear broth, i find it incredibly refreshing and not terribly heavy unlike its savory 'haung sau' counterpart. the beef may be a bit pink at times, but I'm fine with this. It's really the noodles that stand out; al dente, chewy, substantial, and delicious.
The potstickers are very simple, rustic looking (i'm told traditional) and my favorite pot stickers in the immediate area. it's just a 'finger' of meat wrapped in dough that's only attached at the top - exposing the top and bottom. i used to request that they cook them extra long to achieve that thick crust however they seem to become frustrated with any special requests so i've stopped bothering.
One other thing is they won't hesitate to split tables, often times resulting in awkward seating situations especially if one or more then a group orders a plethora of dishes.
This place would easily jump up the rating scale if service improved. However, this obviously has not kept me from my noodles and potstickers.
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Reviewer: ne00
Total Reviews: 173
Reviewed: 1/16/2007
Rating: 7.5
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I'm torn between 7 to 7.5. The food here is CHEAP, with filling portions, and most items are authentic. That's it though, as everything else is a let down if you go during crowded hours. Menus are all in Chinese so mostly you see only Chinese people here.
Giving 7.5 for the food and prices, but after everything else it's really only worth a 7.
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This restaurant is located right next door to Joy Luck Palace. My friend and I wanted to dry the new dumpling place within the square but it was packed. We were told it would be a 45-minute wait for a table for two. We headed off to A&J, which was also packed, but we only waited 10 minutes. We optioned to share a larger table with another family to decrease our wait time; we decided to try the sharing experience as several people were doing the same.
The dim sum menu is all in Chinese so if you cannot read you are out of luck. I went with someone who knows how to read Chinese. We ordered the Onion Pan Cake (2.35), Shanghai steamed dumplings (2.75), beef noodle soup (5.75), radish pies (4.35). We waited several minutes before our beef noodle soup arrived. It is a lot smaller than I was expecting and I shared it with my friend. They gave us two small bowls but one bowl was unclean because the waiter left his thumbprint on the inside, thumbprint of the beef noodle soup. My friend washed her bowl with hot tea and poured it into the other bowl, so she just filled her small bowl with noodles while I ate out of the big bowl.
The place was packed and more people were coming in. The place is cheap for lunch with lunch plates no more than 6.00. There seemed to be only one person in the back kitchen cooking everything so our waits were longer. Our items finally started to arrive one at a time.
Beef noodle soup: Very hot and a hint of spiciness. The noodles were firm and the beef was tender but not enough beef over all. Enough for one person with a big appetite to shared. (7.5/10).
Shanghai steamed dumplings: Came in a small steamed tin of 4 with small strands of ginger on top. The juice from the meat had a funny taste. Once the dumplings started to get cold the juice evaporated back into the meat. Not very authentic. (6.5/10).
Radish pie: Two large pies. There was too much flour cake and not enough radishes. When I finally got to the radish, it tasted bland. The radish pie had very little flavor and the cake consistency was dry. (6/10).
Onion Pan Cake: One medium sized thick pancake served hot sliced into four. Had plenty of onions but was still somewhat bland. The pancake was crispy on the outside and cooked through on the inside. (7.5/10).
The chopsticks here are wooden chopsticks that you pull apart and the spoons are real Chinese soupspoons you see at many Chinese restaurants. If you want a knife or a fork, they use the flimsy plastic version. Tea, served in a tin pot but in small Styrofoam cups. Because the cups are so small, if you ask for ice water they will fill a teapot with some ice and water so you can refill yourself.
Our meal came out to be $16.00 with tax and tip. The service was decent and prices are reasonable but the food we ordered was just average tasting.
Side Note: while we were eating our meal, an illiterate patron stopped by, pointed to our Onion Pan Cake, and asked what that was from the menu. We pointed out the number to her. It seems if you cannot read Chinese you are only limited to ordering from their English menu items. Many of their lower priced dim sum menu items are in Chinese.
Pluses: price.
Minuses: cash only, menus are in Chinese, crowded during lunch and lack of parking, cheapy style tea cups.
** Update **
Came back a second time during dinner hours. We arrived around 5:30pm and there were only a few tables filled at the restaurant. This is very different from the packed scene during lunch hours. During lunch, many patrons stop by here for a quick meal or as a second option when other restaurants in the square are equally crowded.
This time we went with several different orders, which later proved to be overkill and yet very affordable. Won Ton Soup, Pork Chop over rice, Pot stickers, Onion pancake, and Pan-fried meat buns.
Won Ton Soup: Soup had plenty of pepper flavors. Several won ton pieces but there were more won ton wrap than meat. (7/10).
Pork Chop over rice: A big plate of steamed rice with sliced deep-fried pork chop on top and some minced pickled veggies. The dish is plenty for a large appetite or for two people to share. Great value but proved to be over kill with so much food on the table. (7.5/10)
Pot stickers: These pot stickers did not look pleasing to the eye. The pot sticker wrap stuck together when served. Tasted like meat without any juice and very little flavoring. (6/10)
Onion pancake: (7.5/10)
Pan-fried meat buns: Crispy bottom but soggy wrap due to the oily and juicy meat contents within the wrap. These were very large and worth every penny. Eat these while they are hot. (8/10)
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