Taste China & Hawaiian BBQ

Taste China is under new ownership and is now owned by a really sweet Chinese couple. I've been looking for good Chinese food in South SJ and this is my new go-to spot. There's a good mix of more Americanized Chinese food and dishes that I grew up eating, and I particularly love the dumplings, which is not on the menu but on their window (along with Taiwanese beef noodle soup and liang pi, among others)! The wife told me that she was wrapping and selling dumplings to Cupertino restaurants previously (so you know it's good!).There's also Hawaiian bbq options and milk tea, so there's a good selection of food. They're located in a huge parking lot, so it's always easy to find parking and a great place to grab food to-go.

I recently visited China Taste & Hawaiian BBQ, which has new owners since May 2024. I didn't know about the change when I called in my order.The House Chow Mein was awesome! I didn't add it to my order until I arrived to pick up my Hawaiian food, but I'm glad I did. The noodles were spot on, with a great mix of veggies ,meat & shrimp. Perfectly seasoned and definitely something I'd get again.The chicken was grilled nicely but lacked flavor and it was chopped up instead 1 entire thigh and the short ribs, while tender, didn't have that savory-sweet taste I like. I wouldn't order these again.The staff was friendly, but the person who helped me didn't understand English well, which made ordering a bit tricky.Overall, I'd stick to the Chinese food here. The house chow mein was delicious, but I wouldn't recommend the BBQ chicken, short ribs, or any other Hawaiian dishes. Plus, I didn't see any Hawaiian dishes on the menu, which was confusing when I was there to pickup my order.

Opening day!The place is a remodel of the old bagel and hawaiian bbq place. The interior looks clean and the couple cooking in the back seems like they are working hard. The server guy was inattentive though. A customer walked in and he was talking to the cook and the customer left after waiting for a while.Seats are limited to 3 tables.They accept apple pay.Food is good for what it is. Nothing outstanding, but not terrible.

So I walked into this restaurant out of desperation because the Japanese restaurant next door had a waiting list that was far too long and I was on my lunch break.First off, the curb appeal of this place is absolutely unappealing. There was nobody in the dining room so that's an automatic bad sign. But as I mentioned, I needed a place to eat and quick.I ordered the barbecue short ribs and a diet Coke and the entire meal was over $20. For that price, I got two scoops of rice, a scoop of macaroni salad, and some mediocre barbecue short ribs on a paper plate with plastic silverware.For the price I paid, you think I'd get a little bit of a better meal. They really should consider pricing their food differently being that it's served as if you were going to a food truck.The next time the Japanese restaurant next door is over packed, I'll just go somewhere else to eat. I don't plan to come back to this place.The one thing I can say is the service was okay. They weren't overly friendly or they weren't bad either. That's about it. But this is definitely a one star spot.I also find it a strange combination that they are paired up with the donut shop. Kind of weird.

Worst kalua pork and i didn't get my change or side of Mac salad. The person taking order was all over the place and not paying attention. I had to repeat order multiple times and she still got it wrong. Plus the place looked closed. Not sure what happened.

Spot was good. I ordered two spam musubis (one spam and other Portuguese sausage). I feel like the ratio of protein to rice was perfect. Service was good. After ordering at the counter, the food was brought out to the table. They have a lot of items I'm on their menu that looked good. Will have to come back and try more.

This is the former HAWAIIAN BBQ place that my family has enjoyed for years. Saimin, katsu, musubis--they had it all. That restaurant closed down for about six weeks and reopened as "Taste China & Hawaiian BBQ".Wanting to support a small business within a mile of my house, I walked down for lunch with my kid. We arrived at 2:03, looked over the menu (even for a Chinese Restaurant, the typos were amazing), and ordered two "Build Your combo plate"[sic] for $13.99 each."Sorry, that's only served during lunch. Lunch ends at 2." We looked at our watches: 2:06.We looked around the empty restaurant, with no tables to sit at and chairs pushed against the walls just like a middle school dance. The echoed silence was deafening. At this point, 6 minutes past the deadline, with nowhere to sit on a 90 degree day, I should have followed my gut and headed somewhere else. But we had planned this for a few weeks (and I'm trying to be Dad of the Year), so we went back to the menu. Let's see how the food is, we thought.$5.99 Egg Rolls$12.25 House Chow Mein$13.95 General Chicken$13.25 Lemon Chicken (found under the "Chiken" section of the menu).$49.70 before tip.The reviews from "good" to "inedible":Egg Rolls were crispy and hot; General Chicken was pretty good (Panda Express plus 10%?); Chow Mein was bland, but had more shrimp than we were expecting; and the Lemon Chicken was an abomination. I am not a foodie. I don't care about hot new places or celebrity chefs. I am at the almighty Taco Bravo at least once a month, for pity's sake. But even me, with little or no standards for taste, couldn't even get through the lemon chicken (i.e., the Caucasian special). It was tough and stringy, like it had been leftover from the day before. Out of the whole package, probably 25% of it was chewable. My loss will be my dog's gain later on tonight.This experience makes us hesitant to try them for our Hawaiian fix in the future. I am setting a reminder for 10 months from now. I'll check the reviews, and if they're still in business, see if they've upped their game.And I will be there by 2pm sharp next time!

My family and I arrived at this restaurant at 12 pm on a Sunday for lunch. We've been in the area of a few years and can't believe it took us this long to discover this hidden gem. It's a family owned restaurant that's been in the business for the past 15 years after I spoke with the son of the business. PARKING: There's convenient parking all around since the restaurant is part of a plaza surrounded by other businesses and services. AMBIENCE: The place shares the space with a breakfast bakery, which they also own coincidentally. The atmosphere is homey with its bright orange colors. Despite it being on a smaller scale, don't hesitate to bring your families to eat in! SERVICE: The cashier was pretty patient with us since it was our first time, so I definitely appreciate that since my mom can be indecisive. We decided to eat in, so the cashier also hand delivered our food to our table straight from the kitchen. So great speed and care of service for sure. ORDERS: For an outing of 3 and only spending around $50, that was a great deal, especially with the quality and quantity of meat. What we ordered:-Spam Musubi: great appetizer/meal for my sister. The seaweed wrap was super crunchy and the spam was cooked well without any oily aftertaste. The rice to meat ratio was more rice than spam. -Beef Bbq Combo/Low Carb Plate: The bbq medley of beef, chicken teriyaki, and short rib were so tender, juicy, and delicious. Standard sides of rice and macaroni salad and salad. The salad is good at first, but it got a bitter aftertaste after a day of refrigeration. The macaroni salad wasn't my favorite since it was on the drier side. The low carb plate also comes with 2 eggs, so lots of protein for your gains. -Hamburger Steak: Gigantic pieces of meat. Biggest serving I've seen out of Hawaiian places like Ono's and L&L. The meat was chewy and the gravy sauce was mild in flavor. RATING: Once again, a family business that you should try. :-)

Ever since the new owner took over six months ago, this place has become much cleaner and more spacious. The portions are very generous, and the food tastes amazing! They've kept the classic Hawaiian BBQ while adding American Chinese dishes and truly authentic Chinese cuisine. I've been here three times this week, and I'm absolutely in love. Nice and friendly service! Highly recommend everyone to try it out!

Came here after what appears to be new ownership and was pretty impressed. The inside is nothing fancy, but food quality is great. Everything came out super quick, hot, and fresh. I will definitely be coming back!