A&J Restaurant

A&J Restaurant, serving up authentic Taiwanese cuisine in Irvine, offers a tasty selection of soups and noodles, with many popular side dishes to complement.

Review

A&J Restaurant is a popular fast paced Taiwanese restaurant in Irvine. Even though there is likely to be a line, it won’t be long till you get seated.

During my visit, I tried to order a wide representative assortment of items. Here is what I got to try:

149 Cucumber Salad in Hot Garlic Sauce
162 Five Spice Flavored Egg
133 Scallion Pancake
131 Pan Fried Beef Bun
139 Chinese Beef Wrap
102 Spicy Beef Noodle Soup (Szechuan Style)
119 Spicy Wontons w/Hot Red Sauce (Szechuan Style)
140 Steamed Soup Dumplings (Xiao Long Bao)

I enjoyed everything that I tried, as each dish had a great signature flavor.

Spicy beef noodle soup is one of my favorite dishes of all time. I think that this dish did a good job balancing the flavors in the broth, with crunchy green bok choi, thick noodles, and a fatty beef. I do prefer a spicier soup that makes my mouth tingle, but this still hit the spot. I have still yet to find a spicy beef noodle soup in SoCal that tops Magic Noodle in Las Vegas.

The cucumber salad was very light in seasoning and flavor, but still provides that fresh crunch that cucumbers are known for. The flavored egg did have a unique and interesting flavor from the spices, but it was hard boiled which was an unexpected departure from all the soft boiled seasoned eggs in ramen I am used to consuming.

The wontons and Xiao long bao were tasty and matched good dim sum quality. Do note that the steamed dumplings take a bit longer as they take a while to steam before serving.

The beef wrap is meaty and flavorful, not dry, and has a good ratio of wrap to filling. The scallion pancake was unfortunately a bit on the dry side and was perhaps the least inserting item that I tried.

The pan fried beef bun was very juicy on the inside, which is always a treat with any pan fried bun.

Overall, I think everything on the menu is well defined and could present a good representation of that dish. I think this restaurant is best experienced in a medium group where you can order and try multiple items.