A & J Restaurant - Irvine, CA

The simple sign doesn’t tell you much about what is to be revealed beyond the entrance. Only upon settling down at the table and taking a gander at the menu you realize, it’s Chinese. Well, not quite. A & J Restaurant serves up Taiwanese cuisine in a simple fashion that even non-speakers and newbies can understand.

Ordering is quite simple, so don’t stress too much. You can go about it many ways such as placing your orders using the paper menu, pointing at the item on the plastic menu, or referencing the number. See? Easy peasy. We did one of those options and the food started rolling out.

We started off with spicy wontons with red hot sauce (Szechuan style). Essentially, it’s wontons drowning in chili oil and chili paste topped off with a sprinkle of green onions. Portions are small like side dishes, so we ordered a couple other things to accompany our meal.

Another appetizer we ordered was the scallion pancake. Slightly crunchy on the exterior and relatively dense in the middle, it makes for a filling snack that left no sense of urgency to order a heap of pancakes on our next visit.

To round out the meal, we got cold noodles with ham, bean sprouts, shredded egg and cucumbers tossed in peanut sauce. It was the peak to our affinity for Taiwanese food. Like the peanut sauce paired with the chicken satay in Thai appetizers, the sauce was a creamy blend of sweetness to match the refreshingly cold noodles. 

Our friends also ordered the pan fried pork dumpling and the spicy beef noodle soup.

Although this looks like a whole lot, it won’t cost an arm and a leg to fill your tummies. Most items are served family style with small portions so you can taste a bit of everything. Service is quick and even with the language barrier, we were taken care of and got everything that we needed.

- Rocky & Jamie :D

A & J
14805 Jeffrey Rd, Suite D
Irvine, CA 92618
(949) 786-3585