Aga Taiwanese Bistro

This place is as good as it gets!
They really know how to cook genuine food. You know it when you taste it!
It has a nice vibe and great, friendly people! If you are around the area, give it a shot, you won’t be disappointed.

I’ve been eyeing this place for a while and finally found time to come eat here. The place was empty on a Tuesday afternoon so no wait. Our actually made me kind of sad that such a good place had no customers. But then again it was 2:30.
I had the turkey rice. It. Was. Amazing. The sauce in the rice was a bit sweet which was so interesting and tasty. The rice portion was pretty big. The 3 slices of turkey was a bit small in proportion to the rice but it was acceptable. What made up for size was the un-​drynessIof the turkey. So yum.
They had a lunch special which just means free red or green tea. It wasn’t as good add the meal but it was decent.
Haven’t tried very much of their menu since the turkey was so good. Maybe when I finally get bored of it, I’ll try something new. Don’t let this place close down!

The turkey rice reminds me of a Thai dish call khao man gai. It was really good with a nice flavor.
I also liked their tea since I had a bit of fever and that hit the spot.
The price is also reasonable and service is good.
I say come give it a shot!

Wanting to try another Taiwanese place I stopped by for lunch a couple of days ago. Aga Taiwanese Bistro is located next door to the more famous Ten Ten dim sum place so location and parking is straightforward, just park closer to the Ranch 99 market side during lunch time as the area around Ten Ten seems to get packed.
When I entered at the peak lunch hour the place was virtually empty with two other female customers who were basically hanging out and chatting with each other rather than having a meal. The décor of the place looked modern and it seemed to have been well done to attract the young hipper demographic that likes to hang out at tea bars. I decided to get the sliced turkey over rice meal ($ 6.99) which comes with a free black or green tea at lunch time. There is another turkey over rice meal for a dollar less but my server recommended the sliced turkey over rice as it had better cuts of meat so I decided to go with that.
Food was out pretty fast as I was the only customer in the restaurant. The turkey slices were great. I generally don’t like the taste of plain turkey meat and manage to eat it only with gravy, but here I enjoyed the turkey pieces which were cut into thin squares. Taste and quality of the turkey itself was top notch. The rice also was of good quality. I also got a side of tofu, daikon, marinated egg and cabbage. The tofu had a weird consistency so I didn’t like that too much. The green tea was just superb. It was thick and hearty with a small layer of foam. It was sweet yet allowed the green tea flavor to reign supreme. I really liked this a lot. One of the best that I’ve had.
Lastly they do take cards but with a $ 10 minimum so essentially they are a cash only place. After my dining experience here I feel that Aga Taiwanese Bistro is more of a Taiwanese tea/​coffee place which also does light eats and is not well suited for a complete meal. This was validated by the fact that I was the only customer for the entire lunch hour. I may return to try some more of their tea’s as the green tea was really good. If I do lunch then I’m sure to get an entrée along with an appetizer to fill me up. This would also be my advise for other hungry diners like me.

A friend recommended this place. We ordered the following.
#14 scarlet fried pork — Very delicious.
#7 spiced chicken breast — not spicy at all. They tasted like chicken tenders from any fast food joint.
#19 spiced chicken rice — not spicy. Nothing special about the dish. It looked like the chicken piece was marinated and cooked very well but somehow it did not translate into a memorable taste for some reason.
Portions were decent for the price. Ambiance felt like a boba place. All said and done the meal experience was ok but nothing stood out that would make me want to come back here.

«Aga-​ooo-​la-​la,
Want your bad romance.» — Parody of «Bad Romance», Lady Gaga
Who knew Taiwanese like eating turkey? I sure didn’t!
Aga Taiwanese Bistro, located inbetween Ten Ten Seafood Restaurant & Chung King Sichuan Restaurant.
Lunch Special — Order the curry, fried pork chop rice or either turkey rice & get a free tea (black or jasmine)
The jasmine tea was exceptionally refreshing, having the option of having it sweetened or unsweetened. I chose unsweetened and savored the floral notes of jasmine with each cold sip.
Sliced turkey rice
Full disclosure — I’m not a turkey fan. Whenever Thanksgiving comes around, I usually just eat the fatty skin, preferring to have ham or other meat option. However, I’m a fan of Taiwanese turkey, though! Tender slices of turkey breast, on top of rice with special sauce on the bottom. Make sure to mix it up well, and extra sauce is available if desired. The sliced turkey rice was delicious, paired w/​marinated egg, daikon, tofu, scrambled eggs & cabbage
Fried pork chop rice
It’s all about the coating, baby! Greasy, but not too greasy, the large portions of pork chop satisfies this carnivore’s meat cravings. This dish also comes with the same accoutrement as the sliced turkey rice.
Hot sauce is available for those that like to spice things up, like me. Hey, I’m a hottie ;p
For dessert options, Aga has options such as boba, slushes & their mochi waffles a la mode. I wasn’t in the mood for something sweet, but I do intend to have a go with their waffles in the future.
A fair amount of seating in this small establishment. 2 round tables for large groups, along with seating by the wall. There is also bar seating for those wanting to watch TV.
Parking is in the 99 Ranch Market plaza. As I previously mentioned, Aga Taiwanese Bistro is inbetween Ten Ten & Chung King. Service was great. The young woman was friendly & talked about things about Taiwanese culture & how Aga has been open a few months. Beautiful Taiwanese music was playing on the speakers. Quite captivating, if you ask me.
Aga, I’m a big fan! Your food is great & cheap to boot! Your turkey rice has changed my mind about the animal that Ben Franklin wanted to make the national bird & the fried pork chop rice was a winner. Having free green tea capped a great lunch that I’m very looking forward to having again. I shall return!
Highly recommmend!
NOMNOMNOMNOMNOMNOMNOMNOMNOMNOMNOMNOM

This is one of those places where my review can teeter between three and four depending on what mood I’m in. I wasn’t quite sure what to think of this place on my first visit. I read couple of reviews and seemed like everyone liked the Chiayi Turkey Rice or Chiayi Turkey Slice Rice so that’s what I ordered. They are actually the same dish but Turkey Slice Rice has bigger portion and costs $ 1 more. I also added a Lavender Milk Tea for $ 1.99 as they had a dinner special where you can add any drink (without boba) for $ 1.99 with order of any entrée. Regular price for most drinks is around $ 3.50-$ 4.00.
Chiayi Turkey Rice didn’t really impress me. It’s just too simple and there wasn’t any flavor on the turkey. I added some of the sauce that was suppose to be poured on the rice and that helped a bit but wished the turkey itself was marinated in the sauce. It came with some side items like eggs, steamed cabbage, and daikon but these seem to change all the time based on what they have available. I noticed some people got fried tofu with this dish. I think this dish is something I may need to get used to. I used to think the same way about Hainan chicken but now I love it. This is pretty similar since it’s basically rice, turkey, and sauce. I also got it to go so I’m not sure if that affected the taste.
The Lavender Milk Tea was just ok. I asked them to make it barely sweet so the sweetness level was perfect but it didn’t really taste like lavender to me. I think I was expecting it to taste more like lavender honey ice cream.
I wanted to try their mochi waffle but they wouldn’t allow togo orders on this item because it comes with ice cream and would mess up the texture. I guess they are afraid people might get the wrong impression of the waffle if they take it home and it’s all soggy. So I made a point to come back here and dine in just so I can order this item.
I made my second visit today and ordered Spiced Chicken Rice, Japanese Furnace Tea, Matcha Red Bean mochi waffle, and Traditional Mochi.
I liked the Spiced Chicken Rice better than the turkey rice dish. The chicken was marinated well and was fall-​off-​the-​bone tender. I can’t stand anything with bones but this one wasn’t too bad because it was easy to get the meat off the bones. I think it has the same sauce as the turkey dish but I was thrown off because there were some vegetables with curry sauce on top. I thought they brought me the curry rice dish by mistake but then I noticed the curry dish comes with pork, not chicken. After digging through deeper I noticed the sauce on the rice was different. This is another example of how they always change the side items on these dishes. I noticed in some pictures people got the same dish but it didn’t have any bones and had different vegetables. I think I just got curry vegetables as one of the side items. I don’t think this is a good idea because the curry flavor overpowers everything else on this dish so I couldn’t really taste the actual sauce on this dish until I got to the very bottom. The portion on this dish was huge. I ended up taking it half of it home. The server thought I didn’t like the dish because I had so much leftover. I had to tell her it’s because I was saving room for desserts.
So I finally got to try the mochi waffle and it was pretty tasty. I love mochi in general but I love it when it’s incorporated into a waffle where it’s crispy on the outside and chewy on the inside. I think they could’ve made it crispier on the outside with some caramelized sugar but that’s just me. There are three flavor options — strawberry banana, choco honey, and matcha red bean. I went with the latter since I like anything with red beans and green tea. Only problem is I couldn’t taste any green tea because it’s just a light powder sprinkled on top of the waffle. I think they should just incorporate green tea powder into the batter itself and serve it with green tea ice cream instead of vanilla. The menu also indicated it comes with condensed milk but I didn’t see any on mine. It came with carmel sauce instead which was fine.
To continue with my mochi indulgence I also got the Traditional Mochi. This is house made mochi served with frosted sugar and peanut bits. There’s no filling inside these but it was still tasty and had a nice chewy texture.
I’m still not sold on the tea here. I’m not sure if I just haven’t ordered the right one. The Japanese Furance Tea was quite bitter and I couldn’t figure out what it tasted like. It was definitely different but not in a good way.
I think this place can grow on me if I give it some time and try more dishes. I’m definitely more fond of the desserts here than their regular food but I tend to be that way with every Taiwanese restaurant.

The service here is horrendous. I came here for dinner and they were completely out of their milk teas and several items on the menu were «unavailable.» It wasn’t even that busy. I ordered two appetizers and waited about 30 minutes without any acknowledgement from our server, who decided to go to the kitchen in the back only to never return. I asked for my check and the appetizers to go so I could move on and go somewhere that would serve actual food.
I’ve never received worse service from any other establishment. At this point, the quality of the food doesn’t even matter. Lame. Thumbs down. Bad. Horrible. Never again.
It’s sad. My 400^th review on Unilocal and I wasted it on this place. What a joke.

Great Service. Love their turkey slice rice :) with side condiments! Their green tea is delicious too! Mmm Taiwanese food makes me happy!

Very home style cooking and flavor. We ordered the pork stew rice, sausage rice, popcorn chicken and fried shrimp cake.
The shrimp cake had lots of ginger, so for me it was too overpowering.
We were used to the popcorn chicken being spicy at other places, but this one was pretty sweet and not spicy at all.
Loved their taro drink.

My brother recommended this place.
It’s in the same plaza as 99 ranch Market. It’s in between a Szechuan restaurant (Chung King) & a Cantonese restaurant (Ten Ten). Aga is a Taiwanese one. 3 Chinese restaurant all from different cuisines and competing with each other. Very interesting. I’ve been to the other two and both are very good. Let’s see what this one has.
When you enter, it’s very modern. Nice lighting, very bright.
A flat screen in by the bar area. Taiwanese soup opera was playing during my visit. A lot of the patrons were very glued to the set. Must have been good
Here’s the rundown:
Scarlet Fried Pork «Lightly fried pork chops dipped in our signature scarlet wine glaze» — DELICIOUS. A different take on Pork Chops. I like it a lot.
Chiayi Turkey Slice Rice «Thick slices of juicy turkey alongside our signature sauce, set over white rice» — The turkey was indeed very moist and delicious. This dish came with fried tofu, soft tofu, half a boiled tea egg and vegetables. All were very very good.
Chow Mein «Pork slivers stir fried with egg noodles, cabbages, onion, garlic and spices» — An excellent version of chow mein. Very flavorful and tasty!
They offer Taiwanese slush and boba drinks.
Service was okay, communication is not going to be a problem.
The food here can hold it’s own and considering the competition is on both sides, they certainly will give them a fight for customers appetite.
I’ll definitely be back!

***GOBBLE GOBBLE***
You didn’t think Taiwanese people were turkey eaters did you? Well the Chiayi region of Taiwan do. Not like I personally know, but I had a nice chat with the waitress and they were happy to edumacate me. With that being said, I want to get straight to the point: Good Food, Good Service, Good Prices are Good eats in my book. 5 Stars!
Just newly opened in November, we had to try this authentic looking Taiwanese food. not like I care since I get free food. (Jk lover!)
Ordered
–Fried Shrimp Cake 4.0 stars!
–Chiayi Turkey Rice 4.5 stars!
–Fried Pork Chop rice 4.0 stars!
–Mochi Waffles w Matcha and house made red bean 4.0 Stars
Everything was delish with high ranks across the board. They serve you huge portions and not only that, but our lunch entrée’s came with free GT or BT. Usually you think a free drink is watered down and not that great. But these GT packed a punch and is definitely not watered down.
Fried shrimp cake n Fried pork chop were nicely fried. Not too oily, but crispy enough w the right amount of batter that doesn’t hide the pork. At the end of our meal we each took home a to-​go box, it was that much. Also, we had to save room for the dessert! Made fresh to order of course; we let the waitress know ahead of time when we wanted it. A different type of waffles that I’ve never tried before, the mochi waffles were stretchy with the light crispyness that comes from waffles. The entire plate was dusted w matcha, DELISH! The house made red bean underneath the ice cream was also stupendous. There was no canned items on this plate, all freshly made.
The thing that made this restaurant a 5 star was the awesome service. After ordering our food and looking around the restaurant, I saw a couple of bags that has the Taiwanese flag on it. I asked a waitress what it was and she immediately explained and asked if I wanted one. In Taiwan kids use book bags but these were like a purse or change bag.
Will I come here again? You bet your momma’s sweet ass I will be. Bombass food, service and prices, I’d be crazy not to.

LEGIT TAIWANESE FOOD ALERT. This place is seriously so bomb and just based on the one thing I ordered. I already have a feeling that it’s probably the closest thing I can get to authentic Taiwanese food in the area. From the décor to the type of language that’s used on the menu to the food items offered– everything screams Taiwan. And I love it!
Coming here for a quick to-​go, I only ordered one entrée which was the shredded chiayi turkey rice. Like woah, such big portions and even the side dishes were good. Seriously a bite into that rice instantly brought me back to Taiwan. Reminiscent thoughts of me going from stand to stand at night markets came to mind because the sauce, the turkey, and the smell was just so similar to what I would find in Taiwan.
The fresh cuttle fish and the obsidian sausage are definitely things that I would order next time around. Honestly this is the closest that I’ve gotten to real Taiwanese food– and this is coming from someone that goes back to Taiwan almost every year and knows the real dealll. I’m just about 100% certain that even my grandma in Taiwan would give a thumbs up for this place. DELICIOUS. It’s also great that my huge lunch box with a drink was only around six bucks… And the leftovers were enough for a second meal. Value right there $

We stopped by Aga Taiwanese Bistro around lunchtime since we were in the neighborhood. I didn’t have too large of an appetite so I didn’t get the recommended main entrees. I really wanted their Traditional Mochi with peanuts, but the server told me they didn’t have any mochi in the kitchen, so I ended up getting the Rice Tower (mi gao) and Popcorn Chicken to-​go.
Unwrapping my food back at the office was interesting. The Rice Tower looked nothing like the photos on Unilocal (probably because it was take out?) and looked pretty unappetizing. After one bite, I knew I wasn’t going to like it; the flavor of the sauces was off and the texture of the rice was too wet and sticky, almost like zongzi rice rather than the traditional mi gao rice I’m used to (my favorite is from Nice Time Deli for reference). The Popcorn Chicken was more chicken than breading, and overall really dry (white meat?). I wouldn’t order it again.
Service is decent, but not too attentive. The best thing about Aga is probably the restaurant interior design — very hipster and trendy, with wood décor and leather accents. One of my co-​workers and I were so enamored with Aga’s appearance, it took us nearly 15 minutes before we actually looked at its menu. Maybe I ordered the wrong things, but the food is mediocre at best and I most likely won’t return.

Saw this place spotlighted when my dad pointed it out in a Chinese newspaper. I was very excited to check it out because I love traditional Taiwanese food.
They opened mid November so the décor was a bit sparse. The staff was very friendly & helpful. The beverage selection was awesome if you’re a tea lover. The food selection was average a bit confusing. When we received our food it tasted amazing! It tasted homemade (instead of that MSG taste of most asian restaurants)
I recommend the shrimp fried rice. It wasn’t greasy or stall tasting. If you like green/​jasmine tea I recommend the Winter Green Tea if it’s in season.
All in all I would recommend Aga!

Being from the 626, I’ve had a lot of Taiwanese food, especially from the popular ones such as Simbala of Arcadia & Whythirsty of San Gabriel. I’m not sure if my review will be trustworthy because I am not Taiwanese myself so I would not know how to compare from the food here to one in Taiwan. All I can say is, my friend from Taiwan says this place was not good (when comparing the food here from Taiwan) although he did say he came when it first opened a while back so maybe changes were made. However, my friend from mainland and I thought it was DELICIOUS!
Anyways lets jump to the review shall we?
Im going to start with the ambience:
Ambience: (⁵⁄₅)
The ambience this restaurant has is simple and modern, I really liked it. It could actually be a legit tea house if it wanted to be. It was pretty cold when I went inside and if you don’t mind them playing Jay Chou ²⁴⁄₇ then you’ll love it here! The location is not that bad either. Although the plaza where it is located looks like it’s dying. In general the city of Artesia has a lot of businesses closing down and they have a lot empty venues.
Food:
Turkey Rice: (⁵⁄₅)
My friend got this and at first I was kinda skeptical about this dish, because I do not like Turkey that much. But then I took a bite and was pretty amazed. First of all, I never had something like this before and I heard this is the only place in CA to get this? I’m not sure but I also overheard from my friend that this restaurant had a few media coverages back in Taiwan. Anyways my friend said that the dish reminded him of the Hainan Chicken Rice from Savoy Kitchen. I found it to be better though. I mean I love Savoy, but I loved the taste to this one, especially the soup in the bottom mixed with the rice gives it a good flavor. I would definitely recommend this!
Black Taiwanese Sausage Rice: (³⁄₅)
This was my dish and I could say that I wasn’t expecting the sausage to be black. Whenever I go to simbala I always get the sausage that were like red. My friend was like oh those red taiwan sausages are the cheap ones, this one is of better quality. The taste is a little different at first compared to other Taiwanese sausages but I did like it, but not that much. I was not a big fan of my dish, although it wasn’t bad by any means! I also don’t know, but the sausages were a bit cold.
Moonlight Shrimp Pancakes: (³⁄₅)
I only got this because the title sounded appetizing. Nothing amazing to give out here, it is just your average shrimp pancake similar to ones in Thai restaurants!
Tea Drinks: (⁵⁄₅)
Now I am quite impressed with their teas here. You can tell that they use real herbal tea leaves for their drinks, not that powdery crap that lollicup or tapioca express uses. I got the Hawaiian Tea and my friend got the sakura tea. We asked for half sugar but were amazed that when we got our drinks, the drinks tasted like there was no sugar in it all. Seems like they don’t go by the american standards like other boba places in which they put too much sugar. I would say do not ask for half sugar and go for the regular taste. My Hawaiian Tea was really refreshing and fruity, I would definitely recommend trying this, although the sakura tea, not that much.
Service: (-/​-​)
Nothing amazing or bad on the service here. I can’t really comment on the service, but when I do come back and notice anything I will most likely update this review.
Anyways, I am glad this place opened nearby my house. I hope it will survive this crazy competition it will face especially seeing so many businesses going down in Artesia. I am kind of shocked they would open one here first out of all places. I will definitely be coming back to try their other dishes! And I think I helped promote this business by mentioning so many other business names here on the review! So go on and give this place a try if you are wanting to find something unique around the area :)

This place is not yo typical Taiwanese restaurant. The design is very modern and spacious, they even have a bar for tea! My family decided to come here for lunch, we were seated at the round table. Servers were very friendly and attentive.
Food:
Obsidian Sausage — So. Good. It’s marinated with this white wine, I have no idea where else you could get this.
Scarlet Fried Pork — Definitely my parents’ favorite. The meat is fatty and tender. Very unique.
Spiced Chicken Breast — It’s okay, personally think the portion is too little.
CHIAYI TURKEY RICE — Must get if you do come here. It’s very authentic, the turkey is juicy, they also add a little of the turkey juice onto the rice. Mmmm
Soups — Tried both. Good for the price. Nothing too special though.
Traditional Mochi– very similar to what you can get on the street in Taiwan with yummy peanut sugar. Save your stomach for this!
Didn’t get to try their tea because I personally think it’s a little pricey, will definitely try when I’m in the area again!

Came here for a quick lunch today and have a mixed bag feeling about this place.
Decoration — It is definitely different than typical Taiwanese restaurant but not space efficient. It feels like it was recently converted from coffee bean. Chairs were uncomfortable as they are those IKEA quality assembled chair so some of the chairs already feels not stable.
Service — There were few servers, but I don’t know why it was such a difficult task to make me repeat my orders three times, consider the menu items were quite limited at this time. They also forgot about drinks and not to mention my rice took very long time to make (did they forget that as well? as other tables got food before me).
Food — Pork chop rice is good, I like the way how they prepare the pork chop with yam powders to fly. However, I do not like the way their bowl is. It feels like a typical Italian soup bowl where is deep, but not wide enough. Quantity is average (not too big, but definitely smaller than Dolphin Bay across street). They need to improve the amount of side dishes that comes with rice for the price $ 7 that they will be charging after soft opening is over. You get pork chop, 2 slices of stew tofu, and cabbage, that’s it vs dolphin you get pork chop, rice, side dish (es), plural, and drinks too (Even Formosan restaurant gives egg and soup) so they are definitely in a disadvantage.
Fried noodle was not on the menu but I was curious to try it out, it was not as good as I expected, again, flavor was lacking due to the lack of variety of ingredients. It will taste better if they can put some shitake mushroom and shredded carrots.
The best part of that they are giving 20% off total bills, but if they have upped their price already during the soft opening phase and offer less quantity food than competitors, it will be a long tough battle ahead.

I’ve been here many times since their soft opening and they are going through many changes as they are a new restaurant. What I do appreciate is that they do take criticism and ask for any opinions for improvement.
Now moving on to the food itself, I am definitely in love! It is hard to find authentic Taiwanese food in California. Most places that I try don’t really meet my expectations. I always end up thinking that Taiwan is so much better. Truthfully, I have given up hope for great Taiwanese food and just stick with places like class 302 even though the food and service isn’t exactly exceptional but it’s acceptable. After coming here, I can safely say that this is one of those better Taiwanese restaurants.
Their food quality is great and everything is handmade. For example, I ordered the Obsidian sausage and asked why it is black. The chef told me that the natural color of the sausage is actually dark. The reason sausages are red are due to coloring and preservatives. Knowing what I’m eating definitely is a plus! Also the chef is from Chiayi and has a restaurant there, so Aga is bringing the authentic food of Chiayi to California. Their most famous dish is the turkey rice and they carry many hard to find dishes. My absolute favorite is the garlic pork slices, fresh cuttlefish and of course their turkey rice. Everything is worth trying. The drinks are also very tasty! They import the tea from Taiwan and the smell is just so fragrant! I recommend the emperor jade tea, dairy milk tea, and oolong milk tea or green tea. I have yet to try a lot of them but those are my favorites!
Sorry for this long review but I had a lot to say. Overall, this restaurant has yet to disappoint me. Hopefully their quality will be kept.

Good Good eat to cry father
Foods amazing. service is great. the overall atmosphere of the restaurant was fantastic. I would definitely come back again.