Jo Jo TaiPei
Allston/Brighton
103 Brighton Ave.
Allston, MA 02134
http://www.jojotaipeiboston.com

Types of Food: Taiwanese

Ratings (out of 5 stars):

Food: (4/5)
Service: (4/5)
Decor: (/5)
Price: $15-25 per person for dinner
Price/Value: (3.5/5)

For one, I need to get out and eat at some non-Asian restaurants. But until then, here’s a review of Valentine’s Day dinner.

Jo Jo TaiPei is a nice Taiwanese restaurant in the Allston/Brighton area. It is frequently by hungry BU students, and by the occasional student from Harvard (or other schools). It’s a bit harder to get there from Harvard (cab or 66 Bus) though. Anyways, Kat and I went to eat here on V-Day. They have a special Valentine’s Day menu with four prix fixe choices for $40 per couple. The prix fixe menu came with cold appetizers, 2 entrees, a soup, dessert, and a gift (tea cup). We didn’t opt for this, however, and ordered quite a bit of food from the normal menu.

We had:

• Crispy Smelly Bean Curd ($5.99) – A popular Chinese dish, more commonly known as “Stinky Tofu,” this version was like all American versions – not very stinky. To get the real stink, you must visit the stinky tofu street vendors in China. However, a milder stink is completely fine with me. I admit that I like this dish because it is bean curd, but not necessarily because of the smell.
• Fried Steam Buns ($3.99 for 4) – Absolutely delicious. They are steamed, then fried, then covered with condensed milk and peanut powder. Think of delicious carbs, then fried, then covered in more sweets. A must – we would go back just for this dish.
• Flounder Fillet ($12.99) – Very solid fish dish, with a nicely cooked texture of fish that falls apart in your mouth, but not too easily. I also enjoyed the fact that the sauce was not overpowering, as is usually the case with Chinese or Taiwanese-American restaurants.
• Beef and Vegetable Sauteed with Noodles in Sa-Cha Sauce ($7.99) – Solid noodle dish, definitely tastes good. Nothing wrong with it all by any means, but pretty standard and a staple at all Chinese restaurants.
• Kung Pao Chicken ($9.99) – Like the noodles, these were very well-prepared, but nothing particularly special.
• Mango Sa-Sa Bin ($4.99) – This is a huge, shareable dessert, topped with fresh mango on top of snowy shaved ice and condensed milk, finished off with a layer of mango ice cream at the bottom. This is clearly another one of Jo Jo’s signatures, as everyone who goes there gets some sort of dessert. The same can’t be said of most Chinese/Taiwanese restaurants.

As far as food goes, I think that it’s a good idea to go for their “Recommended” dishes, which are marked off by smiley faces. I guess they really know what they do well – however, beware! Some of them are a little off-mainstream, such as “Miso Pig Intestine” and “Szechuan Pig Intestine with Smelly Tofu Hot Pot.”

Service is very friendly – especially so for a Chinese/Taiwanese restaurant. They are courteous and quick to refill your water, though our waitress was a bit quick in asking us to order.

Decor is average by absolute standards, but they definitely tried to make it better than a typical Chinese quick-eat. We appreciated their effort, and the entire experience was of a cute, sit-in dinner with great food, pleasant ambience, and delightful conversation.

Finally, the prices are acceptable. At Chinese/Taiwanese restaurants, one comes to expect relatively cheap food, and compared to this Jo Jo TaiPei was relatively a little more expensive. But it is possible to eat on the cheap there, and I would go back regardless. Recommended!