Tai San - Berkeley

This is definitely one of my favorite Chinese restaurants in the Bay Area. The food quality is excellent, the service is fantastic, and best of all, there's rarely a wait—usually just 10 minutes or less! If you're in the Berkeley area, this place is a must-try.

First time ordering and it was a good experience. Good customer service, friendly staff. Good potstickers, good chicken chow mein and really good string beans with Szechuan sauce. Large portions. Ordered takeout, didn't seem particularly inviting for dining in. Will be my go to for Chinese food in the neighborhood. Better than the Chinese restaurants on College Avenue.

Finally tried this place after 16 years in Berkeley, complaining the entire time that there are no good Chinese places that offer delivery after Hunan on Shattuck closed down. They were the best...sigh.... Tai San is a pretty close second, though, and I'm excited to work my way through the menu. In general, they were fast (15 min to pick up, no delivery), friendly (family-owned) and the portions were huge. Off to a good start! Ordered the Hong Kong style noodles, the sweet and sour chicken and the moo shu veggies this time. The moo shu took first place, and was delicious with the pancakes and plum sauce. Ordered 2 extra pancakes because the order only comes with 4 and I'm glad we did. The Hong Kong noodles were tasty, with everything but the kitchen sink in there... wish it had a bit more flavor though. Some spice and/or heat is missing, and I added a dash of vinegar and fish sauce to mine to give it a little zing. The sweet and sour chicken was by far the least favorite, but I imagine that's true everywhere. So much sauce and onion, not very much chicken. At least it was crispy and not soggy! Looking forward to trying some more adventurous choices!

Today, while traveling back to Yuba City from Oakland, we passed through Berkeley and decided to stop at this restaurant. With five adults and one child in our group, we ordered steamed rice, pork fried rice, beef with snow peas, honey prawns with walnuts, and sweet and sour pork. Everything was fantastic—no MSG and plenty of food for everyone! I absolutely loved this place and just wish it were closer to my home, as I would visit more often!

The pork fried rice, mandarin chicken, and BBQ pork buns were all delicious and affordable! And sake for just $4 as well!