Jo Jo Taipei

The delivery man said I should tip more during the day time. Then I found out they didn’t give me anything other than the dishes I order. No napkins, no chopsticks, no anything. And the dish amount was reduced pretty obviously

My friend and I were craving soup dumplings and didn’t want to travel too far for them. We decided to go to Jo Jo Taipei when we saw that Live Noodle wasn’t open until a little later. We were starving so we didn’t want to wait. We went into Jo Jo a little before noon — we were sat fairly quickly with only a few other tables occupied. When one of the waiters came by to fill up our water glasses, I wanted to put in 2 orders of soup dumplings because there is quite a bit of wait time. The server responded with «wait a minute» and walked away — no «please», and he definitely never came back to take our order. I would have been appeased if he just said «please».
We ordered soup dumplings, pineapple fried rice, dan dan noodles, and the chicken wings. The soup dumplings weren’t the worst I’ve ever had, but also not the greatest. It was very doughy. The chicken wings were not great. they were super hard (not in a delightful crispy way) and dry. The pineapple fried rice was good, but nothing exciting to note. I didn’t try the dan dan noodles, so I can’t say.
I was disappointed by the service and the food. The rude comment at the beginning really set the tone for the rest of my meal, unfortunately.

If I could, I’d give it 3.5 stars.
It’s pretty good Taiwanese/​Chinese food, and I’d say the best I know of that’s in the Allston area (hmm…might be because it’s the only?). That bumps it up to 4 stars for me.
Last time I went, we got the Three Cup Chicken, Szechuan Cho-​Show (wonton in a spicy sesame paste), and Beef with Watercress (gotta get your veggies… I guess…).
Menu tip: They’ve got stars on the left-​hand side of menu items that they highly recommend. Easy way to narrow down the choices for the new and/​or indecisive (helped me at least!)

Why go all the way to downtown Chinatown? The food is really good here. The atmosphere is decent but hard to find parking if you drive a car to the area.
The guy who was bussing my table with water was very attentive.
I ordered twice cooked pork. It was really good and the stir fry cabbage was excellent. I found the calamari out of this world especially not heavily on the dough batter. You can actually taste the calamari.
I didn’t know who was my waiter so I felt ambiguous about my tip but still gave a 20 percent. It’s pricier for food than places in Chinatown but really tasty. I would have expected better service attention from my waiters. I wished they had tea being offered as a complimentary side with dinner.
Oh, the wait time for my food was not too long. I was surprised that within less than 10 mins my platter and that of my friends were out. I really liked the quick response.
I’ll go back next time… and have reordered food online. It’s very reliable.

Good, clean service. Their shaved ice was delicious! Different from what I’m used to but the beans were great!

Overall the food was so-​so. The water spinach with garlic was a pretty good treat, it seems like it’s hard to find that vegetable. What was NOT a treat, though, was me, my wife, and two friends getting horrible food poisoning and puking my brains out for the next 24 hours.

One of the best Chinese/​Taiwanese food I’ve had in the city.
The place looks and feels authentic, which is not very surprising since it is in Allston, the Asian food central of Boston. There were many Chinese speaking customers present, which even added to the feel of authentic Chinese restaurant.
We went there on a Sunday afternoon and they seemed to have a dim sum menu on top of their 3 regular menus, which had many of the dim sum dishes that you’d find in other restaurants. The main reason we went is for their noodle soups and I got the spicy beef noodle soup, which was perfect! It was perfectly spiced, the meat was tender, and the noodles were perfectly chewy.
I will definitely have to go back for their other dishes, because they have soooo many items on the menu that sounded good.

Being Taiwanese it is always nice to find a restaurant where I can cure feeling homesick with classic Taiwanese dishes so needless to say I had to try Jo Jo Taipei. The only thing note-​worthy is their beef noodle soup which was delicious and their only saving grace in my review. In the same trip I also ordered an oyster pancake as well as their JoJo DanDan noodles. Both were mediocre at best. The main issue was that it lacked the flavor that I expected when I ordered it and considering the price of food I expected more. IF you were to visit here the beef noodle soup is the way to go but other than that I would go else where.

This rate is based on my 3 years of college life in Boston. I had 2 stars deducted base on the food freshness.
Their shrimps have strong fish smell and the meat is loose… And the loofa has a bitter taste. If you are a picky eater like me or you cook by yourself a lot, you can tell the material they use is stale.
I haven’t been there for almost a year after a found a couple more outranking restaurants to be honest.

Family style orders here is the way to go! We got the salt and pepper chicken, and beef with tripe as the appetizer. The chicken came with bones which was different than other places I’ve been to, but flavor is definitely on point. The tripe is ok, not as spicy as the other ones I’ve had. We shared the beef hotpot, garlic eggplant, and three pepper chicken. All really good choices. Big fan of the three pepper chicken. It’s minced chicken but the flavor is really great and authentic. And garlic eggplant is always my favorite. It’s really sweet and not as greasy as some other places. The beef hotpot in my opinion is not as good. It’s mostly beef intestine (which the waitress did explain before we ordered) and the tripe tasted very strong. But the noodles were good and so was the soup! Good experience overall. They get crowded after 6 so get there earlier is a smart idea

They used to be ok, but my last visit was more than disappointing. Food don’t taste like what it supposed to be. What stood out really bad for me from last visit was, we ordered pancake with fried egg. The pancake was under cooked and the pancake was… I don’t even know how to describe it. Just wrong. Everything we ordered was just bad. So bad not worth explaining.
i think one of the «waiter» is related to the owner? I don’t know if you can call him a waiter. He looked very sad. You can tell he doesn’t want to be there. He was not mean or anything, but you can tell he feel trapped working there. He was cleaning the floor next to our table. the place looked dirty, then you have this sad guy working next to you. We asked for something and honestly I think he wasn’t expecting us talking to him, so he didn’t turned to us. you can tell he is a good kid. just trapped in a sad job. I feel bad for him. If he is the owner kid and the owner is reading this, please don’t tie your son at something he doesn’t want to do. He might be very successful else where, he might failed. But you have to let him try. If he doesn’t come back to your restaurant, then he will appreciate his job more.
BTW, our waitress «sounded» mean. All in all, I don’t get good vibe.

I really like this place — its definitely my favorite Chinese/​Taiwanese place in Allston the land of Asian food. I love their soup dumplings, Szechuan style fish fillet (I can’t do spicy but this is the perfect amount of spicy!), eggplant with basil, and three cups chicken.
There is also a 10% discount if you pay with cash — ask the waiter/​waitress if you could pay with cash and get the discount when they bring you the check. I won’t lie — this place isn’t cheap (relative to other Chinese restaurants in the area, ie Victoria’s). But I think quality of the food is worth it!

I don’t know how JoJo is now but it used to be the bomb 3 years ago. I must have dined here 30+ times (mainly for lunch), as their lunch special was definitely the tastiest and best bang for the buck. I introduced JoJo to many friends/​classmates and they all loved it. Hands down the most authentic Taiwanese restaurant in Cambridge/​Allston/​Boston! My faves were definitely the crazy spicy Beef Noodle Soup, the mouth-​watering, basil-​infused San Bei Ji (aka 3 Cup Chicken), Julienne Beef w Longhorn Peppers, and Hot Chili Chicken. I have many fond memories of this restaurant and it saddens me to see all the recent low ratings. Perhaps quality has decreased and prices have increased over the years? I can only recall great service, delicious food, and great prices. Thanks for all the good times!

Ehhhhhhh I’ve rethought my rating for this place after frequenting other Taiwanese restaurants in Chinatown and realized Jo Jo Taipei doesn’t even compare. I came once before and the braised pork over rice was served at room temperature, even though it was steaming so it was pretty obvious it was just quickly microwaved It was also served within 3 minutes of when we ordered it, and tasted dried out. I thought, maybe it was just a fluke that one time, so I came again to try it out since I used to love this dish. Same thing. The quality sure has gone downhill. The soup dumplings are pretty pricey too since they only gave us 6 for $ 7.99, and they weren’t that great (not a lot of soup in them). Next time, I’d rather just drive to Chinatown.
BTW, $ 2 for a can of soda at a Chinese restaurant is just RIDICULOUS. Oh, and our table was very sticky.

Brings a comprehensive selection of Taiwanese fare to the Allston area. Service is pleasant and portions are generous. Fills up rather quickly at prime dinner time. A few large tables are available for groups. Tea was not served with the meal, and is most likely available upon request.
The menu is long but no need to feel overwhelmed with the helpful smiley face icons to signify house recommended dishes. As a staple of Taiwanese cuisine, one must begin with the plump soup dumplings. The dumpling is thick and slightly chewy. Take a small bite of the dough to enjoy the flavorful soup and then pork inside. Dab with the soy and vinegar sauce. Enjoy in the spoon served with the dumplings.
Three cups chicken is another common Taiwanese dish — one cup soy sauce, one cup rice wine, and one cup sesame oil for the sauce. Delicious with plenty of garlic and basil. Note the meat is served on the bone. For adventurous eaters, the mala beef hot pot is spicy and plentiful with thick cellophane noodles, bok choy, tender beef, and tripe in a red pepper broth. The hot pot itself is enough for a meal.
Will be back for the bow bin (shaved ice) dessert!

Having tried Jo Jo Taipei for takeout once and enjoying their soup dumplings, beef and scallion pancakes, and ma po tofu thoroughly, I decided to try them in person. When I walked in and saw the crowd – 100% Asian – I knew my meal was going to be good. Service was friendly as well, although my waitress and I had a little trouble communicating due to the language barrier.
My boyfriend and I were seated at a freshly «cleaned» table (I use quotation marks because the rag they used to wipe it was disgusting) and left to peruse the menu. The aforementioned soup dumplings and scallion pancake were a given, but we also wanted to try something new. I had heard the Three Cups chicken was good, but I had no idea what it was, and the menu description («Cooked with one cup of soy sauce, one cup of wine and one cup of water») certainly didn’t help.
The chicken turned out to be delicious, succulent and flavorful, with loads of garlic, but it was a tad bit difficult to eat as the majority of chicken pieces were small and half bone. If you’re not a chopstick connoiseur, expect to use your fingers and get messy. Just know that it’s worth it.
The shaved ice dish you can order for dessert (I’m blanking on the name at the moment) will feel and taste absolutely bizarre to you if you’ve never had it before, but I found myself unable to stop eating it. I kind of want it again right now. I guess the moral of the story is Jo Jo Taipei is a great place to try new things while still enjoying old favorites.

If you are in Boston, this is where you want to go for Chinese.
It’s far away from ChinaTown to avoid all the fuss but offers very authentic food. Especially if you prefer food from southern Asian area, because it is a Taiwanese flavor oriented place.
The owners are always very friendly and the service is very speedy. Reasonable pricing. A little bit difficult for parking but there’s public parking 5 – 10 min-​ish walk away, so not too bad.

There are really only so many places you can find traditional Taiwanese dishes in Boston and this place is one of the few so they get kudos for that!
It’s not the most amazing Taiwanese food I’ve had, but it’s solid and gets the job done. Reminds me a lot of Taiwanese restaurants I grew up going to — they even try and convince you to pay with cash by throwing in a 10% discount. Classic.
We had the beef noodle soup, oyster pancake, dan dan noodles, and tofu with snap peas and mushrooms. Each dish was on the brink of flavor heaven, but unfortunately just fell a little bit short.
I’ve been here on other occasions where the flavor wasn’t so lacking so it might have just been an off night.
Otherwise, I’d recommend the stewed minced pork over rice with egg, pan fried dumplings, and scallion pancake with roasted beef. Those haven’t failed me in the past. I’ll hope the same for you.

This place seems to get better and better. The last time we went, the xiao long bao was probably the best I’ve had in awhile. Juicy, with the skins just the right thickness and the meat just the right texture.
The scallion pancake with roast beef is really good as well. Not usually a fan of friend foods, but it’s good to have a piece.
The fish, as always, remains the star dish of the meal. It’s covered in chili black bean sauce, which is absolutely delicious, so get some rice to go with the meal, and is always devoured by me and my friends.
This is the best Chinese restaurant I’ve found in Boston. Everyone is always so nice as well, even during peak hours, but I recommend eating early (around 5pm) to avoid the dinner crowd and get 1) better food and 2) better service.

I was craving Taiwanese food and was so glad I found this place! It’s on the same street as Blue Asia Café and it’s actually only a few doors down. Both places are pretty similar and I can’t say I’d go to either one over the other.
I wasn’t super impressed with what we ordered, but it got the job done.
There’s a lot of seating inside, but it was also pretty packed when we went on a Saturday night around 8:45.
After much deliberation, we ordered the housemade boiled dumplings, oyster pancake, stewed ground pork with rice, and spicy beef noodle soup.
Favorites were the ground pork with rice and the oyster pancake. These are 2 dishes I almost always get at Taiwanese restaurants. They’re simple and delicious.
–Stewed ground pork with rice and a hard boiled egg comes in a fairly small bowl, so you should get it with something else to make it a meal. It’s only $ 4.95 so don’t expect a large bowl. Can’t go wrong with this because it’s hard to mess it up
–The sauce on the oyster pancake was so on point. Sweet but not too sweet. Comes with a good amount of oysters, but the whole thing was a little greasy
–Boiled dumplings were just ok for me. Nothing special and I probably wouldn’t order it again
–Beef noodle soup was meh. I wouldn’t get this again either. I wasn’t a fan of the rice noodles, but the beef and broth werent bad! It was a HUGE bowl though, and VERY filling
The two of us left STUFFED and took home some of the rice and almost all the dumplings. That was definitely way too much for 2 people. this is what we get for wanting to try everything! coming back with more people next time lol