Coffee Break

I bring my son here at least once a month because the fried halibut and sizzling udon are delicious plus the passion fruit green tea with boba just tops it off.

I was starving after a whole day of classes and didn’t feel like going far, so I came here. The décor was nice and I liked the lights. I came at around 3, so the place was empty. However, I’ve heard that this place can get packed at lunch. I ordered the sizzling steak and the surprise slush. The steak was pretty ok-​a little too much MSG, you know, that feeling of incredible thirst after eating, but the taste was ok. I definitely asked for medium well, but I came well done. Over done a bit, in my opinion. The surprise slush tasted like melted vanilla ice cream, and is actually surprisingly good. It does get a bit sickening after a while though. Overall, it’s decent and I might just be back, with a bottle of water of course.

Kenny was very helpful with our order. Was looking for a different restraunt and stumbled into them instead. Great service

My friends and I stopped in for dinner after our classes. It’s a great place to eat located near mt sac and it’s affordable. We ordered boba milk teas, rice and chicken, udon, and hot pot. The food took a little bit of time and didn’t come out al at once. And for some reason they forgot to bring us waters but we also didn’t press about it. The food was tasty and you would be able to tell it’s definitely a college student hot spot. I would love to come here again.

Serves decent food with many interesting choices but certain appetizers /​dishes are ridiculously expensive as it comes at a pitifully small portion. Would recommend this place but be cautious when ordering the appetizers (especially the crispy spicy meatballs).
Nonetheless, the restaurant has a cozy and homely setting which is nice.
Overall a great place to dine in, just horrible when it comes to pricing selected dishes.

Mediocre food for lazy days.
This place is not bad to come to once in a while. Prices are not too expensive, and food isn’t too bad, so I wouldn’t complain too much about it.
Been here a couple of times, and listed below are a few items I have tried:
HOT POT: I have tried the kimchi hot pot with beef and another soup base, but I forgot what it was. Anyways, portions aren’t too bad. These are individual hot pots and prices depend upon what type of meat you get. It is around $ 9.99 and up. Hot pot comes with rice noodle, cabbage, kelp, tofu, imitation crab sticks, thinly sliced fish cake, thinly sliced carrots, meat of your choice (they have pork, beef, lamb, chicken), a bowl of rice and so on.
You can get another bowl of rice for free, and afterward they start charging you. My complaint for this is that I don’t always get a full bowl of rice. I’m guessing its because they don’t know if people want rice and don’t want to waste it? If that’s the case, then they should just ask people if they want rice or not.
The meats are very thinly sliced. Very soft as well, and I expect a bit more meat since they are so thin. They also come with 2 different types of dipping sauce, which is great with the meats. The kimchi soup base is pretty good, though I would like a bit more flavoring to it and by that I mean more kimchi. I don’t think you can go wrong with their hot pot, since everything is just thrown into the hotpot to cook.
SIZZLING FISH FILLET: Comes with soup and salad. The cream corn soup was tasty, but lacking in cream. What can I say about the salad? Came with thousand island dressing.
For the sizzling plate, you can choose a variety of sauces, and in my case I chose the garlic butter. It did not taste like garlic butter at all! Did not taste any garlic… or butter. It tasted more like tomato paste.
Fish was pretty much a whole fillet, which is pretty good. Only complaint about that was that the fish was not crispy. I believe it was coated in batter though. Comes with a sunny side up egg on top, which is tasty!
You can also choose either rice or spaghetti noodles. Noodles tasted better imo because the rice was soggy, but it seemed like they gave more rice than noodles.
Another complaint: the only thing that sizzled in that platter was the sauce that they poured on. There were onions on the bottom of my plate, and it never cooked at all. Some parts of my food was warm, not hot.
POPCORN CHICKEN RICE: very very mediocre. Popcorn chicken could be better. Not crispy enough. If you want popcorn chicken, please go elsewhere.
water: they always give water in these tiny cups. This is listed in my review because I think they are too small! I can finish a cup in one gulp. Luckily, they do come by once in a while and ask how everything is going and give refills.
Service: service is pretty good, with the exceptions of some days. It really depends on which staff serves you. Some are better than others.

I love their teas, they have a great taste and are always made fresh! My only issue is that sometimes the tea flavor varies depending on the barista.
Dirty princess with basil seed and the lemon grape green tea are my favorite.

I’m really glad I found this place.
I was just walking by and decided to stop in. I had a seat and learned that they had a «daily special». It was a 3 item box with rice, soup and tea.
The specials were delicious. The only thing I didn’t personally like with the spicy fish, because I couldn’t figure out the fish. It was like fat and tofu sorta. But it came with mixed meats and veggies so it was ok.
The black tea is great, I strongly reccomend it hot.
I will be back!

Wow, I was so disappointment on my visit today. I drive an hour to eat here. I have a patron of Coffee Break for 20 years.
What I enjoy of this place is that dispite ownership over the years the taste of the food has remain original. Today I was stabbed in the heart the new cook.
Taste was not present in my food. I ordered fried Tufu as my appetizer and got at in the middle of my meal. And when, I got it it was pale. I asked what happened to the fry Tufu and the waitress tells me the cook just changed the oil in the fryer.
The cook changes oil in the middle of dinner hour? My pork chop was more like grilled paper. Super thin and small. My wife ordered vegetable soup with easy noddle and extra vegetables. She got a bowl of noodles with a minuture amount of vegetables.
What happened guys!!! Is this going to be a trend or a fluke. Please tell me. I don’t like driving an hour an be disappointed with my food.

I really like this place. Coming in the décor is very homey, great for a nice relaxed hangout while having good food.
Had to have the sizzling steak with spaghetti noodles and Thai tea. The sizzling steak as stated in the name came in real sizzling. I had curry as the sauce. The steak was medium rare as I asked for. The curry was pretty flavorful.
Portion size was pretty large, so leftovers were plentiful.

I always order the Thai tea float. Such a great concept. I indulge and pay for an extra scoop. They also have cheap lunch specials for like $ 6. The chicken steak is good.

This place is really good. It’s a small whole in the wall with a lot of popularity. The princess tea is my fave, along with the hotpot and noodles. Sometimes there’s a wait but not too long. They don’t have a bathroom inside so you have to go in to lollipop. They also have milk teas, & bobas. Parking is also good. A plus is its rite across the st from mt. Sac.

This place is so cozy & homey. The only cons are that sears are limited & there can be a bit of a wait for them. I’d recommend the halibut or the chicken steak w/​curry. It’s cooked to perfection. They offer some simple yet yummy sides while you wait for your entrée. :)

Good food and here to stay.
This place has been open for a very very very long time. Located across the street from Mt Sac, students often times crowd in during lunch hours. If you don’t mind not eating at the restaurant to-​go and phone order are available. Dinner time have little to no wait and I would suggest going there then.
Food choices are plenty and they continue to increase their selection over the years. I love the grilled chicken steak; it has been considered a classic go to dish. Another dish i find quite good is the fried filet fish with rice (i think i’m more in love with the soy sauce dip. They added hot pot and sizzling plate items that are quite tasty. If there is a dilemma on what to eat, they always have a Daily Special during the weekdays.
Drinks are order worthy. The milk tea is really good and would recommend. Coffee Break is an OG store, I think they are one of the first early tea house before the big tea-​boom. Big bonus points on their consistent with quality over the years.
Service is fair and someone is always available when needed. They can be understaff when the place is packed.
Would recommend the milk tea and chicken steak rice.

I just found this little gem, and anyone looking for a great spot should come here!
Awesome spot to eat and enjoy some tea (cold or hot).
The people working here are so friendly, and professional.

Oh how I miss this place. Fried fish rice is da bomb! It comes with minced pork and garlic dipping sauce.
And wow let’s say I’m impressed– this dish sure is getting better everytime I try. Even the garlic soy sauce itself is very good, haha, you’ve got to try it. Other than that, my other go-​to dish is their XO sauce stir fry noodles.
Authentic taiwanese restaurant, cozy little place, reasonable price, HUGE portion, delicious food= happy me :)

I’ve only tried one thing here. Fried fish with rice… and it was DELICIOUS. (I think other Unilocalers are calling it fried halibut rice but nowhere on the menu did it say halibut and the server was confused when I asked for the halibut.)
It comes with a slab of fried fish, rice with some marinated minced pork on top, a little bowl of garlic soy sauce for dipping, and some preserved veggies. The fish goes perfectly with the garlic soy sauce… but be wary of overdipping because that stuff was pretty salty.
My only complaint was that the preserved veggies tasted extremely gross. I’ve never tasted preserved veggies that tasted this weird before, and it left a lingering aftertaste in my mouth even after I immediately downed some water. SO MUCH REGRET.
Update: I’ve also tried the hot pot with tom yum soup base. If you like tom yum, you’ll like this. The flavor was good and they give a wide variety of foods to douse in the soup.

I’ve been coming here since high school and I still often revisit this place even though I’ve moved away. The service here is great :)
This place doesn’t draw much attention– it’s pretty much a hidden gem.
My favorites here are the japanese eel over rice and the fried halibut.
Each entrée also comes with a small soup and salad which i feel always make a meal more complete!
The Japanese eel is served in a bento box and the rice has the sweet eel sauce drizzled over it which is delicious and addicting.
The fried halibut is crispy flakey and tender :) but my favorite about this dish is the sauce that comes with it! They also serve minced pork over the steamed white rice that comes with it along with some pickled veggies.
Prices are pretty reasonable and you always leave feeling full.
The people who work here are really friendly and attentive.

Ive been a coffee break fan since I was at Mt Sac. Its located across from campus right next to super arcade. The staff is always friendly and the food is always consistent. I come back here every now and then for the bubble green tea, but the food options are always good as well.
i like to get the steak with black pepper sauce. its perfectly salty and peppery. the meat is suprisingly cooked well and that egg tho. Everything works very well together.
Other options that are good is the hot pot and popcorn chicken.
So if you’re anywhere near here, give it a try. good prices and friendly people.

Unilocal 2014 Challenge #91/​100
One of the joys of having Mount SAC across the street is that small little restaurants like these get to show off their food!
I came in on a Thursday afternoon and it was pretty empty. They have a lot of to go orders coming in too btw: O OH and look around for their specials. They have tons around so you can save even more moola.
I got the pork fried udon, which was good and plentiful (and filling). They had the pork and the napa and mushrooms (my favorite) in there. It kinda reminded me of my mom’s haha. My friend had the chicken curry? I believe. xD. Their curry sauce is dense and milky at the same time, so putting it and mixing it with the rice is pretty good
Prices are really good ($ 10 or less on most items), but if the place is full, you’re gonna need to wait, so get your order to go!
Will try the ramen next time. Cuz, you know. I am ramen. :)