Eat Joy Food
Taiwanese restaurant · Rowland Heights
18888 Labin Ct C113, Rowland Heights, CA 91748
Highlights
Authentic Taiwanese seafood dishes, known for lobster salad
Authentic Taiwanese seafood dishes, known for lobster salad
"It’s a wonder anybody can find this place. Right off the Pomona Freeway, hidden in the back of a Rowland Heights shopping center stacked with restaurants, this Taiwanese favorite lives up to its name. Soft piano music fills the elegant space, which can be unusually relaxed, almost bordering on peaceful. On smooth warehouse floors, the tables are generously spaced, but the menu is like a tome, dense with a wealth of seafood preparations, delicately flavored consommés and classic rice dishes. Three cup chicken braised with garlic, ginger and basil is an obvious order, as is the fantastic salty fish and chicken fried rice, the grains glossy and puffed in a hot wok. Regulars know to ask about dragon whiskers, a seasonal green that rounds out the meal." - Michelin Inspector
"Eat Joy Food is part mini-mart and part Taiwanese restaurant. The large menu is chock-full of seafood dishes with plenty of vegetarian options. During lunch, find a la carte items and bento specials that come with soup. The restaurant offers exquisite banquet-style meals for dinner. The showstopping lobster salad features chunks of lobster meat atop a bed of fruit. The regular menu includes many Taiwanese specialties such as grilled monkfish, steamed black cod with pickled cordia seeds, stinky tofu, stir-fried chayote leaves, pork kidney soup with noodles and ginger, stir-fried bitter melon with salty egg yolk, and oyster pancakes." - Kristie Hang
"Eat Joy Food’s menu is longer than some instruction manuals, so we often rely on pictures and a “yeah, that looks great” approach. Thankfully, that strategy has never failed us at this Rowland Heights Taiwanese spot. Dishes span from light and fresh to pungent and saucy, so packing one of the round tables with friends to sample as much as possible is the move. The signature dragon whisker salad (a much cooler name for chayote shoots) is refreshing and loaded with enough garlic to give you real dragon breath afterward. The juicy, cartlidge-y three-cup chicken is fragrant with ginger and blistered basil, and the steamed black cod covered in scallions and raw jalapeños is so tender it slips off the bones. " - sylvio martins, brant cox, garrett snyder
"Eat Joy Food’s menu is longer than some instruction manuals, so we often rely on pictures and a “yeah, that looks really great” approach. Thankfully, that strategy has never failed us at this Rowland Heights Taiwanese spot. Dishes vary from light and fresh to pungent and saucy, and your nose is the first to tell the difference. With one full spin of the lazy susan, you’ll get wafts of blistered basil from juicy three-cup chicken and copious amounts of garlic in the dragon whisker salad. Order the fried stinky tofu, and you’ll definitely smell it before it hits the table. As quiet and zen as Eat Joy Food’s dining room can be, the immense variety of Taiwanese dishes has the same effect on us as a blow-out sale at The Container Store. The options feel endless, and everything catches your eye, so fill one of its large round tables with friends to sample as much as possible. Food Rundown photo credit: Sylvio Martins Dragon Whiskers Salad ‘Dragon whiskers’ is a much cooler name for chayote shoots and also a hint at what your breath will smell like after finishing this dish (it’s loaded with enough garlic to give it a bite). Use this cold, refreshing salad as a delicious way to put greens on the table. photo credit: Sylvio Martins Fried Stinky Tofu Whether you love it or hate it, you’ll definitely smell it coming your way. This fermented tofu dish has a pungent, cheese-like flavor that can be too intense for some. We’re fans—just eat with the accompanying pickled cabbage and garlic-chili sauce to balance some of the funk. photo credit: Sylvio Martins Three-Cup Chicken This classic stir-fry has all of the best textures poultry can offer. The chopped nuggets of chicken are juicy in the middle, crispy at the edges, and loaded with cartilage-y bits that squeak between your teeth. The fragrant sauce tastes as incredible as it smells, rich with garlic, shaoxing wine, and blistered basil. photo credit: Sylvio Martins Steamed Black Cod If we’re with more than two people, ordering this shiny whole steamed fish is non-negotiable. The sweet, buttery meat collapses off the bone once your spoon makes contact and the toppings—scallions, raw chiles, and pickled cordia seeds that burst like sour berries—deliver a punch of flavor." - Sylvio Martins
"A Taiwanese spot in Los Angeles that was named a Bib Gourmand in 2023, recognized for offering relatively more affordable, high-quality dining." - ByLi Goldstein
