Shihlin Taiwan Street Snacks

Was craving for fried Taiwanese chicken (street food style) and found this place. It is located inside the mall. Hectic parking and drive. Took forever and still not able to find parking within 5mins walk but went in with other person waiting in the car outside. Nice small with drinks and other foods but we’re here just for the fried chicken. Good service & easy order - abit of a wait for the foods but that’s normal unless you’re behind someone ordered 8 ordered of fried chicken and others foods within 40mins before closed time. The chicken is hot, tasty and juicy plus big portion. Price is not bad…taste is similar to the ones in Taiwan street night market that we had. Definitely hit the craving sport for sure. Glad we found this place and had a wonderful memory of fried chicken.

Popcorn chicken is a classic! Well-seasoned, juicy, and has a kick to it without being too spicy. Most of the basil is too small or brittle to easily eat but is also tasty. Perfect for an after school snack.

You order through a self-service station at the counter, which allows a good amount of customization (level of spiciness, sweetness, ice, etc). When the order is ready, they call out the number on your receipt. Our food was a mixed bag – sweet plum sweet potato fries were tasty, crisp and tender, popcorn chicken was fine but pretty oily and not super crunchy (although the flavor was good, and I appreciated being able to dial between not spicy and extra spicy), oyster mee sua was very disappointing, mostly soup and with a less than generous amount of small oysters.

I ordered a bowl of oyster mee sua last night, but there were barely any mee sua—it was mostly just soup. The main issue was that the oysters were really not fresh; they had a very strong fishy smell. Sure enough, I ended up with a stomachache today which I am quite confident is from this meal (I only ate fresh simple food I cook myself for my other meals the last few days).

Their popcorn chicken and crispy king mushrooms are so good! I love that you can customize the spice level and seasoning. Plus, they give you a generous portion. I also ordered their new item: k-soy garlic chicky pop. Excited to try this out.

Ordered something and waited for my order number to be called out, it also came up on the screen. Hit the lunch from the person and it wasn’t my order. Asked the staff and they told me I made the mistake. Both me and my partner saw the LCD number and I heard the call out. Not sure what happened but it was in the staff and they were quite rude about it. Everyone makes mistakes, but this seemed on the staff and they were rude. food was average, but certainly ok for the cost.

We got the rick box and drink combo - Treasure Rice Box with Sour Plum drink. We also got the plum fries. The chicken thigh in the rice box was really salty to me and I had to eat it with the rice or the pickled veggie in the box. I really like the pickled veggies. I thought the sour plum drink was alright. I wish the wording on the ordering machine wasn't "no boba" or "extra boba" because it made me assume there was boba included. I would have added boba in my drink. The fries tasted sweet but it was also pretty salty like the chicken.

My go to place when I miss Taiwanese hometown food. Food taste a bit different in my last visit. Feel like someone forgot to add the most important part the fragrance secret powder. Overall is good value and when the food under quality control, it actually taste better than the Berkeley Shihlin.

Almost every time that I am in Stonestown Galleria I stop by Shilin Taiwan Street food and it is always great. As an avid lover of spicy popcorn chicken Shilin is an elevated version with juicy chicken pieces with the crunchiest breading and spiced to your hearts content. They have spice levels ranging from mild to extra extra mega spicy. I usually just stick with good old spicy and it is perfect and either order the sliced spicy chicken thigh chopped or the treasure box which comes with spiced chicken slices as well as rice, savory tofu, and some broccoli. There is also a kiosk where you pay and a large LED number sign where it will read your number once your order is ready. It normally does not take more than 10ish minutes to get your order. I definitely recommend checking out Shilin if you are in Stonestown Galleria!

Food: (5/5) I ordered their snack version of popcorn fried chicken and tofu. It was a little pricey, but surprisingly their portions are large so I didn't mind. I ended up having enough for dinner and lunch the following day. The popcorn chicken was very tasty and I come here often for it specifically when I'm craving it. The fried tofu was crispy. Service: (5/5) Staff was very helpful when answering questions. I remembered the food taking a while to come out the first time I came, so I asked them how long it would take incase I could run other errands in the meantime. They mentioned it would take about 5 minutes for the food to be prepared, and their estimation was accurate. I also asked for additional spicy powder to be put in an extra bag incase I wanted an extra kick which the staff was more than happy to provide. Ambiance: (5/5) This is located in the middle of the food court. I loved how they have a rewards system and that you can order efficiently at the kiosk with customizations. Since I inputted my phone number by signing up for the rewards, I received a text message when my order was ready which was very helpful. There was plenty of seating available.

I would give this place zero stars if I could. I felt like I was falsely guided by previous recommendations for this place. Let me start with the ambiance. This place is located in food court inside a mall. Plenty of sitting area and a variety of other Asian/oriental restaurants in the vicinity but since I rarely get to try Taiwanese food, I gave them a go. For service, they were pretty basic. Just waited to take my order, pay and gave me my receipt. It was obvious that I had never ordered from them before so I based my decision on the picture of the food. Food tasted and felt like a school cafeteria where someone in the back kitchen just threw everything in a bowl, over sauced it, threw a piece of garnish and served it. I felt like I was bamboozled from the pictures versus what I actually got. I definitely do not recommend this place unless they step up their game, put quality ingredients, put effort in plate presentation, effort in the customer service especially to new customers. Until they do that, save your money and order from any of the adjacent restaurants.

Was craving for fried Taiwanese chicken (street food style) and found this place. It is located inside the mall. Hectic parking and drive. Took forever and still not able to find parking within 5mins walk but went in with other person waiting in the car outside. Nice small with drinks and other foods but we're here just for the fried chicken. Good service & easy order - abit of a wait for the foods but that's normal unless you're behind someone ordered 8 ordered of fried chicken and others foods within 40mins before closed time. The chicken is hot, tasty and juicy plus big portion. Price is not bad...taste is similar to the ones in Taiwan street night market that we had. Definitely hit the craving sport for sure. Glad we found this place and had a wonderful memory of fried chicken.

My favorites are the popcorn chicken and fried mushrooms. I always order online and it's usually ready within 10 minutes.

This spot offers a decent fast-casual take on Taiwanese street food. It's located on the second floor inside the mall has a shared seating area with the other mall food court restaurants. The popcorn chicken rice box is decent value at $17.92 (after tax, before tip) in terms of quantity, but it's not particularly delicious or authentic.

Not bad! I liked the crunch of the chicken, but I also felt like it was fried all the way? I also felt like the chicken could have used a bit more seasoning. You do get a lot of chicken though! It's in a food court, so there was plenty of seating around.

Rice box and drink combos ($18.50) have a good variety of food. Best known item is the popcorn chicken! Better than most food court items. Since I went in during lunch, although I wanted popcorn chicken, best to get a full meal, luckily, the store has combo plates that includes a drink. Order to go at the kiosk and wait for your order. I got a popcorn chicken rice box with drink (lemon aiyu jelly). There's only two employee, so there is a small wait. A dull interaction when I asked after receiving the "order ready" text. The rice box contains rice, egg, vegetables, braised tofu, pickled vegetables. The popcorn chicken is delicious, tender with a bit of kick (mild). The rice needs some work, pieces were definitely not fully cooked all the way. Overall, many tasty items in this food court.

wow, this was a lot more chicken than I expected. I came here thinking I would get some snack, but it ended up being a very filly meal. The crispy chicken thigh is huge, I mean HUGEEE. It was really good, juicy on the inside crispy on the outside, but I thought it was a bit too spicy for my liking. I like it when they put basil or some sort of pallet cleanser for something that is so spicy and strong in flavor. There was a kiosk to order, which was great. It cut down the line and we didn't have to talk to anyone when ordering the food also came out fairly quickly. I would say I gave it a four because of the spiciness and the price which was pretty average for the bay.

Ordered the XXL Chicken for a light dinner. Picked the extra spicy, default seasoning and cut in half options. You order at a kiosk so you don't actually interact with the staff. It took a bit for the food to be ready, but it wasn't too bad of a wait. Chicken came out piping hot, so we waited a bit for it to cool down. Spice was fine, they definitely coated it with lots of powder, which I'm not really sure really makes it extra spicy, just really powdery. Still tasted good though and portion lives up to the XXL size.

Should've checked the reviews before I purchased anything... everything was just awful. The lou rou fan was completely flavorless and rice was not cooked properly. The fish ball soup was a hard skip as well. Modifications allowed on the walk-up ordering system weren't followed. This just sucked. So sad because I was so excited.

*Only rating popcorn chicken!* Absolutely love their chicken! A few things I always look for: - chicken (4/5): really loved that most of their pieces were juicy, not dry! Wish some of the pieces were a bit smaller, but that's just personal preference. Texture was good, flavor was good. - is there real basil? Yes! Love it when they add some herbs! - seasoning: you can adjust seasoning! And there was enough seasoning that it coated all parts of the chicken, but not too much seasoning that I felt like I was only eating MSG. - portion: for ~$12, I got a hefty amount! Between two peckish people who also had matcha drinks, we still had chicken left over! Wait time for food court wasn't too bad. Had enough time to go from ordering chicken on a self-serve kiosk to getting matcha Maiko to coming back to pick up the food. Overall, a place I would go to if I come back to Stonestown looking for a snack!

My go-to chicken place! I used to get their popcorn chicken until it was too batter-y. So I switched and got their XXL chicken cut into pieces. So much better and way more chicken to it! Something changed about the batter and I'm not sure I can pinpoint what it is. It feels like rice puffs in a way and brings an extra crunch to it. You can order online, which is what I usually do instead of waiting there at the food court. It gets crowded during meal rushes but nothing too bad.

Popcorn chicken is good. Probably not the best I've had but I would give it some credit for the juiciness and the crunchiness. You can order the deep fried chicken breast though. Apparently most popular. Another star off: Ask for extra seasoning! The regular seasoning wasn't enough and the chicken tasted plain without the seasoning. It wasn't crunchy enough. Ask for extra crunchy! One star off: mee sua was just okay. A bit disappointing because I've tried the one in Taiwan and that was amazing. This cannot compare. I'd say if you come here, just come for the chicken.

March 06, 2025 XXL Chicken Thigh (3.5/5) - Got the extra spicy, default seasoning and cut in half option. Not much customer service because it's ordered at the kiosk machine, but the wait isn't that bad. Definitely enjoyed it from beginning to midway, but it got a little bit tiring towards the end and just forcing it down. The spice wasn't really as strong, just more powder so can't really tell if the regular is a huge difference from the extra spicy. Overall, a favorite of mine in Stonestown if I want to grab something to snack on while watching a movie or sharing with friends.

I got the sweet potato fries and hot fried tofu. Loved the sweet potato and hated the tofu. The tofu tasted sweet and not spicy. There was no service. You order at a kiosk and they just hand you your order in a bag. The ambiance is mall food court vibes. I wish I could get my money back.

5/5 would get again - King Oyi-Shi fried mushrooms were really delicious, airy, good fry and not overly oily, plus had this flavorful seasoning! Great snack portion to share 3.5/5 fairly average flavor on Grandma Braised Chicken Rice but for a mall food court I thought the portion size was good. I wish there was more umami, pepper or other seasoning on this but it tasted pretty plain, except for some green pickled vegetable. The line to order and wait was very long for a weekend day. Turns out you can order on QR code menu for pick up! Recommend ordering from your phone and skip the tablet line.

Come for the popcorn chicken, and get extra seasoning! The mee sua doesn't have much oyster or flavor. The ricebox meals do come with some pickled veggies and tofu in sauce if you want a more full meal.

Walked by several times, but first time ordering. Hubs really wanted to try the XXL chicken. We ordered the thigh w/ medium spice and seaweed flavoring. Saw them prepare the chicken piece in front of us and drop it into the deep fryer. Our order was ready in about 10 minutes. Definitely arrived piping hot and crispy. Surprisingly, it was moist and had good flavor. Hubs really enjoyed it. Pricey at around $12 (including tax), so it's not a snack we'd order often, although it was tasty and filling.

Nice place to order chicken . Always busy, I love the drinks and the chicken here. Great place with generous portions.

Since this place is in the Stonestown food court, I like to get their popcorn chicken before going to the movies. They also have other Taiwanese food too. They give you a pretty decent portion of chicken. It's freshly fried and comes out piping hot! It's the perfect movie snack. They give you little skewers to eat the chicken with. Love the seasoning on the chicken.

I was in Stonestown and decided to give Shihlin a try. Unfortunately, there was no staff at the front counter to help me with questions about the menu. I waited for about 10 minutes while other customers tried to peek through the double door leading to the kitchen where the staff was standing. While I was waiting I noticed that hygiene was lacking and uncooked food was not refrigerated. So, I will be ordering somewhere else that won't make me sick and follows the county's health codes.

Love ordering the crispy king oyi-shi mushrooms! It's a great savory snack that can be shared - but you can also eat it all by yourself! They're a little inconsistent with serving size - I noticed it's smaller when there's a rush. But usually the seasoning and cook is always the same, super crispy and tasty!

This place is good for what it is. You have to set your expectations to be at Street Food level which is exactly how this place started anyway. I rate on a bell curve so a 3 star is not a bad rating. To me, it's very average. What I will say though is that there are a few places at Stonestown to get Popcorn Chicken and this place is the best to get it at. I would also highly recommend the Fried Mushroom as it's my favorite item there. Where they lack for me is their service. It's basically self order, and then they just love to place your food on the counter without really indicating to anyone that it's ready so if there is a big group waiting, everyone has to go up and look to see if it's their order. This would very well just be the person who was working that day but still, it's gross that people have to look into the bag just to see and have everyone breathe on your food. With that said, I'll always order their Popcorn (Fried) Mushrooms and sometimes the Popcorn Chicken.

the xxl fried chicken leg and thigh is soooo good!! order this! it was so juicy and yummy!!!

Solid popcorn chicken. Much better than my experience at their San Jose location. Good portion, flavorful, not the most crispy but definitely hot and fresh. We ordered the spiciest option and glad they actually made it spicy! Love that the spicy powder was loaded on there. Service was pretty quick.

Not bad for food court selections. Located inside the Stonestown mall food court, this place serves some yummy Taiwanese fried chicken! I'm craving some right now as I'm writing this review. We tried their oyster omelette and the Grandma braised chicken rice previously, both yummy but I still love the fried chicken more. Not much ambiance as it's in a mall food court. Service is efficient.

Located in Stonestown's food court. Lots of tables around, so you shouldn't have difficulty finding a seat. You order at a kiosk. Orders typically are ready in 10 mins. I ordered the popcorn chicken and fish balls, shared between 2 people. It was definitely enough for the both of us as a quick, satisfying appetizer. Both are really good, esp the popcorn chicken which has a sweet taste to it and was very moist! Love this place!

Food is not very authentic, sadly with a name Shihlin(I have been to Shihlin multiple times in Taipei) I thought it would have been better( possibly difficult to get the right ingredients?). Service is OK its fast food, and its in a food court.

I've come here a couple times and I only order their XXL Crispy Chicken (Thigh) because it's SO GOOD! I get the chicken fully cut so it's easier to share between 2 people. I've tried their mild spice & hot spice and both are tasty! I recommend getting it hot if you like a little extra heat in your food. You can see the staff frying the chicken, so it's served pretty hot when the food is ready.

Fried chicken tastes amazing as usual. The set meals are also very delicious and well packaged with veggies. Minced meat is another fav. Prices can be quite high for a non restaurant.

Try their fried chicken breast before. It was crispy. So I tried the fried chicken pancake this time it really wasn't good at all. Fried chicken was small piece and pancake doesn't have much flavor. It was nice to try different ways of fried chicken but I will stayed with fried chicken breast only next time.

I like the generous size of the chicken, and that it's served really straight outta the the deep fryer. Not nearly as good as you'd actually get at the Shihilin Market in Taiwan (iykyk), but not bad for the Bay Area. I had some questions about the menu options, but pretty much got zero assistance from the staff tho. Not sure if there was actually a language barrier, or if they just didn't want to be bothered. It felt more like the latter. I get that it's essentially fast food in a mall food court, but being ignored doesn't sit well. Maybe I'll try one of their other locations instead.

Popcorn chicken - 5/5 Pieces are huge and juicy. I got the grilled seaweed seasoning with mild and default seasoning. The seasoning was soooo good! Definitely would get this again. Oyster Omelette- 3/5 The batter was too starchy for my liking. Don't think I would order this again.

I tried their XXL Chicken Thigh--large, tender, and succulent, meticulously marinated and fried to a golden crisp. Though delicious, the crust is a bit oily and heavy. Overall, a flavorful treat that could be improved with a lighter touch.

I felt that having Taiwanese fried chicken and a shop like Shihlin in the Stonestown food court was a nice option to have prior to trying this place out, but in my experience I was underwhelmed with their XXL Chicken Breast. I saw a huge line when I went only to realize tons of people were just lining up for Panda Express. I was able to order on their Kiosk immediately and I certainly appreciate low contact options when I don't feel like socializing. I got the XXL Chicken Breast which was over $10 and also a Brown Sugar Pearl Fresh Milk for $5.50. When it comes to their chicken they add an unbelievable amount of seasoning to the point that it got too overwhelming. Less seasoning was requested and it was still too much. It was so salty and I had to down as much liquid as possible after a few bites. I wasn't a huge fan of their batter or the ratio of the meat and batter. The Black Sugar Pearl Fresh Milk was okay, but I would be impressed if they messed that up. I was with someone that tried their milk tea and I was told it was pretty bad and the tea flavor was non existent also. If I were to go to the Stonestown food court again this would unfortunately be a skip for me personally.

You order through a self-service station at the counter, which allows a good amount of customization (level of spiciness, sweetness, ice, etc). When the order is ready, they call out the number on your receipt. Our food was a mixed bag - sweet plum sweet potato fries were tasty, crisp and tender, popcorn chicken was fine but pretty oily and not super crunchy (although the flavor was good, and I appreciated being able to dial between not spicy and extra spicy), oyster mee sua was very disappointing, mostly soup and with a less than generous amount of small oysters.

I have been eying the Shihlin in Valley Fair mall for a while and finally got a chance to try it out here. It was a really good meal. I got the treasure rice box which was a balanced meal. It came with rice, veggies, fermented veggies, egg, and their signature fried chicken. The fried chicken was awesome and I loved the breading on it. I will be checking out the Shihlin closer to my house for sure.

I got their popcorn chicken , it was very crispy. You get to customize the spice you wanted. It more juicy than others places. I would recommend it if yours fan of it. I also try their plum fries it wasn't too bad. It was amazing. I like the plum taste. The service took 15 minutes of wait. It clean but it's in the mall so I get it.

This place is located inside of Stonestown Galleria Shopping Mall food court. This place does get pretty busy! It's not like your typical restaurant since it is located inside the mall, but there are chairs and tables in the food court area. It also gets really noisy/loud in the food court. I ordered the popcorn chicken and to me it's deee-licous!! It's fragrant, crispy, juicy on the inside and addicting! I'm a sucker for savory foods. The pricing is decent and they give a really good portion. (Enough to actually make me feel full). The popcorn chicken pieces are bigger than some other the other places I've tried, but I actually like that! The basil leaves add a very nice touch. I would definitely order this again!

Good taiwanese style texture of fried chicken. The treasure rice box was tasty and filling. It came with an XXL crispy chicken, stewed egg, broccoli, stewed tofu, and of course the preserved veggies (a must)! The chicken was tender, crispy, and flavorful. The veggies were great, good portions. The broccoli was crisp and had a drizzle of sesame oil for extra aroma. The preserved veggies were standard and delicious tasting. The egg was good. The stewed tofu was good as well, but I wasn't a huge fan of the sauce's flavor. It's the same as the grandma's braised meat sauce (below). The grandma's braised meat rice was just ok. I thought it was nice they added the stewed tofu, but it wasn't enough to save the dish since the sauce was funky. Probably because they make it with chicken rather than pork. It had a bit of a chicken-y flavor that was not pleasant. I wasn't a fan so I'll skip this next time. Ok, back to the crispy chicken! Get it for sure!!

Quality has really gone down over the years. The chicken is overfried and the boba just tastes like sugar unfortunately

Thanks to feedmeimei, we came here to check out what it's about and conveniently right in the Stonestown food court! Never too notice. The menu is straightforward but we came here to try their fried chicken. You order by using a kiosk so no interaction with another human until you pick up. Recommend: Xxl Chicken Leg and Thigh - mild spicy

Portions were decent and filling but food was a bit bland. We got the popcorn chicken meal (had rice and vegetables) and it didn't have the fried basil. I'm not sure if they ran out or what. The chicken was ok as it didn't have a lot of flavor. We also had the grandma's meat rice and it tasted like Chinese comfort food but again was lacking in flavor. Both need dishes needed more salt. Both meals had sliced tofu and half of a marinated hard boiled egg.

Wow! I am stuffed, but was only able to get through about 2/3 of my meal - there was a lot of meat! Here in Stonestown Galleria food court this unassuming little vendor serves out huge portions (full plates, at least). I ordered the Treasure! Ricebox. The lunchbox includes parboiled vegetables (very crunchy!), tofu strips, rice and what looks like one full chicken breast flattened, breaded and fried to a crispy perfection. The outside was crunchy and the meat inside very moist! The flavor was slightly peppery (my tongue was slightly numb, which leads me to believe that they use Szechuan peppers?) but not overpoweringly so. For a food court offering, I simply enjoyed this meal (had to pack leftovers because of so much meat!). If you are a big eater and enjoy Chinese street snacks, this is the place for you!

All of our friends went there to order XXL Chicken Breast 雞腿肉 but the fried didn't even fully cooked through as you see in the picture. Secondly, the cashier lady cut the XXL Chicken Breast like a tiny pieces instead of cut it nice size to eat as you see in the picture. So we couldn't eat with the bamboo sticks, so I went up to the cashier and asked for fork and spoon. She asked me did I purchase the foods from here, otherwise she wouldn't give any utensil at all. So I pointed to our table and I suggested it to her to cut the chicken nice pieces instead of tiny pieces and couldn't eat at all. We have to eat with spoon instead of bamboo stick. I was so disappointed how cashier got trained to serve people and couldn't speaks English as well. That was on New Year's Eve 2024.

I almost get this every other time I visit stones town. Their popcorn chicken is the literal best, especially for the size and cost. I love how they always include a few sticks to eat it with as well. Service is fine, as you order through a tablet and only interact with crew when picking up your order when they call for it and give it to you. They're usually helpful when I ask questions as well. Besides the popcorn chicken, I've tried the Meat Rice bowl as well, and I personally did not enjoy it. Not sure if it was just me, but I didn't like the flavor of the meat.

Great snack/meal if you're passing by this place. Popcorn chicken with basil, fresh out of the fryer. So crispy and delicious. "Hot" is not that spicy. For $10.50 you get more than you would at Quickly's.

Only got their XL chicken steak and it was huge indeed! But there were a bit of fat on the dark meat. Still good.