Reviews for Cafe 88 in Charlottesville, VA
Not my personal favorite. No welcoming customer service experience given, a bit pricey and no lunch menu available. I ordered... crispy tofu and miso soup, and both lacked flavor????????. A first and last time visit for me????. Read more
Authentic Taiwanese food! They also have American style Asian food. We have Taiwan style chicken popcorn and fried tofu as... starters, they are so good! I loved the chicken with basil leaves! The tofu is kind of surprised me, tofu has been braised andflavored before been fried, so it?s not like regular fried tofu need have some sauce with it. We also have Braised pork on riceand pork chop combo. I loved them! Not too salty but super flavorful! The eggplant in the combo is so good I might order a fullsize portion next time. The decorations indoor are cute, especially all the succulent planters and lucky cats. The outdoor areais surrounded by beautiful flowers and herbs! Read more
Dropped in for lunch: best move of the day. Clean, excellent, fresh food, properly cooked. This is definitely on our short list!
Food is decent - not as flavorful as I would have expected, but they at least give you a good portion for what you get. I got... the Kung Pao chicken combo and the orange chicken combo. The combo comes with eggplant which is DELICIOUS - sweet and savory-and was probably the best thing on the plate. The orange chicken wasn?t the syrupy sweet kind you might get from another Chinesefood restaurant. It tastes like they use actual orange essence to flavor the chicken - it?s subtle and not overpowering. Therewas a wide variety of things on the menu to try, so I will likely be going back to try something different. Would recommend ifyou?re in the area. Cant sit inside but there are a couple tables outside to sit if you want to say. I would recommend orderingahead because it took a long time for the food to cook. Read more
If you like authentic Taiwanese food, this is a good place to go. Food quality is excellent and price is very reasonable. It may... not be as fancy as some of the high end Chinese restaurants in DC or NYC, but it is definitely better than your random Chineserestaurant that you see in any small city. Read more
Dropped in for a snack. Looks legit. Popcorn chicken was REALLY GOOD. Dark meat chunks fried up and dusted with 5 spice and... fresh basil. Beautiful snack! Read more
A small restaurant in a corner of a plaza not big, but could give you extremely surprising experience. They provide different... tradition Taiwan-style dishes, and together with American Chinese food. The restaurant is decorated with a tradition and warmstyle, and very clean. What surprises me more is how they treated food. They really keep using the conventional ways to cook,and the dishes are authenticated and of very good taste. They made everything from the raw material by themselves. E.g., thepickles are made by themselves. The beef in the noodle soup are tender, and this cannot be done without hours stew withdifferent spices. what surprises me more, is that they don?t use MSG, which are used by too many restaurants nowadays. I canassure this is because I don?t feel dry mouth afterwards, which is usual after I take food in many other places. Don?t surpriseif you found that you are asked to pay at ordering, and get the water yourselves. The manager is kind and the food definitelyworth trying. Read more
This is one of those hidden hole in the wall gem of a restaurant here in Charlottesville VA, the flavor of the food is unlike... any Chinese style restaurants in the area, you can really tell that they put a lot of work and love into their food preparationas it looks as beautiful as it tastes which is: extremely delicious, without being overly oily/greasy. The food is served inJapanese Bento style, so you get the menu item you ordered with a side of vegetables: cabbage, broccoli, carrots, and a side ofsweet and sour eggplant, if you are not a fan of eggplant, you will be one after trying these! Read more