No no no no no. This place was not worth the hype. It's probably because I got sick from the Formosa Milk Tea here. I also tried the Fish Fillet Noodle Soup and it was okay... I think the best part about the dish was their tartar sauce. But no, after that bad milk tea experience, I will pass on this place. read more

Why Thirsty has one of the best tasting milk teas in SGV. My favorites are the Assam milk tea (black tea) and the Formosa milk tea (oolong tea). They taste so perfect and light... and you can really taste the rich tea flavors! I'm not such a huge fan of their food, but they do come in huge portions for a reasonable price. I always order the Lo mien noodles, and if I pay $1 for extra noodles, I can take it home and it'll last for another meal. It's located next door to the Bhanu Indian market in the Trader Joe's plaza. read more

This place is tucked away in the plaza of Trader Joes. It's a small little sit-down Taiwanese Cafe. There are about 10 tables and their menu is only one page. They are known for their "Railroad" which is a sweet tender pork chop with rice, veggies, and side dishes (that day was pickled radish and tofu with pickled mustard green). They have huge portions and the food is better than "ok" but not extraordinary. My life didn't change from it, but I was definitely very full and satisfied with the amount of food (and veggies) I got for $7 for the Railroad. read more

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Tea brewed fresh upon ordering.. Assam milk tea & Formosan tea are pretty good! Closed on Sundays.. Disappointing because I've lost count of how many times I've had to pick another place to eat on a Sunday. Located in the same plaza as Trader Joe's, Petsmart, & Bhanu Indian restaurant. Really enjoy their milk teas (half price for refill; don't forget stamp card!), popcorn chicken (medium was pretty spicy), & lo mein (skip the soup though, it's greasy & bland). Not fond of the railroad dish - pork is tender but don't like the sweet sauce glaze it comes with. They play Asian music videos. Free wifi but not an ideal place to study/do work, trust me I tried once & felt out of place, lol. read more

I tried their braised pork chop on noodle and it was good! The pork chop was tender and flavorful and the noodles were firm. It comes with a bit of bok choi and half a preserved egg. There's neat little side of sweet pickled something that is hot. I'm not a fan of spicy but this a yummy sweet and spicy. The popcorn chicken was done mild as requested and tasty. There is a decent-sized parking lot. read more

Not too impressed overall. Waitresses there are just no clue. We ordered 2 meals, 2 drinks, and 1 appetizer. Spicy Cucumber was good. Drink... Despite of ordering Large yet "regular" size came, it tasted good. We waited for a while. One meal came but not another one. Waited and waited... Waitresses were just having fun chit chatting and not paying attention. We actually had to walk up to the counter and get their attention. The kitchen "forgot@ to cook. The noodle was obviously under cooked and certainly not worth the money. No apologies from them nor nothing. Again, had to walk up to the counter to get check. Probably will not go back there again. Not worth the money. read more

Why Thirsty - Spicy Cucumber: not very spicy but will go well with rice - Taiwanese Near Me - San Gabriel, California

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Constantly forgetting what I've ordered and liked it or not. This review is more like a "note to self" =P Liked: The Railroad Beef Noodle Soup Black Pepper Shrimp Plate Pork Tenderloin Lo Mein (so yum!) Creamy Oolong (taste kinda light) read more

Why Thirsty - Black Pepper Shrimp Rice Plate - Taiwanese Near Me - San Gabriel, California

Everyone raved about the pop corn chicken and they were right. The chicken was evenly coated and a good meat to batter ratio. Not only were the pieces big but they didn't skimp out on the portion. Why the five? Because in the middle of dinner one of the staff came by to check on how the food was, very caring staff. read more

Why Thirsty - Honey sausage rice - Taiwanese Near Me - San Gabriel, California

Ordered today. Tofu was burnt and hard. They saw this and thought it was still ok to serve to anybody. Do they not have eyes? Went straight in the trash. Popcorn chicken was also on the tough side, overcooked and over salty. Premium milk tea tastes like basic English Breakfast black tea with too much sugar and non-creamy milk. Why Thirsty? After trying the food and drink here, I know why. read more

Why Thirsty - Burnt Tofu-Hard - Taiwanese Near Me - San Gabriel, California

third and final review? i dont like continuously reviewing places especially if nothings changed and i've already established my view of the place. finally got around to trying the food. got the popcorn chicken. i've never really had outstanding popcorn chicken... this was the second place thats a non-fast food place where i've gotten it and it was kinda similar to what i've had before. i dont think it's possible to have outstanding popcorn chicken... anyways. portion of it was pretty decent. tasted fine, chicken was juicy and the breading was a bit starchy and slightly sweet. i liked it. outside was well seasoned and crunchy. assam milk tea, tasted like standard milk tea which is the way i like it sometimes. boba was the best i've ever had from here. actually was sweet and was the right amount of chewyness. favorite drink is probably still formosa milk tea. great place to chill and have a nice conversation as compared to somewhere like factory tea bar where its loud and hard to hear. read more

Small shop serving Taiwanese food, snacks, and drinks in the Trader Joes plaza. Service is fast and good and the food is not bad. This is what we had: Formosa milk tea ($2.99 + $0.50 for a large): it was ok. Had a nice scent to it. Refills for dine in customers are half price. Basil chicken with Lo mien noodles (original) ($7.99+$1 extra noodles): the chicken come on a separate plate. It was really salty and there may have been more cloves of garlic then there were chicken. The noodles, on the other hand, were pretty good. The noodles was the best dish of everything we had and saves this place from a 2 star rating. We got extra noodles for $1 which supposedly doubles the noodles. Railroad ($6.99): this was the basic pork chop rice dish. Came with half a tea egg, some steamed veggies, corn and scrambled eggs, and some pickled veggies and bean curd. The pork chop was kind of soggy and didn't have much flavor to it. I prefer this dish at Old Country Cafe in Alhambra. Overall, food was ok. I would go out of my way to come here but I might stop by for the Lo mien if I were shopping at Trader Joes. read more

This review is solely based on drinks: came here since a friend recommended their rose milk tea. I came here around 8 pm and ordered the drink to go. Service was okay and I was waiting for my drink at a table. Awhile passed but maybe they thought I left? Finally the cashier saw me and motioned to a guy in the back and my drink had apparently been ready for awhile. I tasted it and it tasted watery to me..it was okay. I would prefer rose milk tea elsewhere. read more

Cute little "ghetto" feeling place. It's located in the same plaza of Pet Smart and Trader Joe's. It has a very small door, which is at the side of the plaza, not easy to notice the place if I didn't search for a good Taiwan food place around there. Their food is good with big portion :D noodle is good, the flavor of the broth is just right, not too strong or light. The rice combination is good too. I like the fact they have quite a few veggie going with the combination. Some restaurants have the yummy food with smg or many condiments to impress people, I would say this place just did it right, like food from home, yummy and won't cause craving :D Their boba is ok, though not that that impressive. I tried the asam milk tea, i can't taste the difference from normal red tea though. I won't drive to buy it, but if i'm there, i'll buy one for sure. Good dinner casual place, love it! read more

Why Thirsty - Marinated pork rice - Taiwanese Near Me - San Gabriel, California

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Their boba is really consistent and all around just the best one I've had in a long time. I've tried this place years ago when they first opened, and I'm glad I went back today. After craving boba milk tea for a couple days I finally decided to get one and I'm glad I did. I'd definitely go back and recommend when you're looking good boba. Glad to see they're still in business and following health and covid safe protocols. read more

Delicious food and wonderful service! Always polite and kind throughout every time I go to eat here!

This little Taiwanese cafe is a great place to pick up a specialty tea drink and maybe a snack or a meal if you're with friends. I had the Railroad bento and a butterfly curd lemon tea. The railroad bento wasn't anything extraordinary, but I can see why it's the popular meal for train goers in Taiwan. The butterfly curd lemon tea was excellent though and the lemon pucker lasted throughout the entirety of the drink. read more

Why Thirsty - Railroad lunch meal and butterfly curd lemon tea. - Taiwanese Near Me - San Gabriel, California

They open during quarantine, which became my one of fav lunch spot, the food is always delicious , I love their milk tea as well ,very authentic Taiwanese food in the area. read more

Really good taste as Taiwan food in my memory, strong recommend to the people who like the Asian food!

Based on all the Yelp reviews, I decided to try this place out with my family. We came on a friday night and the restaurant was packed. After waiting about 25 minutes, we were finally seated. We ordered the Railroad Pork Chop Rice, Popcorn Chicken, and the Honey Sausage Rice. When we tried ordering #11 on the menu screen above the register for Beef Noodle Soup, the waitress told me that the menu screen is different than the menu. She told us that the Beef Noodle Soup doesn't exist and told us to get the Premium Beef noodle. Also, this waitress does not know any Chinese even though the menu is in chinese/english. We also ordered the Formosa Milk Tea that everyone on Yelp has been raving about. For almost 30 minutes after we sat down, all the other tables in the restaurant also didn't have any food on their tables either. Why? The restaurant was packing up To-Go orders first before making food for the actual customers sitting in the restaurant. We eventually got our Popcorn Chicken. It was honestly nothing special. You could get the same quality chicken at other places such as Sinbala. The Honey Sausage Rice and Railroad Pork Chop Rice both had the same side dishes but the main entree on it was different. The Honey Sausage Rice was decent but you could get better food at Sinbala. The Railroad Pork Chop was okay because it was not deep fried like other places but the pieces were extremely thin. The "Beef Noodle Soup" was pretty much soup with satay sauce in it. It was not good at all and not even remotely close to Taiwanese Beef Noodle Soup. People could easily make it on their own by adding water, satay sauce, noodles and beef together. The Formosa Milk Tea was extremely watered down. I could barely taste the oolong tea in it because I mainly tasted water. I doubt I would ever come back again. It took over 45 minutes for them to get all our food out and the food was not that good. I heard one of their chefs left so that may have been the reason why service is now extremely slow. read more

This place is not bad, actually. I have yet to try their food, but I ordered a Formosa Milk Tea and it was delicious! Very refreshing and it isn't as sweet as places like AU, Ten Ren, etc. Seems like a good place to study too. I should come back next time to try their popcorn chicken meal :) read more

The girls that work here remind me of the girls at Indian in San Gabriel, if you know what I mean. These girls are very sweet and friendly, though. Perhaps management changed? I don't remember the service being this good before. I came here to get some work done and to get a proper milk tea after being at Pine & Crane the night prior. Their premium milk tea is with oolong - delish! I usually get that or the Assam. They also make a delicious braised bean curd. I love eating that with the picked greens and steamed veggies. That right there? Comfort food to the max. I like this cafe because it's less crowded and you don't have to deal with crazy parking in the shopping plazas on Valley. Although, you do deal with crazy Trader Joe's parking but that's much more manageable. If I lived in the area, I would be here all the time - grab some groceries at TJ's, samosas at Bhanu and a milk tea from here. Yum. read more

Tofu tots wasn't good.. Wasn't what I expected. I thought they were fried crispy outside and soft white tofu inside.. It's fried bean turd.. Not good don't order. $4 read more

Why Thirsty - "Tofu" - Taiwanese Near Me - San Gabriel, California

The drinks have gone down hill since the manager guy is no longer there all the time. He used to make one of best Formosa milk teas and it would be worth $4. I have been back a couple of times and this is going to be my last time to get to drinks. The Formosa lacks any tea flavor and it taste like water down tea with half and half. read more

The reviews of this restaurant is pretty good. So I thought I'd give it a try. Been there 3 times. I'd order 2-3 different dishes each time because I'm afraid that my reviews can be bias based on a single dish. Unfortunately, I've tried 7 dishes including their top 3 rice combo and side dishes (fried fish cakes, fries...) They were all just ok... I mean, edible but definitely not "Taiwanese" flavor. In all rice plates I've had, their side vegetables were either no flavor or not fresh. They put supposedly "spicy radish" on top of the rice to make it look like Taiwan bento but the radish tastes really bad. Not spicy at all, it was sugary! read more

3.5 stars The food is decent with large portions. However for the 626 area, it is nothing special. The service here is really slow. The staff is friendly but definitely need to learn to distribute tasks better among the staff. They asked customers to put there name on the waiting sheet when there is clearly an empty table ready.I would come by if I am really close by but still prefer other places in 626. read more

Why Thirsty - #9 - Taiwanese Near Me - San Gabriel, California

Try their railway bento! The best! Try their asamu milk tea! The best! This is the must eat Taiwanese Bento in LA! read more

Why Thirsty - Railway bento - Taiwanese Near Me - San Gabriel, California

Sin ba la was closed so I decided to give this place a try! Very happy! Ordered the Taiwanese sausage rice and was very impressed by the portion and taste. This place is a hidden gem in the trader joes plaza on Rosemead and Huntington and deserves more recognition. The service was a bit slow but mostly because they were extremely busy. Also had the waffle fries and were very happy them. The portion was huge !!! Will definitely be back! read more

Why Thirsty - Taiwanese Near Me - San Gabriel, California

Why are you thirsty interesting, name. It's OK nothing to write home about, not the best in town plus the staff is not as friendly or welcoming, wouldn't make a second visit. read more

Why Thirsty - Popcorn chicken - Taiwanese Near Me - San Gabriel, California

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the food is delicous and the fish fillet was okay, and the popcorn chicken was good the beef tasted like salt and sauce. The brown noodles were okay read more

Very bad service. One of the employees said that she could not give us a table because although a group was finished, they were the boss' friends. Might as well only service the boss' friends then. Should have canceled our order. The food isn't even that good after the first time; you kinda get tired of that strange smell/after taste. It's an artificial taste. read more

YUMMMMMM I absolutely love this place. It's very small and a hole in the way kind of restaurant. I come here to get my Taiwanese fix and they are extremely generous about their portions. My go-tos are the popcorn chicken meal and the railroad dish. Their food is very fresh and flavorful and one of my favorite things to eat are their vegetables that come with their dishes. The vegetables taste so healthy and I thoroughly enjoy each bite! Their pricing is relatively cheap and their portions are hefty that 2 people could probably split a meal if they wanted to (but I suggest on getting another plate to enjoy other items on the menu). I would recommend this place to anyone stopping by this area and craving authentic Taiwanese food. One tip would be not to bring groups larger than 5 because seating is pretty limited. - J read more

This place gets busy, but the service is quick and always with a smile. I like this place, it seems to have an artsy feel to it. Though I do not like the Bible scriptures on my drink cozy. The food is fairly priced if not cheap. It's a nice place to get a snack or get lunch. Lots of people order take out. The only thing I don't like about this place is that it's too tiny. So much so that the people waiting for a table or waiting for their takeout just stand around and make things feel stuffy. I don't like sitting on a chair and having someone stand right next to me. Hovering around while I get to see their waist at me eye level. Not a sight I want to see while I'm enjoying some chicken and rice and sipping on my boba drink. read more

TEA of the MOMENT: Lime Garden I'm cutting back on sugar, so I asked for half sugar. What I ended up getting was a overly sweeten limeade with little tea. At least the ice kind of helped it out. --- Why Thirsty? I think it should be changed to Why Hungry instead. My gym buddy mentioned that Why Thirsty had a REALLY good lunch menu, and I decided to go here to get a drink, since this Yelper wasn't hungry. Walking in, the place was SUPER packed with people eating, instead of drinking. I went to grab a menu, and noticed that they changed the layout COMPLETELY. Instead of having tea as their main focus, the lunch menu seemed more important, and the tea on the back side, just placed there as a "just because". I wouldn't call this place a teahouse anymore. Totally respect their decision to take their vision on a different path, just change the store name because it's kind of misleading to associate yourself as a drinking place when the highlight is more on the food. read more

Love this place. I get lunch from here often, sometimes weekly. Very consistent and delicious with attention to detail. Staff is friendly. Some of the best popcorn chicken and passion fruit green tea I've ever had. They use a bit of real passion fruit pulp & seeds. So good! read more

Delishuz!!! Never knew this place existed in the janky little plaza it's in. I crave their drinks all the time since the first time I came here. Refreshing and sweet with great flavor! I got the Railroad and my bf got the popcorn chicken and curly fries. We both really enjoyed our meals and drinks and the service was friendly and quick. Small place and I hear they get pretty crowded sometimes for dinner, so we were lucky we had no wait. Would def come again! read more

Why Thirsty - Formosa Sweet (less sweet) = sooo good! - Taiwanese Near Me - San Gabriel, California

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I was confused by the name at first. Why thirsty? What am I thirsty? Why are you thirsty? Who is thirsty? A small Taiwanese cafe located right next to Trader Joe's, I wasn't really expecting much except for your standard Taiwanese fare...pork chops, some relish, tea, noodle soup maybe? That was exactly what I got, your standard Taiwanese fare in large portions at a regular price. Food: I ordered the Railroad, which was the pork chop dish. It was HUGE, but it came out decent along with the veggies, corn, and relish on the side. I also had the Formosa Milk Tea, which was super sweet. I tried the Popcorn Chicken and it tasted good, comparable to other locations. The Original Noodles tasted like it had a Mi Goreng flavor, just with more ingredients and veggies. If you want Taiwanese food, this place won't disappoint, and don't be surprised if you decide to box some stuff up and take it home. They give you a hefty amount of food. One more thing: Taiwanese music videos are constantly being played in the restaurant. Enjoy your Jay Chou, Coco Lee, and The Voice in China. read more

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Blown away by this little restaurant. If you are looking for authentic Taiwanese food, this is it!!! I got the popcorn chicken meal and the chicken pieces were very large. The flavor was delightful and reminded me of the motherland. You can also pick the spiciness level of the chicken. I also got the hot oolong milk tea which was perfect on the cold December night. I got regular sweetness level and it was perfect - not overly sweet. The prices were pretty low for California and GREAT ratio with respect to bang for buck. I had enough for leftovers! Service was also very speedy and friendly. I'd definitely recommend to everybody looking to get a taste of home or to try Taiwanese food! read more

What can I say? Still legit. Noodles are always on point with traditional taiwanese flavors. Loads of veggies as sides to their rice dishes. Portions are not shy. Like i said, still legit. read more

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This review is for the milk tea alone. Came here based on the reviews even tho there weren't many, I decided to try it anyway. The milk tea was AWESOME! They offer honey boba like half and half but in cups that actually fit in your cup holder. This place is probably as close to the real stuff in taiwan! I would definitely come here again just for the milk tea. My only qualm is that I waited quite a bit of time just for 2 milk teas. Also from the outside it looks like a hole in the wall, but inside it's quaint and looks like a taiwanese cafe. read more

I heard about Why Thirsty from my cousins and they had nothing but good things to say about this place. It's a great spot if you're craving Taiwanese food and Sinbala in Arcadia is crowded (ahem, ALWAYS) /alternative to Tapioca Express food. Sausage rice. decent. pretty standard dish. Railroad pork chop was tender, not overcooked at all. Both dishes were a little too salty. My sister ordered the Longan Jujube Tea which was fab. Plenty of flave. We also got the lavender milk tea. It was really good, a bit sweet, but good. The lavender flavor is all natural (as well as all their other tea/drink flavors). You can see the glass canisters of dried lavender that they use to make it. This place touts the fact that they only use purified drinking water and never ever use MSG in their dishes. So not only is everything yummy, but it's better than most alternatives out there. Portions are large with plenty of rice, veggies, and pickled mustard greens. Servers are friendly and attentive. My only complaint is that they kept on forgetting our order of sweet potato fries, which we gave up on and cancelled because we had all finished eating. read more