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

They don't have wide variety of tea drinks, but their drinks are genuine as they can be. They are brewed and mixed right as ordered. Too bad, no almond milk tea for me. The food is decent in taste and portion. The only dish disappointed me was spicy popcorn chicken. A bit over fried and no basil, god forbids! The service is average. Depends which waitresses are working at the time. The manager or boss will compensate for their shortfall in service. Not perfect but I still crave to go sometimes. read more

This place is TINY. It needs more room for their many customers. For such a tiny place, I wonder why they ever would leave the curtains closed. With such a tiny room, more light should be let in. The service was quick, though. I received my food in less than about half an hour. All the drinks and food were ready to go by the time my stomach was yearning for food. I was really looking forward to trying some popcorn chicken, but when I took a good bite, it was too salty. I had to eat the salad or drink my tea in order to wash out the salt in my mouth. It was like someone spilled the salt by accident. The best thing about this restaurant is their drinks. My favorite is their Premium Milk Tea. I usually try not to get original-flavored anything, but this is a big exception! Not only that, but it was only three dollars!! What a good deal... I would love to come back for more. Parking spots were very easy to find. Being near other restaurants, I expected it to be packed with people, but the parking lot was better than my expectation. If you want to stop by this restaurant, it's best to get drinks. Entrees are just ok-tasting overall, but, it's really up to you, Yelpers, whether you would like to have a taste of their entrees. read more

If you like cooked (as opposed to raw) pork that is tender, savory, and in abundance, then you go here. The pai ku fan is amazing here. I love it. read more

Tiny tiny restaurant with a decent sized menu. Very typical Taiwanese type of foods and very limited types of boba drinks. The servers were very nice though and if you come you should try the yam fries read more

Why Thirsty - Octopus Tots - Taiwanese Near Me - San Gabriel, California

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Nice place with delicious bento boxes :) the fried pop corn chickens good. And also the fish filet is so juicy inside with a nice crispy outside! read more

Why Thirsty - Love this place! Very nice and good portion bento set meals :) - Taiwanese Near Me - San Gabriel, California

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I love the drinks. I have tried mint, lavender, passion fruit, and rose oolong. It's all so good. I got regular sweetness and less ice. The balance of the oolong and other flavor is on point. I'm giving it a 4 star because the first time I went there the food was really good and has big portions. I got the basil chicken and the spicy chicken. The second time I tried the rail road and the beef stew noodles and it was really bland. The staff is super friendly. The girls wear a black dress shirt and school girl skirt but it's not too short. The food is a toss up but the drinks and service saved the place from getting a lower star. It's a small cozy place. read more

I dont get the hype of this place. Popcorn chicken was not authentic at all(i am taiwnese). Flavor and batter is off. Fish cake tempura is ok, they bought it from a vendor need more flavor. Ordered squid balls and never came... Thats it... read more

They were quick for takeout when I just walked in. Having just been to Taiwan it's definitely not "traditional Taiwanese" food but it's similar. The basil chicken was good some of the pieces of chicken were a little dry. They charge 50cents if you try and charge your meal for under $10 just FYI. Their boba looked decent although I didn't try it. read more

Been here a couple times now with mixed experiences. First time was for a friend's birthday when they were still fairly new. Ordered the goto Railroad, which was a solid dish. Nothing to complain about. Service was polite and decent. This past week, we came here before my cousin had to take a flight back to NY. Good thing we came early! Much more crowded, and they seemed understaffed. Got seated right away, but ordering took a while, food took a while, drinks took a while, food came out at different times. Room for improvement in the service department, but the food is tasty enough for me to come back. Had the popcorn chicken with sesame lo mein this time, and it hit the spot. Fatty fat fat mmmm read more

Came here to eat some nom Taiwanese food with my best friend!! (^-^) I thought I was pretty familiar with Rosemead, but I never knew Why Thirsty was located a few stores down from Trader Joe's!! Thank goodness my best friend got my butt over here for a nice lunch =) This place doesn't open until 11:30 so we were waiting around outside until they flipped over the open sign. We were the first ones in there so we were able to choose where we wanted to sit which was a good thing because it got pretty crowded once we sat down. It's a quite small place with only a few tables but you can definitely just go up to the counter and order to go. They have both Chinese and English menus but the waitress spoke Chinese to my friend lol I ordered the beef noodle soup with a jasmine green tea and she had a dry noodle dish, I think it was the first one on the menu but I'm not sure. FYI you really have to flag down the waitresses when you need something from them, otherwise they will pretty much leave you alone. This was nice because my friend and I were enjoying our conversation, but if you are looking for a quick meal make sure you let them know. The beef noodle soup was pretty good, the meat was a little tough but the noodles and broth were yummy. However I really liked my friend's dry noodle dish so I would definitely recommend ordering that instead of the soup noodle like I had. The flavor was really good and it came with a side of soup and ground meat crumblies. The jasmine green tea was really good but it probably had a lot of sugar in it, haha oh well it was great! The menu here is pretty extensive and you definitely get a lot of food so come hungry!! read more

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Old faithful location for my family. Never go wrong with the green onion ginger chicken with soup noodle or the braised pork chops with rice. My go to spot for a quick fix always. read more

Why Thirsty - Popcorn Chicken with soup noodle. - Taiwanese Near Me - San Gabriel, California

So I came with my sister today as we were craving boba. We ordered drinks and popcorn chicken to share. The drinks came out first. I got the Assam black tea with grass jelly and my sister ordered a rose black tea with boba. The guy making the drink ended up giving her a rose milk tea and she was confused. They promptly took back the drink when they noticed they made it wrong. What great service! A few minutes later they brought back the drink she wanted and apologized. Our popcorn chicken came out shortly after the drinks. It was super flavorful, moist and crispy. It's different compared to other boba places as they fry basil leaves with the chicken. It's so tasty as it imparts an aromatic flavor to the chicken!!! Yum!! I'll definitely be back here as they provide great service, tasty drinks and crunchy popcorn chicken :) !!! read more

Why Thirsty is located inside the same shopping center as Trader Joes and Pet Smart so parking could get pretty ugly during peak hours. I walked inside and it was a small store with a couple tables and customers studying or just hanging with friends. The vibe of this place is definitely for the adults because the whole time i was there the teenagers or college students would get their order to go, but the ones who actually sit and stay are the adults. The store needs a bit of TLC because it looks pretty old and the paint is peeling from the walls. The service is a bit slow too as the waitresses aren't very attentive i had to walk up to the cashier register to ask them to bring some waters or napkins TWICE. So talk of their popcorn chicken was what attracted me here so i ordered the popcorn chicken rice combo with a jasmine green milk tea with boba. So here's what i thought about the food. Popcorn Chicken W/ Rice: Popcorn chicken was served separately in a basket and it was very good! the pieces were big and the serving was generous, although the disclaimer about having "bone particles" still inside the popcorn chicken got me going WTH? lol the other plate came with rice, steamed veggies, 2 chinese side dishes. It was pretty good, but i think next time i'll just opt for the popcorn chicken alone. Jasmine Green Milk Tea W/ Boba: The boba was cooked just right and it was chewy so i liked that, but the jasmine GMT was lacking in flavor and creaminess it was too watered down. It wasn't worth the amount that i paid for. Overall, i would come here to eat the popcorn chicken, but they need to work on their customer service and how to store looks like because it doesn't entice a lot of potential customers walking around in the plaza. read more

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Pretty good place near Temple City for tea and some Taiwanese food. The sausage with rice was pretty good. So was their railroad, which was basically pork and rice. If you come during dinner time though, they can get pretty packed, and you'll have to wait awhile. You can order drinks and food to go, but you'll still have to wait a bit. If only this place was a bit bigger. read more

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This was the first time I was at Why Thirsty, and I suppose I had high expectations. It was pretty busy when I went, so the servers aren't as tentative. The food didn't take that long so that's good. The noise level was a little loud, but tolerable. It's a pretty small place. As for food and drinks: My milk tea was a little on the sweet side, I should ask for half sugar next time. And I was not all too pleased with their Formosa tea, it didn't really taste like tea at all. Their French fries ($2.99), although, it was such a generous amount given, it was extremely salty. The popcorn chicken was okay, but it was overly seasoned as well. read more

Why Thirsty - Popcorn chicken, French fries, premium tea, and Formosa milk tea. - Taiwanese Near Me - San Gabriel, California

Came for the first time and I probably ordered the wrong thing. The stir fry beef udon was meh. It was literally just beef, udon, cabbage, onions, and broccoli sautéed with satay sauce. Being a boba-ccentric place, my next dish will probably have to be a fried chicken or pork chop dish because the msg will make it taste good. Until then, 3 stars will do. Oh, the chrysanthemum black tea did keep me from getting thirsty though. read more

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Went there today for lunch! Their railroad porkchop rice is bomb!!! I love their Passionfruit oolong tea, it has real Passionfruit seed inside which was so good! My favorite drink there! The woman there was so sweet and was very cooperative with my service dog. Usually at a Chinese establishment restaurants, people are a bit ignorant about service dogs and does not know much about service animals but they were very accommodating. She even signed in ASL "thank you" to me as I was leaving the restaurant. I'll be back soon! read more

Consistently friendly staff. Still open amidst the pandemic. Most recently I had the popcorn chicken and basil chicken lomein which were both great! read more

Great Dan Dan Mein . Wife Son and I enjoy this place. Great Taiwanese style food. Wife's food is better; she is Taiwanese. read more

Second visit for this place ! Love the sweet potatoes fry and the pork chop ! Will definitely come back for more other food ! I love the food portion of this place ! read more

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I used to come here pretty often when they just opened (2 years ago? Sometime around there... Time flies...). Went here today and had the Basil Chicken Rice and Popcorn Chicken appetizer. Basil Chicken was pretty good, but DON'T get the popcorn chicken extra spicy. The chili powder they use isn't really spicy, so when I got my "extra spicy" popcorn chicken, it was basically chicken coated with a ridiculous amount of powder--to the point where it was pretty much inedible (more or less like the Cinnamon Challenge in the sense that each bite is like eating a spoonful of dry powder). I remember their popcorn chicken being really good before, so I will give them another shot and get it mild instead of extra spicy next time. read more

Why Thirsty - Extra Spicy Popcorn Chicken. This is after shaking off a bunch of powder. Way too much powder. Inedible. - Taiwanese Near Me - San Gabriel, California

Excellent Shacha Beef Noodles Soup, Popcorn chicken, and selection of teas (Formosa Milk Tea is my jam). Reasonably priced dishes. My spot for Taiwanese in the Pasadena area. Basil chicken rice dish wasn't my favorite (not sure if taking it to-go made a difference in food quality). The Railroad is the business. The service is usually good and consistent. I'm a regular here and I bring my coworkers and they love it, too. This place is a solid 4 star which is still very good! read more

Why Thirsty - Shacha beef noodles soup - Taiwanese Near Me - San Gabriel, California

Why thirsty is located inside the trader joes and petco plaza. Parking is a pain because so many people shop at trader joes and there's a bunch of old people that shop in this area too. Walking inside this place I was like, wow this place is extremely small! The bathroom is located right next to where you order togo and they have two seats on the right for you to wait for your drinks/food. I really wanted boba milk tea, it cost $4.35 for a large. I was really excited to try their milk tea because I've been reading their yelp reviews and a lot of people said their milk tea was delicious. The boba was lightly warm when they handed it to me which I liked. When I took my first sip of the drink, it was watered down... Gross! I even asked for less ice and regular sugar, so I have no idea why it tasted almost like water. I even mixed it really well, and yeah, it still tasted watered down. No Bueno! The boba wasn't even sweet; quickly & tap-ex even tasted better. The drink had a lot of tea flavor than a milk flavor. I will definitely not come back to try the food, I'm assuming that if you get boba milk tea wrong then they will get the food wrong too. read more

Why Thirsty - Boba milk tea was watered down - Taiwanese Near Me - San Gabriel, California

I think the tiny spot has some great food. Very Taiwane and food might be sweet for some people.

Hmmm... difficult one here. I try my best to look at things objectively, but also put in what I like. That's what makes this one hard. If I could rate "Why Thirsty?" a 3-1/2, I probably would. The Pros: Big food. I love a place that gives you a good portion for your money. Good mix of meat, starch and veggies. Feel like I'm getting a good food mix! Prices are not half bad. The Cons: Small place. And they are somewhat popular. Good cause they'll stay around. Not so good because sometimes you have to wait for the 8-10 tables. Salty. This is the hard one cause I love salt and salty food, but my mate does not. Still we do come back so there's stuff for both of us. Milk Tea. The focus here seems to be the milk tea. Maybe that's why the service is the way it is (see other reviews). Haven't had the tea yet, so can't say, but those ARE pricey in my opinion. Well, there you have it. If it were up to me alone, this would be a solid 4 stars. As it is I have to qualify it and say it's more like a shaky 4 stars. Oh... and the funky music videos they play are quirky, but I find myself staring at the creativity. LOL read more

Why Thirsty - I'm a sucker for soup, ramen, etc! Here's the salty popcorn chicken...controversial because of the saltiness. - Taiwanese Near Me - San Gabriel, California

Don't be fooled by the name - which make it sounds like they are only selling drinks. We ordered two types of dishes - Rice plates and Dry Noodle. I ordered pork chop dry noodle. There are 3 options for sauce you can pick from - Original, Sweet and Sour (can't remember the 2nd options) and the sesame. I was contemplating between the original vs the sesame sauce but ended up picking the original. The original sauce is reaaally good. It is well mixed into the noodle and definitely adds good flavor to the noodle. The pork chop however is not fried - not what I expected. There are two side dishes that came with the noodle - both are pickled veggies. The Rice plate however was a little bit of a disappointment in comparison to the noodle. Biggest part was because I was expecting fried pork chop - as I always get at other Taiwanese restaurant. The other part too because of the comparison to the flavorful noodle - which makes the rice taste pretty plain. Did not try the tea, but maybe next time when we come back for the noodle dish!! read more

Why Thirsty - Pork Chop Lo Mien - Taiwanese Near Me - San Gabriel, California

Their Railroad is the best Taiwanese pork chop ever. Soft like filet mignon. Popcorn chicken is kinda too hard and the batter ain't all that. I wish they would used less batter and more chicken. Service was not all that but not all bad. The place always has customers so if you go during prime time you might wait 20 mins. 4.5 stars but not a five because one of my favorite things to eat is popcorn chicken, and it was a 6 outta 10. read more

Why Thirsty - Railroad plate - Taiwanese Near Me - San Gabriel, California

Why Thirsty reminds me of a TenRen. The Taiwanese food isnt amazing but it isn't bad. When ordering rice, make sure to put in all of the sides that the order comes with because it makes the dish so much better. The rice itself is plain but remember, with the side orders, the rice tastes great. As for the drinks, it was pretty decent. It was similar to TenRens. The boba is soft but its not as good as regular boba places. Its definitely better than this place called Banh Mi Che Cali though. Lastly, the popcorn chicken isn't great. I still like Quickly or Lollicup chicken over Why Thirty's. The only thing great about it is the size of the chicken itself. Overall, the place is not bad but it isn't great. Its worth the try though. read more

Why Thirsty - Popcorn chicken, minced rice bowl, and honey sausage rice plate - Taiwanese Near Me - San Gabriel, California

This place has really good dry noodles!! I always enjoy coming here. The place is a bit small but we've never had to wait actually. And parking is easy. Their 3 cup chicken is yummy.. so is their grilled pork chop. I pretty much always get the same thing here which is the pork chop dry noodle. Can't go wrong with that!! read more

Friendly staffs, good food. Their friend fish and fried pork chop lunch box is a must try. Their pickled raddish is the best. It goes well with everything. However, I am not too crazy with their salt/pepper popcorn chicken nuggets. read more

Avoid this place at all costs! I never really liked the food here since I thought there were too many misses. However, since I live really close to it, I order takeout maybe once a month here. I tend to stick with the Railroad since that's the safest thing I've tried. On my way home from work tonight, I called to place a take out order. I ordered the Railroad and Sausage Fried Rice. The girl on the phone took my order and phone number. 20 minutes later, I arrived at the restaurant to pick up my order. The place was completely empty, and I saw three employees standing by the cash register doing absolutely nothing. I told one of the girls that I placed a phone order. She showed me a receipt and asked if that was my order. It was not my order. She gave me an awkward look and asked if I was ok with waiting a few minutes because my order was never placed. WHAT?! Let me reiterate that the place was completely EMPTY, and there were THREE employees standing around doing nothing. And the girl I spoke with on the phone took my phone number and order down. And now they wanted me to wait a few minutes because of their irresponsibility, and without an apology?? I was flabbergasted at how unprofessional these employees were. I told them I did not want the order anymore and walked out. They have just lost a customer. I will not return to Why Thirsty ever again after this horrible experience. I highly recommend that you do not ever go there unless you want a poor experience like I had tonight. read more

Had been there couple times, and all I remember is their Taiwanese foods. -service: waitress who worked there before were more polite and friendly to compare with now. They have to wear their special uniform which was the mini skirt and white tshirt. -parking: their share the parking with trader joes. But there is some parking in the back also. -railroad pork chop rice should be their signature dish and of course we ordered that too. The pork wa tender after they deep fried it, along with some veggies and rice for this dish was cheap, it's about $8 for that. -I had the hainan chicken noodles. They put the chicken on the side. The soup was not hot enough, the noodles were sticking together, plus the soup based was not strong, so this noodles soup was very light. The chicken was ok, but the traditional hainan chicken source was just oil and green onions, a little different from the ginger oil source. I had their tea before, it's ok, nothing too impressed. read more

Why Thirsty - Hainan chicken noodle soup - Taiwanese Near Me - San Gabriel, California

Delicious despite the Engrish name. Food: My boo wanted some Taiwanese food so we decided to check out Why Thirsty. The popular dish here is the railroad porkchop, but since I usually like the spicy fried chicken, I got the popcorn chicken rice (http://www.yelp.com/biz_photos/why-thirsty-san-gabriel#nVDTt-9cuUG46TxzNsRDNA). The diversity of foods in this dish is incredible. Not only do you get a heaping basket of poultry nuggets, but you also get rice with stewed pork, a steamed veggie medley, and plenty of pickled veggies. The popcorn chicken wasn't the best I've had (I like the versions at Tea Spots the best), but they make sure it's coated in a generous amount of basil. The veggies tasted a little odd to me at first, but after awhile I warmed up to it. For drinks, I got the Assam milk tea and my boo got a yogurt tea (http://www.yelp.com/biz_photos/why-thirsty-san-gabriel#5sgDv6EYi3uvxluN546DOA). I figured the Assam milk tea would taste amazing based on Yelp reviews I read before visiting, but it was sort of watery and not terribly memorable. It looked intriguing though! Atmosphere: The seating area runs on the small side, but is clean and brightly lit. The exterior, however, has a distinctly ghetto vibe to it. Don't drop anything on the sidewalk. You'll never be able to wash that bacteria out. This place is next to an Indian market my friends are always talking about. Service: This place is crazy popular. Expect to wait 20-45 minutes for a seat on a Friday or Saturday night. Once you're seated, a very well-dressed teenager (?) will likely take your order. The service is a little on the slow side despite the line of people waiting outside. Synopsis: The tastes take a bit of time to get used to, but all in all I found my experience here pleasant. I probably wouldn't get the Assam milk tea again. read more

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The name kinda throws you off. First of all, why is it asking a question? Secondly, you would think Why Thirsty should respond with just drinks... but this place has food too, good food I might add! We read on yelp that others recommend the railroad so we ordered that. It was a good choice. I would jump on the railroad bandwagon and suggest the same thing. It's a pretty hearty dish (meaning that it's pretty big). It's basically a tender slab of pork, some cooked veggies, and rice cooked with egg. Very tasty! The second dish we got was udon noodles in combination with the popcorn chicken. Also a very good choice. The udon is your standard udon noodles in soup with some sides, 2 to be exact. Though I don't know what it is, I must say that it was pretty good. The popcorn chicken is excellent. Not sure if it's just because it's chicken pieces that are deep fried, but it was very good. The drink choices are pretty good too. Though, I'm not a big fan of overpriced, "high-end" tea, this place does have a pretty good selection. Despite the name of Why Thirsty relating more to drinks than food. I enjoyed the food more than the drinks! Quickly, to the service. The people here are REALLY nice! I'd say the service is excellent! Fairly cheap to eat here for lunch, good location and parking is pretty easy in this lot. I'd recommend both the Railroad and the popcorn chicken. Hope you guys do too! read more

Came here pretty late last night with the lady friend. I gotta admit, this place is where it's at...except for maybe the location? It was dead when we went at around 10p. I do hope people know about this place, hiding in the Stater Bros plaza right off Huntington Drive. When we Yelped this place, I'll be honest, I thought it was just like every other boba joint in the SGV. I was quickly proven wrong by great customer service, really good food, and a different style of tea that I havent experienced before. The tea wasnt super sweet like what I normally come across where I have to ask for less sugar. We ordered the sausage fried rice and popcorn chicken which is probably the most typical types of dishes at these boba places. But where this place excels is that, although these dishes are typical, the cook focuses on making it properly. We were also greeted by whom I presumed to be the owner, who was very welcoming, and wanted to make sure that we enjoyed our meal. A+++++ in my book. read more

This is a decent place to grab drinks and a quick meal and to catch up with friends. I've tried a few of their drinks but sometimes their flavored tea is a miss. I do like their milk green tea though so I tend to stick to that. My bf loves to order the railroad rice when we come here. The portions are very generous and we always end up with leftovers. Service is also pretty fast and you can always call ahead for takeout :) overall, I would give this place 3.5 stars. read more

Taiwanese comfort food. I highly recommend the pork dry noodles. It's the simple saucy noodles with spicy dried radish as sides that hits the spot every time. The spicy basil chicken is also a staple but be warned it is quite spicy. Their peach tea is fantastic. An actual peach with a generous teabag full of flavor. Easy parking in the lot and now open on Sunday's! read more

I liked their food a lot. The service was friendly and quick. The only gripe was a terrible milk tea that tasted more like milk then tea and it was corrected promptly (but still not right even after about 4 tries). My experience with milk tea is that it has mostly tea, black tea, and just a splash of milk, this one was WHITE. This is for my Taiwanese wife so she knows how it should taste. My drink was great, a chrysanthemum ice tea. Railroad pork was great and I liked the side of fried fish although its a lot like american style fish with tarter sauce. I would go back if I was in the area and needed some taiwanese food. The mall is a bit run down and dirty but food was good. read more

Why Thirsty - Good railroad pork - Taiwanese Near Me - San Gabriel, California