Taipei Express - New Braunfels

It was in order. I had received the miraculous suppe and the bark meat in it was pink the chips that came with it were also stai. (picture). I also had the "spicy sesame huh, which was good that was missing the spicy. my mother had got the vegetable frying, we both liked the rice. the cash was very nice, but seemed confused. there was also a small robot who had brought us our food (pictures)

This place is okay....definitely not fantastic, but not horrible either. The food is about as tasty as frozen Chinese food, reheated in the microwave. Edible, but not what I want to experience at a restaurant. The restaurant is super clean and has a very nice dining space. It has a fast food restaurant feel....if McDonald's sold Chinese food Styrofoam cups, iced tea, slushies, etc. Lots of choices, but nothing unique. One really off putting thing is their over use of yellow food coloring....it is in their sweet n sour sauce and their egg drop soup....really gross when I realized how much food coloring I was eating! Don't get it on your clothes.... Stains!! It stains your fingers too...just beware. Great start to a great restaurant that simply falls short. Cucumber in sweet n sour chicken? Oddly it was okay.

I ordered the sweet and sour pork plate to go but there was no sweet and sour sauce in the bag. Probably an honest mistake but….come on lol. So I ended up eating fried nuggets of pork for lunch. Probably would have been good with the sauce but customer service and attention to detail is obviously lacking. The rice was okay. Overall average experience, not super impressive.

I am currently on a quest to find Chinese Food that meets what I am looking for as I get settled in New Braunfels, TX. What I found here in the case of Taipei Express was at best a complicated array of items to review as I found myself asking “Do I like this? Do I not? This is good. This is not.” And you get the idea, so here we go on this review. For the record, I would have liked to rate this a 3.75, but three is the only option and I do not feel that I’d put my stamp on a “4 star”. I started with the “As Delivered” photos as I always do, but in this case, I elected not to take the time to plate the order like I traditionally do. As a result, I am going to try to get this out in an organized fashion where each item is addressed. The first three photos are your basic “It looked like this in the bag” and they did a fantastic job of making sure this was packaged well. The materials were not cheap, but neither was the delivery charge, but that I completely understand as this was not your average garbage Styrofoam. Well done on this. From here, I’m going to hit on each item… First on deck is the Wonton soup and I have mixed feelings on this as it is a favorite soup of mine. The soup did arrive hot, but the Wontons I found to be slightly undercooked in comparison to other soups that I have had. I did not finish it. On the positive side of things, the broth flavor was excellent and so was the quality of the meat. Not a single complaint there. The chiffonade cut on the produce was annoying and got tangled up as I tried to mix it with the Wonton for an even bite. Flavor was good though. Next on the chopping block I will quickly address the Chicken Fried Rice, the Steamed Rice, and the Egg Roll. I found the Chicken Fried Rice to be a bit oily and was found wanting looking for Chicken and only encountered one piece of egg. The steamed rice was good, and I enjoyed it much more than the Chicken Fried Rice. Bottom line is that I don’t want a film in my mouth when I’m eating. The Egg Roll. Really good. Cooked perfectly and the taste was great! Well done! The Pot Stickers left me confused as to whether I received Steamed or Fried. It seemed like a combination of both, but much like the Wonton Soup, things seemed a bit doughy to me, and for that reason I cannot say that I was satisfied with this item. I expected crispy as I did not request steamed. End of story there. Meat quality once again was excellent. Sauce was okay. Scallions maybe? Now for the Entrée’s which consisted of Kung Pao Chicken and Beef and Broccoli. Quality of the meats was excellent, and I stop there. Flavor was some of the best on the Beef and Broccoli, but the Kung Pao was lacking in any amount of heat and when a drop hits my counter and the color is of oil and there is no heat, I am left to gather that the oily taste I have in my mouth is not from the oils of the pepper itself. Disappointing for what I hoped might be a dish with some semblance of heat. Since online did not allow me to specify, I cannot speak to other than my initial trial of this meal. The Beef and Broccoli was also oily, but at least I was able to eat most of that if you consider half of the tray. Final Thoughts: I can be picky, but I’ve eaten a lot of Chinese Food from all over the country. I personally think that things should not only be cooked correctly to provide the desired texture, but also taste like I was not provided a bottle of Olive Oil or any other type (of oil) as a side to garnish my meal with. For these reasons I rated low as I got sick from the oil and found myself very disappointed over what was almost a $70 dinner bill with delivery. I did order on a weeknight though so... maybe a contributing factor??

I am saddened to write this review as I've been frequenting this business since they opened. The last 3 times we have visited (post pandemic) I can definitely tell something has changed. The quality has gone downhill. I'm giving 2 stars simply for the ginger soy sauce that comes with the potsticker appetizer, as that was the best thing about our meal last night. The potstickers were flat, ripped all over the place and the lettuce they were served on was brown and slimy. It's a shame because they have been voted one of the best in town, in previous years, but I'm afraid that has changed. I don't know what changes have been made, but please consider revising said changes, because we miss the old taipei quality.