Ahgoo’s Kitchen

Small and unassuming place in a strip mall with surprisingly good food. Green onion pancake was nice and fluffy. The beef noodle soup was rich. We got there early so we avoided the line.

I’m so happy I finally got to try this place for their green onion pancake and dumplings! If you’ve had a scallion pancake before, the one here isn’t what you think it is. It’s not flat or oily (although I enjoy those too). This green onion pancake is more like giant fluffy green onion bread with a sesame crust. Crispy on the outside, fluffy and carby and stuffed with onions on the inside! It’s pretty expensive compared to most green onion pancakes, but you get A LOT. There are 8 huge pieces and as my friend and I learned, impossible to finish if you want to order other dishes haha. The pork and Napa dumplings were pretty freakin good too, juicy and nicely filled (not just a bunch of doughy skin). I’d definitely recommend! However, half a star down bc it’s not really their fault for the tiny parking lot, but the other half star down is for the price. For a typical Asian restaurant, 2 plates of dumplings and green onion pancake probably would’ve come to ²⁄₃ of what we paid… And it’s cash only (another inconvenience).

Good food, reasonable price, only has 8 about tables so prepare to wait or get there early. Large party don’t fit here. Make sure to call ahead if you want to order the green onion pancake because it’ll take awhile and sometimes only after your dishes are finished. My 10 years old daughter highly recommended their beef noodle soup, noodles are freshly handmade and very tasty. Other dishes we ordered are very good as well. Highly recommended by our family.

I’ve only had their onion cakes, and they are AMAZING!!! I love onions and I just had to go get them when my friends showed me the pictures. They do sell out of those, so make sure you get there at least an hour before closing, or better yet, call ahead to place a to-​go order! I’ll definitely go back, not just for the onion cakes, but to try their other delicious food items also.

This place is definitely one of those hole in the wall restaurants that is a bit dingy looking but the food compensates for the appearance. Came for dinner on a Saturday night around 6 PM, and it was already jammed packed. My mom apparently swore by this place, and came like 3 times in 2 weeks prior to me coming in. They are know for their giant SCALLION PANCAKE BUN whatever you want to call it. Every single table ordered it. It’s light and fluffy and has the perfect crunch. My parents aren’t really big dumpling fans but I did see that the rest of the guests had also ordered that dish. Will need to come back and get my dumpling on. ENJOY! :D

This is a cute Taiwanese place on Valley. It’s a small dining area and it’s always crowded.
The Beef Noodle Soup (紅燒牛肉麵) seemed to be something that a lot of people ordered so we ordered it. The noodles were handmade, which was a nice touch, but the broth was a bit too bland for me. The good thing is that it’s not oily, because some places’ NRM tend to have a pool of red oil on top.
The best thing we ordered was definitely the Simmered Combination (攪合攪合). It was basically a cold «salad» of kombu, tripe, pig ears, pressed tofu, and beef slices. This tasted really fresh and the strong flavors definitely stood out. The Mala taste wasn’t overpowering and there was definitely an umaminess helped by a sprinkling of MSG. Very addicting.
I wanted to order the Sesame Green Onion Cake (芝麻蔥花餅) but I got confused and ordered the pan-​fried Sesame cake (芝麻薄餅) instead! The Sesame Cake (which is literally translated to Sesame Pizza) was good though. It’s essentially cong you bing but with sesame seeds instead of green onions. Like the Niu Rou Mian, this wasn’t greasy at all.
I’d come back to try the Sesame Green Onion Cake and the Salted Pumpkin with Egg Yolk (鹹蛋南瓜). People kept on coming in and out of this place, which is a testament to the quality of food served. Service was quick, no-​frills, and attentive, and they even give you free small dishes (小菜) of bean sprouts and pickled daikon, similar to Korean banchan.

Ahgoo is a term to represent, generally speaking, an female of an older generation in your family in Mandarin. My guess that it’s a name that will hearken back to the food you had growing up as a Chinese or Chinese American. Well, if nostalgia is what they’re selling good food is being made here too.
I came with the ladyfriend’s grandparents and let them do the ordering. I was quite impressed with the food we had. The sweet and sour soup was the highlight and a must try, especially on a colder day. The workhorse of their menu, the green onion sesame cake was, as promised by the ladyfriend, good as well. We also ordered some veggies and a fish dish that did not dissapoint.
The menu here is not large and in many ways that’s a good thing as they know what they’re making and they make it well, (think in n out menu) The price is reasonable given the quality of the food you’re having. The establishment itself is quite small and can be easy to miss. Apparently space can get limited in the restaurant so plan ahead to expect a potential wait. If there is one downfall, the food can be a bit on the oilier side for those who are extremely health conscious, especially when it comes to their veggies
With so many Chinese food options in the SGV area this is a great collection to the bunch that has stood the test of time. Good food, great people, there’s not much more to ask. except for the recipe to that soup and their pancake, you find that then let me know!

Pricer. Small menu but always good food. Scallion, dumplings and soup are always my favorite. Caah only and limited seating. They have small appetizers that come when you sit down. Not a place to disappoint if you live taiwanese asian food

Drove out of the way from the Pasadena area to try these ginormous scallion pancakes, and I have no regrets. We almost didn’t make it in time before they closed for dinner, but fortunately we slipped in and chowed down on some pancakes, dumplings and a beef noodle soup.
I love Taiwanese food, and this place is pretty legit. Pretty unassuming, as all the good restaurants are, and worth a visit.
+Definitely try the pancakes. But bring a couple friends or five as you’ll definitely have enough to go around. I would have to say Mama’s Lus is better as I prefer the thin/​crispier type, but I had to try this fluffy one because it just looked so darn appealing.
+Beef noodle soup and dumplings were good, not the best I’ve ever had, but solid.
+Service was great — definitely took a little bit of time to cook the pancakes, but the fact that they refilled our beef noodle soup with broth after noticing it was low (without asking) was really sweet. A few of the workers kind of treated us like they knew us, which was cool because I don’t even really know Chinese/​had never visited before.
+Easy parking lot in the front.
–They had a major leak that started from the kitchen or bathroom area and flooded the entire hallway, reaching the dining area. They had us move tables but were really nice about it and told us to be careful to avoid slipping.
–Pretty small seating area, so try off-​peak times or early on weekends.
–Cash only.

Was going to go to a restaurant close by but it was closed so we decided to try this place out because of the good ratings on Unilocal and their Taiwanese beef noodle soup. Little did I know I came very disappointed. Their service for us was VERY slow compared to the other tables — to the point where my mom was getting very agitated that she wanted us all to leave before the dishes even came. People who came after us had their dishes before we did and we both ordered pretty similar things.
The food was also very mediocre and the only thing I liked about this place was their homemade noodles used in their beef noodle soup. You use the condiments on the side to add the spiciness to the soup. The noodles were very chewy which I liked, but the soup itself was nothing special. I’ve had better Taiwanese beef noodle soup at mama liangs and number one noodle house in Rowland Heights.
Their onion pancakes were a lot thicker than the onion pancakes I usually get, but they are thick in a bad way. The thickness in fact made the pancakes kind of hard to chew. It was questionable as to whether or not the pancake was stale or just wasn’t fried enough. While it contained a lot of green onions, the pancake still lacked flavor.
As for the beef roll, the first bite was amazing but then all of a sudden it got very bland like the sweet sauce wasn’t evenly spread out. Although I liked the outside of this beef roll more than I do the onion pancakes, the beef roll was still lacking flavor as well, with some parts having more flavor than other parts.
Ultimately I would not come back here. Perhaps it was just one bad experience but their lack of service deters me from wanting to come back.

Wow Aghoo’s kitchen is a gem! I think this place has officially trumped all other 626 places as the king of the Tsong Yiao Da Bing (green onion pancake). The flavors of every dish were completely authentic, and each dish was executed incredibly well. I’d highly recommend the green onion pancake, the steamed dumplings, the seaweed wrapped fried fish, and the mixed cold plates. The cooking is very, very homestyle and strikes a chord with me when dining here. It’s really just as good as mom’s cooking.
PROTIP: You have to come early; they only make a limited quantity of the onion pancakes a day, so you may or may not get one depending on how busy they are.

Eaten here before and loved it but today they turned us away, stating their closing time is 2pm. Also rolled her eyes when I told her it was not quite 1:30 yet. Just kept telling us to go on and get on. Thanks but keep your damn attitude to yourself lady.

My friend Charlie recently went to this joint and posted about it. I couldn’t stop thinking about it after seeing his pictures, so, two days before their one month vacation, me and slave girl made it in.
When we got there during lunch time on a Saturday, the parking lot was fully packed but luckily the street parking was available. The wait in the restaurant wasn’t too bad since it was only about ten minutes or so. Unfortunately after we were seated, we were forgotten right away and I saw the waitress taking orders from the group after us. I was like hell no, walked up to her and let her know what’s up. She apologized and thought we ordered already and just looked bored waiting for our food to arrive. Everything after that was all good. Note: if you are in an Asian restaurant, please don’t assume they know anything and everything. If I did nothing and just sat there waiting, I would have been hangry and nothing would be accomplished.
We got some free appetizers, hot and sour soup, leak and fish dumplings, sliced bean curd and pork, beef noodle soup, and the famous green onion sesame pancake. I am not a fan of their bean curd and pork because it was bland and flavorless. If they used a little more salt then it would have been good. Everything else though was amazingly tasty and satisfying. All the noodles, pancake, and dumplings were made in house, and you can totally taste the difference. Their beef noodle soup, surprisingly not spicy but the broth was full of beefy flavor and love. Their famous pancake is indeed worth every penny. Fluffy inside with crunchy out layer, no dipping sauce necessary and plenty of good chews. Something I would love to have more but I got full from just couple of pieces.
Cash only, and their dishes are not the cheapest so be aware because over ordering is easy with food this good.

Gotta try their green onion pancake. So fluffy yet very crispy outside. It is always packed during lunch time so try to avoid rush time!
Wanna try their beef noodle, dumpling and soup next time. I will be back!

4.2 stars!
The best thing here is the green onion and sesame pancake! The crunch/​crispiness of the outer layer and fluffiness of the inside is to dieeee for!
All their dishes are quite good and not too greasy like other restaurants. However, this place is a little bit expensive for a mom/​pop shop of this sort.
The restaurant is also a bit small, so be sure to come early if you don’t want to wait! They take awhile to fill the orders because it’s just the husband and wife cooking in the kitchen.

My family decided to come here on a Sunday evening. The restaurant is pretty small so I can imagine it gets pretty packed during lunch/​dinner time, so we came here a bit earlier than it opened.
We ordered the combination plate, it was a bit spicy but the variety of cold cut appetizers was great! We also got the beef noodle soup…
THE BEST. BEEF NOODLE SOUP. I’VE HAD IN THE STATES. Not exaggerating, I’ve been looking for BNS ever since I moved to the states, and everywhere has been a disappointment tbh. Their broth is rich and amazing, the meat was tender and the noodle was chewy. ¹⁰⁄₁₀ would order again.
Green onion pancake, MUST ORDER, personally not a big fan of green onion but I still ate a couple of them. It was fluffy and delicious.
Will be back again.

If I could give this place a ⁰⁄₅ I would. Beyond outraged with this place. I don’t even see how people can order If u don’t speak Chinese!
I came around 7ish. Lucky there was an open table. Sat down and ordered their famous pancake filled green onions. The lady told me sold out no more. Ok fine I’ll just order two dishes of dumplings and a plate of noodles. I read the order out and she obviously didn’t know English too well so I had to point at what I wanted. She ran back to the kitchen twice to see if they still has dumplings to sell to me. She took my order then went to the table behind me and took their order after us. Place was crowded and clean. But the service goes beyond the food. It might be good but I will not be returning.
Combination noodles (forgot what it was called but it sounded like chow mein):
It was OK. A bit bland. Very thin noodles. Definitely chow mein but worded differently. Phoenix makes it better then here. I just ordered it as something to fill us up since I only had two plates of dumplings and what I came for was sold out (or at least what she told me).
Pork leek shrimp dumpling:
They were huge and filled up. 7.95 for 10 pieces. Delicious of course. But that’s actually the only good thing about this place.
Pork dumpling:
Never showed up. My baby was making a fuss so I ate first waiting for our third dish but it never came. I took the baby after to let my husband eat and told him there should be a third dish. He told our waitress and she showed the order only 2 dishes. Seriously? She even argued a bit with him saying we only ordered two! Obviously English is not their strong points here but I pointed at three dishes so she could take the order and went back twice to make sure they had it. Yet she still forgot to put the third dish down. Most places would welcome to add it or apologize and ask if you still wanted to add the third dish. This place. No. You didn’t order. U won’t get to order. Forget it.
While holding my fussy baby outside to calm her down. I noticed the table who sat down and ordered after us got the pancakes I asked for. So I guess if you don’t speak Chinese they tell u its sold out but gives it to the table who has it behind u. How awesome is that. Poor service is an excellent way to put it.
This place is cash only. I came back in to pay the bill and box up the rest because my baby isn’t going to calm down if she came back inside. So decided to just box it since I no longer feel welcomed here. Bill came before the boxes. I put a $ 20 down hoping they’d pick it up to give me change. My #1 rule is good service = tips. Lies and bad service = no tip. My bill was $ 17.50 obviously the difference would have been the tip. Most restaurants will still give u your change regardless if the difference is your tip or not. I packed up the food fed my oldest daughter and still refuse to come by and give me my change. Dug through my wallet and left exactly $ 17.50. Refuse to come back here and can’t see how anyone would if they don’t speak Any English given this place doesn’t understand anything.

Absolutely the best chinese restaurant in town!!! After seeing some amazing pics of their sesame green onion pancake on instagram, I KNEW I had to go get some for myself! It was love at first bite. It was so crispy and crunchy on the outside, but fluffy and so generously filled with green onions on the inside. You get about 9 – 10 pieces for $ 8.95 … WORTH EVERY PENNY! I continuously rave about it because it is just THAT good. There used to be one in Hacienda but they closed … and it’s honestly nothing compared to Ahgoo! :)
*** FRIENDLY NOTE*** I suggest for your to place your order for the da bing beforehand because it does take awhile to make. For to go orders, I would place it 45 mins before leaving and you can also call ahead of time to tell them to start making it before you dine in so it’ll be ready when you get there.
Their dumpings are also spectacular! It’s handmade from scratch and filled with lots of cabbage & pork (comes with 10 pieces as well)
Their shredded potato is BOMB as well. We thought it was going to be stir fried but it’s actually a cold dish, I would most likely consider it an appetizer. But this is so good if you eat it with the dumping or da bing because it balances out the savory-​ness of the other dishes.

Some people get their mid-​life crisis early and I happened to be one of them. 2014 was a really rough year for me and I lost interest in so many things that once had significant value to me. I was walking in a fog and didn’t exactly know what I wanted anymore. I struggled to write reviews (blaming it on a lack of inspiration). I struggled physically with a serious back injury that limited my ability to enjoy anything outdoors. I struggled with just about everything except this bloody tongue and stomach that DEMANDED attention regardless of excuses — valid or pathetic — to be sated.
I was in deep mental fog when I first entered this establishment. An emotional wreck would be an understatement but a close friend and mentor chose to do another good deed — one of his endless list — by feeding me and talking to me. He did what a good father figure would do by making a GOOD meal available while saying the right things to encourage one to step out of the bloody fog.
I barely remember his words — nor his wife’s words. I do remember, however, the impression I had with the food here. Here’s the thing: I always have found Taiwanese food to be absolutely BORING, ill-​prepared, and something I rather skip than deal with. But here’s the SECOND thing: I totally felt the completely opposite way while and after dining HERE and can’t wait to visit LA again to eat here!
You can taste the amount of dedication in the food. You can sense the devotion in each dish. You become aware that whoever the chef is preparing all these dishes care what his customer eats. And if you know my boss, who is Taiwanese, who is VERY hard to impress with food, and who is suddenly very fond of this little hole in the wall, the chef/​owner must be doing something completely RIGHT.
I won’t discuss the food in depth. I’ll just point out that it left me longing to return. I’ll just mention that I ate more than I usually eat, which should say a lot. I’ll even point out that they are the REAL reason I started writing Unilocal reviews again. They are my new inspiration.
SIDE STORY:
We spoke with the chef/​owner. We commended his ability to cook and to prepare and asked to know more about him and his background. It was a really good conversation but what sparked it all was when he shared the old philosophy of hard work and the American dream. He came with nothing but two hands that he believed in. He shared his endless hours (with 2 days in the week closed just to prep some of the other ingredients) alone working away in the kitchen (by the way, he alone prepped and cooked for more than 40 dishes in the 1 hour span I was there). He believes in hard work and you can see it in his forearms — completely *ripped*.
He inspires me. People like him and small businesses like these are the real reason I pick up the pen (in this case, I type).
15/​02LR

4.69 stars
Came with Shenny S, who is Taiwanese, thankfully for that, she picked great food.
Parking can be difficult unless you get there early
Tables can be hard to find as place is not huge but very popular, plenty of people waiting for tables
Service was good but nothing to write home to the cows about
I did not see a restroom
Plenty of condiments available
Beef Roll, this was my personal favorite, fresh-​tasting bread roll filled with beef, greens and a special sauce that made the meat stand out.
Beef Noodle Soup, oh my, people may really love this dish
Dumplings, softer than most, not as seasoned as I am used to but I added soy sauce
Will I be back, multiple times!
Song parody of Paula Abdul’s ‘1991 song «Rush Rush»
Every day I think of Taiwanese
And I love you like a summer breeze
What I’m saying is I’m into you
Here’s my hunger and my hunger woes
Beef roll love, Dumpling love and more than heaven knows
Your tender beef
I wanna taste, I wanna try
I wanna show my love
All for you
My Unilocal heart, foodie joy
Give me your Taiwanese
Rush, rush
Hurry hurry, I want Taiwanese
Rush, rush
I wanna eat, I wanna eat your
Taiwanese
Rush, rush
I can feel it, I can taste your moist dumpling
Rush, rush
Ooh, what you do to me
And all I want from you is taste and carbs
And just how your tender dumplins are oh so soft
Want to hold you in my arms
I get so hungry, baby, yes I know
But I need you, I want you
Taiwan, I love you so
Ooh, ooh
You’re gonna see
I wanna taste, I wanna try
I wanna show my love
All for you
My Unilocal heart, foodie joy
Give me your Taiwanese
Rush, rush
Hurry hurry, I want Taiwanese
Rush, rush
I wanna eat, I wanna eat your
Taiwanese
Rush, rush
I can feel it, I can taste your moist dumpling
Rush, rush
Ooh, what you do to me
Rush, rush
Hurry hurry, I want Taiwanese
Rush, rush
I wanna eat, I wanna eat your
Taiwanese
Rush, rush
I can feel it, I can taste your moist dumpling
Rush, rush
Ooh, what you do to me
When I taste you up and down
Send my taste buds all around
Oh baby, oh baby
Makes me want to touch the sky
Nothing else that’s so tasty
Tasty, tasty
Tasty, sublime
You’re gonna see
I wanna taste, I wanna try
I wanna show my love
All for you
My Unilocal heart, foodie joy
Give me your Taiwanese
Rush, rush
Hurry hurry, I want Taiwanese
Rush, rush
I wanna eat, I wanna eat your
Taiwanese
Rush, rush
I can feel it, I can taste your moist dumpling
Rush, rush
Ooh, what you do to me