DINO-MITE FOOD AT JURASSIC RESTAURANT 

By Albert Hayashi

It isn’t often you find great ethnic food in a festive social environment.  Jurassic Restaurant introduces Taiwanese Chinese Food in a fun interactive setting. Chef and owner Alex Ai has brought his thematic time period restaurants to the US from his native Taiwan .  After opening up a successful prehistoric era styled restaurant in Taipei in 1987, he began his expansion across the Pacific to California with the opening of a restaurant with American Indian décor (1997).  Opened in March of 2006, the 4500 square foot Jurassic Restaurant in the City of Industry provides its customers with tasty Taiwanese comfort food in a cave-like setting with a giant thirty foot standing T-Rex skeleton situated in the center of the main dining area. 

Upon entering the restaurant, you will cross a small bridge over which beautiful koi swim energetically as if they felt something exciting was about to happen.  Similar to waiting in a line queue at an amusement park in anticipation of the ride, I waited to be seated scanning which was the best seat in the restaurant to view the various prehistoric creatures.  After being seated facing the T-Rex with a pterodactyl overhead, I anxiously waited for the evening to begin.

We started the evening with the light sizzling pepper and mushroom sauce beef dish.  The Jurassic special hot and spicy pot of soup was the perfect follow-up dish which warmed our stomachs on cool Saturday evening.  Our eloquent host for the evening not only provided culinary narrative on half a dozen dishes, but on the history and background of the two year old restaurant. My personal favorite, the Tilapia fish with Soy Bean Paste (Tofu) was not only the most colorful dish with the sweet sauce’s beautiful orange and red hues, but the one I had three servings of.  The pepper fried squid complemented the native beer of Taiwan (called “Taiwan Beer) I was trying.  Finally, the three flavored squid and chicken dish using basil mixed seafood and poultry adequately without affecting each others character. 

Jurassic Restaurant serves very large portions and is opened six days a week, closed on Mondays.  The clientele on the Saturday night I was there consisted of a nice mix of families and friends just getting together. There are private dining areas situated in the upper levels which can be reserved for private events and parties. While 80’s music can be heard in the background, the diner’s visual experience also includes a number of large flat screen TV’s showing typical sports-bar broadcasts.   Jurassic Restaurant is not a place for serious quiet cerebral conversation, but rather a fun exciting place for great Taiwanese food celebrating life with friends and family. 

Fact Sheet

Address: 15301 Gale Ave. ,

City of Industry , CA 91745

Phone: 626-336-5899

Price for Two: $30-$40 w/o wine

Reservations: not required

Hours (Dinner Only): 6:00 PM- 1:00 AM (Tue-Thu, Sun)

                                       6:00 PM- 1:30 AM (Fri, Sat)

Website: www.jurassicrestaurant.com