This popular Taiwanese restaurant has glowing reviews but ultimately fell short for us.

Good To Eat started off as a pop-up and they opened their fast casual restaurant in Emeryville last year. It’s been on my list since then and with such positive reviews, I was eager to try this spot. Since it’s fast casual, you order with the cashier and receive a number and servers will bring out the dishes to your table. They have bar seating, indoor seating, and outdoor patio seating. We arrived right when they opened and within an hour the restaurant was pretty full.

We ordered a variety of dishes and each dish unfortunately had flaws.

Manila Clams Taiwanese Seafood Harbor Style (6/10).

While the clams were super fresh and delicious, the cooking liquid was so salty but without any distinct flavor. The clams were supposedly cooked in rice wine and a chili bean sauce but neither of those flavors came through and it just tasted salty.

Taiwanese Soy Glazed Eggplant (7/10).

This was probably the best dish of the night as it had some flavor from the garlic and soy sauce but it was very one note without any dimension.

A Choy (6/10).

I loved my sautéed greens with garlic but this was bland. The garlic flavor didn’t come through and it’s like they forgot to season the dish?

Spicy Chili Sauce Fried Chicken Wings (6-6.5/10).

While the chicken wings were cooked nicely, the sauce had no flavor. It was like a diluted chili vinegar with chili crunch but without any real kick or intense flavor which was very odd.

Taiwanese Minced Pork Noodle (6/10).

I was so excited to try this dish but the minced pork with fermented bean paste was flavorless. Pork is such a flavorful meat and it was hard to believe that this tasted so bland. The noodles were actually very good with a nice chewy texture but all the accompaniments were so dull.

Red Braised Pork Belly with Daikon Radish (6/10).

This looks like it’s supposed to be a rich and intense braised pork belly dish but once again it completely lacked any depth of flavor. The pork belly and daikon were nicely braised, very tender, but there was no seasoning.

While I’m not super familiar with Taiwanese cuisine, I read that it’s bold in flavor and all of these dishes were lacking exactly that. All the dishes looked promising but once tasting it, everything was bland. It’s like they forgot to season their dishes and everything was watered down. What’s even more puzzling is that everyone around us seemed to enjoy their dishes so I’m wondering if we’re just too critical? I have to mention that the food wasn’t cheap either as the bill was around $160 with tip and I have no problem spending money when dining out if the food delivers but this did not so my rating is a 6-6.5/10.