Grandma’s Kitchen — Restaurant in Newton

This Taiwanese gem is located in beautiful Newton, MA and has had me hooked since they opened. In my experience, finding restaurants in the greater Boson area that are true to their culture are few and far between. So when Grandma's Kitchen opened, I was eager to try. Despite the small operation, a-ma and her team delivers authentic Taiwanese dishes and amazing drinks to pair with whatever you order. You can really taste the love in the form of the fresh ingredients used in each dish. Let's get down to the specifics.

Beef pancake 10/10: A perfect balance of texture and flavors. The slight crispy exterior welcomes your mouth to a blend of sweet hoisin, cilantro and well seasoned beef. The perfect melody of all the flavors will leave you wanting to try another piece to find the subtleties of each ingredient.

Spicy wontons 10/10: Hard to beat this appetizer. I asked Andy, the barista and waiter, about how these are prepared and he explained that each wonton is hand made every day by a-ma and the staff. I was blown away by how such a simple dish packs so much flavor. Give me a cup and a straw because I could drink that sauce all day everyday. Also, I recommend getting the dish spicy. The fresh Thai chilis really amplify the entire experience :)

Popcorn Chicken 10/10: Yet another 10/10 appetizer. I've had my fair share of popcorn chicken growing up and without a doubt, Grandma's popcorn chicken easily takes the cake. Those of you that are familiar with this basil and 5-spice masterpiece know that this dish can easily become a disappointment due to uneven cooking/spice coating. But fear not, each piece is perfectly fried and seasoned which makes this childhood favorite of mine really stand out. Do yourself a favor and pair it with a Taro blended drink (my favorite so far at Grandma's) and have yourself a day. Done.

Beef rib noodle soup 10/10: Holy S* this dish elevates you to a place where your sinuses and taste buds live in perfect harmony. I asked for the spicy option and did not regret my decision. This stuffy nose remedy is packed with flavor and will leave your mouth with a lingering umami flavor you'd only wish was available as a mouthwash. Yeah, it's THAT good. The noodles are Japanese Udon and are perfectly cooked, the right amount of bite and softness that soak up the broth. Don't worry that's not all that the dish offers. The formidable sized beef rib is cooked to perfection, fall off the bone perfection. Tear off a piece and meat and join it in holy matrimony with the broth soaked noodles and you won't have a single conversation the remainder of your time at Grandma's Kitchen.

Spicy wonton noodles 10/10: Remember that handmade wonton appetizer? Remember the sauce? Remember the noodles? Remind yourself why you walked in and order this please. Enough said.

I didn't take any pictures of the drinks but so far I've tried the Avocado, Taro and Mango blended drinks. Each one is made with real ingredients and I love how you get some small chunks with each sip, two thumbs up. If you're unfamiliar with wintermelon as I once was, definitely give this tea a try. If drinks had an umami equivalent, the wintermelon tea is exactly that. At first it may seem a bit sweet? But not at all in an overwhelming way. A bit difficult to explain the flavor profile but it coats the back of your tongue with a pleasant sweetness all the while hugging your tastebuds, highly recommend.

For those of you that consider the restroom in your restaurant critiques, I'm happy to report that the restroom is very clean and spacious too. You'll have plenty of room to do your business while browsing yelp for another Taiwanese gem around the area. Sadly, you won't be successful with the latter endeavor. Also, they have a paper towel dispenser for the impatient that don't want to waste any time away...

We've been hoping to try Grandma's Kitchen for a while now and were happy to see it was open during our last visit to Newton. As other reviewers have mentioned, the seating is a pretty big issue here. At some point during lunch time there were more people sitting down waiting for tables than there were people eating. They only have four tables and regardless of party size they use the same table so as a result a good amount of table space ends up getting unused. We waited around 20 minutes to get seated since there were only two parties ahead of us, but the line got a lot longer afterwards.

We ordered a lot more than we thought we could finish as two people, but ended up finishing it all...haha. The best things we had were the popcorn chicken, salt and pepper pork chop, and beef noodle soup. Unfortunately the crispy fish fillet wasn't available at the time.

The popcorn chicken ($7) was very good -- juicy, tender, and flavorful while also very crispy. In the batch that we got there were some pieces that were very hot and fresh and other pieces that were colder and not as fresh, perhaps leftover from a previous batch.

The salt and pepper pork chop ($8) was perfectly tender, juicy, and super flavorful. Maybe too flavorful if you don't have any rice, haha. I really liked the flavor and texture.

We got a large spicy beef noodle soup ($18). Because we had eaten the popcorn chicken and pork chop (with no rice) before eating the beef noodle soup, it was a bit hard to taste the flavor of the soup. It was only after I had a bunch of mango milk that I could taste the savory flavor of the soup. The spicy chilis have a good kick and the beef is very tender. The noodles were standard. They only gave one piece of vegetable with the large soup -- definitely would have appreciated more. Overall the soup was very warm and hearty and the spice was refreshing.

The beef pancake ($10) was pretty disappointing. The pancake itself was nice but there was barely any beef and too much hoisin sauce. It's pretty pricy considering how little beef is inside. The spicy wontons ($7) were good but nothing special. The mango milk with pudding ($7) was tasty -- I appreciated how the pudding was broken up into sippable chunks. It was quite thick so it took a while to get through -- very substantial.

Overall I really enjoyed trying the meat appetizers and I would definitely come back for more of those. But I would try to come at an off hour (though I'm not sure when the off hour is since even when we left at 2pm there were a lot of people waiting). Takeout would probably be a good idea if you're just trying to eat the various fried appetizers. I can definitely see myself coming here in the future when I'm...

Tried this place a little while ago and it didn't take long before I was coming in on a regular basis. Cozy, homestyle Taiwanese dishes, snacks and iced tea/boba. Been eating my way down the menu and haven't had a single disappointing item yet, which is a feat for any restaurant IMO. Staff is super chill and friendly, and very accommodating. It's a small, cafe-like space and seemingly very in-demand, but it's worth a wait if you run into one.

App-wise, the spicy wontons are juicy, swimming in warm chili oil. Beef pancake is lacy and crisp, with a nice layer of braised beef, hoisin and scallion rolled up inside. Taiwanese popcorn chicken is addictive, dark meat with a crunchy, craggy crust and great dry seasoning blend. The french fries here are really good too, drizzled with ketchup and spicy mayo, and make a great extra starch bomb to go with the rice plates if you're so inclined.

The beef noodle soup is satisfying with tender, flavorful slices of braised shank. Noodles have a clean, wheaty flavor, and the broth is nicely seasoned with spices and a little heat from bird's eye chili. I go for the medium spicy, which is well balanced, but if you want it spicy they'll hook you up. Grandma's chicken noodle is exactly what it sounds like, real homey chicken soup, noodles and big pieces of dark meat, with added freshness from cilantro.

All the rice plates come with sweet & salty minced pork and a tasty vegetable garnish, and can be topped with a fried egg if you ask. The fried chicken cutlet, salt & pepper pork chop and fried fish fillet are all very solid.

For dessert, you can go light with the sesame balls filled with red bean paste, or decadent with the fried mantou, which comes out drizzled with brown sugar and condensed milk. This is the kind of place you can eat light or gorge and be satisfied either way.

There's a big drink menu here as well with lots of options. Taro, lavender and matcha milk teas are all solid, and the boba is good (no rock hard, late 90s Harvard Square boba here). The winter melon tea is a personal favorite, very refreshing.

This place, along with the Newton branch of Mida, is one of my favorite new additions to the food options in this area, which sorely needed expanding for...