Tai Ke Takeaway. Delicious Taiwanese food at an affordable price. Everything up and down their menu is fantastic. 8.5 / 10 Asian food for me. I love the eggplant, bok choy, chili stir-fry chicken, beef noodles, pork belly bao, and braised pork rice. An entree still goes for under $15, which is a steal. My kids love the Taiwanese popcorn chicken. In fact, two 9 year olds who swore they didn't eat Asian food cleared their plates.
One of the best Asian restaurants in St. Louis. It was my "last meal" before the Pandemic - I went at lunch the day my office closed because I knew it would be the last time I would get to eat out for over a year.
I order online all the time, and it's always ready in under twenty minutes. The food tastes better hot in the restaurant, but it travels well. There isn't a ton of seating, so it can get packed at busy times of the week. Plenty of parking in Olivette's biggest strip mall.
Tai Ke Experience Summary
Tai Ke was one of the first Asian restaurants we visited in the area more than five years ago. At the time, it was located in University City but moved during the Pandemic.
They maintained the quality of the food during the transition. Tai Ke has absolutely delicious food up and down the menu. I've never not loved what I've ordered, although the Three Cup Chicken is a bit of an acquired taste.
For under $15 for most entrees, you can't go wrong with this 8.5 / 10 Asian food. I highly recommend ordering pork belly bao and braised pork rice from the Taiwanese Street Snack part of the menu. Both appetizer-sized portions carry entree-level flavors.
It's also a total deal. Those sub-$ $15 prices are crazy for the current portions and quality. Compared to most other places in the area, that's a 25% discount.
My main entree orders alternate between the chili stir fry chicken when I don't want to feel my tongue and the stir fry noodles with beef when I do want to feel my tongue. They both have excellent sauces with juicy, delicious proteins.
I normally pair that with either bok choy or eggplant. Those two dishes would be enough food for two people with enough for a leftover lunch the next day.
I didn't order it today, but one of my favorites at Tai Ke is the braised pork belly rice. It's braised pork belly on top of white rice with a side of a marinated egg. For ~$7, this dish was literally the last thing I ate outside my house before the pandemic started. I made a trip for lunch, knowing I wouldn't get to come back for a long time.
You should add this to your Asian food tour of St. Louis as it's worth a drive from easily 20 minutes around town.
The Food At Tai Ke
The chili stir-fry chicken is the backbone of our family's order. It is a solid 3.5 out of 5 on the spicy scale, so your tongue will feel it. However, its delicious tangy smoothness makes the pain of the spice worth it. The celery adds a satisfying crunch to your bite but won't help on the spice side.
And that said, you'll find spicer food at Chilispot and Cate Zone down the road.
The bok choy is relatively simple in a garlic sauce. It's juicy with a flavor coating but without any oiliness or sliminess. A delicious side vegetable, just these two orders would feed two adults with leftovers for lunch the next day.
On to my sons' order, the Taiwanese Popcorn Chicken. It's not what you expect if you've had traditional sesame chicken from a Chinese restaurant. Instead, think more of the topping to a salad packed with flavor. It seems almost dried because it doesn't have oil or sauce but maintains a juicy, tender bite.
Even kids who "don't like Asian food" will like this dish, as I know from my experience of three separate 8 to 9-year-olds who made the claim.
Last on the menu of this order was stir-fried eggplants. Smothered in a dark sauce, each piece of eggplant is tender and flavorful. Eggplant is such a rewarding vegetable because its smooth pulp absorbs whatever sauce they douse it with.
So good.
Besides the Braised Pork Rice, consider the pork belly bao bun to any order. Fluffy, thick dough with a delicious BBQ pork belly in the middle. It tastes as good as it sounds.
I've also had the stir-fried noodles with beef for $12.99. That's an absolute steal for lunch. Although it won't win any awards, it's super filling and tasty, combining noodles, beef, and some leafy greens.
One dish I don't like but that my father-in-law does is the Tai Ke Crispy Chicken. I found it overly fried and greasy for a piece of chicken, but it is crispy. I can't handle the fat content.
Tai Ke Atmosphere And Miscellaneous
Tai Ke does great with takeout via the website or apps. I have never had to wait for food past my pickup time, and it travels well back home.
That said, it tastes even better in the restaurant. With a dozen or so tables, getting in on a busy day can be tricky. On Christmas Eve, there was a 1 - 1.5-hour wait at 5 p.m., so we ran down the street to Sugarfire instead.
The seating inside consists of the aforementioned dozen or so free-standing tables and then another 10-12 seats in a U-shaped shabu-shabu bar. I have not had the hot pot here, but two or three couples usually are at the bar.
The restaurant's service is industry standard. I have never had a bad experience where the food took too long, even on a very busy day.
As a bit of reminiscing, I liked their old place a bit better because it felt less corporate. That space had a giant open window to the kitchen in the middle of the eating area, and the front looked like a storage closet. You know, it had character. The new version is not Panda Express; it's just more open with cleaner lines.
Parking At Tai Ke
Parking at Tai Ke is easy in a giant strip mall parking lot. Even when the wait for a table is over an hour, you'll find a spot right outside.
Tai Ke Receipt
