We just found a new Taiwanese restaurant in Irvine at 4250 Barranca parkway. The restaurant's name has no correlation to Taiwanese cuisine:
17 Cafe Ramen, but you can find all basic Taiwanese dish you want to eat there. Hint: ask the waitress for the daily special dishes, they will bring you something very special that are not written in the menu. And, the most important thing: they don't use MSG for the food, that's enough if you care!
This place is very clean, but parking lot may be a problem if you go there at noon. The shop owner (I think) takes a look at almost everything the waitress bring to to customer, and even cares whether the cilantro put on the top of the dish beautifully or not. That is what I saw last time I were there.
This is the satay lamb stew on rice, fantastic!
Stewed pork with bamboo
Spicy Chicken steak
This dish is extremely spicy! Don't challenge yourself you can't eat spicy food. If you can eat mild, ask you keep the hot chili seperated.
Lamb with onion
Popcorn chicken (even better than the street food's flavor in Taiwan, said Taiwanese friend )
Green onion pancake, a little bit dry but crispy
And ramen!
