Dragon Gate Taiwan
300 Broadway @Third St., Oakland, CA
Partial menu at: https://www.facebook.com/DragonGateOak/app_117784394919914 
Review date: June 2014

Six of my family got together for dinner at a new Taiwan restaurant called Dragon Gate. Located in the old Soizic restaurant location, it's a karaoke bar (in private rooms) and restaurant that's starting to get a fair amount of attention. Several Chowhounders have reported on it, and Luke Tsai of East Bay Express recently praised it (http://www.eastbayexpress.com/oakland/enter-the-dragon/Content?oid=3939483).

Carlos and I find Taiwanese food to be rather heavy, compared to the Cantonese food he grew up with and that his family introduced me to. Dragon Gate's stated emphasis on a menu of 'street food and homestyle cooking' aims to please the 'goes with drinks' crowd who are looking for something hearty to avoid getting sloshed on the first cocktail.

We ordered a number of dishes, most of which are generously sized. 

Shrimp and Pork handmade dumplings. A firm filling, tasty but wrapped in thick dough. Suko described these as identical to the commercial ones sold frozen in the markets, and we agree. They're steamed, not pan-fried.

Tokoyaki: Street-style round dumplings with octopus. A variant of the Japanese takoyaki, these were small breadcrumbed-crusted deep-fried balls, mostly mushy inside with only a few pieces of octopus. Having an oddly sweet flavor, drizzled with kewpie mayonnaise and some dried bonito shreds, neither Carlos nor I cared for these compared to versions we've had elsewhere.

Fishcake on skewer. Thin-sliced fishcake is threaded on a skewer. Good if you like fishcake, and one of the few dishes Peter was able to eat.

Bacon-wrapped okra on skewer. I was excited and ordered too many of these. Dragon Gate uses thick-sliced bacon, which is great for breakfast but not so good wrapped around small bites of grilled items. The bacon overwhelms everything, especially as it was brushed with maple syrup for a boost of sugar to add to the smoky saltiness. The okra, all young and tender pods, had been cut into 1" lengths and were well-trimmed. They had no chance against the bacon, whose muscular taste reduced them to just gelatinous seedy-textured bites.

Beef noodle soup: John and Peter are flexitarian, but the remaining four of us gave this a thumb's up. The fresh noodles were a little soft but very tasty, the chunks of beef chuck roast were fall-apart tender, and the broth had a nice oomph from a touch of beef blood. I don't care for too much blood in a soup broth, as that makes it taste too liver-y, but this was just right. Carlos thought it had a touch too much five-spice, which Asians are addicted to using with beef, even though American beef is so much milder and less rank than Asian beef.

Idiot's noodle. The reviews have called this a Taiwanese version of dan dan mein, but it's very different. Judged on its own without the comparison to one of our favorite noodles, the idiot's noodle has fresh soft mein, some ground pork, some veggies, and very sweet "fish floss", the dried super-fine shreds that Asians are fond of adding to noodle and rice dishes. I didn't care for it, Suko and Carlos really liked it. Carlos liked it better than the soup noodles, as it had no five-spice.

Wild radish omelet: The usual overcooked, overbrowned egg pancake. No real taste of anything but egg. 

Oyster omelet with sweet-sour sauce. The sauce isn't listed on the menu, so it was a surprise to me when we received the omelet almost completely covered in bright-red sauce with a few white sesame seeds scattered on top. Suko was familiar with it, but she prefers clams and mussels to oysters. Carlos and I love Korean oyster pancake, so the slightly slimy texture around the edges didn't bother us. But he likes sweet-sour, and I don't. Even without the sauce, I prefer the Korean version. No Asian omelet bears any resemblance to a proper French omelet. But they wouldn't be putting oysters in a delicate omelet aux fines herbes anyway, LOL.

"Three cup sauce" vegetables. This sauce consists of one cup soya, one cup sesame oil, and one cup Asian rice or white wine. The veggies were a mix of American broccoli, green beans, red bell pepper rings, and mushrooms, with fried tofu cubes. Everyone was "meh" about this. Neither veggies and sauce were impressive.

Chicken gizzards and hearts stir-fry. Shoshana and Suko love crunchy gizzards, so they ate most of this dish. Carlos and I prefer them stewed tender, John and Peter passed on this one.  

We tried to order the beef heart skewers, but unfortunately they were out of them.

Dragon Gate is geared towards Millennials. Being located in an area where you're less likely to get shot in a drive-by (compared to the International district where similar Korean sojubang places reside), it's likely to capture a fair amount of attention from those who want a fun night out with friends for half the price that a dinner would cost at Centouno, Lungomare, Kincaid's, and others nearby. 

The service isn't the most professional but the young Asian waitresses in their sexy outfits are great eye candy and very pleasant. The street parking isn't too bad, and you're within an easy walk to the Jack London cineplex as well as the city-owned garage. It's a good location for Dragon Gate's market niche, and with a bit of luck they'll do well here.

Six people, dinner: Six starters, two noodles, two omelets, one veggie and one meat, three beers and one fruit juice, with tip was a mere $164.