Why is there so much hype around Din Tai Fung? Well, I am here to tell you!
If you look at the Din Tai Fung website, you can see the story of how this restaurant came to be. It was first founded in 1958 by Bing-Yi Yang and his wife. They later made half of their shop a dedicated place to sell their Xiao Long Bao. This dish became so popular that they eventually opened Din Tai Fung.
According to their website, this restaurant “has become synonymous with quality, consistency and warm hospitality.” This is one-hundred-percent accurate, and this also applies to the quality, consistency and the warmth of all their staff.
If you ask anybody who has eaten at Din Tai Fung, they would say that the food is to die for and the service is amazing. But they would also say that the wait is always long, and the bill is pretty hefty.
Everyone loves the food at Din Tai Fung, because it is so flavorful and always consistent. Some fan favorite dishes have to be the pork xiao long bao, cucumber salad, garlic green beans, shrimp and chicken fried rice, and the chocolate xiao long bao.
To be fair, the xiao long bao and chicken fried rice are really good and are definitely worth the hype. I am a pretty picky person when it comes to food, so some of the dishes that are popular, I refuse to eat. But there are some really good dishes that I order every time I go there.
First are the chicken dumplings. These are probably the best dumplings I have ever had. The flavor is amazing and their chicken is really juicy. They add broth to each dumpling, but not as much as found in the xiao long bao, which I think makes it one of my favorites.
Another dish you shouldn’t miss is the sweet & sour pork baby back ribs. This is one of the best appetizers that deserves more hype. These ribs literally fall off the bone, and the sweet and sour sauce is so delicious. These are 100% worth a try.
Lastly are the noodles with spicy sauce. You should definitely check out this dish, especially if you enjoy a kick of spice. There are some different noodle dishes on the menu, and each one has a different sauce, and everyone seems to love them, including me. But the noodles with spicy sauce is a perfect item, even for such a simple meal.
But enough about the food, let’s talk about the service.
I genuinely think Din Tai Fung has the most amazing service of any restaurant I have ever been to, and they really take care of you there. They always ask if anyone has any allergies so that the kitchen staff can prepare those dishes differently. The servers also ask in which order you want your dishes to come out, which I had never really thought about before, but it is nice to have that option.
There are also food runners, so a lot of people are constantly moving to get everyone their food in a timely manner, which to me is amazing. I really don’t think I’ve seen a restaurant where people are constantly serving food or clearing plates. The servers also bring you new utensils and plates when they bring you your dessert.
Even though this restaurant is busy all the time, the servers don’t make you feel rushed and will help you with anything. Overall, you will feel taken care of at Din Tai Fung, no matter what.
But now let’s address the only two downsides to eating at Din Tai Fung: the wait time and the price. Since this place is so popular, for obvious reasons, it does get really busy at usual rush hours, like at lunchtime and especially at dinnertime. The wait times do depend on party size, so for example, my family of four will wait almost an hour for a table. It really just depends on the day and time that you go, so you have to take that into account when you want to eat there.
The last issue I’ll talk about, I promise, is the price. It is a little more on the expensive side, BUT most of the plates are sharable, so you shouldn’t order more than what your table can eat. The average bill is around $100, so also take that into consideration.
As you can tell, I really love this restaurant for so many reasons. I strongly recommend that you try this spot out for yourself and see what dishes are your favorites. I promise you’ll love it!
