DIN TAI FUNG

Amazing! Obviously pricy, so check the menu so you know what you’re getting into. Definitely make a reservation too - I went without making one and for a table for two, the wait was 2 hours. It was well worth the wait, though.

The food alright but my server dropped some food on me…

I am writing to express my utter frustration and disappointment with my recent dining experience at Din Tai Fung - Glendale. Frankly, I am appalled by the level of incompetence and disregard for customer satisfaction that I witnessed during my visit. I’ve always been a fan of din tai fung and been to several locations including Asia.

Upon arrival at the restaurant, my party and I were informed of an outrageous wait time of one hour. Imagine my disbelief when I looked around and saw numerous empty tables scattered throughout the establishment. The excuse of being short-staffed is insulting when there are hosts idly standing around in the lobby, seemingly incapable of doing their jobs properly.

Furthermore, the lack of efficiency in your restaurant’s operations was beyond comprehension. Instead of prioritizing seating customers promptly, your servers were wasting time on trivial tasks like rearranging dishes and engaging in idle chatter. It was abundantly clear that maximizing efficiency and customer satisfaction were not even on the radar for your staff and managers (La Vonne and Kiersten).

What was even more upsetting was the dismissive attitude of your managers. Instead of acknowledging the glaring issues and taking immediate action to rectify them, they chose to brush off my concerns with excuses. Their lack of accountability and disregard for customer feedback is unacceptable. My recommendation is to find managers that are more suitable for the job and actually care about customers.

It is abundantly clear that Din Tai Fung has serious management and organizational deficiencies that are impeding its ability to deliver a satisfactory dining experience. Your inability to properly manage your resources has resulted in lost revenue and countless angry customers despite having amazing food.

I recommend that you take immediate and decisive action to address these issues and prevent such experiences from occurring in the future.

PS: Our server Penelope was awesome though and made us feel better!

Love this place, although it's always crowded and can be more than an hour wait (they'll take your phone number and text yo). But I was by myself so took seat at the bar with a 2 minute wait. The best steamed dumplings anywhere. And I love the cucumber salad. All their food is very good.

I/we have loved Din Tai Fung ever since we had our first bite of a xiaolongbao in 2015 in one of their restaurants in their native Taiwan. We were so excited when they opened up a location near us in San Jose in 2016. They put a lot of time, money and training effort into ensuring the original preparation methods are strictly followed in new locations, to make sure their very high domestic quality standards are met in overseas locations as well. While it's a common secret the dumpling 'skin' isn't quite as thin, delicate and tender in the off-island locations as they are able to make it in Taiwan, we find those offshore locations, such as here in the US, come very close. The Glendale restaurant totally lived up to our high expectations, and was well worth 1 1/2 hours for a table on a Friday night!! We had the cucumber salad, and wood ear mushrooms for appetizers, two orders of their famous pork xiaolongbao, the chicken dumplings, the exceedingly tasty taiwanese cabbage and the stir-fry spinach sides, and the pork and shrimp shao mai, accompanied by their signature pork fried rice. Everything was just simply amazing. In a first, I had the DTF Old-fashioned cocktail, with Kavalan whisky, and it was really good! The waiting staff were also very good and attentive, so all in all it was a superb Din Tai Fung night. The one very small negative I had is that I found that the Glendale location was a bit too 'dark', almost with too much of a night club vibe. (In a very stark contrast to the original Taiwan restaurants 'Ikea-ish fast-food' ambiance). Nothing bad, just a preference probably. Definitely not enough to stop me from going back there next time I'm in LA!!