Divino Taipei — Restaurant in Da'an District

Had a wonderful feast and a good time at DiVino tonight.

It’s a quaint restaurant, small space, most tables are for 2-4 people, but they do have a private room that sits up to 16 people with minimum spending required. The atmosphere is relaxing with dim lighting, perfect for a romantic dinner or chill place to hang out with friends

The food was delicious and unique! We ordered: ❤️Grilled Bass with the tomato salad (special menu): The fish was good, but highlight of the dish was the tomato salad with capers! Perfect balance of sweet, salt and tartness. Really pops in your mouth. Grilled vegetables (special menu): Unique dish with good flavor, but the vegetables were a bit more charred (on purpose) than I like, personal preference. Although I did enjoy the cauliflower. ❤️Gnocchi with pistachio: I have a passion for Gnocchi. What stood out for the dish is the amazing creamy sauce. YUM (finished so quickly we forgot to take a photo) Minced lamb pasta: This was a bit spicy, and since the texture was similar gnocchi, I wouldn’t order them together next time, and I’d prefer the Gnocchi. ❤️Pork Loin: I loved this SO much, I can probably finish this myself it’s so good. The meat is so tender, beautifully flavored, and perfectly cooked. I will be dreaming about this. ❤️Tiramisu: I never enjoyed Tiramisu, but I ended up scrapping every inch of the plate to get the mousse and the chocolate. It’s thick and creamy, perfect balance of the alcohol, coffee, sweetness and bitterness from the chocolate. This was impressive.

We also enjoyed the service here. The waitress was friendly and chatted with us like friends, gave us good introduction to the dishes, and asked us for feedback on the food. They were good at switching new plates for us for the next dish since everything was saucy. They weren’t able to do Happy Birthday writing on the Tiramisu, but she offered to light a candle for us. We had a great time celebrating my dad’s birthday here, and we will be back to try other dishes off the menu. We don’t drink, so can’t comment much on the wine, but def have a wide range of options. Thank...

Today, my partner and I went to a restaurant hoping to have something to eat and enjoy the Christmas atmosphere. First of all, we both have small appetites. I understand that tonight is Christmas Eve, and you have a set menu for two, but the portions are too large for us, and we didn’t want to waste food. At the same time, your menu also included à la carte options. Out of courtesy, I asked the server if we could order à la carte. She responded, “What do you mean by that?” After I explained, she said it was possible.

That’s when the nightmare began. I admit we were about 15 minutes late (our reservation was for 6:00 PM, and the next seating was at 8:00 PM). However, I quickly made our choices, selecting two appetizers, two pasta dishes, two desserts, and a glass of red wine in a short amount of time. While eating, the server came to our table about three times while we were still on the pasta dishes, telling us to eat quickly or the food would get cold. I managed to finish the appetizers, main courses, and desserts in about an hour, but I ate under so much pressure and stress.

Then, I found a hair in the panna cotta dessert. Out of concern for hygiene, I reminded the staff to pay attention to this issue. They offered to replace it, but I said there was no need and that I didn’t want a refund either. Later the same server, brought a bottle of some beverage to our table. She said, “Since you declined a replacement dessert, we’re offering you this drink…” but her attitude was extremely unwilling and insincere. I declined the drink as well.

Finally, I want to emphasize that we settled the bill at 7:39 PM, so we did not delay the next customer’s scheduled time at 8:00 PM.

Maybe because it’s Christmas, you wanted to maximize your profits. Or maybe a bill of over 3,729 NTD is insignificant to your restaurant and doesn’t deserve attention. Either way, the experience...

Update:

No longer on the fence.

This place has all the Italian authenticity of a tourist trap in Rome, complete with the cafeteria-like dinner schedule at 6pm or 815 that fits the kitchen and owner's schedule but not the customers'. Hospitality is not part of the plan when it comes to trying to squeeze as much profit from its small and cramped restaurant.

Add to it they ask for credit card information over unsecured Facebook Messenger and the message is clear. And they get surely about it if you question this policy on Facebook, blaming things in "mean" customers. Yes, I'm serious. :) This from management that asks people to share financial information over unsecured software just to make a reservation; they can't even be bothered to take the information over the phone.

Divino is all hype and many of its reviews are from a small group of people infatuated with it. Place this restaurant in a city with a more global food culture and even it's food quality would be av

I'm on the fence.

On the one hand, the small scale of the restaurant and owner involvement gives it a very personal touch. On the other, having two weekend seatings in which all guests arrive at either 6pm or 8pm gives it a very strong cafeteria feeling as each table's dishes arrive at about the same time.

The salad with burrata cheese was fine. The gnocchi, however, was so creamy and cheesy that it became overwhelming by the second bite. Just not for me.

The steak was great, but then again, what kind of chef would you be if you could not cook a great tasting steak with a high quality piece of beef? So it was good but not terrifically special.

The house red wine was very good.

So I enjoyed it and you will too. If anything, however, this place is overhyped and it feels like the lunchroom of Taipei American School given how much of its clientele are...