Yu Zai Fan Shu Tea House — Restaurant in New Taipei

We stayed in Jiufen for three nights and ate at various places and this is the first place we’ve experienced such bad service. We were tired at 8pm, did not want to drink more tea (because of the caffeine), and just wanted to eat. We ordered a fried rice (280) and a tofu (220), and they tried to make us order more dishes, saying that minimum order was 200 per pax and we had to say we’ve already met minimum order. Thing is, I’m always prepared to understand if a place is understaffed and service is slow and I can wait. But the attitude was terrible. They came by to ask me to help them translate and I declined to let them know I actually know Japanese because 1) I am hecking tired 2) their service is bad and still expect me to walk over and do work for them (translation is actually my job) They eventually gave us cutlery and two cups but no kettle of water. When my friend asked for water, she was steadfastly ignored. She asked in Chinese too, so it’s not a comprehension problem at all. She resorted to getting water from the hot water kettles on the floor and was seen doing so, but nobody bothered to correct the situation and give us a kettle of normal water. They eventually returned again to give us the invoice and still no water lol. Amazing. Totally offended by their attitude. We are never coming back even if we visit...

The entrance was very unique but a bit hard to find. It is right above Ah Mei’s near a rock cave.

The view is unbeatable and just as good as Ah Mei’s. It’s literally next door and you can probably get a window view more easily.

We had eaten a lot of food on the street so just wanted some simple veggies. They told us this didn’t meet the minimum so we had to order more (one water spinach that should take 3 minutes to cook and one boiled shrimp that should take 5). After 30 minutes with very few people in the restaurant, we told them we needed to go as the children were getting tired. They tried to tell us that we’d have our food soon so we stayed, until the one person who came after us by 10 minutes received his fried rice before us. At this point we left, and as we were leaving I heard them shout back to the kitchen to stop preparing the food, so clearly they had...

What makes this place special is definitely the atmosphere. The views, the old architecture and the secret passage way to get to the restaurant really sell the specialness of the environment. The food however is not that good. I tried a few dishes on the menu like the stir-fried cabbage (which was ok), the Kung Pao Chicken (which was terrible and sweet not spicy) and the sesame noodles (just okay). The service here is kind of weird, the staff is very very kind and friendly, but when you sit down to look over the menu, a member of staff stands at your table and stares at you while you read it over. If you take too long they get a bit impatient and it adds undue pressure. I found this to be a bit unnerving. This tea house is better if you just stick to the tea...