JB's Diner & Cafe — Restaurant in Shilin District

The exterior of the building looked nice and my kids were craving Western food so we went in. There was a sign showing you can make reservations with a QR code and when the hostess showed up she asked if I had a reservation (for lunch). I didn’t but she asked if I mind waiting 10 minutes and also if we could share a table. At that point I was so tired (so were my kids) I was grateful for the any table. The menu had a good selection of food and I ordered the salmon pesto pasta. My kids ordered the wings, spaghetti, chicken salad and kid’s cheeseburger. The presentation for my pasta was pretty however I had to look around for the salmon as it was cut up into little pieces. It was quite salty near the bottom as there was lots of sauce left but I was happy with it. The kids thought the wings were all right (my kids are used to chicken wings from Canada where you have lots of different flavours and this one doesn’t offer that). My daughter loved her chicken salad but be warned that it comes with a heaping amount of deep fried onions on top. My other daughter thought her spaghetti was mediocre and my son’s cheeseburger was all right (I was surprised the burger did not have any lettuce, tomatoes or onions. It did come with side fries and when I asked the waiter about it he seemed surprised and said he can bring it over later. I was impressed that he brought over what looked like a super small bowl of salad. The reason I gave this restaurant a 3 star was the food was all right however the service was pretty negligible and the cleanliness of the table and walls were questionable. I kept waiting for a wait staff to come over to take our order (as we only had 1.5 hours as per hostess and we were starving) and I finally flagged someone down. When I inquired about veggies for my son’s burger I had to go up to the waiter to do that as no one came over (a waitress noticed me from afar but decided to ignore my attempt at eye contact with her). This was the worst service I have ever had in a restaurant in Taipei and I told my kids that. Normally I think it’s totally fine that service charge is added to the bill as most waitstaff are awesome here...not the restaurant. They were like walking zombies! I won’t be coming back unless it’s...

Just ate there last night, party of three. We arrived at 7pm on a Friday night. Two of us got the half spring chicken, and the 3rd meal was the BBQ chicken salad. I also ordered the soup + drink combo for extra 120nt. Food was solid with American sized portions. The BBQ chicken salad was in fact huge. The daily soup was creamy mushroom, taste was very average, and serving size tiny. The coffee was just horrible. IMO it's not worth getting the combo. Just get the main dish. Service was not great like many others have stated - read all the 1 star review the main complain is the attitude and lack of service. They do not check up on you at all, you have to wave them down to get any thing. I wanted to add black pepper to my soup, the pepper shaker/grinder on mine was near empty. I checked the near by desks myself, and I kid you not four tables also had empty pepper shaker. Finally the 5th one was about 30% full. I also notice all of the salt shakers were nearly empty on these tables as well.

The management have some work to do... I'm giving it...

Earlier this morning, my sister-in-law made a couple of phone calls to make a reservation but sadly no one was able to take the call. Instead we jumped on our bikes and headed over for a nice spot of brunch. We mentioned to the front of house staff that we had tried calling a few times to which we were told, “no you didn’t, I’ve been by the phone all day”. Okay… Tough day I guess.

Undeterred, we made are way to the second floor which was bright and cheerful. We were seated by our waiter, given menus and then, apparently, forgotten. After much deliberation, I went for the chorizo and potato burrito which they didn’t have… Top tip: tell your customers what you don’t have before they spend time choosing.

Anyway, having had our order taken, our dishes were served at 10 minute intervals so that by the time the last of our party was served, the first had already finished. The food itself was good (not great) and certainly met our expectations for a casual brunch.

Will I go back? Probably. But I only have myself to blame if it’s not a great...