Placebo 安慰劑小酒館 — Restaurant in Xinyi District

Looking at photos on social media, I was pretty excited to try this place. Upon visiting, it was a small and cozy bar. The layout is more rectangular, has four or so tables, and two bar seats, both able to seat around 7 or so. Loved the interior design, had a Chinese historic environment. Seems to have a wide selection of whiskey. Presentation for the drinks were very on point - also what got me to check out this location.

But upon the first sip of each of the cocktails my friends and I had ordered, it was quite disappointing how lackluster they were drinks. When I first looked at the menu, I was excited as they incorporated local Taiwanese tastes to the cocktails - like plum powder and tomato, longan, kaoliang etc. Yet each of the cocktails we tried, the taste was all over the place and just tasted like sours and simple syrup were dumped in to make it taste better. It was a complete 180 from the presentation. Also, each cocktail priced at $400 for the taste did not help the utter disappointment at all.

On the bright side, they get 2 stars for the atmosphere and interior decor. I did not order food, so I cannot...

We were being treated poorly. Long story short, the waiter accused us of being disrespectful when in fact we were so friendly and generous that we bought drinks for strangers. This is simply unacceptable. We are the customers, yet the waiter killed our vibes by making false accusations. I wish we could subpoena their surveillance cameras to take it to court. I believe they discriminate against people who converse in English since most of the negative reviews on this platform are from English speakers. We were simply having a good time consuming their beverages... and had to undergo an unwelcoming hospitality that was unexpected. Not to mention that the products they offered were subpar, how could such business survive... it is a wonder to me. Please be adviced that that an uncomfortable experience is guaranteed if you dare to speak English at...

Try hard to be a unique cultural cocktail bar. Good decor to go after that traditional chinese atmosphere but the drinks are very far away from excellence. Its just a millimeter away from complete disaster. I was especially excited while i was looking through the drink menu. They put a lot of.great ingredients together but while looks good on paper they dont taste well on pallete. If you come for the special cask whiskey, then maybe but i would stay away from this place if you have standards to meet for your friday...