DanDan Wayne — Restaurant in Radnor Township

By the time I sat down, Bobby the busboy dashed in, dropped two tap waters, and disappears. I noticed what was perhaps black pepper. Nope--a dead fly parked right on my plate. I've had snails, but Escflygot? Yuck. Bobby reappears, clears the table next to me then sets new dishware--with same hands. Yuck. Seeing that I wanted to ask for new silverware but what's the point?

Knock knock? Who's there? No one--15 minutes into this hygiene disaster.

I said, "Five more minutes." But after two--and too many staff walking by, looking, then leaving--I knew like when my dad went for cigarettes when I was five... no one was coming back. I double-checked my Apple Maps. Yup, I was at the right spot. Only the word favorite seemed to be missing.

I notify management. A waiter finally shows up. He brought an apology but forgot to his name, the menu, the specials--pretty much everything else. "Do you have Diet Coke?" I asked. "Yes." "One, please. The lamb. Bok choy. And wontons in chili oil, also please." "Would you like brown rice or white?"

Offended I replied, "Brown or white... I'm not a riceist. I'll have both. Why, thank you very much."

He seemed perplexed. But I wanted to be very clear I'm a fan of both rices. In fact, I love all rices of people.

"And might I trouble you for a fly-free plate, please?"

"Oh yes, of course."

He returned with a Pepsi. No plate. Maury Povich's voice filled my head.

"When it comes to whether that is a Pepsi--you said it was Diet Coke--the lie detector test determined... that was a lie."

Wontons arrive, dropped off by Bobby the busboy's hands. I thought to myself, Just please don't put a finger in it. Still no dish. Perhaps my napkin will do. Since my waiter had vanished, Bobby-as-waiter would have to do. He was now cleaning the table next to me. Somewhere in his fire drill of unsanitary resetting, he kindly obliged me with a plate. Bobby's table now sloshed with mystery liquid.

Perfect here comes the hostess not to correct the slip-and-slide soaking the dining room, but to seat an unsuspecting couple in it. She said, "They just cleaned it," in a frail attempt to either convince them--or herself--that it was okay. She neither dried the table nor moved them elsewhere. Instead, she opted to do what any young person nowadays does... nothing.

Our main course arrives--so does a second busboy. Bobby #2. He attempts to take away my chopsticks but fumbles. No apology. Just nervous--and more rattled than I am. He absconds from restaurant justice as I abscond to the men's room, covered in red chili oil.

I laughed as I tried to prevent a frivolous dry-cleaning bill--and the embarrassment of going into the men's room with a dry crotch and coming out with a soaking wet one.

To my surprise, new chopsticks--no, not on a napkin or a dish, but directly on the table.

The food arrives. The waiter asks if there's anything else. White rice..? But if he won't say it, neither will I.

Meal finished. The waiter retrieves the bill as Bobby #3 arrives. As he stacks a pile of dishes, he realizes he's doing it wrong, unloads, makes a mess, re stacks and leaves.

As they say--red chili "X" marks the spot--on the table and in my lap--is exactly where the waiter places the bill. I don't know his name, or where my white rice is, but I do know you never put a bill on a dirty table. Bullseye. I guess you do.

With two fingers, I pick it up like a diaper, drop a CC in it, and say, "Why not?" as I place it back down in the red chili. Waiter returns, swipes, thanks us, and says good night. No white rice??? Sad. I sigh.

Will I return to Dan Dan? Absolutely. Why, you might ask?

Because no matter how badly they dropped the ball--or red chili in my lap--the owner is a true gentleman who makes absolutely amazing food. He cares, and it shows. Hard to find nowadays.

Now, while I may be Jewish and this might sound like a complaint--I promise: I ran out of those somewhere between parking and walking in. I'll be back. The food truly is-- (Interrupted)

Uh--sorry, I gotta go... my white rice just got...

We love to try and find great Taiwanese cuisine wherever we are. We knew there is a Dan Dan in the city and got take out before. We thought it was okay. Then we found Dan Dan in Wayne when we were craving for some Taiwanese good, so we went. We got so many dishes to try the first time, and liked it enough that we went again. The place is posh and and the decor is set to attract people in the area. It's more modern and not like the typical Asian restaurants in Chinatown and definitely not any mom and pop shops. This time, we tried their pumpkin rice noodles, Chinese cabbage with dried peppers, salt and white pepper crispy chicken and spicy beef hand ripped noodles. They. The rice noodles were delicious, it is a twist of typical Taiwanese rice noodles you would see in Taiwan by adding pumpkin to it. The texture of the noodles is just right. The chicken has good flavor, but the flavor consistency is not throughout the dish. It was a big dish so some chicken tasted a bit blend because the spicy didn't get to those part. The chicken was crispy and tender. The basil adds the fragrance to it. Then there is the cabbage. It was done as it should. Then there is the noodles, I was excited about the noodles as it's my favorite carb! And we upgraded the regular noodle with hand ripped noodles. I had high expectations for the noodles, the flavor was good but unfortunately the center of the noodles was not cooked through, so we sent it back for them to remake it. Then it came out again, but the center was still not cooked through. The manager came to resolve the issue. I took the rest back so I can cook it for a little longer then because I didn't want them to throw away more food. The manager packed it up along with the rest of my leftover (obviously we ordered more than we can handle, but it's because we want to try as many items as we could), and gave us a restaurant gift card for the experience we had today. The item was also taken off of our bill. That was unexpected! The way the restaurant handled the situation was very nice. Everyone was courteous and civil about this situation! It was a overall good experience with (mostly) good food that I would go back again. As for the noodles that was not cooked through. I heated it up the next day on the stove for a longer period of time. The noodles came out just the way I expected! The beef was tender and delicious! The flavor was very well seasoned and not overly spicy. So hopefully they can adjust their cooking time so other customers can also enjoy and appreciate this dish. One minor thing about the menu: The menu has Chinese text and background art on it, but some of the background art showing the food category is incorrect....i.e. the vegetables section has "recommended noodles dishes" in Chinese. The restaurant should pay a bit more attention to detail such as the menu text and art as well. Hopefully they will replace it with the correct translations the...

Reviewed in person on 6/26/21

Order: Double cooked Fish(flounder), Eggplant, Crunchy cucumber appetizer.

Expectations werent really that high as even with a 4.5 rating, the crowd was mostly caucasian who doesnt know what authentic Tiawanese and Sichuan food is. My wife(Hong Kong native who spent lots of time in Taiwan) and I decided to see if this place was worth the extra 10 min travel time. Personally I thought the Flounder was so over salted that they may just as well have served some fried salt..it would have been the same effect. Must be a dish for those that dont actually want to taste their fish. The cucumber+ginger combo was passable, and it was indeed crunchy, but just wasnt my thing. The eggplant was slimy enough that I compared it to the sea urchin sashimi I had in Las Vegas(which i wound up returning). Not going to be everyones cup of tea. The drinks menu was adequate in selection, and 5$ for a 10oz pour of Mad Elf(dark beer, 11%) was fairly priced. I had never had it before and I'll recommend it if you like dark beer. Im not going to go so far as to say that its better then a Lagunitas stout, but at least its comparable. $7 for a Blue Moon draft though....uh..yeah okay lol.. The "ambience" was totally lacking as far as I could tell...it could open as a family dinner buffet tomorrow and I dont think it would make any difference; At least it was relatively quiet. Seating was pretty fast for a saturday night; we opted to sit in the outdoor dining area. One good thing is that the business is located at the end of the row, and the outdoor dining section is tucked in the back end.. so you dont have to really deal with parking lot noise or cars passing back and forth. The server that waited on us was concise and to the point, which i can appreciate so we tipped 20%. Overall id say that its a "fair" experience, but not one thats worth driving any extra distance for.(Not the Servers fault at all, but the cooks should be taught by someone who is actually a Tiawanese cook). You're experience may...