Din Tai Fung — Restaurant in San Diego

We were in the area and looking for something to eat, of course this place was top rated and we had never had Taiwanese food before so we were excited to try it.

First to note, it was difficult to find having never been here before as its located in the mall. Park in the parking structure by the 24 hour fitness and go through the elevators on the opposite side of 24 hour fitness (hope that helps). Once you're on the first level then it's rather easy to find.

Upon arrival there was a long line, which goes rather quickly. Since we went to this place on a whim we did not have reservations and therefore our wait was an hour to an hour and a half. We were fine with that as we were waiting for traffic to die down so we explored the mall. Recommend making reservations if you know when you'll be coming, if not expect a long wait. The great part is you provide them with your phone number and they will text you when to come back so you don't have to physically wait at the resturant.

Once we came back, the line was even longer to get back in but they are very efficient and the line moves quickly. You're told to go wait in the waiting area where you get to sit and watch them hand make fresh dumplings and bao. The hostess somehow knows who you are because they come right up to you in a group of people to take you to your table without yelling out your name. Exceptional customer service.

Once at the table you have a paper to write down what you want to order, much like a sushi place. The waitress goes over all the dishes and recommends their favorites if you're unsure of what to get.

Once you order your food it comes out as it's ready. The great thing is, all dishes are family style and meant to be shared so a plate of dumplings comes out, you share it and by the time your done the next dish comes out hot and fresh.

All employees were super friendly, and very professional. They were all cleanly dressed, well groomed, and pleasant to all customers. You can tell they work as a team and everyone helps each other.

Now on to the food..... like I stated we had never was Taiwanese food before so the hostess and the waitress both made some suggestions.. here's what we ended up ordering.

Sweet and sour baby back ribs- waitress warned us these come out at room temp to protect the flavor of the sauce. Ours were still warm which I was happy about. You got about 3 ribs that are cut in half so about 6 bite size pieces. The sauce is amazing and the star of the dish. It is sweet like teriyaki sauce but also a little tangy, very good.

Crab & Kurobuta Pork Xaio Long Bao - these are essentially soup dumplings. The flavor was great, we were warned that the flavor is a little more fishy due to the fact they use blue crab in these. Only thing we didn't like about these is there was minimal "soup" inside. But the meat and dumpling itself was delicious.

Shrimp & Kurobuta Pork Shao Mai - these are also a dumpling but just filled with the meat. I am not a shrimp fan but honestly couldn't even tell these had shrimp in there. They were very flavorful.

Chicken & mushroom buns - I am not a huge fan of the buns. I've tried them at several places and just don't like the flavor of buns. However, my husband loved them so its just a me thing. The filling was delicious!

Chicken Spicy wonton - one of my top favorites. The wonton were great, the filling was tasty, and the sauce was something one can only dream of! After we ate the wonton there was still sauce left that I ended up putting on everything I could! Highly recommend ordering any dish with the spicy sauce 10/10

String beans with garlic - these were my husband's favorite, they were also recommended by our waitress and they are very delicious. The greenbeans were not over cooked, and they were generously covered in garlic and the sauce.

Vegetable fried noodles - this was a close second on the top dishes. The noodles are savory and the vegetables were fresh.

Chocolate buns - again, not a fan of bun but the chocolate filling...

Verdict/TLDR: Best dumplings in San Diego hands down. The wait is worth it.

Top Dished: XLB, Sesame Noodles, Spicy Wontons

Environment: Din Tai Fung is located with the UTC mall. If you’re going to UTC from the main entrance, make a right and follow the road until you get to an underground parking lot. From there, it’s easy to find.

The location itself is a pretty nice setup. Upon entering, to the left are workers making dumplings (another reason why they’re so good and fresh) and down the way is a bad and a long stretch of tables and booths.

Service: The servers are one of the most informative and kindest I’ve come across at a restaurant. One thing that separates Din Tai Fung from the rest is the ability to serve you dishes one at a time. The servers will alert you when the next item is coming and what order they will be in. Of course you can opt out of this. To me, it’s a great way to enjoy your food without feeling like anything is getting cold since there are so many dishes on the table at other restaurants.

Food: The best. I’ve had Din Tai Fung in Singapore before and was worried the quality wouldn’t carry over. It did! See below:

Soy Noodle Salad: this is an appetizer and is a good way to start off. The strings of soy will remind you of noodles but it’s really the flavor that gets you. Verdict: Worth it.

Xio Long Bao (Soup Dumplings): the famous soup dumplings! The rating for soup dumpling really depends on the outer dumpling skin, the flavor of the inside, and the ability to keep the juice within the dumplings. The last one is important because you’d be surprised how many restaurants fail to do this by putting the dumplings too close together, causing the skin to stick and break when you pull them apart. At Din Tai Fung, they come pretty well spaced. The skin has a nice chewiness to it and the flavor of the soup and the meat is amazing. One thing to note here is that it comes out at a perfect temperature while other places requires you to wait a few mins since it’s scalding. Hot. Verdict: Definitely worth it.

Spicy Wontons (Pork and Vegetables): One of our favorites, don’t let the name of the dish intimidate you! It is barely spicy but is packed with delicious flavors. Their satay sauce has a roasted flavor that makes these mouth watering. Verdict: Definitely worth it.

Sesame Noodle (Dan Dan): One of my favorites! This is a peanut type of sauce with their satay sauce. The peanut flavor isn’t over powering and the extra peanuts on top of the dish adds the roasted type of flavor. The noodle is nice and chewy, signifying it’s freshness. Verdict: Definitely worth it.

Garlic Green Beans: A great compliment to your dishes, the garlic green bean is cooked perfectly. It’s not too soft and not too hard. Just a perfect crunch to it. It’s mainly the flavor that stands out here. Verdict: Definitely worth it.

Sesame Buns: Black Sesame buns! If you’ve never tried this before, it’s definitely worth it. Inside is a sweet black sesame paste. It’s very unique and can’t be found in other restaurants in San Diego. Verdict:...

We were able to get a Lunch reservation on 10/02 for their soft-opening. Just showed them our confirmation, entire party had to be present, and we were seated right away. Very nice and upscale location, with a nice corner location with tall windows. Plenty of dining space, and didn't feel like they tried to cram a ton of tables in everywhere.

They give you a menu (with photos), as well as the paper to order from. The menu does not have prices, but the paper you order from does. They did a nice job of categorizing it to sync with the menu so it's easy to see the pictures and find it on the menu to mark it down for ordering.

Overall service was great, everyone was very friendly, and service was better than expected for a soft opening - good job DTF!

The food arrives as prepared (with exception to dessert plates you can ask to stage after). So no particular order to appetizers to entree's. We tried to order a decent variety to get a bit of everything, and it helped to have 2 others to share with. All of our food came out hot and very fresh tasting. All of the items had a very good balanced flavor. (They were out of Shao Mai) Food Breakdown: Kurobuta XLB's were fantastic, cooked perfect, good flavor, with or without dipping. Truffle Kurobuta XLB's were good, but at $4.75 EACH, i expected it to wow me way more than they did. They were good, but not that good. Pot Stickers: Love when they cook it like this, crispy on one side, soft and tender on the other, good size of shrimp and meat in each one, with a very mild good spice to them. Sauteed Bok Choy - YES, yum - definitely would order this again Shredded Pork Fried Noodles - Great flavor, and would order this again as a share plate, serves 2-3 Shanghai Rice Cakes - This was good too, sauce had a good flavor and again good to share for 2-3. Chocolate and Mochi XLB - perfect for dessert bites, warm and not too rich in chocolate - comes in a 5 pack, bite sized. Sweet Taro Bun - This was ok, i'm usually big on Taro desserts, and this one didn't stand out to me.

Overall, I would come back again to try more food. I would consider this more upscale as the price to food portion reflects that, however the feel is very...