Di Fiora — Restaurant in Seattle

I have never been motivated enough to write a bad review of a place before, but I don’t know where to start with this place. I made a reservation a few weeks in advance because I was excited about the menu. I got a table for six for Mother’s Day, which I wanted to be really special. We had a last minute change where no one could watch my cousin’s three year old son, so when we got there, they moved us to a new table away from the bar area. I felt bad about this initially because I understood that they were fully booked for Mother’s Day, but it was a simple table change and the woman who was helping us was very rude. When we asked if we could have an extra chair for the child she was enraged and called my cousin “impatient” and said that they’d have to check if they have extra chairs because they’re fully booked. I don’t know a single restaurant that cannot accommodate an extra seat for a child. But still, at this point we felt bad for making them move our table. We then ordered food and asked if they had any hot teas for my grandmother, to which the server responded that they had three options so we chose one. She later came back saying that “all of their teapots were broken.” I’m confused why this wasn’t communicated with the staff in advance, but sure. We ended up waiting 1.5 hours for our food to come out and it wasn’t even everything. They brought things out one at a time and by the time it had been two hours since we ordered, we asked them if we could cancel the remaining food because we could not wait any longer and they were just wasting our and their own time. Keep in mind that they were the ones who told us that there is a 1.5 hour limit during COVID and we had to leave after 1.5 hours, yet they didn’t even finish serving the food in the two hours we were there. At this point we were all still hungry and wanting to leave. We waited another ten minutes or so for someone to explain that they will cancel the rest of the food and give us a 20% discount for the inconvenience. I left the restaurant I checked the receipt and they hadn’t even given us the discount and instead, charged a mandatory gratuity. I will never return to this restaurant. Do not go here if you expect the food to come at within two hours. When we confronted them they just kept saying that they’re fully booked and busy for Mother’s Day, but I don’t understand how they’re running a restaurant if they can’t plan for something like this. I highly recommend actually trying to see what is feasible for the restaurant and space instead of trying to cram as many reservations in...

Based on online reviews and YouTube videos, my wife and I thought we’d give this place a shot. We love Thai & Italian foods, and this restaurant is supposedly a fusion of those cuisines.

The atmosphere is great, as was the service. Halloween is my favorite holiday, and they were decked out with beautiful decorations. However, that’s where the positive ends.

Just to be clear, we love to eat, and even eat adventurously. That said, if you charge a premium, we expect to eat something worthy of that premium.

We ordered apps from the happy hour menu. Peppery garlic shrimp and fried green beans. To wash that down, we both had Thai Ice Teas.

The Teas were 80% milk. We couldn’t taste any of the “tea” portion of the drink.

The green beans were bland, so the sweet chili sauce is definitely needed. The shrimp were better, but barely so. The salad under the shrimp wasn’t seasoned, and tasted old.

For entrees we had their signature Carbonara dish and Kow Soi.

The carbonara was drowned in this super heavy cream sauce. It was supposed to be served with row on top, but they forgot ours. We asked if the recipe had changed. It hadn’t, so the server was kind enough to bring out the forgotten topping. It didn’t help.

The stew was a complete mess. The flavors were just confusing. It was far too sweet to be a curry. We actually couldn’t even finish it. Yes, it was that bad. These dishes simply lacked any identity, proper seasoning and execution.

We ate as much as we could (in order to justify the money spent), before quickly paying and leaving.

We walked away from this place, happy that we tried something new, but feeling completely cheated. They didn’t cheat us of course, but we’d eaten and paid for a meal that left us full, but completely unhappy.

Like I mentioned, we love both types of cuisines, this place was neither. Fusion can be difficult to get right. I applaud them for trying.

Clearly they are successful and I’m happy that they are. That said, it’s highly unlikely we’ll go back. Just like them, we work hard for our money. Going back to a place that left us so utterly unsatisfied seems like poor decision making.

Hopefully you’ll have a better experience than we did. I wish them well, and may they continue to have great success.

To add insult to injury, it’s our one year wedding...

I've been here twice over a year ago and today and have still not been disappointed. The service, atmosphere, and especially food are all excellent.

The favorite dishes that I have got from here are the Pad Kee Mao, Crispy Duck Avocado Curry, Kow Moo Yang, Calamari, and the Kow Soi. The Pad Kee mao is a super savory, stir fried dish with tons of soy and wok flavors. Very Chinese-like and I love the notes of acidity/freshness in the dish like the tomatoes, bell peppers, and basil. The Crispy Duck Avocado Curry had a very mild, distinct, yet flavorful & herbal green curry that pairs so well with white rice. The duck was crispy, juicy, and not overly seasoned which was a good pairing with the flavorful green curry base. The Kow soi also follows a similar pattern; crispy chicken with a flavorful yellow curry base that goes well with rice and other components in the dish. For me, all of the curries here aren't too heavy where I can get sick from eating them too much. The Kow Moo Yang is also great, with a very distinct lemongrass flavor profile similar to Viet Lemongrass pork chops. Calamari was pretty standard but the sauce with it is great and even goes well with the savory dishes like the Pad Kee Mao.

Some of the other dishes I have tried which were decent included the Gang Som prawns, Banda Sea Crispy Fish, DiFi Bacon & Avocado Croissant, and Malaysian coconut soup. The Gang Som Prawns had a very aggressive sour/acidic profile, but it tasted pretty good once it was combined with rice. Shrimps were fried but seemed to lack significant crunch. Banda Sea Crispy Fish had a good crust but the fish itself was a bit plain, which was remediated somewhat with the sauce. The Bacon & Avocado Croissant was alright, but I don't expect much for an American-style dish at a Thai restaurant. Malaysian coconut soup was very homestyle, but oddly sweet.

The drinks come with tons of decorations and tasted pretty good as well.

Service is excellent and atmosphere is amazing. The entire restaurant is Instagrammable. The waiters are all very nice and accommodating.

In short words, check this place out!! The curries and stir-fried dishes here are excellent and...