Best American Food in Taipei

What do you guys think? Lately, I have been going to Chili’s and think it is pretty good. Stopped going to TGIF after this place opened.

I went to Chili’s once and the food was terrible. TGIF is ok though I am not a frequenc customer there. The place on TunHwa road was ok, Dan Ryan’s or something? A bit pub style the place with a train cruising below the ceiling.

No great fan of this style of food but i agree with Rascal, Dan Ryan’s is okay. They’ve been around for years and managed to maintain a fairly steady level of service/food. I used to go to Dan Ryan’s sometimes when i lived in HK (about 10 years ago) and the food was exactly the same there. I think that the Dan Ryan’s chain started in HK and they’ve never had a branch in the States despite what it looks like.

Used to like Dan Ryans but had a string of bad meals there a few years back, never went back.

IMO for American food you can’t beat the ribs at Tony Roma’s. have never got around to trying anything else there, have to try someday.

Tony Roma’s: miserable atmosphere, overpriced, non-smoking nazi restaurant. At least you can smoke in Dan Ryan’s, but again ridiculous prices for steaks. TGIF is probably the best value.

Tony Roma Rules! It’s delicious. Finger licking good.
Chilis is the only place I can get mashed potatoes and gravy or a chicken fried steak. You have to get both at the same time.
I didn’t like the choices on Dan Ryans menu. I always end up getting the spagetti, but it’s not bad.
TGIF is not in the same league as the above restraunts.

Definately Amaroni’s as it can’t REALLY be classified as Italian, now can it?

What is American food? (Honest question).

Brian

american food is mashed potatoes and gravy. bbq ribs. fried chicken(in flour, damnit, not cornstarch). baked potato skins. buffalo wings that aren’t sweet. various unhealthy mutations of mexican food. and free refills!!! ok, free refills are more a west coast thing than an american thing. didn’t see it as much on the east coast. :stuck_out_tongue:

btw, how much does it suck that the chili’s here doesn’t have awesome blossoms?

Absolutely cannot stomach TGIF. The menu is just like their US locations, (middle-of-the-road burgers, sandwiches, etc) but their service is total shite. Not from lack of people, but from a total lack of the concept of giving the customer what they ask for. I’m also convinced the cooks there never actually eat the stuff they make, which is a recipe for disaster (I got a sandwich with bread so hard it could hurt you. A cook that occasionally eats sandwiches would know that the bread was too stale.)

Dan Ryans occasionally screws up–but they have always fixed their mistakes, and even comped my meals as an apology.

Chilis also has good food (typical artery-hardening US stuff) and service.

But again the question–what is American food? If by that you mean the things American’s eat, then in Southern California a lot of Mexican cuisine would apply. We usually change the cuisine to adapt the taste to our own. That’s true for virtually any American restaurant.

American Food=

Italian, Chinese, Mexican, Japanese, French, German, Vietnamese, Thai, Korean, and Middle Eastern food. All Americanized, of course.

That, and all forms of beef (burgers, steaks, beef hot dogs, ground beef on pizza).

My favorite forms of American food are modern California cuisine (lots of salads and seafood) and Sonoran (Arizona, California, New Mexico)-style Mexican food (enchiladas, burritos, tacos, tamales). I think I hurt myself, writing this.

[quote=“Tomas”]American Food=

Italian, Chinese, Mexican, Japanese, French, German, Vietnamese, Thai, Korean, and Middle Eastern food. All Americanized, of course. [/quote]

And
Indian, Latin American, Irish, Swiss…or variations of. And authentic: Cajun, Cuban and Caribbean, Soul food.
I probably like Cajun food the best of all authentic American cuisines.
Damn! An oyster po boy would be nice with some dirty rice on the side right now.

That probably explains why I figured I don’t like American food. It’s either someone else’s or it’s some form of meat (I’m a vegenatarian you see). I do like Italian, and especially Mexican. The mashed spud and potato skins I always think of as English food. Anyway, basically every ‘American’ restaurant I’ve been to in Taiwan, I’ve thought to be absolute rubbish, except for Wo Wo (vegetarian) Hamburgers in Tianmu, and som e Mexican food at some places. Those TGIF, Swensons etc places seem liek the lowest of the low to me.

Brian

Try the Post Home in TienMu. Fantastic pizzas and steaks. And cold beer!

[quote=“Sir Donald Bradman”]That probably explains why I figured I don’t like American food. It’s either someone else’s or it’s some form of meat (I’m a vegenatarian you see)

Brian[/quote]

That’s silly. You’re from NZ and isn’t the national dish some kind of meat pie or something?
I think Americans have tons of variety. It’s just these fast food and chain restaurants that serve such rubbish. Unfortunately that’s all you see unless you go to the US and experience the diff cuisines first-hand. I won’t step foot into a chain restaurant in the US. Tht’s just tacky, really! Mall rat families do that.

People, what do really expect here? You go to a restaurant (it doesn’t matter if it’s an American, British or whatever chain) and who’s the owner? A Taiwanese. Who’s the manager? A Taiwanese. Who’s the cook? A Taiwanese who has (maybe) seen a photo of “western food” in a local magazine). The waitresses? Again. Taiwanese. None of these people have ever eaten real American food (or any other "foreign food) and probably don’t even have any desire to.

Anyway, I don’t care about going out to eat western food here…I cook everyday. My peeve is that it’s gotten almost impossible to get good Chinese food. The quality has dropped dramatically in the past 20 years as the old “waishengren” retire or die off.

sometimes things taste different because of the ingredients available. ie. the chicken is different and thus tastes different when cooked.

I can relate to these comments. I lived in Japan for several years and felt the same way. They advertised it as American Food but it was more of a Japanese take on Western dishes.
The worst of both worlds.

[quote=“Back Packer”]I can relate to these comments. I lived in Japan for several years and felt the same way. They advertised it as American Food but it was more of a Japanese take on Western dishes.
The worst of both worlds.[/quote]

Ever try what passes for Italian spaghetti in Japan? Soba noddles and tomato sauce topped with a raw egg. Ewwwwwwwww! :shock:

BTW, we need a larger selection of Emoticons…like one for “disgusted wanting to puke”. :laughing:

[quote=“blueface666”][quote=“Back Packer”]I can relate to these comments. I lived in Japan for several years and felt the same way. They advertised it as American Food but it was more of a Japanese take on Western dishes.
The worst of both worlds.[/quote][/quote]

Ever try what passes for Italian spaghetti in Japan? Soba noddles and tomato sauce topped with a raw egg. Ewwwwwwwww! :shock:

When were you there? During the occupation?

I’ve tried ‘what passes for Italian spaghetti’ in Japan and never had anything remotely like that.