Diamond Tony's

Cuisine Greater Taipei Restaurants
1

After reading some blogs and passing by the restaurant a few times I finally had the time to try DT’s with some friends. To start off anyone that is planning to eat at DT’s on the 5th floor at 101 mall make sure to get a reservation because i’ve heard that you ushually have to wait a while if your just walking in…anyways,back to the meal. We started off with this flat garlic bread with the oh so familiar balsamic and olive oil concoction, nothing to really write about that. Since all of us ordered our own set menus we also decided to pick a appitezir each to share. We ordered sauted button mushrooms with pinenuts, cantelope with parma ham, and Caprese salad (tomato w/ mozzarella). The mushroom dish was a little salty but not to the point that you couldn’t eat it, it wasn’t bad cept there were a few shells in the dish! that too me is totally inexcussable, good thing we spotted them before anyone bit on one :astonished: the melon and parma ham dish was on point, it is one of my favorite dishes (especially on a summer day) the melon was very ripe and sweet and the ham was the perfect thickness, the caprese salad was not so good, they presented it in a way that I had never seen before it was rolled and cut into almost burrito like form with the cheese being the wrap. To be honest the cheese was like only a little better than kraft mozzarella slices :s so that about sums up that dish.

Next on to our set menus. The set menus are decently priced for pastas I think it was $560 for soup,salad,pasta,dessert,drink. For my set I chose (Truffle and artichoke cream soup,Duck breast with blueberry sauce salad, Herb fettucinni with spicy tomato sauce and veal sausage, and DT’s signature milk tea, we didn’t get to choose the dessert) to start with the soup, I think it was on the waiting area for too long because like most cream soups if it sits for a bit it starts to form a skin, which my soup had! a very thick skin, so automatically its not very appitizing. The flavor however was pretty good (is it was a cream of mushroom soup) I got a hint (very small) of truffle but the artichoke was no where to be found :loco: so my conclusion was that it was a mushroom soup with a hint of truffle (most likely truffle oil) so for what it said on the menu it failed, but it was a pretty solid mushroom soup! the salad was a 5/10 hardily any dressing the duck breast was a little overcooked and the blueberry sauce was pretty much blueberry jam, and the thing I hated most about it was the lettuce!!! :fume: I can’t stand when restaurants use shredded iceberg lettuce for a salad its pathetic! its like the lettuce you get in a big mac at mcdonalds. The Pasta was ok also flavours were decent and the tomato sauce had somewhat of a little kick to it, they didn’t cook the pasta into the sauce so when it came to my palate the pasta and the sauce weren’t mixed together causing the pasta to semi-harden and dry up, but after I mixed the sauce into it, it was eatable. Dessert was a DT’s version of a petit four, but it only had 3 things so I guess it was a petit 3? It had this really pink meriange cookie, I think i’ve seen them at 7-11, is anyone knows what im talking about. in the middle there was a tiramisu, which was pretty much whipped cream with cocoa powder on top no espresso flavor no lady fingers no nothing. The best part of the dessert was an almond praline that was very good! and the milk tea was just english tea with a creamer and a sugar packet on the side.

The food was not great to be honest, except for a few things. The ambience however was good, service wasn’t bad, and when you eat with good company I can’t really complain completly about the place. With the reasonable price I think its a place for a business lunch or something casual with some friends. There are alot of better italian places in Taipei in my opinion, but if you are looking to try somewhere new then you can always give DT’s a shot. There is one at the 101 mall on the 5th floor, and there is also one on the 89th floor, but that one is different, on the 89th floor they serve a tasting menu priced at $1600+ a person. I know some friends have tried it and said the food is ok but your eating for the view pretty much. There are also DT’s in Tienmu and Mitsukoshi A9 in the 101 District (don’t know why they have 3 dt’s so close together) but if you give it a try of have been there love to hear what you think!

2

the best about the DT restaurant in 101 is the service. The food is mediocre to gross. Some dishes are OK (pasta mostly) but most meat/poultry dishes i tried there were just vile. the sauces were destryong anything that was left of taste in the meats. everythin was rather bland.
their cesar salad is quite nice. but thats about it. i have no clue why this place is soo popular, the ambience is quite nice, but the food is is just bad overall. for teh cost you can get much better food elsewhere.
Romanos Macaroni grill at Neo is just 5 minutes away, isnt so cozy, but food is 100 times better. Apart from the quality most DT dishes arent even italian cooking. My colleagues in the office as well as some business partners i took there all share teh same opinion. I went 3 times to DT, basically every time they failed.
Apart from that there are really some very nice smaller italian restaurants, where you can get a completely different level of quality food at same or better price.

3

I enjoyed the lasagna, which I ordered just because it was the only thing without seafood.

4

Even it is remotely a competitor, trust I am entitled to an opinion and sorry to say but DT at the 101 is about as Italian as a Nokia mobile phone. Sweet pasta, corn and peas in mushroom soup and for what it is, I find DT rather expensive, however the rent they pay is obviously very high. Service is usually good.

5

I ate there once. Or rather, didn’t. About the only time I’ve actually paid and left without eating more than a taste. Simply disgusting. Localised “Western” food for local palates.
Urrrrgh! Worst of the worst.
My brother in law hated it too (he’s a local but pilots long haul passenger jets and knows food), but his wife and children LOVED it. Figures.

6

dlin, thanks for the review.
You’ve had a couple of good long restaurants reviews lately, and I always enjoy reading them.

7

I heard it a few times and can testify myself that TD’s in Tienmu has a much better kitchen than the branch in 101.
Though, there are better Western restaurants indeed but this TD is above avearge for sure looking at Taiwnese standards.

8

[quote=“ceevee369”]I heard it a few times and can testify myself that TD’s in Tianmu has a much better kitchen than the branch in 101.
Though, there are better Western restaurants indeed but this TD is above avearge for sure looking at Taiwnese standards.[/quote]

I’d disagree there, DT Tianmu was equally as bad as DT on the 5th at the 101. At least the 5th floor has a bit better decor and the service is more attentive. The one thing you are right about is that they have hit upon a formula that seems to do it for the locals.

I’ve been to DT’s on the 89th floor of the 101, as well, and would agree with dlin’s assessment: mediocre food with a spectacular view. At least there wasn’t iceberg lettuce anywhere in sight and the wine list was passable, so I could distract myself with that.

9

[quote=“sandman”]I ate there once. Or rather, didn’t. About the only time I’ve actually paid and left without eating more than a taste. Simply disgusting. Localised “Western” food for local palates.
Urrrrgh! Worst of the worst.
My brother in law hated it too (he’s a local but pilots long haul passenger jets and knows food), but his wife and children LOVED it. Figures.[/quote]

Totally agree, If I want Taiwanese food, I will go to a Taiwanese restaurant. Why pervert our food and then try to pass it off as the real deal.

One of my friends has a little Tex-mex place. She is a local but her late husband was an American, and she spent quite a few years in the states, so she knows the difference.
She makes a few concessions to local tastes, ie. most locals don’t like cheese or sour cream, so she backs off a little bit on it.
However, she has her wait staff well-trained to say if it is for lao wei.
She will make sure to make it real western style. Pile on all of the stuff the locals hate.

She does a pretty good business.

10

Thanks josefus for your comment!

11

hey dlin,

i enjoy reading your reviews as well, though I’m confused to why you would still recommend DT at 101 even after what seemed like an awful experience and overall bad food…

the Tien Mu location is a lot better, though in general, they’ve already had their 3 strikes I’m never going back for my personal experiences.

I’d rather eat at the 101 food court or if I had to go to the 5th floor, Crystal Spoon or Jiu Ru.