Frog Restraunt & Bar

Cuisine Taichung & Central Taiwan Restaurants
1

Frog I

Frog I (105 Hua Mei West St. Section 1; tel:2321-1197) has been serving food until 2 am for quite some time, and features the second longest late night menu in the Canal District. Burritos (various types, NT$100-130), tacos (various types, NT$140), sandwiches (NT$110), crepes (NT$90-150), potatoes with toppings (NT$80-95) and fried rice (NT$140). Availability and choice are the strong suits of this menu, plus their great mega draft beers.

Location/numbers and business hours courtesy of Compass online.

Personal experience:
I liked this place because it reminded me of an old “trashy” bar back in my hometown. It has foosball table’s and even an electronic dartboard (I will kill all you in darts MWAHAHA). It defiantly has a different feel to it which I cannot put my finger on, but I like it.

Frog claims to be a Mexican restaurant, but hey, we are in Taiwan and you know that doesn’t mean that it is actually a Mexican restaurant. Reluctant to order for my string of bad luck in finding a decent restaurant has broken a new record of bad meals, I decided to suck it up and order the Enchiladas and my wife had the Greece chicken.

The food was not only good, it was home kitchen good. Too bad it looked like microwaved food, but the taste made it very easy to overlook the lack of presentation. We were both very satisfied with our meals.

The only two negatives about the place are:

  1. That the service is very, very bad and the staff’s English ability is non-existent. I am sure on any given night, you might get lucky and get a decent wait (person), but after drinking one of their large (gigantic actually) beers on tap, you tend to care less about how you have to constantly go up to the bar to order everything because the waitress vanishes in 15-20 minute intervals.

  2. The smoke. If you are not a smoker, you might want to stand clear of this place. Smoke everywhere and people who don’t mind killing you while they blow the smoke in your direction are also everywhere. You will smell like a smoke stack once you leave.

Conclusion:
I will be going back becuase it is rather affordable if you want to have a few beers, eat if/when you are hungry, be satisfied with the meal and actually feel your just hanging out. It is very relaxing.

Frog also has an upstairs which live bands play. I cannot write a review on that yet because I have not experienced it yet. I will though this Saturday night. So if any of you Tiachungers want to get your ass kicked at darts, I will be there with my chest all puffy pointing at everyone saying, “Want some?”

2

I lived in Taichung for four years and the Frog pub(s) were a great place for hooking up with friends after work. Giant beers for 150$ Do they still do “Free bbq” night? “Nachos” were Doritoes and cheese and salsa. whoohoo

Any around who remembers a drunk girl repeatedly crashing her Mini or March into the steps of the original Frog? :slight_smile: She was mad I guess.

The newer Frog was cool too. The hookers used to go there before work and have a drink.

Then there was the Buffalo. That place was swanky…still around?

:slight_smile:

3

sounds like my kinda place…before marriage…

4

My wife and I went there together and noticed other couples as well. As far as we can tell, it is not a meat market. Then again, we were not there very late. If you go there around 6 p.m.-10 p.m. it is more of a place where couples and singles can go and relax.

I personally did not see any hookers or crazy people crashing their mini’s. I would of liked to see that though, I like the dinner and show combo. :smiley:

Just my 2-cents.

5

Frog was never a meat market. A good place to watch NBA games and have a few drinks with friends. A good mix of Taiwanese and foreigners.

The Pig was the meat market in the day. One could get laid on the stairs going to the second floor…or was that the 3rd??

6

back then use to be packed and happening.

now its old and slow (well least the times i went, dinner weekdays).

i really like there mexican food.

just too bad that place is old and runned down not clean.

wife wasnt feeling well after eating there and we never gone back so i was pissed. cuz thats the only place i know in taichung that has good or decent mexican food that was well priced and i can order a big mug of beer :fume:

7

It seems the same can be said about most places in Taichung and in Taiwan…just no buzz anymore.

8

taipei got lots of buzz. when i visit u cant tell the economy is in recession. hell there was a line out the store for cold stone and at times to the curb or around the building. in taichung they be lucky to get a line in the store lol. there was a line 1 time in tiger city cuz it was buy one get one free. it stretched out to the nokia store.

ur right though taichung is pretty dead. ain’t like before.

9

I see they are still open. Wonder how it is these days and if they still have live music on 2nd floor?

10

I was at Frog today. A woman named Ariel, who seemed to be the manager, said we were at “Frog 2” and there are two locations. I was at the one on Yude Road, just off of Daya road.

The food was good. An extensive menu with lots of Mexican. I had a bean burrito. I also had cheesy nachos, which was actually melted white cheese on Doritos instead of corn tortilla chips with yellow cheese like I’m used to. Had couple of beers also. And I tried their signature non-alcoholic drink called a “Pink Frog”. Really good. It’s orange juice with grenadine and milk. The staff spoke English just fine, were friendly, and talked a lot. I saw some other expats walk in, so Google must have been right about that. It wasn’t very busy in there, but that’s probably because I got there at four o’clock in the afternoon. Not bad. I’ll go back, and I recommend it.