Due to lack of alternatives (haha) I went to Grandma Nitti’s on Saturday afternoon to have my breakfast. After all everyone should get a 2nd chance and I wasn’t dissappointed: as before the food was just BAD.
I ordered Hawaiian ribs with fries. The soup was alright and so was the simple salad, but he ribs were very oily with lot’s of fats and the fries were cold and still raw inside. Yuk. Best was the blueberry milkshake however which I ordered separately.
The service was fast but unfriendly, cutlery and dishes were thrown on the table and none of the waitresses said a word.
Need I say more? I really want it to be good, because the atmosphere is great, but I give up! I mean, processed cheese omelettes, processed potato patties for hash browns (one only per serving), bland “Mexican” food. Awful, and overpriced. I guess they’ve been there so long that it doesn’t matter anymore what they serve. And the service! Wait staff who just sort of lean against a pole staring into space until you flag them down. Atrocious. Heaps of better joints in town to be sure. 
I should have gone to Carnegie’s today instead of Grandma Nitti’s. Didn’t realize how cheap Nitti’s has become–they’re now serving their orange juice in shot glasses.
If this is what Mexican food is supposed to taste like, I don’t like it. Always thought I did though, until I had it there. Yes, definitely overpriced.
No sane person would go there when the pubs are open.
I’ve recently taken to going there again for their eggs benedict, which I like. Comes with real ham and the eggs are runny – just how I like 'em. Goes great with a can of Guinness draught.
I think it should be renamed Grandma Shitties. What a total rip-off and the food sux. Carnegies is better in every single way.
Firstly, the service was bad. It took ages to get the first thing I ordered on the menu: a beer, which in fact was the best part about the meal.
I ordered an english breakfast, which cost ~the same or perhaps more than a carnegies meal (given the 10% service charge)
They had FAKE BUTTER, which I had to ask my friends what it was because I’d never seen it before.
The sausages were the size my thumb (no I don’t have big thumbs)
The bacon was in fact cooked well, but everything else was too greasy…and the orange juice came in a shot glass!
I my mind it’s all been downhill since she moved from the alley. That was when the prices first 
went up and the quality down
I know prices are going up everywhere, but the numbers I saw yesterday on that menu was ridiculous. Oh well. Guess thatʻs the price for getting a couple of the 3 for NT$100 books off the rack for the plane trip home. At least THOSE haven’t tripled in price. But it was off-putting, to say the least, to pay for a milkshake what I paid for a burrito last trip here (2 years ago). And I still think they need another name for their “service” charge. At those prices they should be able to pay their help. Anyway only went for the books and the “to say I’d been there this trip”. Definitely not one of the places I’ll pine for while out of Taiwan.
I only went once, I think the end of 2002, and was very greatful to find a Dr. Pepper and Reeces, but the prices on the menu then–though I paid for the impossible luxeries of the soda and candy–were shocking to me, especially after I got my order! And I’d heard so much about it and was very let down. I guess some things never change.
It’s the end of an era: Grandma Nitti’s, open in Taipei since 1989, has closed. In the story linked below, the legendary owner Rainbow Lin goes down swinging, lashing out at the lack of work ethic in many young people, the dishonesty of the government, the new labor law (OK, everyone seems to hate this), and the fact that all the best people she’s trained have apparently moved to China. Amidst this griping, she advises would-be entrepreneurs to think about how they can help others.
Guy
I used to go here every weekend for breakfast when I first moved to Taiwan.
Interesting reading the comments in this thread going back over 15 years. A common theme in the expat community here is complaining about the price of everything, something I’ve never understood. Even when I had 10 NT to my name I was never this cheap. What the hell are we doing on this god forsaken island if we can’t live a little.
Anyway, Grandma Nitti’s was good but The Diner was better when it came onto the scene. Went to Nitti’s about 3 years ago for brunch and it was completely localized and shit. Not surprised they pulled the plug
Sad. I used to go for Sunday lunch for home-like food. Meat, potatoes, bacon, eggs.
I’d actually forgotten all about the place. Such a pity.
It was always so crowded with locals that it showed you don’t have to “localize” your menu like wankers like KFC do.
Reading through this whole thread (dating back to 2001) is fascinating. Forumosans are a tough crowd!
I can say as well that the western food scene in Taipei has changed almost beyond recognition since Grandma Nitti’s showed up on the scene. Like others have noted, it may have been distinctive at some point, but those days are long gone. There are now some places in Taipei that serve international food that’s better than just about any place I can think of in first tier cities in Canada!
Guy
Whoah. I hadn’t been to this place in ages - sort of forgot about it, because as others have said, there are far more options for Western food now.
Still, sad to hear that it’s gone.
I read it . She gave it straight but didn’t come off well especially moaning about paying the staff properly for extra hours.
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I guess many people eventually want to go back to their home country. a 100k ntd job is nice here especially if you’re single. But thats about 3k USD, hardly enough to live with a family back in the US/CA/EU. I guess saving enough to go back and make the transition is hard, especially if you’re used to a nice comfortable life here even around 50-60k ntd.
Best brunch all around. Meeting place for animal activists. It is sad to see it go but it fought the good fight with the Shida area debacle.
Salaries are stagnated and there is just so much price elasticity for food prices. With those Shida rents, it means you just can’t pay more. Interestingly, her complaints about staff are true and have been true a while. Good ones leave when experienced, bad ones don’t even show. Ask anyone in the restaurant business.
Yeah, that and moaning about cooks going to China. Of course, they are getting paid much better.
And then complaining that young people today have no work ethic. In the words of that guy from office space “if i work my ass off and initech ships a few extra units, I don’t see an extra dime. So what’s the motivation Bob?”
Salaries suck so why should low wage staff bust their butts so the laoban can make lots of $ that they don’t share with the workers and squirrel away in the bank, never to spend it either.