Whalen's (closed while moving to new location)

Pulled pork poutine?! Because the original (whether that be pulled pork or poutine) was too healthy and light?! Don’t get me wrong - both pulled pork and poutine are brilliant - but I’m not so sure about putting them together. So it’s pulled pork + gravy + cheese curds?! Or the pork is tossed with the fries as well?[/quote]

I think they skip the cheese for their PPP. And while we are at it, there are no cheese curds available in Taiwan. All these places that say they sell poutine are selling a mozzarella version of the original Quebecois classic.

Whalen’s fries are among the best in the city. Same recipe as Forkers I think. Far better than any other choices available at the regular haunts. And the pulled pork version of their fries is but one of several options available, I do believe.

Shame about ex animo’s (lack of) experience there. Maybe the owners of restaurants should take heed and notify us (via The Flob) when they are going to close for erm…“special” occasions.

Ex Animo,
I want to sincerely apologize for the time you spent coming to patronize my restaurant only to be told we were closing early. I would like to let the masses know that there isn’t need to worry when coming to ‘Whalen’s’ as this was an isolated incident due to the ‘perfect storm’ of b.s that forced me to close early, and this was the only time this has happened since opening. I’m not going to hope for sympathy, make excuses or try and justify this into what happened was right, however please hear me out…

Anyone who has worked / ran / managed / owned a restaurant in Taipei ( maybe even all of Taiwan) may agree or understand to some extent that one of the most difficult things in the business is finding competent staff that one can rely on. I had a couple of excellent kitchen guys that met my requirements of being competent and reliable only to have one of them recently plucked away to do his military service, leaving me with a lone cook. So for the past few weeks I have been running my kitchen understaffed with my lone cook putting in more than his fair share of overtime as I just haven’t found anyone else to replace my last cook yet. Every week, I will set up anywhere between 5 to 10 interviews and be lucky if 1 or 2 even show up with an even smaller percentage of those 1 or 2 taking the job. December has been a very busy month for us with all of the christmas / new years reservations and my cook has never winced once at putting in extra hours and I can’t thank him enough for it. Yesterday, the reason I didn’t ‘advertise’ the early close was because it wasn’t planned. I was supposed to close the kitchen at the regular hour of 9pm, however received an urgent phone call in the late afternoon / early evening which needed me to leave the restaurant almost immediately on an important personal matter. I had asked my cook if he could help me close out the kitchen. After doing open to close New Years Eve then open to ‘nearly close’ again New Years day, he said he had plans with his family for the evening and for the first time since opening, I had to respectfully take ‘no’ for an answer
After the breakfast / lunch rush it was a quiet start to the evening as there weren’t any more reservations beyond 5 pm. I made the decision to close early and will take full responsibility for your resentment, so again, I apologize. Is the apology going to replace the time you spent to come in for some grub? No. Is it going to help to get you to give us another chance and come back for our Garden burger meal on me? I can only hope so.
As for my waitress telling you we closed because we were all ‘hungover’ is not entirely true. Were some of my staff hungover? probably. I mean they are young, it WAS new years and we are all human. The reason we closed early was because we had to, I didn’t have the staff to do it. I spoke to her earlier today about it and she did admit to saying it, however she claims it was meant to be a joke in light of the sh*tty situation. I ask my waitresses to try and build relationships with customers by starting conversations and using humour to make customers feel welcome as opposed to most of Taipei’s ‘dull’ service industry.
Pardon the storybook length of this apology, however I really do not want to be known as a restaurant that closes arbitrarily as that is exactly what we are not. I made the wrong decision and have learned from it. It won’t happen again! My offer of comping your next meal here will stay on the table until you can find it in ya to forgive us.
Send me a private msg via email or our facebook page before you come and I’ll get you set up, cheers and happy eating!
Whalen

I don’t think it’s a big deal closing early on New Year’s Day, heck lots of local restaurants close over New Year. Ex Animo is a good guy but I think he is getting his knickers in a twist over this one, I’d roll with the punches and go to the next restaurant.

Whalen’s is friggin’ awesome.
Is it healthy? Not exactly. But that’s no reason to slam the place, especially if you haven’t been there.
Is it tasty, comfortable, friendly and reasonably priced? Yes, and that’s why most people eat there and go back.
They’re working hard to get a new startup up off the ground and Taipei can use all the international food it can get. I’m thankful for it.
I eat there at least weekly and know the owners, fair disclosure, but if I wasn’t satisfied with the food I obviously wouldn’t go there or vouch for it.
Oh yeah, they’re also showing the World Jrs hockey games right now every night.
Go Canada!

I’ve been going to Whalen’s at least once a week for the past two months. The pulled pork poutine and spinach and artichoke dip are things that I crave when I wake up on Sunday mornings. I have had a great experience every time I’ve gone and am very happy that this place is making Taipei a better place to eat in.

I think feedback is essential, especially to new businesses. Personally, I genuinely don’t have time to run around trying to find somewhere to eat, and The Diner has lost my patronage because of too many disappointments (I tried three times).

Whelan, no need for a comped meal. Just wanted you to know that it was a disappointment and too much of that is bad for business (and giving more than expected, even a little, is incredibly good for business). I’ll try again next time I’m in the city in the evening. Many thanks.

Went there for the first time on Tuesday (due to this thread) and can confirm there is cheese in the pulled pork poutine.

I love the interior design of the place, nothing like a Taiwanese style restaurant at all. It was like being in a Poirot movie, haha.

I also had one of the skillet things, the hot sauce one I think. Recommended :slight_smile:

I first saw the Juicy Lucy burger on Man vs. Food. I just had one at Whalen’s this afternoon. It was incredibly good, as was the poutine. I’ll be back.

I finally got try the garden burger at Whelan’s, and it is indeed delicious. Everything from the salad dressing to the fries to the bread to the patty is fantastic. Consider me a regular!

I can see why Aboriginal Girl and his husband enjoy the food there so much.

Hey Forumosans!

Just wanted to give a heads up that we will be closing Saturday until Monday and then open again on Tuesday with our regular hours. I would also like to thank the members who have actually come in and enjoyed the food enough to take the time to write some nice comments about us. I feel we have a strong product at Whalen’s and hope everyone has a chance to try it for themselves before too long!
On another note, we are about a week or two away from coming out with our new menu. We have some great new things on there for everyone so stay tuned!
Happy and safe new year to the Forumosan world!

Whalen

Has there been a management or ownership change in Whalens recently? Have visited several times in the past and always been more than happy with the food and the service. Was in the area last night and decided to drop in again.

Only one table available at the back, close to the counter and toilets. The other tables were full of people eating or just sitting around having finished their meals and their tables cleaned off. Wasn’t anything like what could be described as busy.

Table was dirty so waited while the waitress got a cloth and cleaned it off. Asked the waitress if she thought the guys sitting at a nice table on the other side had finished or were waiting food, she told us they were finished a long time but “just won’t go” so we sat down at the wet table. The first thing we noticed was the smell, presumably the cloth had been used for quite some time and left wet. Dried the table off ourselves with some napkins and the stench diminished somewhat.

Second thing we noticed was that the temperature was on the hot side of uncomfortable. The waitress had wandered off so we made our menu choices and waited for her to return. Seems she was busy chatting with the other staff and flouncing around. Waited another while hoping to even catch someones attention and see if they would turn the airconditioning on as the table we were at was far from the open door and didn’t have coverage from the overhead fan.

After about 10mins minutes I was going to go find the waitress or ask the kitchen staff if they could take our order but it was so uncomfortably hot that we just said to hell with it and left to cool off outside, waitress didn’t bat an eyelid as we walked out, she was busy chatting with the guys who “just won’t go”.

The difference in service between this and previous visits was startling, normally it’s great so assume there has either been a management change or the boss wasn’t in last night and the mice decided it was ok to play.

Same thing has happened to me. I couldn’t get a table because a group of Taiwanese girls were chatting after they’d finished their meal. I used to go there a lot. But the last few times I went it was uncomfortably warm inside and the air conditioners seemed to be doing nothing. Plates and mugs were chipped. The last two times I went they did the same strange thing. They served me my main breakfast dish and when it was finished (about 15 mins later) they’d bring me the toast that was supposed to come with it. Obviously I didn’t want it. It’s a shame because I used to like going there. I hope they can at least sort the air conditioner problem out because it’s starting to get hot and humid now.

To be fair about the heat, yesterday was the first real hot day, I am sure a lot of people got caught off guard.

I was there three weekends ago, Saturday around noon. It was full so we sat outside. Service was exceedingly good. Our server was a tall Canadian guy (not the owner, who was tending the kitchen) who made sure to check on us every few minutes. He heard my wife had a cold, so out of the blue he brought hot water, lemon and honey for her. He then brought two bowls of water for the dogs that the two other guys sitting at the outside bar had brought. Very thoughtful. Our food came just a few minutes apart, and when finsihed, the table was cleared in a timely manner (not hurried). We were very impressed. I guess your experience depends on which server you get.

that guy sounds hot.

Whalen’s dude: I sent you a PM

Whalen’s would like to let everyone know a couple of things.

  1. We will be having a pub quiz this Wednesday night from 9pm-11:30pm. It only costs $100ntd and is tons of fun. You can come with a team of your own or join one and meet some new people. There are cash prizes, drink specials and even food specials. There is a beer bounty on last times winners and drinking rounds. It is sure to be a great night!
  2. We will be having an American Thanksgiving dinner this Thursday night. The dinner includes a drink (a glass of wine, a beer or a mixed drink), soup or a salad, the entrée which is turkey (of course), mashed potatoes, gravy, veggies, stuffing, cranberry sauce, a slice of pumpkin pie and an after dinner coffee or tea. All for the price of 750ntd (plus 10%). This dinner is delicious and sure to make walk away full!
    Call to book your table ( 02 27393037) for either event as space is limited.

Whalen’s on AnHe road would like to invite everyone to a fantastic Christmas dinner. We will be having two seatings, 6-8pm and 8-10pm (only 2 tables left).
We will be serving a set menu for both, a traditional Canadian (ok also American) Christmas dinner.
choice of one drink- glass of red or white wine or Moosehead or San Miguel or rail drink or electric eggnog
Choice of either soup or salad
roasted turkey with gravy
mashed potatoes with gravy/ veggies/ stuffing (just like mom used to make) cranberry sauce
dessert
choice of coffee or tea.
Please call 02 2739 3037 to confirm your booking.

Also we will be hosting a holiday pub quiz on Saturday December . Drink and food specials all night. 9-11:30pm, cash, prizes and tons of laughs!!

That’s VERY generous of you! Free meals on Christmas from nice establishments like yours REALLY captures the festive spirit! :bravo: :notworthy: :bow:

Sorry
Jimipresley you are absolutely right, I should have posted the price. I apologize,
The price is 750nt (+10% service)
Guaranteed to be delicious and fill you up!