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Any dumpling aficionado has no doubt heard of Din Tai Fung. I even wrote about it a couple years ago. People crowd around Din Tai Fung every single day. It’s not a particularly large location, but there is a good number of booths and tables. Those of us who frequent the restaurant have often said they just need to open a new one somewhere. It’s taken them a while, but a new Din Tai Fung location has opened up… within walking distance.

The new location has the exact same menu and serves the exact same food. When you walk in, there’s a glass divider that allows you to look into the kitchen and watch the staff make dumplings, just like at the first location. Unfortunately, the wait is also just like at the first location. I waited about 15-20 minutes just to get a number! Once I got a number, the wait for a table was only about 5-10 minutes. This new location seems considerably smaller, but it has a more classy feel to it. There are no booths here, more lighting accents, more decorative orchids, etc. It just seems that they invested more on the interior design of this location. One mention of the bathrooms - there is an attendant there to help you dry your hands. Now that I’ve addressed the differences, I have to write about the things I had issues with at the first location have carried over to this one - too close to other diners, very loud, etc. I don’t think this will ever change though. They squeeze in as many tables as they can to seat as many diners as possible. One positive difference is that I don’t think the new location has a break in service. At the first Din Tai Fung, lunch is over at 2:30pm, and the restaurant opens up again at 5pm. I left the new location near 3pm, and there were still hungry people coming in being seated.

Also this just might be in my head, but the service at the new location seems a bit friendlier and more courteous than the first location. What’s funny is one waitress - unaware that anyone was watching - looked at her watch and rolled her eyes while releasing a frustrated sigh. She obviously didn’t want to be there any more, but when she was called over to a table, she only gave a smile and nodded to the diners. At the first location, I don’t really feel that the servers hide their irritation so much.

So in summary - if you like Din Tai Fung, you may want to check out the new location. Perhaps if the wait is too long at the original, you can cut through the parking lot (by walking not driving) to see how long the wait is at the new one.

Din Tai Fung
1088 Baldwin Avenue
Arcadia, CA 91007
(Right next to Well’s Fargo)

By Pauline (see more of her posts).