Din Tai Fung (UTC) - Soft Opening

I believe it was summer of last year; when I heard the first official announcement that the XLB mega-chain Din Tai Fung was going to open at UTC. I know folks who have been waiting with bated breath, patiently awaiting the opening...for those that I know it seemed like the place would never open. And then last week; Eater announced when DTF would be opening their doors, October 1. It would be reservations only for the soft opening period; which I thought was a prudent move.....get your systems in place, fine tune the product, and then open up the floodgates.

One of the young ladies in the office; "K" from the Beijing area will often stop and chat with me about Chinese food. Late last week; she mentioned hearing that Din Tai Fung was finally opening and if I was going. I told her "probably not, since things would probably fairly chaotic, the crowds would be insane, and I don't think the product would be up to par." She smiled and said, "maybe not....din Tai Fung has so many outlets, they have opened many shops, I think they may have systems in place for a grand opening." Hmmmm…...the seed was planted; though I hadn't really planned on making reservations. Until my dear friend Candice asked me if I'd like to join them for lunch....on the first day of business. As a plus; I'd see my good friends, who I just don't see enough of these days, so I was in.

UTC is fairly close to the office; so it was snap getting there. There wasn't much of a line, a product of the soft-opening reservations only policy. Several parties were turned away for not having reservations, some of whom, especially one rather persistent Chinese gentleman were rather unhappy.

The set-up was fairly typical of DTF; at least the shops we've been to. Front desk, window display of folks making the XLB, and dumplings.

The dining room was lengthy and could hold up to 200 I was told.

 We received a menu while our table was being readied; the four of us; Candice, Xiāngjiāo, TFD, and I had all been to DTF, both here in the states and abroad before, so we all had items we wanted to order. In the end it seemed like a lot; but we finished almost everything! TFD's little boy did a great job helping us as well!

So, enough verbiage; lets get to the food shall we?

First to arrive was the Truffle and Kurobuta Pork XLB ($23.75). Yep, twenty four bucks for 5 XLB.

The tops of the wrappers seemed a bit on the dry and hard side, there wasn't very much "soup" in the dumplings. You got the truffle flavor upon first bite, then it dissipated rather quickly. Not sure if I'd have these again.

Next up; the comfort dish, Taiwanese Cabbage with Garlic ($10.25). This was nicely done, enough salt, the cabbage was tender, nice garlic tones.

Though this is something I can easily make at home with Big Kahuna. We did enjoy the dish and needed some veggies, right?

Next up; the Kurobuta Pork XLB ($11.50). Maybe it's the Kurobuta Pork, which DTF is now using in all its dumplings, but the filling was on the drier side and there was a lack of soup.

The wrapper was rather dry and brittle. The filling had a mild pork flavor, but was more chewy than I prefer. As I mentioned above; there was a lack of soup in both orders of this. I'm so used to biting the ends of the wrapper to let out the steam before dipping into black vinegar and eating the dumpling; but that really wasn't necessary as well.

Next up; some nice and crisp, slightly spicy "Cucumber Salad" ($5.25) and rather bland, under seasoned Soy Noodle (Bean curd noodle) Salad ($5.25).

Shrimp and Kurobuta Pork Shao Mai ($8.75).

The tops of these were on the hard side; the shrimp had very nice flavor, but were overcooked. This just didn't do it for any of us.

The guotie - potstickers were another non-starter. They looked really nice, the bottoms of the wrappers were nice and crunchy; but the fillings fell out of the tops.

Kimchi and Kurobuta Pork Mandu Dumplings ($10.75)…..were really like mild kimchi mandu. These were not spicy in the least; even though we were told they were.

The wrappers were fine; if a bit stiff; the filling was too mild, not enough fermented-sour-savory-spicy kimchi flavor, which would have been fine if there was a decent porkiness to these; but there was none.

I was looking forward to the Crab and Pork XLB ($14.50).

Though there wasn't much soup in these, there was a nice sweet-crab and pork flavor. The filling was a bit on the dry side however as were the wrappers; which were again on the dry and brittle side.

I had been craving Chao Nian Gao($11) and couldn't help but order it; the version with pork.

This was perhaps the most unsatisfying dish of the meal. The nian gao, rice cakes, had been over-cooked, as you can easily see, and were very mushy. The pork was tough; too much soy sauce....just not good eats. We each had a taste and left the rest on the table.

TFD recalled a nice version of Sichuan Liang Mian at the Taipei location of DTF; so we ordered it ($9).

Hardly any spice; the noodles were too soft, the sauce lacked any depth of flavor (i.e. suan-tian-ku-la-xian)...I mean I was looking for something; Sichuan Peppercorn, black vinegar, sesame paste, garlic.....something...…

Our savory dishes ended on a high note though, as our second round of the crab and pork XLB arrived. This was much better; though the wrappers were still a bit too stiff, they were moist and had a touch of pull. The crab and pork was juicy if still without enough soup. This was quite nice....perhaps this is what we have to look forward to?

Though I'm still looking for this in the XLB - from a DTF in Asia. I'm wondering if the flour is making some difference?

We ordered the XLB with Red Bean for dessert. Think of it as a sorta, kinda, red bean manju…..

A bit too sweet for my tastes.

Overall, we really enjoyed the service, it was with a few hiccups....which was to be expected, very nice....really nice folks working here. The consensus was also pretty much unanimous; we'd had better at other DTF locations, though that was also to be expected.

Regardless; we still thought that this is the best XLB in San Diego without a doubt.

It's going to be interesting to see how things evolve here. I'm hoping the service and really nice staff remains the same and am expecting the XLB to get better over time; a bit more moist and tender wrappers with a decent "pull". Of course, I'm picky like that. And, I'm going to have to wait a while before bringing the Missus or my Shanghainese coworker "YZ" here.

And, it's always great to see my good friends "hanai family".....

So, let me know how you're enjoying DTF now that they've arrived in San Diego!

Din Tai Fung
4301 La Jolla Village Dr (UTC)
San Diego, CA 92122

Comments

[RedDevil]

Thanks for the review. This is my family's favorite restaurant so hopefully they improve to at least close to the LA locations.

[RedDevil]

Followed the big Kahuna link, very cool and only $50! Are you still using it?

[Sandy]

Wow, surprised that you went to Din Tai Fung on the first day! Co-worker K has a good point on their experience in opening restaurants. My family has been eagerly awaiting their arrival, and will look to make reservations to try it out.

[Kirk]

Hi RD - Hope you enjoy DTF. The Big Kahuna is atill around; though it's getting a bit worn down after 13 years. I'm going to need to replace it soon.

I'm surprised myself Sandy! There's some work to do; but I'm fairly certain they'll do very well.

[Faye]

We are going next week for an early lunch. I frowned so hard reading about the no-soup XLBs. I hope they improve as they have a huge fan base waiting for them to impress the entire city (or so it feels). I've never been a huge fan of DTF like my family but still appreciate their attention to detail.

[Junichi]

I have lunch reservations for tomorrow with co-workers. Can't wait!

[Kirk]

I hope you enjoy DTF Faye!

Hope you enjoy your lunch Junichi!

[Lynn @ Oh-So Yummy]

My friend set an rsvp for tomorrow lunch. I hope there is more soup by then! I have not been to a DTF yet so this will be my first! Though, the last dim sum I had was in Vancouver which was really good...

[Kirk]

Hi Lynn - Hope you have a great time. On a funny note; one of my coworkers from Shanghai just went and called it Food Court XLB. So you kinda see where I'm coming from. ;o)

[kat]

hope they can improve on their XLB

[Jason]

Thanks for the review, I've got reservations for this weekend. We were at UTC last weekend and saw them practicing the wrapping, hopefully they get a little better at it!

[Kirk]

I do too Kat!

I'm sure they'll improve Jason. Hope you enjoy your meal.

[Derek R]

Been looking forward to the SD DTF. Sounds like they have quite a few kinks to work out but knowing the LA locations I bet the food will be much improved in a few months (though the lines will probably be awful).

I've always been disappointed with the Sichuan cold noodles - they always taste gringoed to me. The rice cakes are usually super yummy though.

[Derek R]

Also $10 cabbage!? Dude...

[Kirk]

I'm sure they'll get things straightened out....though to be honest; at times I'm not suire what all the DTF hype is about Derek. And yes.....that was ten dollar cabbage....but they just needed to have it.

[soo @ hungryones.com]

Place looks pricey...

[Kirk]

Ten bucks for cabbage Soo!

[Kirbie]

It took all my willpower to not visit opening day. I made reservations for later this week in hopes they'll be more consistent by then. I do feel that with each location, the quality seems to get farther away from what they serve in Asia.

[Kirk]

I'll usually not go on opening day Kirbie. But I thought with DTF's reach and systems it would be really good. On the good news side; my sources told me that DTF changed up the recipe to the pork and crab XLB a few days after our visit.

[caninecologne]

Looking forward to trying this place out in the future. It's a good thing it's reservations only for now. Long lines are not fun.