Din Tai Fung: Taiwanese soup dumplings in Las Vegas
Din Tai Fung is a pretty popular Taiwanese chain that is famous for their soup dumplings (XLB – xiao long bao). I’ve visited the Seattle location a few times, but recently I visited the Las Vegas location for the first time during my bachelorette trip.
I was pretty happy to find Din Tai Fung on the vegas strip because some of us were hungover from the night before ๐ and I wanted something soupy. The Din Tai Fung in Las Vegas is located inside the ARIA hotel, which was luckily a quick walk from the Cosmopolitan (where we were staying).
This review is based off of our in-dining experience as a table of 6 girls.
The vibe
Din Tai Fung is located inside the ARIA hotel, so you will have to walk into the hotel and past the lobby. It is located on the side on the first floor casino.
There was quite a long line outside Din Tai Fung when we arrived a little past 11am (they open at 11am), but it was moving quickly so I had high hopes. Unfortunately, we did not make a reservation and were told to wait 1 hour. So we grabbed some coffee at the closest cafe and just waited until our table was ready.
Once it was ready, we were walked in and I was pretty surprised at how big the restaurant was. It was huge with super high ceilings! Windows stretched from the floor to several floors up and it was a very open and bright space.
It was still very busy, but we were seated at a spacious table that fit all 6 of us.
Food review
Here is everything we ordered and shared between 6 adults. Prices are in USD and rounded to the nearest dollar for simplicity.
Cucumber salad ($11)
To start off, I order this $11 cucumber salad. I know it is pretty overpriced (especially with the USD conversion ๐ฅฒ) but I really like the cucumber salad at Din Tai Fung so I ordered it anyways.
It is a small but pretty tower of cucumbers combined with chili peppers, garlic and tossed together with drizzles of sesame oil and their signature Din Tai Fung chili oil. It is refreshing with a bit of spice!
Shrimp & kurobuta pork shao mai ($20 for 6pcs)
These came near the end of our meal and we actually ordered 2 orders so everyone would get 2 pieces each. Do not mistake these for their XLB because this is actually their shao mai. The shape of it looks quite different from the shao mai you may be familiar with. This is one of their most popular items after the XLB so I thought I’d order it for the girls to try, but they are definitely not as good as the XLB.
I think the main reason why I don’t like it as much as the XLB is that the skin is thicker than their other dumpling skins.
Kurobuta pork XLB ($14 for 6 pcs)
If you only get one thing from Din Tai Fung, it would be their xiao long baos (XLB)! We ordered 2-3 of these for 6 people.
Din Tai Fung boasts that their XLB are carefully weighed and folded by hand with a golden ratio of 18 folds. The filling is Kurobuta pork marinated with seasonings, and they pair it with some fresh ginger, green onion and soy sauce.
Din Tai Fung receives mixed reviews from time to time, depending on the location and many question whether it is worth the hype. Personally, I really like the XLB they serve and find the skin thin with a lot of soup flavour inside.
Shrimp & kurobuta pork spicy wontons ($20 for 8 pcs)
This is another popular item on their menu – the spicy wontons! They have different variations of this with chicken, veggies, but most popular would be the shrimp and pork one.
It is served with their signature house spicy sauce and topped with garlic and green onion. The spicy sauce is really why people like it! I am a mild spice lover and the spice level is still fine.
String beans with garlic ($20)
I can’t believe I am recommending a $20 vegetable dish ๐ซฃ, but the string beans here are chef’s kiss ๐. They are coated in minced garlic and tossed over high heat. Tastes so savoury and umami!
Also, this portion is much bigger and easier to share than the cucumber salad.
Noodles with sesame sauce ($16)
Time for some carbs! A lot of us complimented/really liked this dish after we tasted it.
The thin egg noodles are made in-house and coated in a nutty sesame sauce. Topped with some chili oil and crushed roasted peanuts (so don’t order if you are allergic to peanuts).
Braised beef noodle soup ($23)
We ordered this noodle soup because I wanted something soupy for my sore throat. The portion size was still sharable between 6 people but everyone got a small bowl of it.
The egg noodles are again, made in-house and it has some hearty flavours because the braised beef soup is cooked for several hours. It is mildly spicy and topped with blanched baby bok choy.
Overall, I think it is a decent bowl of Taiwanese beef noodle soup, but I’ve definitely had better tasting ones for a cheaper price.
Chicken fried rice ($21)
Lastly, we have this simple bowl of chicken fried rice. Again, they have different variations of fried rice with shrimp, pork, veggies, etc. but nothing else we ordered had chicken so we opted for chicken.
In the fried rice, there is a scrambled egg, green onion, salt and seasoning. I think this fried rice is really basic and not worth $20 USD but if you add some of that chilli oil from the spicy wontons, it tasted 2x better.
Final thoughts
Loewe’s rating: โญ๏ธโญ๏ธโญ๏ธโญ๏ธ
After tax and tip, we spent $338.20 CAD or $243.33 USD in total for 6 people. That’s around $56 CAD per person, which makes this a pretty expensive lunch.
However, I would argue that most places on the strip are gonna be expensive and I didn’t expect Din Tai Fung to be a cheap meal to begin with.
Food and taste-wise, I really liked everything we ordered. We did mostly order their signature items and the must-order items are definitely the XLB, spicy wontons, sesame noodle, and I dare say the cucumber salad and the green beans ๐ณ. The server recommended other items to us also that were popular like their “famous” chocolate XLB which I think is just atrocious and I would never ever try that because somehow it feels like an experiment gone terribly wrong (even if it tastes good… it should not exist ๐ฑ).
Service was excellent and I find that to almost always be the case whether it was this location or the Seattle location. The servers are always very friendly and will explain all the dishes, how to eat it, and recommend their signature items.
So based on this experience + a few others at the Seattle location, I still like Din Tai Fung and do find them to be an authentic spot for Taiwanese food.
Sincerely, Loewe