Two things: a) it's Din Tai Fung; and b) nobody who's aiming for The Cheesecake Factory across the street from the convention center is going to accidentally wind up at the Pacific Place (or, worse, UVillage) Din Tai Fung.

They are completely different menus and dining experiences. Though if The Cheesecake Factory ever adds soup dumplings to their menu, I bet they will be pretty good and cheaper.

I learned mandarin in the mainland so the romanization of 鼎泰丰 stuck in my head is different. Also, I was thinking more Bellevue square, where Din Tai Fung is fairly located across the street, so it’s actually a choice to make (though getting a seat at cheese cake factory is usually easier). I would put them up as comparable: they are both chains, they are both kind of pricey for chains, and if I were in Beijing, it would be a legitimate question to think about going to that or a western food chain.

I love this comment because it exposes several cultural assumptions in the parent which were not obvious to me on first reading.

DTF is unreasonably expensive, so that wouldn't be hard. There's other dim sum places to go to in California at least.

It is expensive. It Bellevue at least, there are other options (Topgun for example) but requiring driving, and you are still spending $80 or so. DTF is ok once in awhile, it’s not like there are tons of other Taiwanese dim sum places, most of them are going to be Cantonese.

I mean nothing is wrong with scooping 1/2 of your plate into a togo box and saving your portion. I do it all the time.