Price: ~$420 USD, Dinner, Dec'25
Location: Shanghai, China
Seating: Table Booth
Taian Table is currently Shanghai’s only three-Michelin-star restaurant. The concept is mostly counter seating surrounding the open kitchen, where guests can watch the chefs prepare and plate each dish right in front of them. However, there are also two table booths that can seat up to four people — I was seated in one of those booths.
Courses: Multi-course tasting menu (10 courses), featuring modern European cuisine with Chinese ingredients incorporated throughout.
Flavor-wise, many dishes were clean, precise, and well balanced. The ingredients were premium — high-quality seafood, meats, and luxury touches that you would expect at this level. Everything tasted good, and technically the execution was strong. There were no bad dishes, and nothing felt poorly done.
However, while everything was solid and technically well executed, none of the dishes were truly memorable. Nothing really stood out or gave me that feeling of, “I’d come back just for this.” The meal was consistently good, but it lacked that wow factor that makes a 3-star experience unforgettable.
Service: I was honestly disappointed with the service, especially for a three-star restaurant. There was very little coordination between servers when placing or clearing dishes — something I would normally expect to be seamless at this level. We also weren’t really attended to consistently; water glasses were rarely refilled. It almost felt like we were a bit forgotten, possibly because we were seated in one of the table booths instead of at the counter. For a 3* establishment, I was expecting a much higher level of attentiveness.
Cost to Performance: It is definitely expensive, even by Shanghai standards. However, given that it holds three Michelin stars, the pricing isn’t surprising — especially in a city where there is strong demand for high-end dining. Flavor-wise, it was solid across the board, the ingredients were premium, and there were no weak dishes.
Whether it feels fully “worth it” really depends on what you value — you’re paying for precision and premium ingredients, though it does come at a high cost.
Personal Rating: 8.5/10
Taian Table is technically impressive and consistently well executed, but it didn’t completely wow me. The food was very good across the board, just not particularly memorable, and the service fell short of what I expect from a three-star restaurant. Overall, it’s a strong fine-dining experience in Shanghai, but for me, it didn’t quite reach that unforgettable 3* level. Perhaps part of the high price tag reflects the location and demand of the area.
by saizen211