The previous piece on Dali’s night followed the trunk line on Zhongxing Road Section 2: skewers, Holiday KTV, foot massage, a cab home. This one does not follow the trunk line. It answers questions instead — the ones people living in Dali and Taiping actually ask, one at a time.
Are there bistros in Dali at night?
Yes, and you can count them on one hand.
居酒屋 ·拉麵 (Izakaya · Ramen) at No. 79, Dongrong Road Section 1 — the name is those five characters and a dot. More than 600 reviews, rated 5.0, the only one in Dali’s bistro category whose review count and rating both hold up. Turn off Zhongxing Road Section 2 onto Dongrong Road and it is two minutes on foot, with Holiday KTV on the corner, so it works before or after singing. NT$300 to NT$500 a head; after seven on Friday and Saturday nights you wait, so phone first.
九族居酒屋 (Jiuzu Izakaya) at No. 8, Lane 48, Daming Road has about 130 reviews and a 4.1, a local place down a lane. With that score, go in if you are passing; no need to make a trip.
Paraiso 帕拉伊索墨西哥餐酒 (Paraiso Mexican Bistro) at No. 385, Renhua Road has about 50 reviews and a 5.0, Dali’s only Western-style bistro, with few seats and a small sample. If you want to go, book; do not gamble on a walk-in table.
That is the three. 夜燒碳烤居酒屋(大里店) (Ye Shao Charcoal Izakaya, Dali) at No. 362, Zhongxing Road Section 2 was covered in the previous piece and is not repeated.
What about bistros in Taiping?
None that can be named.
Taiping’s high street runs around Zhongshan Road and Taiping Road, and after dark it is fried chicken, braised snacks and noodle shops — shop names are not listed here. People run at night in Pinglin Forest Park, and there is less to eat around it than around Dali Sports Park.
The closest thing on the Taiping side is 聊療貓Bar 療癒系身心靈咖啡廳 (Liao Liao Mao Bar, healing café) at No. 511, Tucheng Road, about 850 reviews, rated 5.0 — but it runs as a café, not a place to drink late.
Taiping’s answer is the same as Dali’s: drive about ten minutes to Dongrong Road Section 1 in Dali, or take Highway 74 downtown.
What is worth a deliberate trip from downtown?
Food and drink: one place, Izakaya · Ramen. Holding a 5.0 across more than 600 reviews — that volume belongs to it alone in Dali.
Massage: two. 摩法天使（大里店 ）運動按摩 (Mofa Tianshi, Dali, Sports Massage) at No. 441, Daming Road has about 530 reviews and a 5.0, and it is sports massage — the place to close a night run at Dali Sports Park, five minutes by car from the park at No. 710, Guoguang Road Section 2. 泰正點 泰式養生館 (Tai Zheng Dian Thai Wellness) at No. 13, Lane 382, Zhongxing Road Section 1 has about 290 reviews and a 4.9, Thai style, down a lane, an hour priced NT$100 to NT$200 below downtown; posted rates apply.
安媚SPA (An Mei SPA) at No. 716, Shuangwen Road has about 180 reviews and a 5.0, spa style, a price tier up, for people who want quiet.
For a drink followed by a massage, M-謐境足體按摩芳療館 (M-Mijing Foot Massage and Aromatherapy) at No. 112, Dongrong Road Section 1 has about 70 reviews and a 5.0, on the same street as Izakaya · Ramen, three minutes on foot.
What is better downtown?
Anyone who wants to sit at a counter with a cocktail. Dali has no cocktail bar, not one — 洛克飛鏢club (Rock Darts Club) at No. 579, Yonglong Road is a darts bar, and Liao Liao Mao is a café. For a proper cocktail, take Highway 74; from the Dali interchange, downtown is ten to fifteen minutes, and the whole of the Caowudao bistro strip is within range.
Anyone who wants to sing until the small hours. 故鄉庭園自助式KTV大里店 (Guxiang Garden Self-Service KTV, Dali) at No. 509, Daming Road has more than 2,500 reviews and a 4.0 — big volume, low score, with reviews of self-service rooms mostly about waits and room condition; fine for a big group. For six or fewer, Holiday on Zhongxing Road Section 2 is closer, or just go downtown.
Anyone who wants supper stalls does not need downtown. Around Neixin Market after dark, stir-fry, fried chicken and soy-milk shops are all there, NT$200 to NT$300 fills you up.
How do I get home after drinking?
Leave the car.
A cab from Dali to downtown is about NT$300, Taiping to Dali’s Dongrong Road NT$100-odd, on the meter. Highway 74 is fast at night; if you have been drinking, do not drive. Meet the designated driver on the main road at Zhongxing Road Section 2, and do not make the driver hunt through Dongrong Road.
For people living in Dali and Taiping, the standard evening is eat on Dongrong Road, sing on Zhongxing Road Section 2, massage on Daming Road, cab home. The Dali bars and izakaya list is short but honest, Dali massage and spa is the district’s real strength, Dali KTV has two or three more rooms, and the Dali District Guide has the whole picture.