The wait was up to an hour, and for four Americans waiting at Chili's in Warner Village, a table in the bar area with access to a broadcast of live World Cup action wasn't a priority.
"I said it at the beginning, the World Cup is mostly a big letdown," said Taipei resident Les Arthur.
He was here mainly for the food, a triple-play appetizer combo and chicken Caesar salad, caring little about the match overhead featuring Argentina and Serbia and Montenegro.
Flummoxed
Arthur, a self-professed sucker for international sports tournaments, said he was flummoxed by how "falling down on purpose is part of the game."
Others at his table had a similar uninterest, mostly due to the nightly coverage, as well as lopsided early round matches.
Magnus, a Swedish national, was planning a trip to Hualien this week to get away from the World Cup.
"Sweden has never lost to England in 40 years, and now they were even smart enough to get our coach too," he said, referring to Swede Sven-Goran Eriksson, who has coached the English team in successive World Cup campaigns.
At half time, he walked out of a Netherlands-Ivory Coast match at Underworld, a small subterranean pub located on Shida Road where two dozen college-aged youths and a half-dozen foreigners watched a Chinese-language broadcast on an overhead projector.
A girl in white knee-socks was cheering throughout most of the first half, letting out a loud cheer or "Aiya" whenever a team threatened to score.
She admitted to having no particular favorite team, nor any opinion about this match nor any other World Cup competition for that matter.
Strong man legs
Floaty, an American who DJs at Underworld every Friday evening, guessed that women are attracted to the sport because they like to see men in shorts, or "strong man legs" as he described it.
He said most patrons to his bar cheered for the underdogs rather than supporting one specific team.
Floaty doesn't play music during World Cup matches, allowing for uninterrupted Chinese-language commentary, though he does spice up half time with selections like AC-DC's Dirty Deeds Done Dirt Cheap and a little bit of scratching -- despite a broken right hand.
Even a recent Brazilian gathering at Bliss proved to be less spirited than the team's earlier opening round match.
Brazilian supporters arrived in taxis, carrying noisemakers and other soccer paraphernalia packed away in backpacks.
But the supporters seemed lethargic only two hours before kickoff, with just one woman demonstrating the required team spirit by scurrying about the bar ordering drinks in a gold lame headdress.
It was a big change from the opening round match for Brazil, a party which Bliss proprietor Barry Smit said ended at 6am.
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