I've been to Dali Courtyard a number of times and enjoyed it overall. It's a nice place to take out of town visitors. The food is good although not great, but their set menu approach allows diners to choose wine and not have to worry about guests knowing what to order, or seeing how much dinner costs.
During a visit in late November, the routine was the same except for two significant differences. First, it appears the number of dishes and what they are has changed. Towards the end of the meal we did not receive mi xian, rice noodles. That had been part of every meal I had ever had there before, whether as a couple or a large group.
The other difference was that the staff was argumentative when members of our party did not arrive on time. They wanted to cook and serve all the dishes from the time on the reservation, and were not willing to delay or reduce dishes when it appeared two or three people would not make it. Instead of finding a reasonable way to resolve this, they sent a junior server, who of course talked about it in front of the entire party in Chinese conversational tone, i.e. full volume. If I wanted to hear waidiren yell, I can do that at just about any other restaurant in Beijing, it's not necessary to pay Dali Courtyard's prices for the privilege.
Dali Courtyard was formerly a semi-default, especially in warmer weather. Now I'd have to think twice about whether I'd ever go there again.
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