jīntiān fàndiàn de cài bú tài tián, yě bú tài xián.

今天 means today, and time words in Mandarin often come near the beginning of the sentence, before the main comment.

So:

今天 饭店的菜 不太甜，也不太咸。
= Today, the restaurant’s dishes are not too sweet and not too salty.

A common pattern is:

Time + topic/subject + comment

You could think of 今天 as setting the time frame for the whole sentence.

It can be confusing, because 饭店 can mean different things depending on region and context.

In this sentence, 饭店 means restaurant.

A few notes:

• In Mainland Mandarin, 饭店 can sometimes mean hotel, especially in formal names.
• In everyday speech, 餐馆 or 餐厅 are often clearer for restaurant.
• Here, because the sentence talks about 菜 (dishes / food) tasting sweet or salty, 饭店 is naturally understood as restaurant.

So in this sentence:

饭店的菜 = the restaurant’s dishes / the food at the restaurant

的 links a modifier to a noun. Here it shows a relationship like of or ’s in English.

So:

• 饭店 = restaurant
• 菜 = dishes / food
• 饭店的菜 = the restaurant’s dishes / the food at the restaurant

You can think of the structure as:

noun + 的 + noun

Examples:

• 我的书 = my book
• 老师的车 = the teacher’s car
• 饭店的菜 = the restaurant’s dishes

Not here. 菜 can mean different things depending on context:

• vegetable
• dish
• cooked food / cuisine

In 饭店的菜, it means the dishes or the food served at the restaurant, not just vegetables.

So this sentence is talking about the taste of the restaurant’s food overall.

In Mandarin, adjectives can often act directly as predicates, so you do not need a verb like is between the subject and the adjective.

In English:

• The dishes are sweet.

In Mandarin:

• 菜甜。

So in this sentence:

饭店的菜不太甜，也不太咸。

there is no separate word for are. That is completely normal in Mandarin.

不太 means not too, not overly, or sometimes not very, depending on context.

Here:

• 不太甜 = not too sweet
• 不太咸 = not too salty

In this sentence, 不太 sounds fairly mild and natural. It suggests the food is balanced in flavor.

Be careful: 不太 + adjective does not always mean the same thing in every sentence.

For example:

• 不太好 can mean not very good
• 不太清楚 can mean not very clear
• 不太甜 here is very naturally understood as not too sweet

This is because of a common tone change rule.

Normally, 不 is fourth tone: bù.
But when 不 comes before another fourth-tone syllable, it changes to second tone: bú.

Here:

• 太 is fourth tone: tài
• so 不太 is pronounced bú tài

That is why both instances are written:

• 不{bú}太
• 不{bú}太

This is pronunciation only; the character is still 不.

也 means also or too.

In this sentence:

• 不太甜，也不太咸
• not too sweet, and also not too salty

It links the second description to the first one.

A very common pattern is:

A，也B = A, and also B

Here it helps create a balanced description:

• not too sweet
• not too salty either

Mandarin learners often learn sentences like:

• 很甜 = very sweet
• 很咸 = very salty

But 很 is not required in every sentence.

When the adjective is already modified by something else, 很 is usually not needed. Here the adjectives are modified by 不太:

• 不太甜
• 不太咸

So adding 很 would be wrong here.

You can think of it like this:

• plain adjective in a statement often needs something like 很
• but if you already have 不, 太, 非常, 有点, etc., then 很 is usually unnecessary

Indirectly, yes—at least it gives a positive impression.

不太甜，也不太咸 suggests the food is not excessively sweet or salty. It sounds balanced and moderate.

So even though the sentence does not directly say 好吃 (tasty), it often implies that the seasoning is pleasant or appropriate.

Of course, context matters. In some situations it could simply be a neutral description, but many learners will hear it as mildly positive.

Normally, no. In this sentence, 的 should stay.

• 饭店的菜 = natural
• 饭店菜 = not natural in standard Mandarin for this meaning

Because 饭店 is modifying 菜, 的 is needed to show the relationship clearly.

Mandarin does sometimes omit 的 in certain close or fixed combinations, but 饭店的菜 is not a case where most learners should drop it.

The comma separates two parallel descriptions:

• 不太甜
• 也不太咸

It helps show that the sentence has two coordinated parts:

not too sweet, and also not too salty

In spoken Mandarin, there would usually be a slight pause there, though not always a strong one.

Yes, a little, but the original order is very natural.

Original:

• 今天 饭店的菜 不太甜，也不太咸。

This follows a common Mandarin structure:

• time + topic/subject + comment

You might also hear similar variations in conversation, but the original is clean and standard for learners.

What matters most is that:

• 今天 sets the time
• 饭店的菜 is what you are talking about
• 不太甜，也不太咸 is the description

So the sentence order is a very typical Mandarin pattern.