TAO

The service started out great, we got late for our reserved time, but there was still a booth open for us as we requested. Being a group of young students, the waitress treated us like a joke as though we couldn't afford to eat there. She even abandoned us halfway through our drink order, and our drinks/meals were often taken away prematurely. We ordered a ton of drinks, and a horde of sushi rolls, appetizers, entrees, and desserts...and that's when she took us seriously. The food on the other hand was delectable. The entrees could have been a tad better, but the appetizers were generally good as was the sushi. DESSERT was the highlight of the evening. The banana cream pudding is the best you will ever have and what more can I say about the giant fortune cookie and sugar dusted doughnuts?! Fantastic. The atmosphere was great, albeit crowded. The decor was fantastic, and we had a great time.

We went here on Saturday night we were a party of 4 had a 9:00 reservation which was confirmed that afternoon by a phone call from the restaurant telling me the reservation would only be held till 9:15 so we arrived promptly at 8:55. At 10:40 we were seated after going to the front desk 4 times and being told there were only 2 tables ahead of us and it would only be minutes. Lets face it NYC has a lot of great restaurants go there and be seated when you request to be seated and get the same if not better quality of food. Also the noise level is ridiculous.

Ate at Tao last night, food was excellent! Service was very poor. Waited over an hour for a table when we made a reservation a month in advance. Server was trying to rush us out throughout the entire meal. When we were still eating, he kept coming up to us and asking us if we were done. "Um, hello ... I'm still holding my chopsticks in my hand. Does it look like I'm done?" This continued through the night so we decided to stay longer just to make a point. We kept ordering drinks and he kept trying to bring us our check. Unreal! There was actually a line to get in the ladies room. It, literally, took 15 minutes. You think a place this size would have more than 1 bathroom. Definitely touristy... which is annoying because they're so obnoxious, ill mannered and poorly dressed. Will order take out from here next time.

Great food, great service, great atmosphere! Just make sure to get a reservation and you're good to go! Try the gigantic fortune cookie dessert!

Took 8 people here for dinner yesterday. One person in our party was late, so they refused to seat us, and threatened to cancel the reservation, since they had rebooked the table for another reservation 2.5 hours later (and didn't want our dinner running late). They eventually sat us (and the last person joined us later), but because they told us that the table had another reservation set at 8pm the heat was on. The main meal was good, food was tasty, and the waitress was helpful with the menu. Nothing particularly innovative, but it was very tasty, and the prices are reasonable. The highlight was the dessert platter - we were celebrating a birthday, and so they presented an amazing platter, with 4-5 different desserts, which was perfect for sharing, as well as some chocolates in a giftbox, as a souvenir, which was really nice. Then though the hassles started again. Every 2 minutes, the "restaurant manager" would come and walk by, to see if we were leaving. He would linger somewhat close to the table, and watch us, and it felt like, despite just having had an expensive meal, the pressure was on us now to clear the table and leave as soon as possible. I don't need to feel rushed during dinner, especially when I'm paying $500-$600 for a meal - I don't need that hassle - I deserve to be allowed to take my time. I won't be back here again, because how can you enjoy a meal, when you know you're being timed and on the clock? I get that at work, I don't need that when I'm out on a saturday night...

I went to Tao on a business dinner and the food was just average. I had the Hong Kong Shrimp which was kind of plain. The seaweed app was very good and a bit different. Overall there are much better places to eat in NYC.

I went to Tao in the mindset that the food would be overly expensive, small in portions, and a bit crap. Needless to say, I was pleasantly surprised. The portions were great (do you really need to stuff yourself or have left overs for the next two days? no). My friends and I didn't get drinks - we decided that dessert sounded better. We started wtih appetizers the Chef's Roll, some sort of fried lobster and ship dumpling, and the satay of chicken. All were quite good. The chicken satay was forgetable, but not bad. I had the wasabi crusted filet for my main, and it was amazing. Cooked perfectly. It practicaly melted in my mouth. Another friend had the Chilean Sea Bass, also amazing. The other two meals were good as well - spicy shrimp and NY serlion. For dessert we had the giant fortune cookie (awesome) banana bread pudding (kinda tastes like banana creme brule) apple spring roll (like apple pie - you could get the same taste anywhere) and chocolate raspberry wontons (good, but i would try other things on the menu before I got this again). Our server was wonderful and the atmosphere was super fun. I will definatly go back.