Tao's Fresh — Restaurant in Castro Valley

Pepper lunch is supposedly Japanese, but seeing kimchi and soju on the menu made me think this was a Korean place. That’s okay, as long as the food is good, I don’t care what kind of place it is. Met up with a friend here to catch up and try something new. I am not familiar with San Lorenzo, but this part of town seems okay. A plaza with plenty of parking so I was relieved that I didn’t have to look for street parking. When I got to the restaurant, I was even more confused. It’s selling milk tea. Then I heard the server speaking in Mandarin. Okay, maybe this place is owned by Chinese. Oh well, perhaps this place has an identity crisis. Lol.

I ordered curry beef rice with cheese. It came out sizzling and I had to quickly cook and move the beef slices before they were overcooked. I throughly enjoyed the beef slices. I wish they added more cheese so that the plate was more gooey. Perhaps I was spoiled and ruined by Daeho’s gooey and cheesy Kalbijim, but I digress. This place did a decent job of making pepper lunch dishes. I would go back and maybe next time I would even order...

We were looking for a quick meal before going on a party bus, and found this place on our Google search. Located in a small strip mall, tucked away in the corner.

I'm glad we chose this place, because the food was fulfilling! The dishes came out hot & they were prepared fresh. I had the chicken katsu plate, which is my usual go-to at a Hawaiian-style eatery. I was served a large portion of katsu pver rice, with mac salad on the side. The chicken was hot & crispy, and the katsu sauce had great flavor. The good hit the spot 👌

If you're looking for a casual place with good rice plates, then this is the place. The seating area is limited, so you may find yourself waiting a lil bit on a Friday or Saturday night.

My sisters ordered some dessert shakes, and they looked good as well. I didn't try it, but they said they'd order it again. They also had a mixed BBQ plate over rice, which was huge! Definitely a dish you can share with one other person, unless you haven't eaten all day.

Great...

I had very high expectations for this place due to the reviews. The prices were pretty steep as well. I went in with my niece to dine in. She got the chicken and beef teriyaki plate($16)and I got the golden eel with rice sizzling plate($18).With a side of broccoli. Also got the fried calamari. We got our plates and presentation was nice. But the portions were disappointing. My plate was mainly rice and egg. The pieces of eel were REALLY small. At $18 It was honestly NOT worth it. My niece said her plate was ok but she would have much rather gotten it from a Hawaiian BBQ place. It wasn't bad, I could tell the food was fresh I just wish the quantity of *meat given would've equated to the price. The best and my favorite out of everything we ordered was actually the calamari. It was so tasty. Fresh, tasty, crunchy and chewy just like i like it! I would honestly return just for that lol. The total for the 2 plates calamari and side of broccoli came out to a steep $65 with no drinks ordered. Tip...