Yao Atlanta — Restaurant in Dunwoody

We came to Yao after seeing multiple social media posts for Father's Day dinner however left sorely disappointed after an expensive an unsatisfying dining experience. Yao is located in the perimeter mall area and has a private lot with two hours of free parking. Upon entering, the decor is really nice and they have an inhouse DJ playing music. There were several things which made the experience pretty disappointing for us. Upon entering there was a musty smell which we attributed to having an open kitchen. Our party of four was promptly seated and what looked like a private dining area for larger groups. The room felt very hot and stuffy And the location of our original seats extremely so. We were relocated to a different area once we requested different seats, but even that was not much better. It was only much later through the dinner upon inquiring Why it was so hot we were informed that they had some cooling issues. However, no portable fans or other efforts were in place to make the guest comfortable. Terrible service. The restaurant appeared short staffed that busy Friday night with only two servers managing the entire dinner service. As a result, our service was never prompt. Our server apologized multiple times through the night given the delays. Our appetizers took over 40 minutes to come. They forgot one of our appetizers which took another 10-15 mins to come. We were never offered compensation for the same. Following that, We waited over an hour for a main course. We were forever trying to catch our server's attention to get our drinks reordered, check on our food, etc. Ultimately, we were there for over two hours due to the service delays. When asked to validate our parking tickets, our server informed us that first two hours were free and we had to pay only a nominal fee for anything over that time. This really annoyed me given the delays were due to the restaurant and they did not seem to be interested upfront to help make the experience any better. It was only after I requested the server to go talk to the manager were we given a $10 compensation. The food was average and in my opinion, and I'm being generous by saying that. I've had better food at Asian fast food restaurants for much cheaper. We got the sample tree, Roti canai, pork bun and crab wontons for appetizers. The sampler tree was good. The crab wontons were also pretty flavorful. For main course, we got the crying tiger, fish of the day(red snapper-$75), rack of ribs, and basil stirfry beef. All of these entrées were fairly disappointing and a touch too sweet from my liking. The flavors were nowhere as complex as you would expect in asian food. The fish was the most disappointing, particularly given the price we paid for it. The restaurant tries for a lounge like experience with a live DJ and dim lights. The dim lights make it hard to read the menu. On social media they also promote having an in-house masseuse, giving shoulder massages during meals. That was the main reason for us coming here. However, when we didn't see one- upon inquiring further our server told us that this was no longer offered as the masseuse was away on a family emergency and they did not trust anybody else to do the job as well. Our server was great and was always trying to explain the mishaps while attempting to make the experience better for us, however, by the end of the night, it just felt like a bunch of excuses thrown our way for any concerns raised. Not once did the manager check in with us even when we complained about having to pay for parking and expressed our disappointment in our overall dining experience with the heat and the delays. Overall: I would recommend the restaurant management, spend money on building a better infrastructure for a greater dining experience which would bring returning customers rather than on false advertising via social media influencers, which may bring new customers in, however, they would not leave happy given the restaurant's current inability to provide what...

First off, the parking is very tricky. We had to circle the block 2 times, and was on the phone at the same time with the hostess to figure out the parking garage. For your information, if you come from Hammond street, the parking garage is on the same side of the restaurant but before the restaurant 2 or 3 shops. The first 2 hours in the visitor area is free. After entering the parking garage, you should turn left to park close to where the restaurant is, B3 section, even though visitor parking can be anywhere. There was an elevator close to the visitor parking B3, you can take elevator go up to B2 and the restaurant will be right on the left. But we learned all of this the hard way after dinner. We parked at B3 but didn't see the elevator close by (it's not so obvious for first visitor) so we walk to the only elevator we saw close to the garage entrance and the only option it has is to take us to L level, in which we went out of elevator, go down 3 plight of stairs to get to street level on front street and then walking to the restaurant. I don't mid the walk though it's really inconvenient but it was a bit tired for my parents.

The service was very attentive and knowledgeable so 4 stars for the service. The hostess after hearing our parking story then simply point out there's an elevator right outside the restaurant that lead straight to the B3 parking area. They really should have parking instruction on either Yelp or their website.

There was no covid safety practice. None of the employees wear mask, from hostess to server, and there was no social distance between tables.

Though the parking was tricky, the part that disappointed us was the food. The food is alright but nothing amazing. For the price they have, it should have been better. We love fusion and don't mind to pay as long as they taste good but this was not the case.

For drinks: I ask for a mocktail and the server recommends the cocktail Lychee martini with no alcohol so I order that. It taste like a diluted lychee syrup drink. When the bill is out, I was charged for the full cocktail price of $16 plus liquor tax even though my drink has no alcohol. I asked the server and they says it's a requirement of the state for alcohol order but again, my drink has no alcohol! Anyway, lesson learned, if you want a mocktail, keep in mind that they will charge full price cocktail plus liquor tax for your non-alcohol drink order.

For appetizers, we had: Dumplings: there are 3 dumpling in 1 dish. They're like shumai but very spicy. The spiciness overwhelmed the dumpling flavor. King Oyster mushroom steak: the mushroom texture is very off in this dish, it's really slimy chewy which is not what I would expect of grilled mushroom. Corn on the cob: it's supposed to be grilled corn but the taste makes it feel like the corn was not grilled but only was torched on the outside for teh burn effect. Mix Mushrooms: was okay Fresh water prawn: this one taste good but for $25/prawn, and half of the prawn is the head which has no meat.

For entrees: Catch Of the Day: it's market price so for $55, I got a mediocre fried red snapper nuggets that way over-seasoned on the fried batter and the fish meat inside doesn't taste as fresh. We ended up to-go box the whole fish after one bite but we still didn't eat it later at home either, so that whole order is a waste. Crab fried rice: this is the only dish that is good, but for 1 dish to be good out of 8 orders is a bad ratio.

For dessert: We had Yao's ice cream which is coconut ice cream. It has this special smoke effect which maybe dry ice with added water in the bowl container. But it make the bowls super cold after the dry ice is melt off and kid might get cold burn if they hold on the bowl for long.

All the stars go to service and restaurant decoration, though the music is kinda loud. We won't come back due to the...

We were so disappointed in the experience that we had tonight. My man and I have been looking forward to our date night at Yao for weeks and we saw the photos and the reviews so we thought that we would be really impressed. We arrived at the restaurant and were looking at the cocktail list and unfortunately all of the cocktails were starting at $14 ranging to $16 which is quite expensive for the size of the cocktails that were being offered (we saw them passing by). We also noticed before even eating anything that the restaurant had a very fishy smell to it that was coming outside (we sat on the patio) from the inside and fresh fish should not have such a strong scent. That was an instant put off. In fact, we saw another customer actually send her fish back for reasons that we’re not exactly sure about but definitely an indication that it wasn’t what she was looking for. We still proceeded to order a couple of appetizers. The restaurant was very short staffed and so service was extremely slow. Even trying to get our order in for appetizers took a very very long time. They had one server doing probably about six tables at once. We ordered the Tom Yum soup, the pork belly bun, the taro rolls and the king oyster mushroom skewer. The best thing we had was definitely the oyster mushroom skewer it was grilled, cooked really well and the flavor was nice. The taro rolls were good however they were very small and skinny and I don’t feel like it was really a lot of food for nine dollars. The pork belly bun that my boo had was extremely dry and overcooked which is very disappointing given that it was eight dollars for one bun. The Tom Yum soup was pretty much flavorless and if you’ve had Tom Yum soup before you know it’s an extremely aromatic flavorful soup. After we had the appetizers we just decided we didn’t even want entrées due to how slow the service was and how unimpressed we were with the appetizers. The restaurant has really nice ambience and cleanliness so I that’s another reason why we’re giving it three stars however we definitely will not be coming back because the quality was just not there. Lastly when we were on our way out we saw a cook grilling the food through the window and noticed that no gloves are being used and he was touching everything with his bare hands raw and cooked food and putting it on the grill which is just frankly disturbing. That being said I just hope that this restaurant can improve because we’ve had better quality food for a $10 lunch special at more casual Thai restaurants. This is not authentic Thai food. Save your time and money because...