Tao Tao Chinese Restaurant — Restaurant in Kansas City

Do you ever just walk in a place and you feel the passion, dedication, love and history? This is one of those places. Let me tell you about it.

I'd been reading about this place for a while and wanting to try it. I found myself in the Crossroads District near downtown Kansas City and decided that was the day to make the journey to Tao Tao for a long awaited taste test.

I called the restaurant to place a carryout order and the young lady who answered the phone was very sweet and excited to take my order. We're off to a great start y'all! I proceeded to order Shrimp Fried Rice, Combination Fried Rice and the Savory Crab Rangoon sampler. I was provided a total and a pick up time and began to head over.

Upon pulling up I found an unassuming building with a clean exterior and a "rooted in the community" feel. Upon entering you have to hit a " buzzer" for entry. The young lady who took my order was there with a winning smile and promptly let me in. She was excited this was my first visit and so was I. She proceeded to share the history of Ms. Annie, her family and the restaurant. I was all to willing to listen and learn.

The kitchen is right there at the counter and you're able to see everything as they prepare your food fresh to order. There was the backbone, the pillar, the icon known as Ms. Annie. Hard at work and seemingly directing an orchestra in the kitchen as she seamlessly handled preparing all the orders with ease. WOW!!!

I politely asked if I could take pictures for my review and she obliged. The young woman at the counter offered for me to take a picture with Ms. Annie and I was honored. As I walked through the restaurant there are no frills. It is a place where you can just go and enjoy your food, relish in the friendliness and welcoming nature of the staff and learn about a place that has survived and thrived throughout time.

When my food was done I happily grabbed it. Ms. Annie by that time was so busy as the restaurant began to fill with people eagerly awaiting their food that she didn't have time for a picture. I smiled and told her next time. All the more reason for me to visit again.

When I got home the food was AMAZING! The rice was so fresh and delicious, the Crab Rangoon were full of unique flavors and the taste experience was out of this world. This ain't fast food. This is food prepared expertly, efficiently, tastefully and with lots of love and experience.

Listen I don't care where you live in the city this place is worth the drive and visit. Take some time to absorb the love and experience while you're there. I'm telling you, you'll be so glad you did. Their menu is packed with variety so there's something for everyone.

Make sure to tell Ms. Annie and the staff "hello" for me while you're there. I'll definitely be back soon trying something new. Until next time...

After hearing so many rave reviews about this place on the KC Eats FB page, we decided to make the 40 minute trek to check it out. It most certainly did not disappoint. As soon as you walk in the door you are greeted by a lovely lady who already knows you are new. "You must be new Tao Tao Babies," she said. She then proceeded to yell back at her 75 y/o mother working the wok, "Hey mom! We've got Tao Tao Babies!" She inquired about where we were from, and treated us like we were her long lost friends from years back. My wife and I couldn't help but smile and truly felt at home. We put in a rather large order so we could have a large sampling. We started with the savory 8-pack of Crab Rangoon, a Shrimp Egg Roll, and a Pork Egg Roll. So many places serve small flavorless Crab Rangoon these days. It was nice to have the larger size again that actually had crab inside. This was definitely a first having 4 different flavors (regular, spicy, bacon jalapeno, and spinach parmesan garlic). All were amazing and fresh! I should have known better than to take a bite so quickly, but it all looked amazing! My tongue is still a little tingly. While waiting for our entree in the next room, we heard our host telling other people about the "Tao Tao Babies" who had driven up from Gardner. We had a good chuckle. She would also yell through the door to check on us as we waited. Our entrees came out hot, fresh, and HUGE! We both loved our choices. I don't taste as much since Covid, but my wife kept raving about her food. We finally ended with the dessert Rangoons. They were probably the least favorite part of our meal, but I would definitely order the Strawberry again. Such a wonderful little restaurant. Make the trip over to KCK more than once and graduate from being a...

My friends and I met for lunch here today. It was the first time for all of us and we were all super impressed! Tina, Annie and Leo are great at what they do- sling delicious Chinese food!

Parking here is limited but since most of their business is take out, there were spots for all of us to park.

Tina gave us a great overview of their menu and her mom's most popular dishes. We ended up getting nearly all of the items recommended and were not disappointed!

The food was very reasonably priced, given the price of food these days. You get a TON of food, so expect to have multiple meals out of your dish.

We got the general tso's, Springfield chicken, vegetable lo main, combo fried rice, egg rolls and lots of the variety of their savory rangoons. The chicken for general tso and Springfield is well made with very little breading yet still nice and crispy. All of the food we had was homemade, including the sauces. Clearly other Chinese places around use the same sauce like sweet & sour and general tso sauce from the same supplier. Not at Tao Tao!

We also tried their sweet rangoons - peach cobbler, strawberry cheesecake and apple pie. All were out of this world.

There are only two things I wish were slightly different- I wish I knew for sure which Rangoon flavor was which- they were all served together. This did make it a fun surprise! My husband loves chocolate but not really any other sweets. If there were chocolate based rangoons, I would've bought more to bring home.

I will definitely be coming back and recommending to anyone who wants great...