Yao Asian Fusion Cuisine — Restaurant in Lenox

Unfortunately, Yoa is a perfect example of the often "bipolar Berkshires," where the highs are really high, and the lows are really low.

We had what began as a very nice meal. Yummy starters (soup, spring rolls) and hot sake were quite promising. Then came what I intended as a first course of sushi, and I was delighted. The "Tri-Color Sushi Platter" was a work of art in both presentation and flavor/texture combinations. The photo posted is this delightful dish -- which really did taste as good as it looked. So six stars so far.

Then my wife received her very humble fried rice dish, which looked and tasted like run-of-the-mill Chinese buffet food, and was just heaped into a bowl without any care or art (quite a contrast to my sushi platter). Okay, so a slight miss on that, but I was still hopeful.

Then my Thai Green Curry with duck arrived. I stared at it for a minute, a little confused, thinking that maybe they had brought me someone else's order. It did not have any duck that I could see, but was instead smothered with ten huge chunks of tofu. I called our waiter over and pointed that out, "I think I have the wrong order -- there is no duck, just tofu." Our waiter apologized and rushed the dish back to the kitchen.

I should note at this point that our waiter had been really great up until now. He not only answered our questions but checked with the kitchen about things he didn't know (like whether the curry was gluten free, etc.). He also got our starters out quickly and checked in on us regularly. He was great.

Okay...so now our waiter returned to the table with my Thai Green Curry dish, explaining to me that it was, in fact, duck. He pointed out the SINGLE piece of duck that was sitting on one side of the dish (which I had apparently not seen). I dug around for more, and found one other piece of duck buried in the bottom under the rice. So...ten enormous pieces of tofu and two tiny (half-inch) chunks of duck...? Really?

I shook my head. "On the menu there is an upcharge for the duck, and I'd like duck please, not mostly tofu." The waiter apologized and said "We would have to charge you more for more duck." I shook my head and sent the dish back.

Okay...so now you know why this restaurant only received two stars. It isn't just skeevy and unethical to mislead your customers with fake upcharges for non-existent add-ons, but to then insist the guest must pay more for what was clearly advertised on the menu is just...well it's just really shitty business practice. If this was a mistake, or they had run out of duck, they should have just owned up to it...not given me tofu instead at the higher price.

So...if you want to be misled and overcharged, this is the place for you! If you want to be treated with truthfulness and respect, try Jae's 7 Winter, which is just 15 minutes away in Pittsfield, for some excellent -- and much more honest -- Asian fusion...

Yao in Lenox, MA is the best Asian restaurant I’ve ever been to. The food is the best I’ve ever had and I’ve been to 70 different Asian restaurants in my life. The food is simply amazing! Fresh, great quality, hot, and never takes very long, unless there is a line out the door and even then it seems to come quicker than most places. So the service is amazing too. The scorpion bowls are armazing and the appetizers are the best I’ve ever had. The price is fair and I’ll pay their prices without any guilt knowing I got the best of the best. I don’t hold back at places like this so I’ll never only spend $50 it’s usually $100 or more but I couldn’t care less. It’s a treat and I’ll be going there the rest of my life or until they aren’t serving all their customers this amazing goodness. I never give a perfect review of 100 out of 100 but I cannot think of anything to critique them about. Atmosphere is amazing, can get kinda loud if they are very busy but that’s any restaurant. I highly recommend this place and if you try this place you will know why I give Yao Asian Fusion Cusine a...

I let my waitress know of my allergies and ended up having a reaction. I told her I'm allergic to wheat and milk so no gluten or dairy. She brought out my friends food first and said mine would be a minute. I got seafood tom yum and they gave me regular noodles that contain wheat and a marinated egg which also contains wheat. I asked the waitress if my dish was gluten free and she said yes. I said the noodles look the same as my friends so she went back and said they could replace them with rice noodles but it would be another minute. I called her back over to ask about the egg which they just omitted. By the time my food came out my friend was almost done with her food. I asked if they could comp it because if I hadn't noticed I would've gotten very sick, I had to wait a long time, and by the time my food came out my friend was almost done with hers and only got 25% off. In the end I still ended up having an...