TAO Uptown — Restaurant in New York

Went to check out the happy hour on my way home which consists of $1 dumplings and $15 martini flights. First mistake was going on a Friday evening. Don’t do it. The restaurant opens at 5 pm, I pulled up at 5:10, the bar was already full but there were a few empty seats in the lounge area. There was a guy outside, security/doorman yet he failed to open the door for me. This was the 1st instance of poor service. I ordered an espresso martini at the bar. It was average 6/10, not worth $22 during happy hour. I found a seat in the lounge. There were allegedly 2 servers working who never seemed to be around. You literally had to flag them down to receive service. I happened to be sharing a table with a couple who got the attention of a male server. He took their order and never acknowledged me until I stopped him to ask a question. 2nd instance of poor service. At that point I refused to order with him bc his lack of acknowledgement meant he didn’t deserve my tip. I went to the bar to place my food order since I had my card on file there. The bartender said he wouldn’t be able to place my food order despite me never having a server come to take my order at the lounge table. Mind you I asked the server if it would be ok for me to order at the bar where my tab was open and he confirmed it would not be a problem. 3rd instance of poor service. No one knows what’s going on or how to streamline things. At that point I should’ve paid for my drink and left but I gave it a 5 min grace period. I wanted to try the dumplings to get a full experience. Finally a female server came over bc the bartender sent her to take my order. I ordered the pork and chicken dumplings and edamame. The dumplings were good for a $1 each but nothing special. The edamame was basic. I couldn’t finish the edamame so I asked for them to be wrapped to go considering I paid for it. The busboy went to ask the general manager, (his name escapes me) if it would be ok. I took this opportunity to express my dissatisfaction with the service to the manager and suggested the need for improvement. He was polite and listened to me however, he did nothing to rectify the numerous instances of poor service and I was not allowed to take the food I paid for home. There’s nowhere on the website or happy hour flyer indicating food to go would not be allowed. At this point I was over it and beyond ready to leave. $67 later and a feeling of pure annoyance was not worth ‘happy hour’. 2/10 do...

Made a reservation for my daughter sweet 16 and it was such an unpleasant experience for me and my guest. Initially I called prior to my reservation time to advise we will all be there around 8:30 pm (reservation for 8pm) the host advised after 8:15 we will be a no show. I told her I wanted to modify my reservation and she said we could not ( this was prior to 8pm). At 8:15 I called and told her some of my guest have arrived and will check in until I get there at 8:30 and she then held the original 8 PM reservation. After arrival we were ready around 8:45 and two guest were parking in which we advised if we can go sit (13ppl were already there) the host with bad attitude said no everyone had to be there. Later they proceeded to give us a table top of 8-10 ppl (8 fit comfortably) for my party of 14 and a high chair! I was so uncomfortable and asked for a bigger space in which the team on 8/29 refused to give us the larger table due to “another reservation”. After insisting and advising that we pre paid this reservation and how unfair it was to accept a party you can’t accommodate for the given occasion they then decided to give us the larger table. The host in the front was extremely rude nasty attitude and everyone was just mad at the fact that we didn’t want to squish our party to the table for 8-10 max not 14. I would say 8 comfortably as I was a maitre D at Zuma and know this service was awful! For TAO to have staff that are this bad in service is so awful and disappointing. I specifically chose this trusted name to have the best experience however, the workers just gave truly their worst service. Eve prior to arriving the cold and un flexible nature of the host was terrible. The server was slightly nicer but very rushed and barely went around to get drink orders and one of my guest felt she was rude. The server concentrated on me ordering in which one of my guest wanted to place and additionally order and she told him “there’s enough food for all”. I advised her I was doing family style but I also advised her that if someone wants an additional dish please take their orders. The whole night was a disgrace and she rushed and just wanted to get over with. I celebrated my daughters 16Th birthday dinner but I regret choosing this place and dealing with this type of behavior for such...

Let's start with the only positive of this place -- the aesthetic is gorgeous and stunning. There is a massive floating beautiful Buddha front and center. The food however was awful. The vegetable lo mein was completely lacking flavor, the orange chicken literally tasted raw, and the Thai BBQ chicken had zero sauce, was basically grilled chicken with lemon and soy sauce. I've never had such terrible Asian fusion in my life. The food was below average for Asian. They agreed to take the orange chicken back and remake it, and when they brought it back it did taste more cooked but I was appalled this happened in the first place in a restaurant like this especially with the prices for the dishes. I'm all for fancy restaurants charging high for amazing food when it's warranted and deserved but I have no idea why this place thinks they can charge the prices they do for such unseasoned food lacking flavor. The hot sauce they provided was literally Sriracha, what kind of Asian place lacks chili oil or legit hot sauce!

Let's get to the service now. We had a 8:30 reservation and came with a child. We had to wait till 9:15 pm to even get a table. This is after we called earlier and told them we are coming with a toddler and they told us no worries we are child friendly. Making your customers wait over 45 minutes for a table when they have a reservation is not child friendly. Our server also seemed to be paying more attention to the table next to us, seeming very rushed with us, not really checking in on us, but then randomly bringing out a "surprise" desert tower "courtesy of the chef" of a large fortune cookie, donuts, mango sticky rice for the table next to us and completely forgetting the fact that we booked this place for an anniversary dinner. How does this place decide who to randomly give towers of desserts to "courtesy of the chef"? The whole experience was awful and I would never return here again nor would I recommend this to any family or friends celebrating...