Not impressed.\n\nI was very excited for this restaurant, amidst all the hype and reviews. The big buddha especially was appealing. We considering just popping by for the club at first, but decided we may as well just eat here instead. Boy do I regret that.\n\nFirst, the service. For a high-scale, populous, touristy area such as where Tao is located, I would except only the best of service. This started on the wrong foot, when my party was running 15 minutes late, and called out of politeness to notify and apologize to the restaurant like we always do. Here's a first: when I asked if our reservation could be pushed back by 15 minutes due to a slight delay, the hostess replied, \"15 minutes should be okay.. any later, and it's up to the manager's discretion on your reservation.\" What? What kind of BS rudeness is this. I can understand that for a top-notch restaurant, space is limited and therefore any outrageously late reservations / no shows will be given to people who have been waiting for a seat. But we were only 15 minutes late, and by the time we arrived, there was no one waiting in line. That just added salt to the wound - if there had been an extremely long line with multiple aggravated parties waiting to be seated, sure. But don't spout some BS to us over the phone and cause us to rush when it wasn't even needed with a passive aggressive threat to our reservation. Also, during my reservation, we had requested a seat next to the large Buddha. Granted, I understand requests are not always given, but it was for my girlfriend's graduation dinner, and the fact that there were empty seats around the Buddha when we passed by it made me wonder what exactly the manager does when training his employees on the ideals of service. Nevertheless, we spoke up when they attempted to seat us in some dark corner, and waited while the hostess \"discussed\" with another our seating preferences, and reseated us after 2-3 minutes. \n\nMoving on, the decor. They get an additional star for this, otherwise this would have been a one-star review. As a tourist, we love seeing flashy, new things - my camera is always ready in my hand. First, they had multiple beautiful rose petal water baths in the entrance (for visual pleasure of course). The light was dimly set, but not dark enough where you can't see a thing due to the illuminations of all the other decor. Aside from the various Asian inspired ornaments we saw, the Big Buddha was again the most appealing factor of this restaurant. Definitely bring a camera if you're the type who wants to see things like this - it'll be one of your only high points of the night.\n\nThird, food. Meh. PF Changs puts the same amount of flavor, for 1/3 of the price. It's basically just heavy MSG foods with some fancy names, and more expensive types of food such as lobster. I won't go too deep into what we had, but our party had a variety of different types ranging from sushi rolls to lobster to fish. The fish was the best - it was flaky, with a great texture and the right amount of sauce. Everything else fell far below my expectations. \n\nFourth, price. Ugh. $35-$40 per entree. And I feel as if I could get most of this from my local chinese take-out, minus some expensive stuff like lobster. However, just because you offer a few expensive dishes doesn't mean you can charge premium price. If the taste isn't there, it's not worth it. If the service is subpar, it's not worth it. I would have been fine with Tao, possibly giving it 3-4 stars, if these dishes are maximum $20. But for what we got - a rehash of what we could get anywhere else, for up to $40+? Hell no.\n\nSummary: Unless you really need to fill your tourist bucket list and see the Big Buddha, avoid this place.
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