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| - Pleasantly surprised by the food. I wanted to experience a trendy Vegas restaurant and heard mixed reviews on Tao (NY and Vegas). However, I really enjoyed my dinner here.
First of all, the decor is beautiful, albeit ridiculous. A restaurant called Tao, filled with numerous Buddha statues including the nearly twenty feet tall one in the main room, large photographs of sumo wrestlers in one dining area, and large color photographs of Buddhist priests of varying ages decorating the hallway to the restroom, and the overall opulent decor? Not to mention the crowd of tourists and revealingly dressed beautiful and less beautiful people. Not sure this is what Buddha intended but overall a very beautiful lounge and restaurant.
We had a reservation (thank goodness; the place was packed) but had to wait about a half and hour. We got a drink at the bar. Yes, well drinks were expensive but not surprising for Vegas. Once we were seated, we had a nice view of the gigantic Buddha. Our server was very friendly and informative. I felt in general the waitstaff was attentive, even though the restaurant was so busy.
As appetizers, we ordered the lobster dumplings in shitake mushroom broth, spicy ahi tuna on top of crispy white rice (basically like nigiri) and the toro toro roll. The dumplings and broth were excellent but the skin of the won tons were a little thick. The spicy ahi tuna was yuuummmy. The toro toro roll was the weakest dish. The fish was not very prominent, which was disappointing since I love toro. This roll was also topped with some sort of crunchy, sweet cracker-like topping that I did not love.
We also had two entrees: the black pepper flank steak and udon noodles, and miso-glazed sea bass. The steak and udon noodles were okay; nothing special. The miso-glazed sea bass was delicious and perfectly cooked. The vegetables it came with were somewhat of an afterthought but the sea bass was so beautifully cooked that I didn't care too much.
Definitely a fun, vibrant, LOUD environment. Overall, I was impressed by the quality and flavor of the food and I enjoyed the atmosphere.
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