I really cannot think of a worse dining experience. A friend booked this and we were told that this was a difficult difficult reservation to get and it would be a special restaurant. The reception was rude and they refused to seat us until every member of the party was present in front of them. We were waiting for one person and could have started ordering. There were many unoccupied tables, but they insisted that this was their policy. The place is incredibly cold, dark and loud. This used to be a dance club and it has that feeling. There are weird stadium seats above the tables that seem to be for spectators having drinks and watching you eat. Our waitress did a number of disappearing acts and only showed up briefly to recommend the most expensive items on the menu. The drink choices were limited and expensive. The waitress had no knowledge of what was available behind the bar. This is some of the worst food I’ve been served. Some of the appetizers were reasonably tasty other quite expensive. They served us an Indescribably creepy deep fried fish. The description our server gave of the fish and the one on the menu bore no resemblance to the plate that came to the table. It was like something you’d be served on a bad night at red lobster.

The mochi dessert should be called “mushy” as it was a flavorless slimy mess. The bill was 800.00 for 6 people with only a few cocktails. After dessert, the waitress tried to sell us membership cards and an app to eat at the restaurant again or in other places around the country. At the end of the evening, we went out to pick up our car that had been valet parked. The valet cost $25 and they only except cash. I went back in to see if I could get cash on my credit card and the reception staff told me to go to an ATM at the drugstore around the corner. Avoid this place.Ĭelebrated a friend's birthday here and the ambiance is amazing. First thing to note is that there is valet parking but I used a parking app and had a 3 minute walk and saved money.

There is some on street parking but you pay for that as well. Now to the atmosphere, you really feel like you are walking into a temple or a bad guy bar in a movie. Which isn't a bad thing, it's very cool how the lighting is tons of soft light, good music and open spaces and definitely has several great visuals around the restaurant. From the door to the host to the bar to the waiter, everyone had good energy and was friendly and helpful. The food is pretty much al la carte, so expexct things to be on the higher end. That's kinda expected for Downtown Chicago! The food wasn't bad, in the excitement of knowing we were going out, there won't be any foods pics because we were hungry! We were a group of 9 and we all ordered a variety of things. We had the Brussel Sprouts but there were unwhelming, the five ribs were about 6 slices of a rib, tasty sauce and a few pieces were tender and delicious. The sweet and spicy were good, nice sized but didn't seem much different from sweet and sour shrimp. And finally, the bbq duck fried rice, it was a hearty portion but it was shredded duck, I expected bigger pieces of duck. I didn't taste the bbq in it but it was fresh and fluffy and had veggies in it.

Tao chicago valet