Very nice, authentic, homie Chinese spot. Fast, and friendly staff. Food was delicious, cash only.

What a great place to eat. Tao Noodle bar has been around for a long time and I'd say there is a good reason for that. I was in it years ago and loved it and then again last night. They have an extensive menu with lots of choices, including a healthy options section. So last night (before a vegan talk) I ordered stir fried pak choi with oyster sauce (Yes I know that's not vegan) and some soft noodles. Wow was it good, perfectly cooked and seasoned and more than enough to fill me up. I tried some of the salt chilli tofu as well which was pretty amazing too. The service is great and its a popular spot which I always think speaks volumes. (It was busy on a Tuesday night before payday!) My only downside is the décor which is bright and clean but a little dated. With a few very small touches I'd up this to a 5 star in no time. Oh and did I mention, its Bring your own! Definitely go try it if you haven't. read more

Tao Noodle Bar Cafe - Coffee & Tea Near Me - Belfast, BFS

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Fantastic food. Horrible service. No indication outside that it is BYOB. Possibly something sketchy going on in the back--just saying, about 15 guys in suits came out from there with big smiles, thanking their server 1000 times and then after it sounded like there was intense rearranging of furniture going on. But I regress... I got one of the chilli sauce dishes with vegetables and rice and my friend got spicy chicken and noodles and rice. I had to say my order at least 5 times for her to understand that I wanted the vegetable offering from the chili sauce dishes--there are several sauces all with different meats and veggies under them so I was not sure how else to order it and was pointing and she didn't seem to get it. The rice came about 5 minutes after my food and was cold. I couldn't really eat my dish without it, and didn't really want to with it. However, the flavours in it were amazing. My friend agreed and I don't know the last time I saw him eat so much. In mine though, there were parts that were cooked really well (mushrooms and tofu) and parts that were not at all (the bell peppers were still hard as if they were raw) which was confusing. Had to ask for refills of water every time (as well as where my rice was because nothing was said when the vegetables were brought over) and ask for the check after waiting for 10 minutes without eating. I'd get take away next time. read more

Tao Noodle Bar Cafe - Vegetables in Chili Sauce - Coffee & Tea Near Me - Belfast, BFS

On our way to an event one night, we popped in here for some dinner beforehand. It's a café/restaurant, but definitely leans more towards café. They don't have a bar, so it's bring your own - although there is a £2.00 charge per wine bottle and a £1.00 charge per beer bottle so be wary. There are pros and cons to this place, the service is efficient and pleasant, and the atmosphere is nice, with the busy Dublin Road outside. What I didn't like was that the telly was on quite loudly on the wall, so it gave the feeling of being in someones living room or the waiting room in the doctors. My starter was not nice at all - chicken satay, it had obviously been sitting out for a while and was tough and chewy. Mum got ribs but they had a pathetic amount of meat on them. The mains were like they had come from a different kitchen - honey chilli chicken (for me) and plum duck (for mum) absolutely gorgeous, and generous portions too. So it totally saved the day and I'm going to write the chicken satay off as a one off! Reasonable prices too, when you see the portions. read more

Tao Noodle Bar Cafe - Coffee & Tea Near Me - Belfast, BFS

Tao is my favourite noodle bar in Belfast, based on the ever popular Dublin road which makes it popular and really busy! We always ring for a takeout, though I have sat in before too, where I found the service great and the food just as good as always! If We're getting ready for a night out Tao is pretty much on speed dial and as a Beef Chow Mein costs a 5er its a bargain and leave more money on your pocket for the night ahead. The portions are really big and the food always comes hot and delicious- the standards never slip! I would definitely recommend Tao to any noodle lovers out there as you really cant get better for the price you pay here! read more

Tao Noodle Bar Cafe - Coffee & Tea Near Me - Belfast, BFS

I sampled this branch of the noodle chain second, so knew what to expect. In my opinion, it's not as good as it's sister in the Art College. I felt really rushed in the place, which given that I had met someone for lunch and had to back in the office in an hour is saying something! The food is grand. Exactly the same as the other branch in that it's not quite as greasy as a take-out, but not as nice as a sit-down restaurant. Not bad to sit and have lunch in, and the big tables are great for sitting in a big group, but this one doesn't really do it for me. read more

I've said before I'm not a big Chinese food fan. But I still always manage to find myself in a chinese food restaurant. Tao Noodle bar was a whole new experience in my adventures in not liking Chinese food. First off, I learnt that I'm not noodles biggest fan either, but you gotta try of you'll never know I suppose! Just like previous experiences at the Red Panda, Tao Noodle bar isn't the type of place where you can sit and enjoy your food. When we given the food and no sooner had a placed down my fork, they had taken the plate away and handed me the bill; I hate when a place does that! It really puts me off and gives the place a really unfriendly atmosphere! I don't think I'll be back. read more

Great little place to eat, especially with a 'bring your own' bottle policy and right across the road from Tescos Express with its own off license I keep going back for the boneless salted chilli chicken wings - a speciality with them which I'm hooked on read more

Americanize Chinese that also has real Chinese food ( i.e gizzards, intestines, duck feet) AND it has hot pot. Pretty nice. :) We started with some shrimp chips (on the house) that weren't hot or super oily so I wondered how long they were made before it was brought to us. The service was friendly and apparently if you want to bring your own boozy drinks, you're welcome to bring your wine for a corkage fee of 2 pound or your own beer at 1 pound. My husband ordered wok fried noodles with beef and I ordered the seafood with vegetable soup and a side of rice. It was okay. Here is where my experience could have been better. 1. Less ground pepper in my soup please. There were so many specks of pepper that my throat burned by the time I was halfway through it. 2. There is nothing on their menu that comes with rice --verified by a staff member. For a Chinese restaurant, this is absurd to a Chinese girl. WHY??? WHY DO YOU MAKE PEOPLE PAY EXTRA FOR RICE THE FIRST TIME AROUND? It's a staple in our culture. When you go to China, they serve rice with your food. When I eat Chinese at home with my family, rice is served. My parents own a Chinese restaurant. We serve rice with all of our stir frys! If anyone wants an additional rice, this... I would understand. So, I ordered soup to justify the 2 pounds. Because no one orders rice with soup but me. 3. This was a cash only facility. Maybe I missed the notification, but we just came from Dublin so we only had euros and a card. Luckily an ATM was just down the street so we could pay... it's 2017, you should have a credit card machine! 4. Boil the wok noodles a little more. There's a crispy pan fried noodle and there's a I-didn't -boil-you-long-enough texture to noodles that weren't cooked thoroughly. There shouldn't be a cereal kind of crunch to noodles. I read a few outdated reviews that the service was bad or rushed. My husband and I thoroughly enjoyed the service here. The girls gave us space and were attentive when it was needed.. So three stars for Tao. Honest effort, but I've had better Chinese because I eat it all the time. read more

I've passed Tao Noodle Bar numerous times, yet never called in despite having heard good reports. However, I popped in last night (a Tuesday) for the first time to grab some food while en route to an event and had a very, very enjoyable meal. It's really only a take away with a small amount of seating. More of a café than a restaurant and nothing impressive visually. Nonetheless the food was delicious, menu good and service friendly and speedy. I especially liked the great range of vegetarian options; all the noodle dishes can be served with vegetables instead of meat. Also bean curd (tofu) and aubergines appear on the menu, which is fabulous to see. Additionally Tao have a BYOB policy, so I plan to return with friends and some wine to try more dishes. Whilst there I noticed a lot of people calling in and ordering take away food plus a couple of small groups waiting on tables to free up so they could be seated. Hence it seems to be quite a busy Noodle Bar - might therefore be best to ring ahead and book a table or arrive early if you plan to visit. read more

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This place takes the term 'fast food' to an uncomfortable extreme. They seem frustrated by you when you arrive as if they have far too much to be getting on with and you are somehow in their way. The food is ok, but it arrives so quickly I am giving the impression that not much care and attention has been put into it. It is difficult to ever really enjoy a place when you are being rushed by the staff. I understand that turnover is important in a restaurant as small as this, but it really felt like they did not appreciate my custom read more

Excellent location on the Dublin Road, this is a really welcoming little restaurant. Free prawn crackers on arrival is a nice touch. The food I had was just average which is why I wouldn't give it higher score but still the restaurant has a nice laid back feel. read more

Check your bill very carefully if you visit this establishment! When I attended a friend's birthday dinner at Tao Dublin Road our table of 10 was seated upstairs. The route to the upper level is unusual, passing through corridors behind the kitchen that give the impression you've taken a wrong turn and entered a "staff only" area. We were attended to by one waitress who seemed to be taking orders from as well as serving food and drinks to the whole upper floor between clearing plates and hand washing the glassware. This resulted in intermittent but not intolerable service. The food was of a reasonable if somewhat mediocre standard for the price, portion size was pretty good and all in all we had a pleasant evening... until we were given the hand written bill in Chinese script. We eat out quite often as a large group and keep a rough tally of what we order so when the bill comes and we err to the generous side the tip is more than covered. Unfortunately that didn't happen on this occasion and as we all tried to decipher the bill which included a 10% tip to uncover the problem the waitress was noticeably restless, continually trying to take the money and the bill. Eventually, to relieve her from her agony we threw in another £10 and were about to go on our merry way. As we were leaving the table I noticed that the waitress was rubbing out something on the bill before she ran downstairs to the till. When we got downstairs a different waitress was at the till and I asked her for our bill to check something only to find that the figure on the bottom line including the tip had been altered, the middle digit having been changed from a 5 to a 4 which accounted for our £10 shortfall. I demanded that the waitress who took the bill should explain why she had tried to steal from us. Her face dropped with guilt but she denied tampering with the bill until we threatened to call the Police when she finally admitted to adding £10 to the bill. The rest of the staff seemed alarmingly undisturbed by this revelation and more concerned that the management didn't find out, perhaps indicating that it's a common occurrence. A bitter end to what could have otherwise been an enjoyable meal. We got our £10 back but in hindsight we should probably have taken the 10% they added on too. The worry in everyone's mind though is how many people get caught out with this scam and never know, especially in a place where you could indulge in your own booze. We'll not be back, you can make up your own mind...just bring a calculator! read more

Great food, their salted chilli chicken is a particular favourite however the standard of service isn't always fantastic. Usually use them for take out and on the last occasion delivery took two and a half hours and when I rang to enquire after my food the person who answered just said "very busy, sorry" before hanging up. Had I not prepaid I would have definitely sent it back as to add insult to injury it was at best lukewarm when it arrived. read more

Wonderful small restaurant on Dublin Road. Great for a quick meal before or after visiting the nearby cinema. B.Y.O policy makes it great value for money. read more