Clayton is, perhaps, the nicest suburb of Saint Louis. The opening of The BAO, a couple of years ago, elevated the appeal of this suburban midwestern town for me. While the rice bowls make for a perfectly satisfying meal, the star items on the menu are the bao sandwiches. The pillowy buns, made with rice flour and milk powder, have a subtle sweetness that magnifies the flavors of the meats, especially the crispy and juicy fried chicken. The skinny fries are a perfect side item. To try an assortment of bao sandwiches, get a trio of bao sliders. Of course, there's no better way to end the meal than with a fried bao ice cream sandwich for dessert. If you drive to The BAO, there's a parking lot just behind the restaurant; there's an alley between the buildings to get to it. read more

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Great service and excellent food. Great location, the menu has delicious variety to choose from including alcoholic beverages. read more

I really enjoyed my first time at Bao with the International Supper Club (ISC). Thanks to Picha for the recommendation and for Sarah S. for making it happen! I've been eating Chinese bao for a long time... probably ever since my baby teeth came in. So I was very familiar with the food, but I knew that The BAO puts a twist on the traditional bao. I wasn't sure what to expect or whether or not I would like it. For appetizers, my spouse and I split the Taiwanese Dumplings, which were perfectly pan fried and very tasty. I probably could've eaten mulitple orders of these for dinner and I'd be happy. For the bao, I had the Soft Shell Crab. I really enjoyed the bao, pretty typical fried soft shell crab, nothing special in my book. I did like how the sweetness of the bread and mayo balanced out the bitterness of the arugula. I also had a bite of the Truffle Shroom bao, which was HUGE and really good. The gouda went well stuffed in the panko crusted portabello. For dessert, we had the black sesame ice cream bao. This was basically a small donut cut in half with ice cream in the middle. How could this be remotely bad? I'd definitely recommend you check this place out if you are looking for Asian cuisine with a twist. read more

Came for Valentines Day Brunch with my wife and the food prefix menu was wonderful. The service was great & the stars of the show was the soft shell crab bao. For sure going to come back for their Udon. read more

Thank you RJ, biddy and the crew at BAO. The meal we had this evening was delicious and back to the standards we expected from BAO. We repeated part of our order, mala hot chicken bowl and added a chicken bao and a char siu bao instead of the soup. The hot chicken was very flavorful and spicy and not at all dry as it was last week. The cucumber and pickled onion/ radish on the side was plentiful also. My fried chicken bao was cooked perfectly with the right amount of toppings. Thank you RJ for reaching out to correct an unpleasant experience. We will be back. read more

Came here on a recommendation from a friend and wow- so glad we came! You jump in line to order and then get seated. Our food came out a little later than expected and mine came out wrong. My boyfriend had the chicken katsu rice bowl and it was fantastic. Mine eventually came out like 10 or 15 minutes after my boyfriends food and it was much bigger than expected. I got the chicken teriyaki bao and it was phenomenal. Definitely don't need a side with it- it's huge. The bao is perfectly fluffy and so so good. We had the dumpling appetizer and it was also really good- about 8 dumplings crusted into a pancake type thing. I really like the atmosphere here, really modern and hip. Will definitely be back! Food- 9/10 Price- 7/10 Service- 5/10 read more

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super nice service staff. decent food (especially the nachos). didn't love the impossible bao but the crispy shrimp was good. read more

The BAO - Impossible BAO and Crispy Shrimp BAO - Asian Fusion Near Me - Clayton, Missouri

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Wanted to really like this place. I heart steamed buns. Parking lot nearby. The wings were my fav. They were crispy and had a nice lime flavor. So delicious. Highly recommend. The other food as served warm, not hot. Is this normal? I am a huge fan of pot stickers but these were just ok. Neat presentation in a circle but maybe because they were my hot. The bao was good. Definitely flavorful. The bbq as not hot, not sure of the toppings cooled it down, but the bun was still warm. Wish they had fries as an option for dinner. Overall a fun meal with Sarah's ISC crew, great opp to try a new place. If friends want to go I'm game and will try something different. read more

The BAO - Asian Fusion Near Me - Clayton, Missouri

I had relatives in town from San Francisco and wanted to show them the newest restaurant in St. Louis that has been popping up all over my Instagram feed. Bao did not disappoint. Only advice when coming with a large group: all people must be present before being seated. We came for lunch and ordered at the bar. We were given a number for our table and found our seats. When the food was ready, the server brought the food to our table (appetizers came out first) and the table number was taken away. The coffee drinks, alcoholic beverages, and soda were brought as they were finished being made. Our table was also given pitchers of water. I ordered the bao lobster roll. It was about 6 inches long, the bread was super soft and fluffy, the lobster was sweet and delicately dressed. A word of caution: because the bun is so fluffy, the lobster doesn't have a chance to nestle in deep. I lost a piece of lobster to the floor :( The dish came with a side of hot, well-seasoned shoestring fries in an adorably small pail. I thought the price was a little high for the size of the roll, but you have to remember that St. Louis doesn't have local lobsters... read more

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I went here on a Monday night with my work team. Most of us got the bao bun combos and I loved mine! The fries were delicious and so were the cocktails. Relaxing cool vibe in there. Our server was also great! read more

Food was good! I got the Sweet Chili Bowl and a small Mala Bao. For the table we got the yuzu popcorn chicken which was absolutely amazing!! That could've served as my meal. The bowl was ok, the best thing about it was the chicken. There was little to no sweet chili sauce on it so much so that I had to ask for more. Unfortunately, the taste of the Mala bao was not good at all FOR ME. It just taste hot with no flavor. Maybe that's how it's supposed to taste and that's ok! Now it seemed as if they only had one server on a Saturday night which was odd so, choosing food and asking for things became a sport. We definitely felt rushed. I did, however, like that we could scan the code on our receipt and pay for our meals ourselves! That's an awesome efficient feature. I'd definitely go back to try a different Bao because I've heard so many great things about it! read more

The BAO - Sweet Chili Chicken Rice - Asian Fusion Near Me - Clayton, Missouri

Fun place to go to! Very cool vibe! My husband really loved the soft shell crab bao. Service was quick and helpful as well.

I didn't have high expectation of this place because I've lost faith in so-called Asian fusion food in STL...Unfortunately, this place was in line with my expectation. I ordered char sui bao. The meat was ok except it was kinda fatty and lacked a bit of flavor. The buns were too soft and sticky so they kept being stuck on my teeths. The part that threw me off the most was that they put mayo inside the bao so that's a NO. I did enjoy the frozen cocktail that was made with sake and passion fruit. It was strong but refreshing. Our server was polite and checked on us multiple times. Oh, I also liked the ambient and interior decor - it's chic but not pretencious. Will probably stop by for a drink next time if i'm in the neighborhood. read more

The BAO - Asian Fusion Near Me - Clayton, Missouri

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Outdoor seating! Everything is disposable so I felt really safe eating there during COVID. Like that they have carry out, as well. I got pork belly, the spicy chicken and wagyu beef boa buns. Pork belly was good, but I ate it last on a cooler day so wish I would have had that first and there was a bit more sear/crunch on the meat. The wagyu was super good on a fried boa bun, but really just a burger slider--not sure it was worth the up charge/higher price point. The fried hot chicken had the perfect crunch but I can't handle spice and this was SPICE. Got the massage Mayo to dip my fries in and could legit bathe in that or at the least eat it ok everything I'll ever eat again. Can't wait to go back to try some soups, noodles and other menu items! read more

The BAO - Survivor - Asian Fusion Near Me - Clayton, Missouri

My udon was bland, my husband's was too salty. Our server was awesome. Bao sandwiches were delicious. The prices were a little out there. I probably would not return due to the expensive menu. read more

We arrived at 9 and were told they could not seat us because they kitchen was closing soon......

I've been going to the BAO consistently since May 2019. It is always incredible, and whenever it isn't incredible, the staff does everything they can to make it right or make up for the error, and I think that's a really attractive quality in a restaurant. Their cocktails are to DIE for! They're some of the most fun and creative cocktails in St. Louis, and they're constantly changing and rotating. The dumpling style has changed five or six time over the year I've been going there, but they're always *solid.* I always get the dumpling. The Tom Kha soup is incredible. It's deeply comforting in a way I can't even explain. I loved it so much I figured out how to make it at home. (It was good, but not as good as theirs!) The crab cake bao and burger bao are my two favorites of the baos, but the others are also good. Last time I went in, they had changed up the apps pretty substantially, but I'm excited to try more of them because they all looked great read more

First time at The Bao and this place is amazing!! Upon walking in the ambiance was pretty amazing with good music that plays softly, excellent lighting and nice scenery. The waiter was awesome and gave me some good tips on his favorite foods. I ended up ordering The little Bao Crispy Shrimp, little Bao Fried Chicken and Skinny Fries. Everything was great I would definitely recommend this restaurant to others! read more

The BAO - Crispy Shrimp Bao, Fried Chicken Bao, Skinny Fries - Asian Fusion Near Me - Clayton, Missouri

The wagu bao was incredible!!!!! I would just get 3 of those next time! The crab bao had an overwhelming fishy taste that we had to spit out. Cool environment but very very dark! read more

I can't say enough great things about The Bao. My friend and I were here over the weekend for a girls night and we definitely ate until we couldn't anymore lol The food and drinks here are just sooo good!! Can we just talk about that Mala and Yuzu sauce mix over the popcorn chicken?! That flavor combination is insane! If you haven't been to The Bao yet then you and your stomach are really missing out. read more

Amazing food! Highly recommend the softshell crab bao as well as the chicken wings appetizer. read more

The BAO - Wagyu burger bao & soft shell crab bao - Asian Fusion Near Me - Clayton, Missouri

Came here during Clayton restaurant week. Allowed my friend to choose the restaurant as she's vegan and I pretty much am open as long as the food is good. Well she was happy while I was extremely disappointed. Both of us had the jungle bird drink which was ok imo with the bitter being very pronounced. She started with the Tom Kha soup which looked delightful while I chose the dumplings. I knew it was deep fried but for some reason it tasted as if it was left in the oil a smidgen too long but my biggest problem was it was tasteless and the dipping sauce didn't help much. Main course was soft shell crab. Fried ok but also tasteless. This was my first time trying soft crab so I wasn't sure what to expect. The liquid coming from the body convinced me I don't ever have to try it again. My friend got their impossible burger which she liked. We sat there for a good length of time with our unfinished food and while the waitress kept looking over she never stopped to ask how we were doing or anything. When she finally did and I told her I didn't like my main course she just apologized and went off leaving me wondering what was happening. Then the other lady serving came to say they couldn't remove the item from my bill but I could order another item to go. No problem not exactly sure why our waitress couldn't tell me that. Got the Bao burger which I ate the next night and was just as underwhelmed. Finally received desert. And to be honest that was the best thing I put in my mouth that night. Even though their version of beignets was different and greasy and not the sweetest I actually enjoyed it paired with the red bean ice cream. Alone it would've been a mess. I don't really know what I spent $35(25+10 for drink) on and why this restaurant could even be apart of the Clayton restaurant week but I wont be back. Food-2 Service-2 Ambiance-3 Value-1 read more

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Awful. I have never felt the need to take the time to leave a bad review. If I ever had a bad eating experience I would normally just decide to not go back, but this place literally and figuratively left a bad taste in my mouth. It started with my wife ordering their "Not your Grandma's martini" When it came out it couldn't have been more than a 2-3oz drink. I've ordered shots bigger than this $14 martini. The waiter apologized for the martini but said the glasses of wine were "full pours". We ordered a glass of Chardonnay and their $16 glass of wine was slightly over a 2 finger pour. On to the food. The gyoza was very good. The tuna nachos were ok. I ordered the Kare with rice and sliced beef. There was so much cumin in this dish it was the only thing I could taste. There could've been sliced beef, chicken, or lobster in this dish, I wouldn't have been able to tell the difference. I love food. I especially love Asian cuisine. I am 47 years old and can probably count on one hand how many times I didn't finish my plate. I couldn't finish this. It was terrible. Sorry Bao, for what you charge you have to do better. read more

I tried their new menu with my friends. So delicious and nutritious. Service was so nice that I feel always welcomed. Thank you

A friend recommended a friend who recommended me to come here. I came the day after Valentines, and I'm glad I made a reservation since it was booked. The ambiance in this place is great. Their food choices were somewhat limited yet at the same time very expansive. There were a few main dishes to choose from, but there were a lot of variety of those dishes. I happened to have gotten the soft shell crab bao and the truffle wagyu bao as well as the udon with schezwan base. It tasted great. My partner also loved her cocktail. read more

The BAO - Soft shell crab bao and truffle wagyu bao - Asian Fusion Near Me - Clayton, Missouri

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It seems like you need a password to get in but no worries it's just very A1. The food is amazing and the service is even better. I did not love the boba tea because of the pearls but the gyoza was the best thing ever and the bao lives up to the name. The lobster, the spicy shrimp and the wagyu are number 1. I'll gladly be back. read more

The BAO - Asian Fusion Near Me - Clayton, Missouri

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Had the spicy lobster, pork belly and fried chicken all good, a lot of bread, I had to eat all three to get full and I'm a woman so beware dudes. read more

The BAO - Fried chicken and spicy lobster - Asian Fusion Near Me - Clayton, Missouri

Went here with two friends for a fun dinner out and we dig the atmosphere. It's a small restaurant and we liked the noise level. It wasn't too loud so we felt like we could talk, but we couldn't hear other people's conversations. Just chattering from other tables. Drinks: one friend got the Rabbit cocktail. It came with a little marzipan carrot that was too cute! You could taste hints of the aloe and it was very creamy! Other friend got a pink cocktail (can't remember which one) but it was DELICIOUS! Lemon-y and minty (my favorite flavor combos) Food: between the 3 of us we split the vegetable spring rolls, the tofu rice bowl, and the char siu big BAO. Spring rolls were nice and crispy and the sauce was good! The rice bowl was really fresh and I loved the seaweed salad on top! Not my favorite way to have tofu, I think it would have been better with a crispy tofu for texture contrast. The char siu BAO- WOW. So dang good!!! Char siu is barbecued pork and it was so flavorful! Those skinny fries too- HOT DANG. Perfectly seasoned!! read more

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I think this place is overhyped. The food is good, but too pricey and the portions aren't very generous! I was a bit disappointed.

So insanely grateful I chose the Bao for my post-graduation dinner for 22 people!!! This was my second time here and the staff were fantastic no matter if our party was 3 people or 22 people. They have a small, intimate venue so if you're going to reserve for this many people, definitely get it started more than a week out. Kira, the manager, stayed in contact with me over the course of about a week and helped out so much with the menu selection and finalizing all details. (We ordered in bulk using catering prices and did family style). We even had one person with a vegetarian diet and peanut intolerance who was easily accommodated. The food is Asian fusion and my family and I LOVED it. My advice for ordering is that if you go to a restaurant called Bao of course you HAVE to try their bao sandwiches. Pork Belly, Fried Chicken, and Impossible were our favorites. There's so much flavor packed in those little bun sandwiches!! Another favorite dish of ours was the sesame chicken wings dish. And the Bao Beignets too! The one table of ours that got the eggplant dish raved about it. Their cocktail menu is very unique, but has something for everyone. The servers are super good at helping you pick a drink according to your tastes. Finally, look at this menu that they had for us! It was so personalized and cute!! Thank you so much to Kira, Chef Brandon, and rest of the awesome staff for accommodating our large group and doing it with such friendly attitudes!!! It was such a success. :) read more

The BAO - Personalized, set menu for 20 adults (including 1 vegetarian) and 2 toddlers. - Asian Fusion Near Me - Clayton, Missouri

Food was good, drinks were drink, and the service we got at the bar was awesome! Went on a Friday night and had no problem finding seats at the bar. read more

Today, we hosted a book signing event here. Can't be more perfect than we have asked for. The Bao staff was so professional, and friendly. Let me tell you, their bao was delicious. You can't buy the buns. It has to be freshly made in the premise. The place was packed with people. Non chaotic, without any problem. It is very spacious. Home warming, and cozy. It reminded me " Central Perk" from the tv show Friends. If you have a small group of friends needed a place just to chill, this is the place for you my friend. I kid you not. read more

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The Bao buns were not fresh the meat was also not fresh you could definitely tell that it was reheated. The drinks were really good and the bar tender extremely nice. read more

This place clearly doesn't want to make money. Service: Absolutely horrible. Every time I order a pickup order in advance it takes ages for them to acknowledge my existence, then even longer to bring my food. This is true during both peak and non-peak hours. Even more ridiculously, this is also true outside of pickup orders - there can be literally no one in line, no one dining in the restaurant, and it can be prime time and I stand there for 10 minutes until someone gets off of their phone or even notices me and comes to see what I want. Of course, maybe they are just busy...but this isn't true: no one is there, once I walk back to get their attention they address me Once, etc. Once you are seated, the service is similarly horrible. Instead of the staff standing in back, one person should be relegated to being in the front of the building at all times if necessary since they are seemingly oblivious. Food: Hit or miss. The Yuzu chicken doesn't have any Yuzu taste. When I got it to go, it came with a non-yuzu tasting aoli that should have been provided on the side instead of covering everything. The rice can be overcooked at times for rice dishes. I was very unimpressed with the pork belly bowl - overcooked alongside the overcooked rice. The curry bowl is okay but overpriced. The best dish on the menu is probably the sliced beef bowl and it is quite good, albeit a little salty. The Bao are also hit or miss. Soft shell crab was amazing. Pork belly not so much. Had some others unimpressive. Fries quite literally reminded me of fresher McDonald's fries, which some people may like and others won't. Prices: Quite high. Knock a buck off the bowls and people will find it more reasonable. read more

Ordered via doordash, so the review is for the food, not the service. As a Bay Area native, long accustomed to bao in many forms. Of recent years, a regular at a fairly well known food truck and partake in the bao on a bi-weekly basis. When I was perusing the menu, i was excited to see some of my favorite flavors. I ended up ordering the 'pack' and specifically the 3 pack. I chose 2 pork belly bao and one char siu bao. Both were tasty but there wasn't anything that was a stand-out. And the size...wow...they were slider size at best. I had thought i 'd be giving one to my nephew as a 'snack' appetizer when he got home from a lacrosse game but polished them all off myself. I hadn't expected hamburger size by any means but at least the size of the standard 'peking duck-size taco' shape. The pack came with 'free' fries' , which were a shoestring variety, they were packed in a wax bag and arrived crisp with a yummy sauce (like a sriracha mayo). Thankfully i also ordered the thai kha soup, it came in one of those pint plastic tubs and was about 3/4 of the way full, so about cup size, which is on par for the price $5.99, it was tasty and left me wanting more. Next time i would definitely order the udon soup with the tom kha style, as that is my favorite craveable soup anyway. I also ordered the Cherry Blossom (vodka/elderflower liqueur, ginger liqueur, and lime) and the Toki to Me cocktails - they arrived in their own plastic bottles that were cap sealed, which was a nice touch, however the amounts in each varied quite a bit. The cherry blossom was tasty but couldn't really taste the elderflower liqueur. I didn't drink the Toki to me right away and put it in the freezer to drink later. I ended up drinking it the net night and when i pulled it out of the freezer it was completely frozen. I remade the drink using bourbon on my own using both one shot of whisky and two in the recycled bottles the drinks originally came from, with the standard simple size and neither froze, and it actually was two days before i got to those. So not sure if I got the bottom of the pitcher of premade drinks or not, read more

Great variety when you're looking for something different! Noodle / ramen dishes are well prepared and fully loaded. Bao sandwiches are flavorful and fillings are moist and filling. read more

The bartender was excellent, very attentive and had great recommendations. He was able to suggest things based on our tastes. The drinks were good. Very cute names and lots of good flavors. Checked in constantly. The spring rolls were very tasty and crispy. The sweet chili sauce was good with it. The seaweed salad was good too. I would've liked cucumber with it. The shrimp on the BAO was good! Very crispy not over cooked. I don't like it as a sandwich tho. It's too much bread for 1 piece of shrimp. The entrees were ok. The udon noodles were drenched in sauce and over cooked. The rice was overcooked and the meal was slightly dry and needed sauce. The shrimp katsu was the best part of the meal. The pork belly fat was delicious the meat part of the pork seemed over cooked. I would come back but I'd make adjustments. The vibe, the music, the ambience is on point. The service was good and the waiters and bartenders are great. The food came out really fast too. read more

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To be honest, I would not have ever eaten at this place if it hadn't been chosen by friends for a night out. Japanese/Asian fusion is not my first choice for cuisine. I was so pleasantly surprised by the amazing food. We shared lobster nachos (ok but not my favorite) spring rolls (very hot and crispy with a really yummy sauce), and steamed gyoza (my favorite of the apps). For my entree I had shrimp Katsu curry with udon noodles. It was amazing! The shrimp were huge, crispy, and delicious. The curry broth was so amazing! It was thicker than a soup and had an amazing flavor!! The udon was a great choice and it was a perfect way to enjoy the curry. I was just blown away!! It was super filling but I was able to eat the whole portion. Perfect portioning! The only real downside to this restaurant was the music. We were there for dinner on a Tuesday but the music was intrusive. It was progressively turned up through the evening and at 8, it was switched to club music and the volume was so high that we could no longer hear each other. The music made it hard to enjoy the space. read more

Great BAO- had the wagyu and fried chicken. Wagyu fries and the dumplings were out of this world. read more

The BAO is a great unique restaurant that St. Louis was lacking. It makes a great dine-in or take-out meal. Last night I did take-out and this food travels well. I ate the Truffle Wagyu BAO and it was fantastic. The burger was cooked just right and the combination of the cheese and black garlic aioli packed a lot of mouthwatering flavor. I got the combo meal with fries and a drink. The sauce that comes with the fries was excellent. I got the Boba Thai tea for my drink which was also good. read more