This move also allowed for a dramatic entry procession that begins with coat check and extends down a long passageway framed by portals made from weathered wood slats. The space it occupies had previously contained a restaurant and a music venue, and Rockwell Group chose to relocate the entrance from 16th Street to Ninth Avenue to differentiate TAO from those former establishments. The 22,000-square-foot restaurant-which spans an entire city block and seats up to 400 throughout-is mostly below grade. “Our mantra for TAO Downtown was’next level shit.'” “We knew that we had to reinvent ourselves due to the fact that we were opening a second location in New York and because the original design, while timeless, was conceived such a long time ago,” says Rich Wolf, co-owner of TAO Group. Capitalizing on the brand’s success, the restaurant and nightclub group engaged Rockwell Group to design TAO Downtown in the lower levels of the Maritime Hotel in the Chelsea neighborhood near the Meatpacking District in New York.Īlthough Rockwell Group did not design either of the previous TAO locations, TAO Group had established a relationship with the firm while collaborating on the Marquee Nightclub at the Cosmopolitan Resort in Las Vegas and could count on it to deliver a standout interior. Great drinks, incredible ambiance, delicious food, and helpful service TAO is well deserving of all its hype and I will absolutely be back soon.TAO Group pioneered the Pan-Asian cuisine trend in 2000 when it opened TAO in Midtown Manhattan, followed by a Las Vegas location.
#TAO DOWNTOWN FREE#
Being gluten free at TAO isn’t easy, but if you tell your server that you have an allergy or intolerance, they are more than accommodating. Yes this is unfortunate, but I was incredibly impressed by my server’s knowledge of gluten free menu items and the preparation of each dish, and I was also pleased to see how he went out of his way to double check with the kitchen that everything I ordered was conducive to my diet!Įach time I go to Tao Downtown, I have an amazing experience. My waiter informed me that several dishes on the menu, for example the famous Chilean sea bass skewers, are marinated for 24 hours in miso or other gluten-filled sauces, and cannot be made gluten free. Although these are the only designated gluten free items on the menu, there are plenty of entrees you can make gluten free when you order them with no sauce! For example, my friend and I also indulged in the hamachi crudo no sauce, duck fried rice, octopus salad, and branzino! Sashimi platters are also gluten free, although they are not listed on the menu, and these platters are even MORE delicious when you ask for gluten free tamari soy sauce. Thankfully for us in the NOBREAD crowd, TAO recently updated their menu and an asterisk ‘*’ is used to indicate gluten free items! I love this new feature however, only seven, yes SEVEN, menu items are accompanied by this asterisk. So what can you have? 100% GF orders include the edamame, pad thai noodles with chicken, shrimp, or lobster, jasmine white rice, miso soup, halibut, and wok-fried potatoes. TAO’s menu is huge, and with so many options it can be difficult for both the gluten-free person and gluten-full person to decide what to order. Why? Naturally gluten free foods are drowned in soy, teriyaki and other nobread unfriendly sauces and sushi rice is malted with vinegar and other gluten culprits…
I was incredibly excited, yet also nervous to go to TAO, as Asian food is difficult for a gluten free diet. Tables packed with celebrities, Wall Street types hosting client dinners, and girls celebrating “girl’s nights out” fill the space and Tao’s décor is an experience in itself.
Since its opening in October 2013, TAO Downtown has been the talk of NYC.
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