Tao — the Pan-Asian restaurant Midtown East — is around the corner from 59E59 Theaters making it a convenient place to dine before the curtain rises.

We sipped on Domaine Serge Laloue, Loire, France 2011 Sancerre ($55) while selecting a few nibbles before heading to see the powerful 1995 OBIE Award winner, The Model Apartment, the dark comedy by New Haven’s own Pulitzer Prize-winner Donald Margulies.

We sampled the five ordinary pork pot stickers, glazed with a chili sesame sauce ($15). What was flavorful was the bowl of freshly stir-fried Asian pea shoots and Chinese broccoli rabe greens ($11).

Also fine was the tasty shrimp tempura roll with curry sauce ($15) and the crispy soft shell crab and shiso roll with yuzu mayonnaise ($17). Not so good was  the piece of (not-so-fresh) fatty tuna ($15). To be fair, they did take the tuna off the bill.

The entire experience was quite mediocre, resulting in me saying that the only reason to dine at Tao is its proximity to 59E59 Theaters around the corner in midwinter. The food and service are ordinary, the noise level high.

– bonnie

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Tao
Midtown East
42 E 58th St
New York, NY 10022
(212) 888-2288
TAO on Urbanspoon

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