by Sascha M. on I will always have a little spot in my heart for Tao. This was one of the first super popular Asian fusion places around. Now it's been here for years and lost it's cool factor but it is still a solid place. Years ago I would've given it 4 stars. The bar area is still usually packed but they make super strong drinks which help you forget about the crowd and thumping music. The food is still pretty yummy. My absolute favorite thing to get is the Kobe beef shabu shabu. I also like their specialty rolls, lobster and shrimp spring rolls and spicy tuna tartare. Go during the week or during off hours if you don't want to deal with the tourists and the crowd.
by Love C. on Thanks, Andy, for setting up a much-needed Westsiiiiiide UYE! Unfortunately, I'm super sick and couldn't booze it up with you all... but my chamomile tea with honey was great! I think I had about 5 glasses. My chips and guac/sour cream/salsa... was blech! Not doing that again... that was $4. The service was absolute crap! We had to wave our hands up in the air like we were air traffic controllers to even get her to look our way. And when she'd finally come by, she'd be in a rush to get the heck away from our table... did we smell or something? The other waitress was just as bad... and snarled at Jenn when they made eye contact... she bulged her eyes at me as if I did something wrong when I flagged her down... then gave me the pointer finger in the air thingy... like... "I'll be there in a second!!!" Insert all my famous cuss words here... And shouldn't there be some kind of health code violation against a cook or busser carrying a giant pan of uncooked chicken wings through the restaurant area where customers are? YUCK! It was quite disgusting. So.... the stars I'm giving is for the great company... and the Home-Depot-smelling (this is a good thing), newly done marbled restrooms. How the heck I ended up staying here for 4.5 hours, dead sober... is beyond me!
by Freida Dittrick on I don't really get this place. We were looking for a place to listen to some jazz. You know, branch out a little and try a new place. Checked out their web site, which highlighted a large, pretty room with a big stage and a bar. Our first tip that this wasn't going to be the most stellar jazz experience was that they have the same band playing every Saturday night. Typically a house band is on a weeknight, right? Then you get the draw names on the weekends. Anyway, we get there, and the room is rather small. And not very full. And there's no stage, just some sound equipment set up on the floor next to the front door. We choose a table and order up some food (which was very good, by the way, but we mainly came for the jazz). There was a large party celebrating a birthday, and the acoustics in there were so bad, it sounded like we were in a high school auditorium. My boyfriend and I had to lean in very close to be able to hear each other -- and the music hadn't even started! So here's the worst news -- there weren't no jazz at Rassela's Jazz Club. The band started off with a couple of nice old standards, which NO ONE would shut up to listen to. Then we found out what people were really there for: Motown reruns. Stand by Me, Shotgun, etc. That got everyone up out of there seats for dancing. Hey, I got no problem with people dancing to Motown. Just don't call yourself a jazz club if that's what you got to offer. I did take a peek at the back room, and it looked like the real thing. Nice bar, nice seating, nice stage, what looked like a proper sound system. So I don't get it. Why were we in this junky front room with a has-been Motown cover band instead of in the actual night club listening to some real jazz? I'll be checking in with their calendar in the future to see if they get any real talent, and I suppose I'll have to call just to make sure it will be in the actual night club and not the little front room. I would love to see a true jazz club succeed in the Fillmore, but people, you gotta put on some real jazz if it's gonna work.
