Tao Cafe Joondalup

Absolutely delicious food. We have ordered for take away once and now eaten at the restaurant once. Both times we have wondered what took us so long to try this place! The pho is amazing and brings me right back to my childhood weekly pho family dinners. Will be a regular restaurant for us now! 10/10

Fresh, tasty sushi and delightful desserts. My son ordered a chicken katsu bento box which was the best he'd ever eaten - according to him. The grandkids and I chose different dishes from the sushi train; a first time experience for them; and one which they absolutely loved. We will definitely be back for more.

Great food and design. Like a sushi train, but many more options. Staff are friendly and it is kept very clean. Food is made very hygienically, as you can see them preparing it. Green curry was amazing also. Thanks.

Poor wait staff. Waited for 25 minutes, watched other people who arrived after us get served first. We continued to be ignored.

We left shortly afterwards and went down the road to Kulcha instead. Cheaper food, same quality, and was served in 5 minutes. Friendly staff.

I will be sharing the same Review from yesterdays experiences from Tao Joondalup and Kulcha Joondalup:

Iv'e been to the Tao at Whitfords which is usually pretty good so when we went to the Joondalup Tao my partner, we were beyond disappointed in the experience. After a long wait we went down the road to Kulcha (Next restaurant down). To compare the experiences I will include BOTH restaurants here.

Tao Service: Sat to our seats almost immediately however as other patrons arrived we sat there for nearly 30 minutes as other tables were served, including guests arriving after us. Tried signalling the servers as they walked past and finally got annoyed after 30 minutes when they were idle behind the counter. They were not in a dinner rush as there were 4 other tables and three wait staff on.

Kulcha Service: Seated strait away and within five minutes our order was taken. The restaurant was at half capacity at this point. We were checked on even during the mass dinner rush to make sure everything was okay and when we finished our mains they remembered to come up and asked if we were ready for desert in which we were, excellent memory and service.

Tao Cleanliness: Table was sticky and there was a smell i could not identify. As a worker in the cleaning industry this was most concerning as it was a smell I have smelt before.

Kulcha: Clean tables and clean toilets. They take pride in their work.

Tao Food and Prices: My partner and I know they charge more than average but we accept it due to the variety, whenever we go to Whitfords we usually end up spending around $100 on food and drinks for the two of us. We didn't spend a single dollar here or touch the sushi train due to no service.

Kulcha Prices: Great prices and descent serving sizes. Food came out steaming hot and was very good. Their Banana and Nutella Spring rolls with Ice cream is a unique desert which is beyond amazing and worth the horrible experience of Tao Joondalup to find this wonderful creation at Kulcha.

Overall:
Tao Joondalup: A 4.2 star rating on Tao Joondalup is deceptive and beyond inaccurate. Although I can not rate the food 100% due to not eating there I did notice some items seemed pre made such as the deserts. Save your time and money and walk an extra 20 steps to a better establishment.

Kulcha: An amazing experience, we will be coming here in future as we are usualy at Whitfords once a fortnight. The disappointment on Tao Joondalup has lowered our faith in even the Whitfords establishment.

TLDR: Tao Bad, Kulcha Good

Just went to Tao Joondalup really annoyed we sat down for 15 mins try to make eye contact with the staff (eating and polishing items) the place had 6 customers for 4 staff members we never got served! We decided to walk out and complain and not even a sorry. Will never go back again you just lost 2 loyal customers

Had to wait 90 minutes for my delivery to arrive as the resturant never cooked it. The dumplings which came after I had to call up and check on my order were cold and the sushi was rushed and didn't hold together at all. I was only compensated by the delivery service with no apology from the resturant itself or even a call to let me know there was an issue with my order. Very disappointing as the last time we ordered from here the food was very good and it arrived punctually. But 90 minutes? Next time I'll just go to Katsuya over the road.

Providing a 1-Star review for the following reasons:
1. It is 2021 and vegan meals are not clearly marked;
2. Sushi, which by definition is one of the easiest foods to make vegan only had three options which were vegan: Seaweed wet, seaweed dry, and edamame beans. There wasn't even a veggie roll on the train!
3. No vegetarian or vegan menu items explicitly marked; and
4. Staff did not know which items did or did not contain animal products.

As a result, I do not recommend this place to vegans, and suggest you all take your money somewhere else.

Food and service is good, the sushi train is little on the pricey side, my wife had the noodle dish which had barely any prawns in it. The price of regular soft drinks are overpriced. $4 for a can of Coke is ridiculous. Overall though my meal was nice.

Sushi train is far more expensive and no where near as good as one in joondalup shopping. $25 for garlic pepper prawns and it's 60% vegetable and not even 10 medium sized prawns

The Sushi Train is pretty good but expensive. I suggest the Chicken Ho Fan (Viet noodle soup), it's huge and taste awesome.

Nice food very delicious and the jelly is great. The sauce is very yummy too. I recommend going here if you are hungry

We got bento from here that definitely wasn't bad, but it was a bit average. The serving portion of rice was massive, and there wasn't so much meat, which made it feel like we didn't get the value for money.

The sushi train looked like it had a lot of delicious things on it, although the price on that was also on the steep side.

Overall, not a bad place, just a bit pricey.

What a deal Monday - Weds. 5 meals on offer for $12 each and serving sizes are very generous and satisfying.

Staff are nice, happy to suggest the popular and there favourite dishes. Clean and nice inside.

5 stars from me.

Love this place, come quite often usually get the katsu chicken bento box never disappoints and if I see something on the sushi train that catches my eye I won’t hesitate to pinch one or two items and maybe even a dessert after it all! Wait staff are very accommodating and will make sure everything is going well also they’re never not smiling, quality of food and service makes it very easy to return

Bad service ever came to, other Tao restaurant was not bad according to service but this Tao cafe restaurant first time come had a very bad service, the sushi train was fresh but just the service it sucked big time

Tonight we came to tao expecting to be greeted the same way we would be in Scarborough only to be meet with shocking service cold food frozen prawns and mould all over the sushi
Absolutely disgusting I would not recommend it at all do yourself a favour and walk up the road to the better quality cheaper Japanese Thai and Asian style restaurants

Went today for the first time and had pad Thai chicken noodles! It was so tasty with so much flavour. I will definitely be back:)

Nice service and clean area. Large number of dishes to choose from. Our food was tasty. From our experience we would eat there again.

Wow! Picked up a spicy beef and pork soup today, awesome flavour and freshness. Definitely going back again:)