Review Tao Tao House - Hawthorn

Would say it’s one of the most authentic Chinese restaurants in Melbourne. Love its low key simple 90’s decor. It brings me back to that old time Chinese movies scenes. The service is superb. The background piano music perfectly fits into the atmosphere of talks and laughs. Partner and I ordered football dumplings, wagyu beef cheek, salty fish and dry chicken tofu clay pot and a vegetable dish. Each dish is nicely cooked. Especially the football dumplings and beef cheek. We could taste the freshness. They just came out from the stove. We even ordered another 2 serves of football dumplings to take away home. Thank you for giving us such a delightful dinner experience.

My sons love the yum cha.. good service and good food... Nothing I can fault with the dishes.. very authentic

Went there for yum cha on a Sunday. Was surprisingly busy, we managed to get the last table available at the time. Just make sure that if possible, you don't take the table right near the front door. Was absolutely freezing whenever the doors were opening and closing. I rate the food 3.5 stars. There's a good variety of yum cha dishes and food presentation is not bad. However, we found the taste of the food to be rather average compared to other yum cha places in Melbourne, especially given the prices are not particularly cheap.

Excellent yum cha / dim sum. Fresh, hot. Good service. The sticky rice and pork spare ribs, the two items I usually judge yum cha on, were both top shelf.

A small restaurant close to MLC. Not many people so service is fast. Yum cha sweet items are well presented and tasty.

I thought golden leaf was nice until I came across this. Such attentive service, good clean environment and food, totally is on another level. This will now be our new family hangout and I'll be sure to bring friends here! Very impressed and pleased! Words cannot articulate!

We have dined at Tao Tao House previously selecting our meal from their à la carte menu however this time we visited to try out their Yum Cha offerings. We were impressed, not only with the dishes but also the service, especially from a young guy with a great sense of humour.

Yum Cha. Good service. Food lacked variaty, could be due to its smaller size. The mud crab we added however was exceptional! Best mud crab I've had in years.

Great staff, superb fresh food!

My favourite yum cha place in Melbourne. Quality of the food is exceptional and service is attentive.

The food was ok but the service was poor and rude. I called up one week ahead to book for yumcha for 10ppl at 12pm, they asked me to come at 12:30pm.<br/>By 1:10pm they started to rush us saying there’s another seating at 1:30pm. My brother came late so at 1:15 he wasn’t full so we wanted a plate of the steamed dumplings from the trolly. The waiter was about to give it to us but then someone else signaled him not to give it to us. This upset my parents especially my mum and we had to ask twice to get the plate of dumplings. We came as a family group of 10 and the service made it a bad experience for us.

The food is nice but big problem with your service. Waiting for food forever, tea pot not refilled, don't through choppstick on my table, clean your bowls, ...

The restaurant was quiet on a Wednesday night. Ambience, food and service is uniformly classy. Meal size is not huge but ingredients are clearly excellent quality and fresh. Attractive presentation. We had expected there ought to have been leftovers we could take home, but we easily finished 3 entrees and 4 mains plus 2 serves of rice between 3 of us.<br/>My scotch and dry was rather flat.

Great dim sum selection and the waiters/waitresses always explain the food in English 😝. The carts pass by our table quite often, and we never need to wait for too long. My family loves their stir fry spinach too, which we ordered separately not from the dim sum cart.

Excellent yum cha. Steamed dumplings are delicate, high grade of seafood used. Fried dumplings are not oily but crispy and light. Pumpkin dumpling is a must try. As is the prawn and chive dumplings.

Will come back for:<br/>+ Teriyaki Steak<br/>+ 3 Shot chicken<br/><br/>Popped in here to try out their a la carte menu (we’ve previously been here for yum cha and it was good) for dinner. The place was packed for a dinner service on a Sunday night. Service was quite efficient and quick though despite the packed restaurant. But almost too quick (as in you get a feeling you’ve been rushed out the door). The food was largely delicately balanced and tasty. Particularly liked the teriyaki steak and 3 shot chicken. Both dishes were flavourful, well cooked, and the meats super tender. Great with a bowl of steamed rice. We also had the rockling in ginger and shallots and a corn chicken soup. Prices are above average and portions are smaller than what you expect for the price. Competition is fierce in this stretch, and I think the price point will keep this to more of a special occasion type experience.

Revolving Doors ...<br/><br/>The revolving doors of Chinese restaurants should stop here, Tao Tao House is serving good Cantonese food and very reasonable ... their service is also way above average.<br/><br/>Always a good option for Cantonese food in Hawthorn, Kew and Camberwell area.<br/><br/>I'm not a fan of this extra 1,5% bank merchant fee for paying with cards, we are living in a cashless transaction society ...

Came here for dinner. I heard this place very long time ago. Reservation for table and crab. Really good high quality seafood and make it yummy.

Went for Sunday Yum Cha with my Singaporean relative. We were very happy with the authentic array and taste of Yum Cha dishes. We particularly liked the Chee Chong Fan, the Phoenix Claw/Chicken Feet and the Egg Tarts which were light, warm and creamy. The pork buns were slightly smaller which was great as the big ones leave little room for other dishes! The service was good with smiling waiters and farewells. 4.5/5 Extra 0.5 would have been if the Mango Pudding wasn’t so sweet and was more natural and creamier with condensed milk. <br/>

Some great quality dumplings here. The fillings and skin was really good quality and fresh however the service was quite slow and disappointing.

Friendly staffs! Foods are over average level of other Chinese restaurants in Melbourne.<br/>The price is reasonable as well and yum cha is even cheaper than that in Beijing.

Came here to catch up with some friends for yum cha. The dumplings were incredibly small for the price you pay. The staple prawn dumplings were really tiny and not worth it. Probably won’t be back and would rather go to other premium yum cha places in Doncaster.

Came across this Yum Cha place after searching for the top Yum Cha restaurants on Zomato. It didn’t quite live up to its expectations, they don’t wheel around trolleys like usual places do. Prices were quite high compared to other places but overall a decent experience. <br/><br/>Accepts EFT<br/><br/>Food: 3.2/5<br/>Quite average considering the cost. Presentation was below average. <br/><br/>Foods Ordered (Taste): <br/>Prawn Cheong Fun: 4/5<br/>BBQ Pork Puffs: 3/5<br/>Har Gao: 4/5<br/>Spare Ribs in Black Bean Sauce: 2.5/5<br/>Scallop Siu Mai: 3/5<br/>Football Dumpling: 2.5/5<br/>Mango Pudding: 3.5/5<br/><br/>Service: 4/5<br/>Quite attentive, always refilling water/tea. Don’t speak English very well. <br/><br/>Ambience: 4/5<br/>Spacious and Comfortable. <br/><br/>Parking: 2/5<br/>Free 1P street parking, can be hard to find.<br/><br/>Price: $$$<br/>More expensive than most other yum cha restaurants. <br/><br/>Overall Rating: 3.3/5

Fairly average, the food - dimsim. Decoration, though, is quite good, service is also good. Won’t recommend if you know your dimsim/if your Yamcha game is up there. Personally don’t plan to revisit for yamcha ever, maybe dinner

High quality, well-made and interesting Cantonese food. They do yum-cha I believe, though I’ve never tried. The quail here is to-die for, and of course a classic lobster or crab and noodle dish is always great, and this place does it well. My family come here on special occasions, and always miss their almond cookie dessert.

Family and i were craving for some yumcha, happened to be near hawthorn, so went on zomato to find this place called tao tao. Chose this place due to good rating.<br/>Went in, ordered probably 4 dishes. Fried calamari, chee cheong fun, siu mai,har gao and xiu long bao.<br/>Having it at such price, we thought it would be worth it. When the food came out, it didnt even appeal to us...<br/>Our first impression was... its was frozen food...<br/>Our food were soggy, and not meaty but filled with flour and fats. <br/>chee cheog fun was not how hongkees usually do it, thinly, the flour was so thick. Well you can see by the pic i took on how thick it was... and the siu yok was just like.... super little...<br/>Just that 4 dishes and a pot of tea costs us $70+.<br/>Which in other yumcha places you cAn get up to even 6-7 dishes for only $70+.<br/>Service was good but food was not appetising at all. <br/>Wont be going back anytime soon.

Popped in on Saturday night on a complete whim, with no reservation, as we happened to be in the area. We had to be out by a certain time, but they served us quickly, so it was no problem. Food was great. Note, prices are significantly higher than the menu uploaded here. But still on the reasonable side given the quality. The corn and crab meat soup had chunks of crab, and the singapore noodles had loads of prawns. But, the drawback was the ambience. Super noisy due to large groups and hard surfaces. Had to practicality shout at each other.

One of the more expensive yum Cha venues in Melbourne (but then again, rent prices wouldn't be too cheap).  It was quite cramped, such that food couldn't come around too easily.  I think they should just revert to table order service, as is becoming the norm in HK (trolley service is few and far between).  Service was a bit aloof, and dare I say slightly pretentious for yum Cha.  It was more suited for a classy dinner, not casual Yum Cha.

Our family have enjoyed yum cha at this restaurant since it opened. Our “go to” place for family celebrations. What a huge disappointment we had yesterday. Crammed in a corner where half the table could not rise from their seats, we wavered between feeling neglected and rushed through our meal. Little explanation of dishes served. Service was generally abrupt. No plum sauce or hoi sin until requested. No vegetarian dumplings at all, despite our early and repeated requests. One plate of Broccoli was the only vegetarian dish. In fact, the dumplings did not seem as delicate nor homemade as in the past. The daily special of san choi bao was fairly bland, as were the spare ribs. One bottle of wine for 10 of us and not one waiter asked if we would like another! We are sad more than angry. Now we have to find a new “go to” place!

My partner is eager to come for a yum cha since last year and finally her dream came true now. Food r tasty and well cooked. But sadly they don’t have so much different dim sums as secret kitchen do, which disappointed my partner. Fairly speaking, the quality of dim sum worths regular visits. However the place is small so sometimes people sitting next to the front door can be hardly served well.

Ordered vegetarian pot and Carrie prawn yesterday. Excellent food. Each element in the dish was well flavoured and mixed together well. Was hoping to score 4.5 but the system only allows 4 or 5. Reason to drop the half point... if staff checks the toilet a bit more often and make sure customer flushes it... sorry very harsh requirement, only say it because the price is reasonably high and so request perfection.

Great Chinese with plenty of old school classics. The dumplings are particularly good here and I always order a serve of the chili chicken dumplings. Tao Tao always delivers nice quality and consistent food every time I have been. A must try if a fan of Chinese cuisine.

Haven’t been to this place in a year but have always loved it. Disappointed to find out how much it’s changed for the worse. Visited for yum Cha. Sadly the food is no longer authentic and has become very western in style to cater to their clientele and of that, food is not great. Mostly fried food. No congee in sight (waiter had no idea what I was asking for and he only spoke English so couldn’t even explain - he had to call his manager to ask what congee was?! who was a little shamefaced) - instead you’ll be offered chicken spring rolls or prawn toast. Watery dumplings. Thick skins. Super disappointing. One thing hasnt changed though - how expensive it is!! Will not be back. Sad sad sad.

Hmmmm was bit fickle minded and came here on a whim ... there’s soooo many things to eat here now at Hawthorn!!! Anyways for the unconcerned... this place is ok.. sama sama ... dame same but different. <br/><br/>The prawns used in the prawn steam noodle thingy.. sorry forgot what that’s called in engeris... was soaked in salt water! Very salty! Either that or it is laden with preservatives to allow it to keep longer. Everything we had was just msg!! We finished several pots of tea in the 30min we were there. <br/><br/>8 items and the bill??? $73! YMMV. I liked this place yeaaaars ago but is no longer the quality I remembered it to be.

The best yum Cha in Melbourne in my opinion is right here!<br/>At first glance, the place seems small and cramped but this is soon forgotten once the trolleys if food start coming.<br/>The dumplings are small and dainty and full of flavour, the casing is thin but robust. <br/>A great selection of both fried and steamed. So delicious. And they have steam cake, one of my favourites. I really enjoyed my experience. To top it off, the service is great. Friendly, young helpful waitstaff are willing to explain the dishes to non-Chinese patrons.

Went for yum cha. <br/><br/>Great service. Waiters could converse well in English, were polite and friendly and attended to us quickly. Small restaurant, but cozy instead of squishy. <br/><br/>Generous portions of ingredients in some of the dishes, like the prawns in beancurd skin roll. Delicious egg tarts. Disappointing BBQ pork pastry - it was a little too dry. The rest of our meal wasn’t amazing, but it wasn’t subpar either.<br/><br/>We were absolutely gobsmacked with our bill. We regularly go for yum cha so we have an idea as to what it’d cost - this was far, far more than we expected. I think we’ll stick to our regular yum cha places.

Family-style dimsum eatery (3.5 ⭐)<br/><br/>Ambience: The place is quite spacious, with old-chinese designs and decorations. Place was pretty well kept.<br/><br/>Service: The staffs were pretty friendly, English wasn't much of a problem. Food came out after reasonable wait. Getting their attention was not hard nor easy.<br/><br/>Food: Prawn har gau was pretty good, meat was fresh and wasn't too salty. Bbq pork bun was yum as well, though they're bit small. Chicken feet was again pretty good, texture and taste wise, though can be better marinated. Vegetarian spring roll were okay, just bit oily. Scallop siuw mai had a nice texture and tasted pretty good, but cant really taste the scallop. Duck roll was not so good, bit all over the place, with weird duck parts in them. The custom vegetable egg noodles was pretty good though, vegs were fresh and crunchy, sauce was not too salty and noodle had a nice texture.<br/>Overall not bad for yum chas, though we found them not "great". Also it's a shame they don't have many sweet yum cha options.<br/><br/>Price: reasonable prices.<br/><br/>YUM: har gau, noodle<br/>NAH: mushroom and duck roll<br/><br/>photos: scallop siuw mai, bbq pork bun, chicken feet, vegetarian spring roll, mushroom and duck roll, custom vegetarian claypot noodle<br/><br/>P.S I took photos of their current menu!<br/><br/>( follow for more!✨)<br/><br/>ｘｘ，ｊｏｅｌｌｅ<br/>

Food: best chee cheong fun in Australia! Juicy prawns encased in translucent, delicate rice flour with that yummy sweet soy sauce! The dumplings were fine- skins weren’t thick but not as good and thin as you’d find in Asia. The siu mai is better at Tim Ho Wan; this one had too skewed towards too much pork for my liking. Egg custard tarts were light and not too sweet. Service was ok; not rude and hasty like other typical yum cha places and they did come around to top up our teapots quite frequently. Decor was lovely. Only downside was the price- $70 for 2.

After seeing a film at the nearby Rivoli cinema we were in need of a quick takeaway dinner. Tao Tao house did the trick! While we ordered takeaway we had a quick look at the restaurant interior which is very impressive. Modern and brightly decorated with hanging plants. The actual dumplings were good with our favourite being the steamed prawn.

Went there for lunch.  Comforting that the place was pretty full with Chinese faces.  Always a good indication.  We had the $35 banquet.  A good cross-section of the menu and was quite delicious and good quality.  Only disappointment was amount of dim sum.  One steamer of a four different types.  Would have liked more.  Next time will probably make my own selection of dim sum and dumplings

I have been a regular customer of Tao Tao for many years as the food and service has always been of a high standard until recently. I went there with my family a couple of months ago and was very disappointed with the food and service. I gave them the benefit of doubt thinking maybe there were issues in the kitchen or possibly a new chef. Gave it another try today for YumCha and again way off the mark from what they used to be. The lack of food and verity on offer was very poor. The food it's self didn't have the same appeal and freshness you would expect. When it came to desert all that was on offer was Mango pancakes. I had asked for some egg custard tarts 30 min in advance only then to be told they had none left. I'll be saucing out a new venue for future Yum Cha.

I have seen so many bad comments. I love dim sum, so I still want to try it.<br/>BUT Super bad service ! Food was ok but staff are unfriendly ! I will never come back again!! Poor management! Staff were not well-trained and don’t know how to respect customers. this is the first time I bring my parents to Mel, my parents are not very happy about service and food

Super bad experience with the service and surprisingly from the management. Was late but the abuse we received unnecessary. Food was good but won’t be coming back.

Seriously how could this place got a rating at 4. Just had probably worst dinning experience at this place. If i could give negative I definitely will do. The first time visit was okay. Food came fast, staff was friendly. But this time we got serviced by a very very very rude guy, who was kinda of pushing us for order with a bad attitude. Seriously, if you have a restaurant you should watch out how your staff treat your client.

Very great quality dim sum but at a higher price than most places. I love taking my grandparents here as they are always so happy when they eat the har gao and the other dim sums here  ( they do not know how much each dim sum dish is btw they think its the same price as other placfes )

Nice restaurant. Not happy with the last minute time retraction. We made a booking at 12.30 and we weren’t told that we have to finish up at 1.30.

The dim sum here is good quality and the size of the dim sum is the way it should be. They don’t hurry you to leave here like other yum cha restaurants. The menu selection though is not as varied as other yum cha restaurants (they don't have congee!). The seating was also a little crammed as the trolley struggled to get past our table and the waiters kept asking my friend to move his chair so the trolley could pass.

A typical yumcha house in a lovely suburban atmosphere. Good food, nice waiters. Not as busy as one of the more well known places, and the staff were not as well trained to taking special orders. My mother asked for her favourite dish which took over 40 minutes to come. If you're looking for a simple yumcha experience and dislike the busy vibes of the inner city, this place is adequate.

Delicious yum Cha, wonderful service, best yum Cha in Melbourne I'd say. There was a great selection of dishes and everyone was a delight, we'll definitely come back soon!

Favourite Yum Cha place in Melbourne! Huge selection of dumplings and they are all good quality. Prawn and chive dumplings, prawn toast and of course the mango pudding are my favourites! Service here is also lovely.

Nice ambiance. Very comfy chair and helpful staff. Only let down is the food, however. They are lukewarm, bland and overpriced. It’s a great place if you are after a ‘civilized’ yum cha experience but don’t waste your time and money if you want something authentic.

This restaurant is way overrated! Had an abysmal of a night for dinner with tremendously rude staff servicing my table. Food was mediocre and way too expensive. Might as well have gone heston with the money I paid. Absolute shocker, not worth trying.

I had a good first experience at Tao Tao House. I rode my bike all the way there, my favourite dish there was the the prawn rice noodle. I also had some other steamed dumplings but that was still my favourite. I recommend this place if your around the area. The waiters were friendly and the food was yummy 😋

Very very disappointed over such an unworthy experience. <br/>Have very high hopes over high markings on zomato. We went there to find the restaurant understaffed. The food is super slow in coming out. There are very long voids between each carts. Kids were very impatient and there is nothing special on the food here. <br/>The buns are very small and all other portions are also very small. The standard dimsums are very greasy as well. <br/>I will say mostly all the food here is quite bland. It lacks too much ‘kick’ to the flavor. <br/>The tea taste like water. <br/>We ate 11 dishes and spent an unworthy $105. Not coming back. <br/>We are not even half full after $105, we went to maccas. At least you got what you pay for.

Came here for dinner on Saturday night. Restaurant was very busy, we had didn't have a booking, but they managed to find us a table. Staff were awesome all very accommodating and friendly.<br/>Started with some Xiao Long Dumplings, Siu mau Char Siu buns, all extremely good. I read someone's review earlier who mentioned that the food is not oily and I completely agree! Next we had Peking duck pancakes which were lovely. Then shared the Szechuan Prawns (extremely fresh and the sauce was amazing) and a small special fried rice - again not oily so ticked all the boxes. We will certainly be back!

Delicious cuisine and fabulous service. We had honey pepper steak, stir-fried garlic spinach, scallop and tofu, and barramundi. They were all very tasty. Will definitely come again.

As far as Chinese food goes this is up there. A busy restaurant and had to wait 5 minutes for a table. Staff were great and very attentive. Had some xiao long bao, pork bun and pork and prawn sui mai and were all great... ordered more xiao longs cause they were good. Peking duck pancakes next which had a great thick piece of duck which was refreshing as usually places can be stingy and then finished off with Szechwan prawns... nice big and super fresh prawns in a delicious sauce which went well with the special fried rice. Definitely more expensive than most Chinese restaurants but you get what you pay for and it's definitely worth it

The food was okay but not many selection. The customer service was bad, the waitress and waiter are not friendly, we need to ask for food few times. Also it is very expensive ! 8 of us spent $352 ! I can eat in some other yum Cha place with friendly and nice service. Never go back again! Not worth of money!

Friendly service and delicious quail, however other dishes were rather average. The restaurant presents itself well, its very clean and classy.

Delicious dim sum with good customer service. The selection was basic but well cooked. If you're after adventurous dim sum dishes then you'll have to go elsewhere! They did serve chicken feet and they were delicious and moorish!

Tao Tao House was everything I remember about going out for Chinese with my family when I was growing up! They were very busy but made an effort to accommodate us. The san choy bao was fresh, crispy and delicious!

Seeing so many reviews about this restaurant, but not dinner. Which I kind of understand why, as the price I pay is like a fine dining but at a casual restaurant. The food is nice. But just pricey. $39 dollars for 3 pieces of fish. Not sure if I can call it a main. Just the Pipa tofu is really nice to try. The scallops are entree $4 each for steam and $8 for baked cheese, both are delicious.

I ordered this lunch set for two. Their dim sim is very tasty. To me, it's really hard to find a good place for dim sim in Melbourne! The starter was bad, I didn't take a photo of it, and I can't remember what was it. I love love the chicken feet since I haven't had it for years😭, very tender, warm, and the sauce filled the entire chicken feet and it looked like it had been steaming for hours. The dumplings were fabulous (shrimp filling, i love everything with shrimps😂), the sticky rice was great, but the stir fry beef with broccoli to me was really sweet and I did not like it. Overall, will definitely go back if I crave for dim sim

We came here for lunch and ordered Peking duck, spring rolls, prawn noodle, soup dumplings and a few other dishes. The service was great. The food arrived promptly. Everything we ordered was delicious. The only negative was the dumplings with the soup inside because it had come out and was very thin. Everything else was food. Little bit pricey. We were 3 and it cost over $100 without drinks.

We arrived on a weeknight for dinner, the restaurant was not super busy, the staff were also very friendly and attentive, the menu was extensive and the food tasted good. Overall the restaurant has above average standard compared to some Chinese restaurants.  My highlight dishes were the Dunk Pancakes, 3 shot chicken, combination omelette and Mango pudding.

Absolutely love the dumplings here! We always book a table for Yum cha on Sunday's because it gets quite busy. The selection of dumplings is expansive, and the quality of dumplings is top notch! Tao tao is one of my fav yum cha restaurants in Melbourne. It's a bit more pricey than some others, but you're paying for good quality! Highly recommend

Excellent service and food was very tasty. Great ambiance. We tried all their dumplings and they are made fresh and not oily. Complimentary  home-made biscuits are served at the end of your dinner.

Came here for Yum cha on a Sunday with my partner and the food was below average. Additionally, the cost for two people came down to 99.50 which is over priced when compared to other yum cha places around Melbourne as they charge most of their dishes for 8.50. Overall would not come back.

Favourite yum cha place in Melbourne! Delicious food and great variety. Especially love the trolley service at lunch time. Waitress was absolutely lovely last time we went - will definitely be coming back for more! Can't recommend this place enough!

Best dumplings I have ever had! Great customer service and reasonably priced. I checked the ratings before I attended and I wasn't disappointed - well worth the 5 star rating. My tastebuds are so satisfied. Thank you Tao Tao House !

Been waiting for half an hour until a waiter came telling us they were fully booked! Why didn't you tell us earlier and let us (And several other groups )wait for nothing！horrible experience and will not come back forever！

Walked in, waited 10 mins, no one came to take orders. <br/><br/>Raises my hand to notify the waiters, waiters saw me, another 5 mins, still can't order. <br/><br/>Got impatient, grabbed one of the waiters to tell him that we want some water and order, he told us to wait. <br/><br/>Another 5 minutes passed and STILL NO ONE COMES TO TAKE OUR ORDER SO WE JUST LEFT.<br/><br/>Basically just sat there for like 25 minutes and can't even get an order in or some water. <br/><br/>10/10<br/><br/><br/>

Turned up at 1130. There was no line. Got told to come back at 1230. No information displayed about session times anywhere, or anything telling you to book ahead.

Been here a few times and we always enjoy the food. The staff are also really outgoing and it is a pleasure to go there. Chinese New Year was a great experience there too.

Came for the first yumcha session on a Saturday morning. Although it started at 11, it was pretty empty until after 11:30am, so there wasn't much food going around until then. Service was great, though! Most of the dishes were the standard that you would expect from yumcha. The chive prawn dumplings were exceptionally good, packed full of chives. The xiao long bao were pretty good for a yum cha restaurant - the skin was great, although there wasn't much juice. The fried white bait were below average... not crispy enough. The char siu bao was the worst dish. They were a dry and a weird size, throwing off the bun to filling ratio. We may have gone about one dish over our limit, but it still came to ~$35 per head, which was pretty pricey.

Nice little yumcha joint with cushioned seat for the lower back. Interesting to note that it shares the name "Tao tao" with a prestigious restaurant in Guangzhou, China. Puer Tea was bland and below our standard but yum cha dishes were nicely steamed.

Friendly service and great food, came here for afternoon yumcha before service and was sat promptly. Been too many/same yumcha and tao's was a breath of fresh air, nice atmosphere and seating, especially the comfy leather seats provided. Service was fantastic as the waiter always checked if tea needed hot water and made sure tables were always clean and clear for more dishes to be put on.<br/><br/>Really recommend the sui mai and prawn wraps. All the food were cooked well and tasty, and the food was not oily like other establishments.<br/><br/>

After reading the positive reviews and the 4.1 rating we thought we would give the Yum Cha a go for lunch today. <br/><br/>Worst Yum Cha we have ever had. Poor service. <br/><br/>Don't get the octopus tentacles they were chewy as, pretty sure they are frozen.

The best place for Yum Cha in town!  If you haven't  been here before, I highly recommend you check this place out for your next yum cha feast! A little more pricey than most Chinese restaurants but you won't be disappointed on quality. Make sure you make a reservation on weekends, they are always booked out in advanced.

Accidentally found this nice yum cha restaurant at lunchtime today. The dishes look a bit pricy on the menu but the portion of meat are actually very generous. Loved every prwan dishes!

Day of the week: Saturday <br/>Time: lunch time <br/>Table of: 4 <br/>Food: around 20 dishes; I really can't remember all of them :) <br/>Standout dishes: <br/>- mango pancake: generous amount of cream and mango; well balance of these 2 ingredients; as there are places that put lots of cream but tiny mango pieces. <br/>- duck dumplings: I just really like this dumplings; well flavoured.<br/>- duck and shiitake mushrooms roll: well favoured, generous amount of fillings <br/>- salt and pepper calamari: well flavoured, and unlike other places the calamari weren't over cooked and dried<br/>- steam rice rolls: the rice rolls thickness were right; not too thin or too thick. <br/>Decor: table cloth instead of butcher paper; no dirty dishes in trolley around the dinning area, no oily flooring. <br/>Customer service: good customer service, no one standing around your table to check your 'order card' and see how many dishes you have had. <br/>Price: $190; yes it seem a bit pricy for lunch. But yum cha has always been pricy anyway. I go for quality over quantity. :) <br/>There are dim sums that I haven't tried yet so will definitely come back for more :) :)

Good location, average dim sum standard, everything is good but nothing exceptional. mango pancake was delicious. Very busy on weekend morning.

First time here. Two seating times - 11am and 1:30pm. Great selection of Yum Cha food. Service was very quick including friendly & polite waiters. We'll be back.

We finally came here because when a friend was visiting from HK and as we drove past, she said can't believe Tao Tao House is also here in Aust...so my partner and I finally tried and surprisingly it is one of the best in Melb (for I've pretty much given up) as most places the services are poor and quality is inconsistent. Although we've been here only once but the standards and service is similar to your quality ones in HK, and they don't have overloaded trolleys so everything comes out fresh and hot! We will definitely go back again and is a place that you can bring friends and not be embarrassed by poor service or dim sims!

We go here twice a month as a family. Simply the best Yum Cha in Melbourne. Every dish is fresh and consistent and staff are attentive and friendly. The standout dish is the Duck dumpling. It is packed full of flavour and leaves you smiling. Other highlights: Tripe, prawn dumpling, football, pork ribs, vegetarian dumpling and the warm custard bun. Brilliant.

High quality dim sum. We went for lunch on a weekday and, admittedly, I was a touch underwhelmed in light of the hype I'd heard. However, my friend who brought me mentioned that it was usually better than what we experienced that day. Having said that though, it was still very enjoyable. Individual dim sum were noticeably smaller in size than other places, and each serve is a little more pricey than is typical. We tried several dishes and everything was of great quality. The highlights on this occasion were the har gao, chive har gao, siu mai, bean curd skin pork rolls, pan fried stuffed eggplant and egg tart. Dumpling skins were done to perfection and fillings were tasty, juicy and the right texture. The egg tart had pastry that was professionally done, while the egg custard was the real deal--light and delicate but with sufficient firmness. The two let-downs were the char siu bao and the football dumplings (him sui goh). The filling of the bao was not saucy and quite gluggy, whilst the flavour was very atypical and weirdly floral (that's the best I can describe it). Not sure if they'd added some strange spices to the filling but it was not what you want to taste when biting into a bao. The hum sui goh was very fried and the most crispy I've ever had and this was a plus. It looked like it was filled to the brim with delicious innards, but alas, when biting into it, there was only a miserly amount of filling, and hence, flavour.<br/>Apart from the two disappointments, I would still definitely come back to see if I can catch this restaurant at it's best. At the moment I still prefer some of my south eastern dim sum favourites.

For a dumpling place, this seems to be overrated. Definitely over priced. And extremely badly managed.<br/><br/>We ordered quite a lot of food, so I asked if they could take off one serve of dumplings. They said we ordered take away dumplings, we didn't know why they were giving us take away, we didn't want to take 3 dumplings home, so we said we'd rather eat our dumplings there.<br/><br/>The bill came and they charged us a $7.00 take away fee. When we asked them to remove it they we're unhappy and suggested we asked for take away when we didn't. They also charged us for extra dumplings.<br/><br/>What made things worse?<br/><br/>The way they handled it. <br/><br/>The main waiter was so upset about reducing the $230 bill by $7.00 (even though it should've been by $14.50, because of the extra dumplings we had ordered), that he really argued the point.<br/><br/>The cause of the problem was that I said 'take away one serve of dumplings'. He took that as.. 'one serve of dumplings take away'.<br/><br/>He was still unhappy and when I said thank you, he deliberately refused to acknowledge me and snubbed me.<br/><br/>Seriously, why would you be so upset about $7?, when it was obviously a communications issue?<br/>

I'm a big fan of Chinese. Not a fan of 635 MSG and the likes and asked these guys to look after me and they did. Unlike some places who say they'll make sure and I end up with a blown up face. I rate this place highly because of that. <br/><br/>No reservations but luckily got in - we started with the vegetarian spring rolls and they were a little bland but still good. <br/><br/>Honey chicken / yeah I'm allergic to seafood so I stick to the beige foods and it was delicious. All breast and lots of honey. Chicken heaven!<br/><br/>Fried rice was really really good. Lots of flavour and really tasty. Partner had mandarin beef which he loved too. <br/><br/>The only thing I don't rate this place on is cost. $87 for two mains, rice and a spring roll! No alcohol and just water. Very exxy but the quality was much better than most I've been to. Will be back.

Tao Tao House was one of my favorite yum cha restaurant in Melbourne. <br/>This place was packed on weekends and table booking highly recommended. Simple decoration in Chinese style with paints, nothing too fancy. Space was limited and could feel crowded. The overall service was ok, even though we made a booking we sat down at the table 15mins later.<br/>The waiter/waitress push out the trolley filled with steamed dumplings, baos, pasty, sweets, congee etc. If u didn't find what you were looking for, just ask them to bring to your table. <br/>The overall quality of food was really high. I can taste the freshness of the ingredients in those dumplings. I was guess that they made all the yum cha food by the restaurant itself. The skins of the dumplings were chewy, clear, not mushy; interesting flavors; flavorful meats; soft buns..<br/>Maybe the price was not the cheapest and maybe got less choices, but Tao Tao House was nice, clean with fresh ingredients, good flavors!

I really didn't like this yum cha. We tried several dishes - prawn dumplings, pumpkin dumplings, scallop dumplings, San choi bao, calamari and Mongolian beef. Everything was overly oily or salty and felt like your standard aussie Chinese. Customer service was on the very average side too and the poor state of the loo completed an overall average evening.

Excellent Yum Cha. Good wine list, great service. 2 sittings, not 3, so you can enjoy a leisurely Yum Cha lunch instead of a rushed affair. Been here for dinner several times, the a la carte menu is excellent. Highly recommended!!

One of my favourite for yum cha. Tasty morsels of seafood and pork wrapped, steamed and fried. One of the consistent operators for yum Cha. However, they do not have congee.. love their steamed items , fried dumplings and egg tarts. Great idea to make phone bookings to avoid disappointment.

A quite popular Yum Cha spot in Hawthorn. It was actually hard to book in a table during weekends. Service is nice and quick~dumplings are nice as well. Comparing to other famous yum cha I definitely prefer this one~ will come back

Wide variety of dumplings, entrees and mains on offer. Ordering off the menu is a good idea as the food comes quite quickly and is always hot and fresh. If you're eating at the yum cha time, the food is mostly very hot, from my experiences, but occasionally the food is warm. Overall, I always enjoy my food at Tao Tao house and recommend it for both yum cha and ordering off the menu.

Went here for yum cha, and had a quiet table in the back corner from which we could see all the action. Service was good, with The Vegetarian being reasonably well catered for, which doesn't happen often at yum cha! Not a huge variety of options, but all was very tasty.

We have been trying to find a good yumcha but this is not anywhere near what I call good, with very small Siu Mai and everything else to match at about $6 per bamboo bowl I did not get satisfaction.<br/><br/>We spent about $70 and walked out to go home and eat as this place is really just a taste testing house that charge.<br/><br/>I liked the flavour of the Har Gao, it was good flavour that's why I gave them the 2.5 but the rest lacked.<br/><br/>The service was terrible, we only just finished and the waiter was staring us down, we asked for a tea pot refill and less than the time I was fill my cup the waiter was asking me to come pay, I said I wanted to finish my tea and they seemed annoyed, so I went and paid then sat back at the table to have 2 or 3 service staff continue watching us and whispering to each other, not very pleasant.<br/><br/>I would not recommend here unless you desperately trying to find nice Har Gao.<br/><br/>

We went on a Sunday night and the place was packed. Great atmosphere with delicious yum cha at a reasonable price for the quality of the food. Service was friendly and quick even if it was hard to grab the waiters eye on a few occasions. Portions were a good size and for the three of us we found 7 serves of yum cha with stir fry rice more than adequate. Parking might be an issue with a number of other busy restaurants nearby and surrounding streets limited with on street parking due to permit zones.

Tao Tao Restaurant (Hawthorn- 5/10) <br/><br/>Came here for dinner with a high anticipation based on its relatively reputable rating on zomato.com and recommendation from friends. Ordered four main dishes to be accompanied with rice:<br/>1) Garlic butter prawn (1.5/5)<br/>2) Mixed vegetables with cashew nuts (1.5/5)<br/>3) Honeyed braised pork spare ribs (3.5/5)<br/>4) Patagonian Toothing fish dish (2/5)<br/><br/>Taste of the dishes were mediocre and lack of the wow factor. Portions were rather small for the price we pay. We were expecting to get a whole fish dish for the price that was set but what came was seemingly three fillets of fish which results to a slight disappointment. Hardly able to share among 6 people. <br/><br/>On the contrary, we did have bonus rating for their service and ambience of the restaurant. The service was pretty quick, tea were served regularly and waiters/ waitresses attended to us when needed. Ambience and interior of the entire restaurant was great with a touch of Asian antiques furnitures! Love the setting of this place. However, the atmosphere in the restaurant during our visit was rather noisy, making it hard for me and my companions to keep up a conversation.<br/><br/>Perhaps, the high ratings were from the yum cha experience and not the Dai cao (a la carte dish). We will come back again to try out the yum cha option.

Booked Yum Cha for Fathers Day and was very impressed with Tao Tao! My dad always chooses yum cha and we always find a different place to try. Very glad we found this. Greeted by a big intricate designed door, Tao Tao is lovely inside. Was packed out too. They didn't seem to have very specific yum cha sittings and we got some of the dishes already circulating to tables as soon as we sat down, as well as plenty of the fresh food coming out of the kitchen. Definitely one of the very best yum chas we've had! More steamed dishes than fried which is great. Stand outs were Sweet chili dumps, BBQ pork buns, vegie dumps, prawn dumps, combination dumps, calamari and loads more! For dessert there was traditional mango pudding and also a fresh mango and cream crepe dish which was amazing and a perfect end to eating my body weight in dumps!! Will absolutely be going back. Service was awesome and waiters were very attentive with filling the tea pot and water constantly.

One of our fav yum cha spots because the service and ambiance are so great. The food is solid and traditional and all of a high standard. Nothing that will blow you away but a great spot anyway.

Excellent food but at a price of course. The staffs are generally friendly but can be short with you since they're always busy. Overall very authentic food and remember to book.

Found this place a few months before I moved house away from Glenferrie Road. So shattered I didn't find it earlier so I could go regularly! The dumplings are better than any dumplings I've ever had before. The mains we had were delicious too. Very good value for money except the fried rice that we had on the side... It was so expensive! Aside from that I can't fault this place. Highly recommend! BYO is good too.

Excellent Yum Cha on Sunday.  Very tasty and feels more like a restaurant compared to some of the mega Yum Cha venues in Melbourne.  A little bit more expensive but the service is friendly.

Mmmmm one of my most fave yum Cha spots in Melbourne! I don't go very often but when I do go, it has to be great!!! The serves are small but the quality, flavour, presentation and amazing taste makes up for it. Came here around 1:00 on a Saturday arvo it was pretty packed- waited about 10-15 mins for a table for two. We ordered 8 different things and it cost $56 (not too bad). <br/><br/>Egg tarts were off the hook as were custard buns. For something different try the scallop Su mai :)! Thanks guys! I'll defs have to drop back here and try a dinner some day!

We just went to Yum Cha. It was expensive however worst of all we were offered Shark Fin dumplings. It is not on  the menu however it was offered. Not much on offer for kids. Recommend not eating at any restaurant that serves shark fin. I have personally seen sharks with fins cut off on the  bottom of the sea.  I am an experienced underwater photographer. It is simply disgraceful . Say no to shark fin businesses by your actions.

We eat regularly here as the yum cha is above average & the place is not too noisy. We turned up at 1:40 pm one Monday. It was far from full but we were asked to wait for a table. 15 minutes later, no table was ready & when reminded, the staff were polite but insisted that they were too busy. Too busy when the place was half full? We voted with out feet.