Tao Restaurant Old Town Beaconsfield

Great little Chinese restaurant in old Beaconsfield. Good food and friendly staff — look out for the firewater man! Food is very good and no more expensive than any other good Chinese despite being in overpriced Beaconsfield. Word of warning though, parking in the area is atrocious — I’d advise parking somewhere out of town and catching a cab in if you’re going there after 7pm or on a weekend.

In the heart of the old town, it’s a shame this restaurant is located in one of South Buck’s hell holes for parking as a dinner in this venue could be a regular occurrence were it not for this insurmountable problem. Insurmountable that is unless you enjoy a hike both before and after dinner! Not so good in heavy rain! Knowing this problem existed we arrived on site 30 minutes before our reservation and took over 15 minutes to get space within 500 yards so do not go here unless you are prepared for this even at 7pm in the evening. Get there later and you’ll find them double and even triple parked! In fact getting away after dinner can be a real adventure searching for a way out of your spot through the morass.
Beaconsfield also boasts the most expensive property prices for a town in the UK so with that many wealthy residents you are unlikely to come out of a restaurant in this part of the world feeling like you got good value for money so the first thing to note is a visit to Tao’s will not be cheap but it is good fun.
Set meal menus start here from around £13 a head but include duck and get a party of 10 together and you are paying £20. Add drinks on top and you can add at least another £10 per head to that.
The relaxed atmosphere created by the cosy interior means no fancy dressing up and although we went during Chinese New Year celebrations and so enjoyed some quite elaborate decorations it would be very pleasant without all the red make over. There is not a lot of space when the place is full but depending on your view it is either cramped or atmospheric. I have to say everyone was enjoying their evening Saturday and that really pumped up the party atmosphere!
Service is excellent, attentive and just about right which was not bad considering they were absolutely full and they were turning people away all evening.
The food is very acceptable although not likely to win any awards and servings are plentiful. Drinks are a tad pricey but not frightening.
The fun element comes with the patrons party games over your sweet course. You get the chance to win a bottle of champagne if you can manage the challenge (proud to say we managed it!) and you get the chance to try ‘flaming’ spirit shots as part of the fun — fiiiirrreee! OK an in-​joke which you’ll have to go along to find out what it is about.