Tai’s Asian Bistro

Meh. Good in terms of «Chinese» food but nothing special. I don’t recommend the Chicken and Broccoli. As usual, it’s drenched in sauce. Fried rice is pretty good.

Excellent food! Their menu is saturated with deliciousness and it’s incredibly easy to find something for everyone. I love their eel sushi… YUMMY!

God dammit.
I’m a man who hates throwing away good food. I was raised to finish my plate every meal, yet I STILL found the urge to toss my entire meal away.
My lady and I got the crab rangoon, chicken with cashew nut, and honey walnut shrimp. The crab rangoon was fine, but the entrees made us question the supposed «authenticity» mentioned by other reviewers. We’re talking flavors and texture here. The chicken with cashew nut had a sauce that was prominently salty, a bit savory, until it all just disappeared in a way that screamed MSG. The dry shrimp looked deep-​fried, but upon closer inspection, we noticed the fried batter was bendable. You gotta wonder if this stuff was pre-​packaged in a freezer just minutes prior and microwaved for service.
We left full on cream cheese and Spotted Cow. Hasta nunca.

No. Just no. Go to Copp’s next door and get a frozen burrito. You will be better off.
Ordered the curry tofu. It was disgusting. The sauce must have had at least ½c of cornstarch in it, but not even a whisper of curry (despite being identified as spicy on the menu). No veggies other than onions, which is irrelevant because even better veggies would have been rendered inedible by the cornstarch sauce.
They have a newspaper review hanging by the soda machine. I can’t imagine why they hung it up as the review is not good, but of course by the time I read it I’d already ordered. A shame that they didn’t read the review and make an effort to improve upon the failings noted. But that review was 4 years old. If they haven’t fixed things yet, I can’t imagine they ever will.
The pre-​fab fortune cookies were fine.

From a Chinese perspective, this restaurant tastes OK, but I have to say it’s the best tasting Chinese restaurant in Madison, that why I’m giving five stars.

really authentic chinese food!
I mean the place is not fancy, but price is really reasonable. Their food is the best i ve tried in madison, it reminds me of homemade chinese food: p

Tucked away in a West Madison strip mall, Tai’s Asian Bistro makes the most of location. While little natural filters in from the small windows on the front of the store, the use of red paper lanterns and colorful lamps imparts a soothing vibe into the space. The restaurant appears better maintained that many of the Asian food joints in town, with its freshly painted walls and matching dark wood of the chairs and tables. Also impressive is the gleaming stainless steel of the open kitchen, which buzzed with activity during the heart of the lunch hour rush.
I ordered at the counter, found an open table in the relatively large dining area and after a ten minute wait, a server delivered my food. The lunch menu is surprisingly affordable, with many tantalizing options priced as low as $ 5.85. I opted for the Korean BBQ short ribs and was thrilled with my choice. The thin slices of bone-​in meat were lightly marinated and had a hint of smoke. While it took a little effort to get the meat off the bones, I was rewarded with a mouthful of satisfying flavor. The fried rice that accompanied my BBQ, while not spectacular, was better average.
Pro tip: Tai’s does a booming carryout business during the lunch hour, so consider calling in your order in advance of your visit if you are looking to do a quick lunch.
I’ll definitely return to explore more of the lunch menu.

Not sure why all the positive reviews. Thought maybe we’d get something other than typical Americanized Chinese food. Unfortunately, no, and the food was so salty that we could not finish it.

LOVE LOVE LOVE this place. I am here at least twice a week. Most dishes are authentic and prices are VERY reasonable. The staff is friendly as well. Recommendations include the crispy chicken, szechuan spicy fish (this might not be on the menu), clams in black bean sauce, flounder home style, drunk ginger spare ribs, stir fried pea tips.

Amazing food, it is literally the best chinese food I have ever tasted I highly recommend this place to everyone. It’s totally worth the money

Decent place. Good food and prices. Only bummer is that they don’t do deliveries anymore.
I’ve been to this place more than 10 times. And I have to say, every time has been a nice experience. Their food is always authentic, and the workers seem nice as well.
Would recommend this place to anyone who wants a taste of authentic Chinese food.

Could not be happier I decided to give this place a try. The only reason I did not come earlier was because there is a lot of ethnic food in the area with better ratings on Unilocal.However, don’t let this place’s 3.5 star rating fool you, this is place is a solid 5 stars.
If you come here, you can expect more food, more flavor, and a lower price than any other ethnic restaurant nearby. And if you decide to eat in, the interior of the restaurant is surprisingly modern and clean. And while some people have complained that this place is «Americanized», I would have to respectfully disagree to an extent. Yes there is a tad bit more oil and sugar in some dishes than an authentic Chinese dish, but this place uses nowhere near the amount of grease or sugar as the truly Americanized Panda Express. I actually feel good after eating this stuff! …and besides, who said Americanized automatically meant bad? ;)
Anyway, this place has become my new go to place for lunch and dinner when I am in the area. I would highly recommend you give this place a try.

Came here under the recommendation of a friend who’s been here a couple of times. From my experience with Asian eateries I know it can swing two ways, but this place serves good Chinese food. We ordered from the ‘Family Dinner’ menu. This list really caters to the family, they have selections ranging from 3 to 6(?), might be more, dishes, depending on the size of your ‘family’. So with that you get a choice of what you love to try.
Food is decent enough. I love their spicy chicken wings in claypot. Note: The wings are not the boneless wings, something to keep in mind if you want to save some hassle during your meals. But most Chinese places serve traditional wings, and I love them. Our next dish was a stir-​fry green vegetable. Tasted fine, not much to say for this classic. We also had the steamed fish. The selling point of steamed fish is to preserve the ‘natural’ taste and texture of the fish, for that reason you need to use fresh ingredients to make it work well. Unfortunately they fell a little short in this aspect. That said, though, it’s not easy to get fresh seafood in town, so I give them some credit.
At Tai’s you place your order and pay upfront at the counter. You go take a seat at your table and they will bring the food out once they are ready. Pretty easy and efficient system. Sometimes when they are busy, they might tend to look around a little before spotting your table. So keep an eye out for the items you ordered, and give them a shout-​out if you see them with it.
One comment I have is that their atmosphere in terms of ventilation needs some improvement. They have an open kitchen concept, so the kitchen is completely open to the dining space. As you can imagine with the amount of stir-​frying and stuff going on, the smell of food and spices can get pretty strong. Though it might be cool to watch you food being prepared, at times it could be a little too overwhelming for me and my clothes.

Love their dragon sushi roll, it is one of the best in town. The service is more like self serve. but staffs are very nice. THe food portion is huge, tasty too. I don’t like their bubble tea at all, powder based, don’t order it! Overall it is a good place to go!

We’re regulars here. The food is always good. Over the few years they’ve been around business has steadily grown, but I don’t think the staff ever has — they seem to have the same number of people in the kitchen on a killer busy night as a dead one. Thus, when you dine in the wait can be long.
Tips: Skip the bubble tea and dinner plates. Steamed pork buns are tasty.

Three stars is fitting for this place. Nothing was excellent, the prices were reasonable, the service was okay, though I thought the interior was far nicer than a «hole in the wall diner» as described in some other reviews. It’s really a clean, moderately nice Asian restaurant (not so common I suppose). Nonetheless, it’s a good lunch spot for a cheap and filling meal, but the quality is not supreme nor are the prices the cheapest you’ll find.
Bonus: They have an authentic Chinese menu, though none of them are listed on the lunch specials, so you will have to pay a little extra.

This place was a nice surprise! I expected your typical run of the mill Chinese restaurant taste but the food has a nice kick to its flavor. Although it’s not entirely different from your other local Chinese restaurants, I would probably say it’s one of the better establishment. Many Chinese places have a musty old sticky food smell but I actually didn’t sense that when I stepped in. The establishment felt clean and as a customer, I could see the food being cooked right there. It may not make much difference to some but I just feel that much better when I see it being cooked in front of my eyes.
The turnaround time was very quick to get my food and I was acknowledged right away with a smile! Pretty impressive for a Chinese restaurant amiright? The food was definitely fresh along with the vegetables. The pad Thai was ok tasting, not what you would expect a traditional pad Thai dish to taste like but it had an original flavor that’s inviting. The hot and sour soup tasted wonderfully as if the chef made it perfect that day. The sushi was fresh and tasted better than I expected. It had a nice, but not overpowering vinegar kick to it.
This was my first time here but if every experience was like today’s then I would recommend this to everyone! Thanks for reading!

This place needs a little more love.
Located in one of the most empty strip mall in Madison, you would not expect authentic and good food by its appearance. But they do. Not the best Chinese place around, but a solid choice for the west side. The main draw for me is the incredibly low price.
My suggestion is sticking to the «Family Dinner» section on the their menu (the section with ABC combinations). You can get three decent entrée dishes with $ 25. A very good deal. I recommend the fish dishes.
Now there’s A-​Mart in the same plaza, Hy-​Vee across the street, drop by this place and give it a try.

After trying several other Chinese-​style restaurants in Madison, I have to say for the price this is as good as it gets. There are other places that might have more authentic options and style, but they tend to be pricier with not much value added. Tai’s Asian Bistro is a bit more modern than traditional, but it totally gets street cred for the sticky tables and consistently hard-​working staff.
Come with several friends and order family-​style, roughly one dish per person, that way you can play duck duck goose with your food. Ma po tofu, Singapore noodles, sesame chicken, GOOSE!
Disclaimer: their regular menu has neither ducks nor geese, but apparently they do serve Peking duck if you give them advanced notice.

The Chinese food here is among the best Madison has to offer. Order from the family style menu because it is much more authentic. The atmosphere is very casual and almost looks like a hole in the wall diner. However, the food more than makes up for this. I highly recommend if you’re in mood for authentic Chinese food.