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Sunnyvale's Newspaper

Photograph by George Sakkestad

Tao Tao's head bartender, Kingman Ng, sips some tea in front of the restaurant.

History, loyal customers and killer chicken salad

By Steve Enders

For 46 years, people have been returning to the Tao Tao Café for one reason--the chicken salad.

Well, maybe there are a couple other reasons, such as specialty drinks and the tao tao beef plate from which the restaurant draws its name. But anyone who really knows Tao Tao knows it's all about the chicken salad.

Why?

"Taste," manager Susan Woo says simply. "Others have tried to copy it, but nobody can do it like us."

Tao Tao's chicken salad is so popular, Woo says, that people who come to the restaurant while in town on business make special orders to take with them on their flights out or to have waiting for them when they get to Sunnyvale. This global clientele, along with a dedicated group of local regulars, has spread the word that Tao Tao is one of the best.

Since it doesn't advertise except in the phone book, Woo says Tao Tao relies on word of mouth and repeat customers for continued success.

"We are very service-oriented for a Chinese restaurant," she says. "In most places you just come in, sit down and eat and leave. It's not like that here."

The staff knows many customers on a first-name basis, and waiters are always available to help people carry takeout orders to their cars.

"We treat the customers like family here," Woo says.

Although Tao Tao's owner, Chuck Woo, has had requests to open other restaurants around the country, daughter Susan says they want to stay put in the Bay Area to concentrate on service here. However, Woo does hint at the possibility that Tao Tao might open some takeout-only restaurants in other locations.

Meals can be washed down with mai tais and other specialty drinks from the full-service bar located between two seating areas. Susan Woo says many people come in just for a change of pace from the Murphy Street beer-bar scene.

The restaurant is decorated with gold leaf-patterned wallpaper, maroon carpets and authentic Chinese artwork. Soft music is drowned out by the hum of a busy restaurant, and the door is constantly in action with people coming in either to sit down or to take out an order. The fascinating photos lining the wall adjacent to the host's area in the front of the restaurant take customers back to 1951 and the cafe's inception.

Tao Tao Café is located at 174 S. Murphy Ave. Lunch Mon.-Fri.,11 a.m. to 2 p.m.; dinner, Mon.-Sat. and holidays, 4 p.m. to 7 p.m., and Sundays, 4 p.m. to 9:30 p.m. 736-3731.

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This article appeared in the Sunnyvale Sun, December 10, 1997.
©1997 Metro Publishing, Inc. All rights reserved.