Wow! This is the freshest and most flavorful Chinese dinner that I've had in years. Broad, deep fried noodles with homemade duck sauce. Not a sugary, artificial orange sauce from a jar, but a just-sweet-enough apricot sauce that holds up to the crunchy noodle chips. The Szechuan dumplings are made with a thin noodle and filled with meat. At first bite, the sauce didn't seem spicy. A couple of minutes later I noticed my lips were tingling a little. A subtle heat. Perfect! The vegetable mala dry pot was beautiful and full of flavor. Broccoli, onions, 2-3 types of mushrooms, cabbage chili peppers, eggplant all topped with peanuts and cilantro. I've had Vietnamese, Mexican and other cuisines with cily, but not Chinese. Brilliant! The restaurant is bright and airy, and the staff was very attentive and friendly. My order was ready quickly and was piping hot. Everything about this meal makes me want to eat it all in one sitting. But I want to experience this food high again, so I'm putting half in the refrigerator to enjoy tomorrow. read more

Dao Madison - Szechuan Styled Dumplings (6) - Chinese Near Me - Madison, New Jersey

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This is first restaurant I went to since moving to this area. Based on prior reviews, I had high expectation and I'm glad to say that they were mostly met. The food was delicious. I had Buddha's Delight with Veggie Fried Dumplings, while my friend had ribs and sauteed black mushroom with bok choy (he did not expect to get bok choy with ribs). We were served tea while waiting. We both enjoyed what we got, and I think the ingredients were fairly fresh. Service was over the top - they were constantly checking to see if we were having a good time. The only downside is the wait time. Despite having a reservation and arriving around 5 minutes early, we ended up waiting around 20 minutes to sit and 10 minutes to order because it was so crowded and there was not enough seat. I plan to come again, but not Friday evening to avoid the crowd. read more

First time. Tried familiar items. Soup dumplings very good. Pan fried pork dumplings sub par, small & not very filled. Chow fun fresh & done right, very good. Will be back to test more on giant menu, which can't all be fresh. Service very attentive & caring unlike many competitors. A big plus. read more

Terrific Chinese restaurant! Excellent food (best Chinese food ever), attentive service and comfortable ambiance.

Love this place. Gets very crowded on the weekends. Excellent food and very friendly staff. Cute atmosphere. BYOB.

Stopped in for a quick date night after we were at the mall. I haven't eaten at a Chinese restaurant in years and we decided to give it a try. Wow! Service was very friendly. The tea was so lovely on a gloomy rainy day. We had an egg roll and of course the soup dumplings. We shared the duck fried rice, eggplant and garlic with chicken, and honey chicken. The dishes come out family style so it encourages sharing. Holy cow was this the perfect trifecta of flavors and spice. Seriously I had to stop myself from eating it all. I'm 8 months pregnant and oh my goodness this was probably the best meal I've had in such a long time. Only down side is there was no changing table in the bathroom - so probably won't be bringing the whole family. Though our two year old is quite the foodie and would love it. I can't wait to go back for another date night! The dry pots looked really good. read more

Was good at first but worse and worse each time. Being near a good carwash is no longer benough reason to go here. My wife is very health conscious and gets the steamed dishes ( this is all take out). The first time each shrimpm was encased in starch powder and then steamed. Next time they did leave it out but itv was drenched in oildespite our request for no oil. Today my boneless ribs smelled old and funky and were VERY salty (perhaps to hide that they were spoiled). My cold noodles were warm because they packed everything in one bag. The quality was ok but quite sweet and ZERO spice. Meh. Not going back. One of the women at the front is very nice but the other is very edgy and makes me uncomfortable. Still no decent Chinese food in this part of the state. read more

Delicious food and amazing service! The owners are so gracious! Popular, so reservations are a must. Love that they have some Taiwanese and Shanghainese selections on the menu! read more

Consistently good ! Love it. Ambience is good , service impeccable and food good too. read more

If you are looking for an authentic experience, you have to try Dao Madison. We started with the hot and sour soup and miso soup, both of which were fresh and bursting with the flavor. Then the pork fried dumpling, scallion pancake and soup dumplings. The dumplings were fried to order, the scallion pancakes as fluffy as pillows and the soup dumplings were heavenly. Imagine a complex umami rich broth accompanied with fresh ginger and black vinegar. An amazing delicious combination. We finished the mapo tofu and chicken fried rice and these didn't disappoint. The mapo tofu had just the right amount of spice and the minced pork was delicious on its own. While the chicken fried rice tasted fresh, light and amazing. The service was impeccable, the smiles were a plenty and the ambience is as good as it gets. Come now because gems like these need patrons! read more

This was one of the worst places I've eaten. I ordered the shrimp egg foo young which came out so dark it was basically burnt. It was also very greasy and I could barely eat it. It came with the gravy that always comes with this entree and the gravy tasted like a peanut sauce that normally would go with a chicken satay! Although the service and ambience were fine, it could not make up for the terrible meal I had. I will never come back to this restaurant again. read more

Very good across the board. Chicken very tender. Shrimp fresh. Well balanced sauces and prep.

Highly recommend. Delicious Chinese food. Attentive service as they checked in a few times. They seemed genuinely excited when we told them it was our first time eating there. Had the cubed filet mignon with mushrooms - not often you get a steak knife in a Chinese restaurant but we didn't need it since the beef was perfectly soft. Delicious sauce. And the Mala chicken dry pot was great. We were told it is their specialty and it had the perfect amount of oil and was spiced very well. Good flavor. It was the first time having dry pot in NJ and will definitely have it again here soon. read more

I have had better wonton soup and I thought our portions were small (maybe because we ordered from the lunch menu?) - they looked like child's portions. I think the food itself tasted good. The service was OK. read more

This place hits the spot in Madison, NJ. I love their soup dumplings, Peking duck rolls, pan fried noodles, and hot and sour soup. I came here as a party of 8 on late Sunday for early dinner. The service was great, I got greeted by everyone here. The ambiance is also very clean, modern with a Asian twist. I love how clean they were , it's also BYOB so I'll come back with wine next time I come. My favorite thing is their tea pots with matching tea cups and their tea with sugar . Literally no complaints and I can't wait to come back next time ! read more

I found this spot because my daughter goes to the college in the town and we stopped by after dropping her off one night and The food is AMAZING !! Everything is authentic and the flavor is 10 out of 10. The service is also 10 out of 10 ! They are very polite and welcoming ! A must try if you are in Madison !! read more

We had dinner here on a Saturday night, and it was busy. The place was new & clean, the service was good, but the food was just ok, decent but nothing great. We tried the egg roll hot & sour soup, Szechuan dumplings, and the chicken mala dry pot. The egg roll was not good (mostly cabbage no flavor), the soup was less hot more sour, but not terrible, the dumplings were just ok, the chicken mala hot pot was ok (the chicken was weird). We won't be rushing back anytime soon. read more

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Cuisine is tasty & original with exceptional friendly service and comfortable atmosphere. Enjoyed our exceptional dinner.

Our second time to Dao tonight First time a few months ago. Both times were excellent. Tonight, I wanted something spicy. So only looked at the menu items with the chile pepper asterisk. I was about to order the Orange peel beef (with hot chile peppers) and asked my server if it's very spicy since I wanted a spicy dish. With that, he recommended I try their Mongolian Beef (not on their regular menu u) - not only did it have traditional Szechuan spice, it had cumin and other red pepper spices. Not sure what it was, but wow was it spicy and absolutely delicious. Plus it was very appetizing to look at. The staff and owners are so passionate and accommodating. Come here without hesitation. read more

Dao Madison - Chinese Near Me - Madison, New Jersey

Newly opened, clean, friendly atmosphere. Enjoy the great lunch and have had several takeouts since then. Food is delicious and friendly, friendly staff read more

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Very good food, service and people. I have to say, about six hour after using my credit card there for lunch, my card was compromised. Not sure if it's connected, but it's the last place I used the card. According to Amex, the card was cloned and was actually swiped at a Wawa for gasoline. Just saying. Will go back and pay cash. read more

Very good food, service and atmosphere. I will be a repeat customer. I can come on my lunch hour as well since I work nearby read more

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We had a 7pm reservation and we were seated immediately. Service is on point. The owner checked in on us a few times and is always very friendly. The food is delicious, and very well presented. We have been here numerous times and enjoyed all our dishes. The only negative is this restaurant does a big takeout business and if you are in a table near the door people are standing waiting for their takeout very close to where you are eating. The constant open and closing of the door creates a draft. Ask for a seat in the back and you will have a fabulous dinner! read more

Went there yesterday to try the Mala dry pot as one of our friend's recommend it. Omg, it was one hell of a taste. We took the medium and low spice levels and loved the medium taste. Its Soo flavorful and not to forget the chips and tea they give on the house. They tastes perfect and kids kept asking for chips refill and they kept refilling. The service was quick and the restaurant was very neat!! Deff, a go back for us read more

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Food was delicious! Scallion pancakes, sesame chicken, and steak with peppers and onions. Did not care for the soup dumplings that everyone rates about. Will pick up or dine in next time. The delivery fee and charges were absurd. I think they used Uber read more

Me and my family travel quite a bit and we have had some amazing food in so many different places. So I can't remember them all. But this one... This ones gonna stick with me. The first thing is I must say that the tea here is amazing and it seemingly never gets cold. I alone had like three pots of it on top of my meal! But that's just the beginning. Most of the food we ordered was an appatizer but that did not by any means take away from the experience. One thing there is boneless peking duck. I'll just say it out of the gate that I love duck and would probably eat it everyday, the only problem I have with duck is the bones. This place takes away this problem! I've never seen anybody do boneless duck. Quite creative but such a small detail that completely changes the dish. Dumpling wise the szechuan style dumplings we got looked like it was filled to the brim with chili oil which was quite intimidating. It was actually an extremely sweet sauce that we used to dip the calamari in. The dumplings also had an extremely delicate melt in your mouth noodle surrounding it. Apart from that the har gaw were very good, so we're the soup dumplings not the best I've had but they were quite good. Service wise everyone was very friendly and understanding with our bizarre requests for more tea and keeping the sauce from the dumplings. While your inside this building and look around, it is quite cozy and small. It also seems like it use to be a house, it has that vibe. Overall a great place and I would love to go again! read more

Don't bother making a reservation. They won't honor it. Waited 30+ minutes and no apologies or anything

We took out the dimsum platter for dinner and all I have to is WOW! I really enjoyed the fact that I could try out each type of dimsum, and the truffle was especially my favorite! Totally recommend and the price was affordable too! read more

Ordered through GrubHub. However that's a problem when you make a mistake in the order. Won't do that again. Food little more expensive than other restaurants offering similar items. Liked the items ordered but hot & sour soup had gelatinous lump at bottom. Not good to get soup like that. Staff was very nice when picked up food. read more

The food is generally good but the accuracy of the orders is inconsistent. Annoying stuff like white rice instead of purple and totally missing the protein in one of my orders. I will probably stick with my go-to in Morristown and Randolph. Gave them a few chances and not happy with the mistakes. read more

Amazing and authentic! Not your average Chinese food, deffinitely give this place a shot.

Excellent Chinese food and the best in Madison. Service was very friendly and fast. I highly recommend this restaurant

Ordered delivery (just after 5pm on a weekday) but it took TWO hours to get the food. I had to call twice and was told both times that the food hadn't come out of the kitchen yet and that's why it hasn't been delivered. When the food finally arrived it was hot and decent but nothing so special that it should have taken two hours. A genuine apology would have been nice and could have honestly repaired the relationship. Unfortunately this did not happen and therefore I will not be ordering from here again. read more

Dao Madison was a fantastic establishment. The ambiance and the staff delivered a great dining experience. My friends and I visited during a busy dinner time, and they still managed to take excellent care of us. If you can't decide what to order, here's a suggestion: try the Subgum Pan Fried Noodle. The noodles were fried to perfection, and the sauce from the veggies and protein complemented each other perfectly. Maybe that's why I completely forgot to take a picture. But if you're in the mood for something light and comforting, their Soup Dumplings / Xiao Long Bao didn't disappoint. I'd also recommend starting off your journey to "Flavor-Town" with the Ragoons - it's a great choice. Can I also add that their cutlery is beautiful, and whoever chose it did a great job. read more

Dao is such a lovely, warm and welcoming place! The food is nourishing and feels good like home cooking. The tea is a nice touch and served on the house! The staff is unbelievably friendly and hospitable with fun personalities. Also love the little music they play outside and inside. My hubby and I are so lucky to have found this gem! read more

Thoughtful kind service/food is fresh and delicious Menu offers lots of different options -mainly traditional food options no big surprises Food is fresh and delicious-service is kind and helpful Ambiance is clean well lit and surprisingly not noisy considering it is all open Not many tables so I suggest you get there early to enjoy your food read more

The restaurant posts online the delivery radius. We confirm on the map that we are within the radius. We place an online order and give a 20% tip in advance. A few minutes later we get a call claiming, incorrectly, that we are outside the delivery radius. They state they only deliver within 3 miles. We double checked and we are 2.7 miles away. While they offered to waive the fee (that should not have applied in the first place), when I asked to just cancel the order, I was told that they can't give me a refund. So to recap, they try to extort money from customers and then after angering the customer, they refuse to cancel the order that's no longer wanted. I DO NOT RECOMMEND. read more

Chicken with eggplant was consistently amazing! Not many places have it so it's a great find. I haven't tried much else but because the chicken was cooked and seasoned well I'd assume that would apply to other dishes as well. read more

One of the best additions to the Madison / Chatham community. Super quick delivery and pick-up, amazing quality delicious food. You can tell they are using quality ingredients. Peeking duck roll is always so fresh. read more

The food was simply amazing; not your average American Chinese spot. Food is different: fresh, aromatic and composed. We had fried rice, vegetables, 3 pepper chicken, dumplings. The decor and ambience was nice and charming. read more