Tazia Restaurant

Though the crowd is always odd, this place is my late night happy hour secret. Tazia offers both a late night (10pm-​12) and early bird happy hour (3:30pm-6:30).
Drink specials include $ 3 beers and carafes of sake. A long list of $ 3 small plate «tapatizers» are the main draw. I’ll look over the fact that the word «tapatizer» kinda weirds me out, because the pickins sound pretty good.
$ 1 skewers and $ 1 selections from the raw bar can supplement your apps.
The regular menu also has a lot of inexpensive and interesting combinations, but ordering (or better yet, sharing) several «tapatizers» allows you to try so much more.
The crowd favorite was the calamari. Cut like french fries, this pile of crispy breaded squid was addicting. While not nearly as flavorful as what you will find on your plate at Banana Leaf, the chicken roti was satisfying and came with a big cup of chicken curry. The chicken roti and calamari are the two dishes that I most recommend ordering. The two together would make a delicious, although a bit greasy, lunch.
Less successful, but in no way bad are the rest of what I tried:
I wanted more duck taste from the duck dumplings, but I still enjoyed their flavor and that of their shitake sauce.
Though pleasant enough, the 3 small «crispy pouches» are not as good of a value. The pouches are filled with shrimp, but you mostly taste the fried wrapper.
Similarly, it was hard to pick up on the crab flavor in the crab ravioli. The ravioli were also a bit undercooked, but I enjoyed the sauce that topped them.
And as for the raw bar, we were told they ran out of oysters, but miraculously a few appeared. Compared to the dollar oysters available at McCormick’s or Oyster House, these are definitely not of the same quality; they were less sweet and fresh tasting. But if you are in the mood for aphrodisiacing it up, they were still tasty enough and perhaps you will get a better batch.
The happy hour is available Sunday through Thursday. Play around with a few «tapatizers» and the raw bar and remember, they only get more delicious after each sake carafe.

Tazia is not a favorite of mine in Chinatown… that being said, when I go to Chinatown I’m looking for authentic food and ambiance… we didn’t find much of that at Tazia.
This particular day, we were walking around looking for a cheap happy hour and we found one. This place is like the Applebees of Chinatown. TVs to watch the game and great happy hour specials for food and drinks.
The food was ok… generic Chinese food that was not that great but not that bad. We had a few drinks and more food than we could eat for about $ 20.
If you want a cheap Chinatown experience or just a cheap happy hour, Tazia is your place.

Although it is located in Chinatown, it is situated on a much quieter and dark street. Thus not very people know about it or visit it. However, the restaurant has a lot of potential and I would have to visit back a few times to fairly judge it. But based on my experience there for the first time, I like it. The food was interesting and I like that it has a bar and karaōke room. Service was really good and friendly as well.

Tazia is not on the top of my list of places to go to for food in Chinatown. It’s more known for it’s Happy Hour specials and karaōke rooms.
Happy hours happen twice a day, except for Fridays (3:30 to 6:30pm only). So from Sunday to Thursday between 3:30pm (yes, 3:30! We Chinese people have tea time) — 6:30pm and 10pm to midnight, drinks are priced from $ 3-​$ 5, depending on what you order. I personally love all the martinis that are listed on the Happy Hour specials. Now let’s talk about the appetizers, or as Tazia likes to call it, Tapatizers. I highly recommend the golden pouches (minced shrimp meat that is stuffed in wonton wrapped and fried until it’s golden and crispy), the duck dumplings and the crabmeat ravioli. All tapatizers are $ 3, and there are over 20 items listed on the menu.
Please note: I’ve never been to the karaōke rooms at Tazia, but I have heard that the rooms are bigger than Yakitori’s and the rates are much more reasonable. Just make sure you make a reservation for a karaōke room, if interested.

This is certainly not my first time at Tazia. In fact, I just love the place. They have perhaps the best happy hour in the city with $ 3 domestic beers and a HUGE $ 3 happy hour food menu. Not kidding, 20 items…$ 3 each. We usually come here before shows at the Trocadero for a quick bite and drink. Tazia didn’t disappoint. I had two beers and for food I got: cheesesteak spring rolls, buffalo bites and duck dumplings. Mind you, this isn’t the highest quality food in chinatown… but for the price… you can’t beat it. The buffalo bites were tasty, but i’m not a fan of their blue cheese. The cheesesteak spring rolls are my favorite and the duck dumplings were excellent.
This place is also a great secret place for good karaōke. They have a huge room in the back as well as private rooms for parties. We have had some of our favorites times in the city at Tazia. I am a little sad by reading to the review saying they are closing this summer. I hope this isn’t true! Go here while you can I guess!

I came here for happy hour with a few co-​workers after reading about some great experiences from fellow Unilocalers. Unfortunately I wasn’t blown away by this place.
The happy hour specials are great… for example $ 3.50 for a fruit (pineapple, lychee, etc) martini. But I pretty much got exactly what I paid for and maybe even less… the martini was watered down and I felt like I was drinking lightly flavored juice.
The service was slow…
Not sure I will be going back anytime soon but I could be persuaded to give it another try. Maybe.

I am completely saddened after meeting the owner that their lease is finishing this year in July or June (forgot!). Because I was so distraught that it took all of my energy to not burst out in tears.
I love this place, its just probably the best drinker’s bar I could ever find for a good lychee martini! So enjoy it while you can, if you’re reading this review. Its better to have love and lost than to have never loved at all I guess…

Awesome happy hour!!!
drinks startign at $ 3, $ 3.50 special martinies, $ 4 cocktails, $ 1 skewers, and $ 3 tapatizers!
Pros:
Appletini/​lycheetini/​pinappletini: all good and a bit strong.
shrimp pouch: AMAZING cute little pouches. comes with 3
Duck dumpling: mini dumplings with gourmet sauce. comes with about 5
Wings: 4 pieces of deep fried wings/​drumsticks with sauce.
mediocre:
Buffalo bites: sauce was weird, but comes with about 5 pieces and celery.
Spicy tuna roll: 4 pieces with WAY TOO MUCH RICE and not even spicy
Cheesetake roll: just deepfried meat with ketchup…
con:
Ambiance: dead. come with fun people or you will be bored.

This place is awesome for their happy hours! 3 to 6:30pm and then 10 to midnight on weekdays… living in Chinatown, this is definitely the go-​to place for a chill time – catch up with friends or watch a game on their tv. They have awesome selection for happy hour drinks. I usually get the $ 4 sangria (huge, btw) followed by $ 3 beer. My friends love the lychee-​tini and I personally love their Cosmo! Their food could be better, but for $ 3 per appetizer plate… I can’t complain! Try the chicken roti or the calamari (large portion for the money and not bad!). The skewers are pretty good too. My friends and I are here so often after a long day of school/​work or exams and usually every Friday that the servers already know are faves! There’s karaōke too, but I save that for yakitori boy next door!

Disclaimer: Happy hour only.
They have a special happy hour menu for drinks/​apps for ~$ 3. Not a bad deal. Having some finger good to go with a drink can be nice.
Overall not bad, not great.

«It is what it is»
That’s how I see Tazia. You really can’t compare it to other nicer happy hour spots or restaurants. I’m really surprised they’re even available for Restaurant Week. Hell if I’d spend that kinda money there when i can go to Amada, Mercato…
My review is based on their late night happy hour. I appreciate their extensive menu options for food to munch on while drinking! I got spicy tuna, duck dumplins, bf got cheessteak egg rolls I got lycheetini and Hawaiian beer, bf got Blue Moon pumpkin ale
— spicy tuna BAHAHA OK fail. rice is warm. come on now, at least throw it in a blast chiller for gods sake. Tuna was fine
— duck dumplings — i would order this again. It’s just fine for $ 3, comes with 4 dumplings, I was pleased
— egg rolls — standard
Blue moon for $ 3? hells to the yeah. That hawaiian beer isn’t my cup of tea. Lycheetini is yummy if you like lychees, but I would say, MAKE IT STRONGER PLS!
Service — meh. Very very meh. «what do you have on draft» — lady has to look over and name them to me. That would never fly in a corporate or even some downtown establishments. But in Chinatown. well, you know how infamous Chinese people are for having just FABULOUS AND FRIENDLY SERVICE *sarcasm*
All in all, I wouldn’t ever ever make this a destination. We went because it was a throwback, haven’t been there in years. But I wouldn’t deny my friends if they wanted to go. Thd $ 3 drafts are sweet

My boyfriend and I went the other day we had some oysters and clams. Not very fresh. My stomach still recovering. Whats up with the quail eggs wrapped in bacon?
So bad. Wished we went during Happy Hour to save some money cause this place
was not worth it. The drinks were weak.
Go if you must but go during Happy Hour.

Eh. Calamari is mediocre, though the sauce almost makes up for it. Raw oysters were big and fresh but should have been chilled more and took way too long to come to our table. Edamame was undercooked. They gain some points for having a pretty impressive (and by that, I mean extensive) selection on their Happy Hour tapas/​appetizers menu… raw bar is $ 1/​item.
$ 3/​plate …worth it for some of the dishes, completely overpriced for others. For example, my friend ordered the Vietnamese rolls and steamed shrimp dumplings and only got 3 – 4 small pieces. Choose wisely.

Uh… so I’ve heard the happy hour at Tazia is something marvelous. So I went… to Happy Hour… on a Friday… when Happy Hour doesn’t actually happen. And that would have been okay except for the following snippets of conversation:
Conversation A
«Would you care for anything to drink?»
«Yes could I please have a sparkling water?»
«We are out of that.»
Conversation B
«Would you care for anything to drink?»
«Yes, could I please have a Yuengling?»
«We are out of that.»
Conversation C
«Have you decided on what you would like to drink?»
«Yes, could I just have a club soda?»
«Sure.» (See conversation A)
Conversation D
«…and what would you like to drink?»
«Insert some beer on tap»
«We are out of that.»
«Well what do you have?»
«Everything else… except for beers on tap.»
…Right. Fun times.

For as skeptical as we were when we walked in the door, this place has pretty decent food. The restaurant space is a little fragmented– the bar seems a bit out of place and some tables are randomly placed in dark nooks. Even the menu is a bit disjointed with some Italian and American dishes mixed in with mostly Asian dishes. We placed our order and crossed our fingers that everything would turn out alright.
The Vietnamese summer rolls were a bit chewy and bland. The beef fried rice was probably my favorite– it had nice lean pieces of beef with flavorful rice that wasn’t too salty or greasy. They also put corn it. Sounds weird, I know, but those little nuggets of sweetness were a nice addition. My second favorite was the Pad Thai with chicken. It was peanutty, slightly sweet, and a little tangy– all that a Pad Thai should be. They were just a little too generous with the sauce in my opinion as I like a drier version. Their chicken curry dish was really just seared chicken tenders dressed in an Indian inspired coconut curry sauce. It was too plain for me. I think I would’ve liked it more had they simmered the chicken in the sauce for a bit rather than just poured it on. I do like how they offered brown rice for free though.
On a service note, our server was tremendously attentive and helpful.
This place seems to be suffering a bit of an identity crisis. If they used a little more of their energy to focus strictly on Asian food, I think this place would have some potential.

Tazia is my new go to Chinatown spot. The late night happy hour, which runs five nights a week (Sun-​Thur 10pm-​midnight) is a excellent deal. You’ll find a big grin on my face when I visit Tazia. Slurping down $ 3 draft beer and $ 1 oysters and bacon quail egg skewers will bring a smile to your face. The service isn’t the best, and the food isn’t either. But at these prices there’s not a reason to complain. I’ll be back soon. They have flat screen TVs, so you can watch sports.

Tazia has awesome happy hour-​hours. You’ll also think it’s awesome if you like a good margarita and fried calamari. The margaritas are well balanced between alcohol and sour mix. I started off with the lychee and pineapple martinis but i felt that they were a bit too strong, but the margaritas went down easy. The fried calamari is really the only small plate worth getting off their happy hour menu. It’s asian style with plenty of salt and pepper seasoning with hot red pepper bits with a sweet spicy sauce to dip. The other items are quite small so you can probably get the same thing for cheaper at dim sum.
I went on a Wednesday night around 530 and it wasn’t crowded or crazy. perfect for drinks and small apps but i wouldn’t really stay for a meal.

Came here last night with a business associate. The place was pretty quiet, mostly just a few folks at the bar watching sports.
The food? Pretty great. The service? Well-​meaning and pleasant, but not all together there. I asked what beer they had on tap. Sorry, our tap’s broken, but we have bottles! Okay, what’s your bottle list. Oh, what do you want? Do you have an IPA? Sure. But only on tap. Hm. So really, you don’t have one. (and honestly, no printed beer list? Might want to add that to your cocktail menu, Tazia!)
So we order our food. Only it turns out they gave us the wrong menus, so we can sort of get what we wanted, but with a few minor additions because apparently, we got next week’s. Sea bass, crispy duck, sweet potatoes and green beans. Only the duck comes with green beans and the waitress didn’t think to tell us that. She was nice, but maybe new on the job? She had to come back so many times to make adjustments I was starting to feel like I was in a comedy sketch or something.

Came here one night with 2 other girls for dinner who come here often, ever since the place was called Le Michael’s
Asian fusion food all the way, located in Chinatown I believe. Parking seems a bit difficult to find on the streets.
The interior of the place is pretty nice, dim lit with candles. The place is pretty big, you walk in and you see the bar, and it’s two stories I believe with plenty of tables.
Cute girls working at the bar and servers. ;)
Menu seemed a little cheap though cause it’s just a paper menu. Items listed is very Asian fusion. They had basic thai dishes, like Pad Thai. Many unique cocktails, basic alcoholic & non-​alcoholic beverages, and I believe a few selection of beer.
here is what we ordered for food:
Crab ravioli– pretty tasty! Tastes like your regular ravioli but with crab meat and a delicious cheesy sauce. I’d recommend this, order two if you don’t want to share but you know your friends will want to try: P
Pouches– potstickers/​dumplings, not bad. it was a bit hard to eat because of the way it was cooked, but it was pretty tasty & meaty & the sauce wasn’t so bad.
Curry w Indian Bread– nothing special, curry wasn’t too flavorful, I’ve had better, but the chicken was pretty tender (: the Indian bread wasn’t so bad, its just like pita bread
Pad Thai– nothing special as well, tastes like any other pad thai I’ve had. I’ve had better for sure though.
Thai BBQ beef salad– i was a bit disappointed with this. dressing tasted a bit bland. they did load the salad up with a lot of meat though :) they just need to add more spice & lime/​lemon to the sauce… it needs a kick.
We all ordered drinks, I got the Thai-​Tini, which was yum! Tasted like regular Thai iced tea, you don’t taste the alcohol but it’s a creeper for sure.
When we were about to leave, the owner gave us shots of some lychee shot. It was so good! It’s a shot (I dont remember which liquor) with a lychee in it. I wasn’t sure if you’re supposed to eat the lychee first & then drink the shot, or shot first? My friend ate the lychee first and said it was too strong & drank the shot. I took the shot first & it wasn’t strong & then ate the lychee which was sweet.
So maybe i recommend you take the shot & eat the lychee :)
I wanted to try to drunken pineapple shot, i think it’s about the same thing!
Warning: service at the table was a bit slow.
Restrooms is located in the hallway, and it’s sort of pretty! The only sucky thing is they don’t have toilet covers! DOH!
Overall, pretty cool place to hangout for drinks & appetizers.

Tazia (formally Ly Michael’s) is a new Tap pas style eatery with Asian influence and a emphasis on the bar atmoshere. Owners Tammi and Buu decided to revamp their restaurant to a more casual and bar friendly spot. The menu is huge with lots of Tap pas and Asian dishes that can be enjoyed at the bar or while dinning at your table. My favorite items are the Philly Cheese steak spring rolls, all of the Flat breads (Pizza) and the Grilled Salmon. Service is still fast and friendly and the bar is usually full of regulars downing Lychee shots and Irish Car Bombs. Melissa is the bar host and she will make you feel at home. Tazia’s plans to install Karaōke in the near future. This spot is so friendly, it’s the only bar that I have to hug and kiss my way out of.