The Silicon Valley Restaurant Guide is a collection of reviews of restaurants in the Silicon Valley. The opinions expressed are strictly the personal opinions of myself. The ratings are my personal opinion and are adjusted for cost. * is used for positive ratings. X is used for negative ratings.
Cuisine: Burgers, Fries, etc.
Location: Milpitas, Shopping Mall, Near 237 and 880
Price: < $5
Rating: **
Popular Southern California chain. Burgers are good. Fries are so so. Beats McDonalds, Burger King, etc. easily. People know it too. Both times I visited, on Sundays, it was packed with a long wait and nowhere to sit. At least on weekends, plan to get food to go.
Cuisine: Burgers, All-American Grease
Location: 615 W. El Camino Real, Mountain View
Phone: (415) 967-0851
Price: $6-12
Rating: ***
The hamburgers, french fries, and milk-shakes are all good. Clarke's can get crowded on Friday evenings. The atmosphere is casual and friendly. The main drawback is that it can be noisy. Clarke's features television sets in the dining area that are usually on, showing sports, soap-operas, whatever. There is also a PA system for announcing that food is ready.
Clarke's also has a location on El Camino Real in Menlo Park not far from Kepler's books. Very similar.
Cuisine: Burgers, Ice Cream
Location: 991 Fremont Avenue, Los Altos
Phone: (415) 948-7530
Price: $5-$10
Rating: **
The hamburgers are good. The french fries are excellent. The restaurant is also an ice-cream store as the name indicates. As you might expect, clientele includes plenty of children and families with children.
Tom's used to be Mom's
Cuisine: Burgers, All American Grease
Location: 361 California, Palo Alto
Price: $5-$10
Rating: *
Kirk's has been in business for decades. The hamburgers are a cut above the franchise burger places.
There used to be no fries. You could get potato chips however. Kirk's has recently added fries. Kirk's is the sort of burger place you might find in ancient Sparta.
Cuisine: Coffee, Espresso, Cappucino, etc.
Location: 1010 El Camino Real, Menlo Park (Next to Kepler's Books)
Phone: (415) 327-0830
Price: $2 - $15
Rating: ***
Cafe Borrone features a fairly extensive menu of sandwiches, deserts, fancy foods, and other goodies in addition to caffeine and chocolate drinks. The food is good but a little pricey for what you get.
Generally, the service is good. I've occasionally encountered some arrogant behavior.
Cafe Borrone is very popular. It has a lot of young, good looking, sometimes weird looking customers. Plenty of attractive young women. There is usually a bit of a wait because it is busy. This is a good place to have something light or a coffee drink with friends or associates.
Cuisine: Indian
Location: 216 Castro Street, Mountain View
Phone: (415) 969-1112
Price: $15-25
Rating: ****
Excellent Indian food. Sue's has a friendlier atmosphere than many Indian restaurants. Reservations are generally not required. The wait for seating seems to be about 10-20 minutes.
Parking can be difficult near Castro Street during the lunch hour on weekdays.
Cuisine: Indian
Location: 185 Castro Street, Mountain View
Phone: (650) 968-8008
Price: $10 - $20
Rating: ***
Good Indian food. Taj Mahal has a buffet style lunch and a regular (non-buffet) dinner. The Tandoori Chicken is good.
Parking can be difficult near Castro Street during the lunch hour on weekdays.
Cuisine: Indian (serve yourself)
Location: Mini-mall on Lawrence Expressway near Oakmead. Sunnyvale
Phone:
Price: $8-12
Rating: **
Buffet style Indian food. The Tandoori chicken is good. With Digital Guru books next door and Computer Literacy across the street, this is the heart of Silicon Valley. Expect to hear intent conversations about stock options and Verilog while you eat. The customer male to female ratio tends to be a little high at least during the lunch hour on weekdays.
Cuisine: Indian
Location: Mini-mall at corner of Lawrence Expressway and El Camino, Sunnyvale
Phone:
Price: $8-10 (lunch)
Rating: ****
Excellent Indian food. The atmosphere is somewhat cool although service is quick and the food is very good.
Pasand is pretty near the industrial heart of the Silicon Valley. While a bit better than Sarovar, you can expect a lot of nerdy business conversations during the lunch hour.
Cuisine: Pizza and other Italian
Location: 939 West El Camino Real, Mountain View (Between Shoreline and Castro)
Phone: (415) 967-5384
Price: $5 - $20
Rating: ****
Excellent pizza. The other Italian dishes are good also although Frankie Johnnie and Luigi is best known for its pizza. Does not take reservations which can be a problem. FLJ is popular and there can be a wait.
I found the service friendly and able. Not the fastest. Pizza, of course, takes a while to cook. This is a good place to go with some friends for a leisurely conversation and relaxed meal.
Cuisine: Chinese
Location: 1067 North San Antonio Road, Los Altos (Corner of San Antonio and
El Camino Real)
Phone: (415) 948-2696
Price: $10-20
Rating: ****
Excellent Chinese food. Chef Chu's features a wide selection of dishes, both spicy hot and not. The service is prompt and efficient. Don't miss the collection of photographs of famous guests.
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