Top Asian Restaurant in Mountain View
Kirin Restaurant
485 Castro St, Mountain View, CA 94041, United States
Good food, great value, lackluster service, elaborate decorative structures but unimpressive decors. That is Kirin in a nutshell.I still remember the crabs we had when a friend from Washington, D.C. brought me to Kirin more than a decade ago. Thats right, an out-of-towner first showed me this place. My first impression was: The portion was generous. (There was never a doubt about quality of food.) The three of us spent about $50 and still had leftovers.It wasnt until I moved to Mountain View before I went the second time. The third time. And more times. Some of my favourites are steamed flounder, cod, any crabs, clams and, of course, lobster. In short, any seafood from this Cantonese restaurant. If you do not want seafood, my recommendation is to stick with Cantonese dishes. (Be very suspicious of other cuisines from a traditional Chinese restaurant.)There must be good reasons why Kirin stands across the City Hall for so many years. Castro is a brutal street for food establishments. In less than 10 years living here, Ive noticed more than a dozen restaurants, even ice cream shops come and go. Along seven short blocks, there are usually half a dozen Chinese restaurants, and a few Chinese tea places either on Castro or on side streets. (Merely three blocks outside town center along the same road is another Chinese restaurant that changed hands but always popular, now the best Chinese in town.) Kirin is one of only two that havent changed hands; one of three if you count the Chinese bakery.Most clientele are of Chinese descendant. And if these people keep coming back, you know you are in the right place. Kirin isnt my go-to place for Chinese food - my first cuisine choice is Szechuan. They are not even the best Cantonese that I have had. But I go back because I know I always get good value, and because it is so central.On the negative side, I did experience really long wait with a small party, both in how soon a waiter comes over and in how fast the food arrives after ordering, when the restaurant wasnt even busy.But the most curious thing about this restaurant is its interior and decoration. Kirin is relatively spacious among Chinese restaurants, and relatively clean. It has several pieces of elaborate, colourfully painted wooden structures, sculptures if you will. One of the walls also has some pretty Chinese paintings. They even use full tablecloths and cloth napkins instead of plastic and paper. But the whole place radiates this low-maintenance feeling. At least part of the problem is the bland lighting. I often take pictures in restaurants I visit but have not managed to find a good angle in Kirin.Still, this is a restaurant. Food quality and food value ought to outweigh other shortcomings. For this, I give them four stars.
Bonchon Mountain view
260 Castro St, Mountain View, CA 94041, United States
Who thought Korean and fried chicken was a good idea? If orange chicken still has some Chinese as in American Chinese, I cannot find a shred of Korean in Korean fried chicken. But style or authenticity is not at question. It is the taste that breaks the deal.Looking at the display sheet on the window and the bar-set interior, I already knew that this was a Korean fusion kind of deal, a gen-Y hangout place, i.e., not a family eatery. (With which region this is fusing is unclear.) But my daughter is presently infatuated with everything Korean.It was a bit crowded dinner time, so we settled at the bar. I ordered a salmon avocado ball mainly based on ingredient list. It is a sheet of salmon wrapped over some other ingredients (nothing particularly Korean). The dish looks more baked than fried. The sauce is cheesy and sweet; there is certainly added sugar in the internal materials, too. Overall, the only good thing about the dish is presentation.My daughters fate was worse. She thought her tteokbokki was a traditional dish, as delightfully described on the menu. But the whole thing was so sugary that she didnt finish half of it. Needless to say, this has ruined her hope of getting anything Korean out of this place. (And engrained a fear of Asian fusion for some foreseeable future.)If you want a downtown venue to hang out, drink some rice wine, and not having a meaningful conversation, the place is very clean, seating is more relaxed than in many Asian eateries. But if you want to have a meaningful meal that does not numb your taste buds with sweetness, or want to have any kind of Asian experience - or simply want a good meal, Bonchon is not a bon place.Oh, what is that about not having meaningful conversation? The absolutely absorptionless interior is so loud that you literally have to shout to the waiting staff who leans to within two feet (60 cm) of your mouth.
Phtochau 999
853 Villa St, Mountain View, CA 94041, United States
My friend and I visited this place for lunch on the weekend. It was quite empty, so we were seated right away. The server barely gave us 2 minutes to look at the menu before he started asking us what wed like to order. Otherwise, the service was fine.My friend got their 1A pho, and I got the 1B pho.1A pho was Tái Duôi Bo (Rice Noodle Soup, Rare Steak & Ox Tail)1B pho was Phỏ Bo Filet Mignon (Rice Noodle Soup, Beef Filet Mignon)The broth in both the pho was not as flavorful as we wanted it to be. The rice noodles were all clumped together. The meat was tender but a bit dry. You can pick between two different bowl sizes - regular and large. The price difference between the 2 is only a dollar. Overall, the pho was okay. It was definitely filling.I also tried their Vietnamese coffee. If you dont like the bitterness of the coffee and want more condensed milk, then let them know ahead of time. Their Vietnamese coffee comes in sealed cups (similar to a boba milk tea), so adding condensed milke afterward is hard.
Garden Fresh
1245 W El Camino Real, Mountain View, CA 94040, United States
If you are looking for the best Asian food then you are the right place; Alice the owner of this restaurant is so so sweetI have been eating at this restaurant for the last 7 years and I dont get bored, so many favorite dishesTop recommended dishes1) Chow mein noodles2) hot and sour soup3) potstickers4) all cakes/desserts are amazing5) Basil tempuraHighly recommend hanging out here if you havent tried yet
Queen House
273 Castro St, Mountain View, CA 94041, United States
I tried few asian restaurants around Mountain View and Sunnyvale. This one was below average. Ordered some dumplings, chowmein - we didnt like the taste! Quantity and price are fine.
Tommy Thai
1482 W El Camino Real, Mountain View, CA 94040, United States
Pros: cashew nut curry, Choo chee salmon and Thai ice tea was good, but not spicy enough.Cons: Ive never ordered a thai curry dish that didnt come with rice. Im glad I ordered and extra side of white rice or Id just have the curry by itself. I had to share that with another person. If I knew, Id be willing to pay for another side of rice but, again, Ive never ordered a Thai curry dish that didnt come with complimentary rice. The menu online said the rice was $2 but I was charged $2.50. The Choo chee salmon was supposed to be $15.95 but I was charged $22. I had to call 4x to get through to put in an order. Ive gone to a lot of Asian restaurants and had my fair share of Thai restaurants so Im pretty understanding with the lower end service but this place is in its own level of low. The flavor was good, but its definitely not Thai hot. Overall, the misleading prices, the service and just not having rice come with your curry dishes, Id advise you check a different place. I didnt heed the other lower star reviws and. This place with just a huge disappointment.
Superhot Hot Pot & Korean BBQ
210 Hope St, Mountain View, CA 94041, United States
You can get hotpot and korean bbq at the same time here! Ive tried a lot of items, heres some thoughts:Korean bbq is pretty average in general. Dont expect super high quality meat, but its definitely not bad. Out of the meat Ive tried:- Galbi (short rib): run of the mill, standard quality meat, good marinade. Will hit the galbi spot but nothing special.- Spicy lamb: surprisingly really good, and I dont even like lamb. The marinade is fantastic.- Spicy beef: same marinade as the lamb, but for beef. Surprisingly bad given that the marinade is the same.- Wagyu: strong beefy taste. Not extremely tender or anything, but good for your hot pot- Pork belly: pretty meh, I wouldnt get it- Steak: good, but no marinade so it just depends on what you like. The meat is thick and standard quality. Overcooks easily.Their hotpot is decent. Ive tried the shanghai borsch and pork bone herb bases, both are really nice and have great umami. Some standout items for me are:- handmade noodles: really thick, chewy, and long piece of noodle. I cook this for up to 20 minutes due to how thick it is, and by the end its absorbed all the soup flavor but still remains chewy. Pretty good!- seaweed kelp: if you like thick seaweed you will definitely like this. Surprised by the good quality of the seaweed.- Fishball with roe: so good! Better than haidilao imo.- Fish paste: really yummy fish paste, although quality has gone slightly down recently- Fishball with meat: I personally do not like this at all. The meat inside has a super strange artificial aftertaste to it.- veggies: in general all their veggies are pretty good quality. No wilted leaves or anything like that. I recommend all of them.Now their dim sum is what I think really makes this place shine. They have such good quality dim sum, probably the best out of any hotpot type restaurant Ive ever been in. Stand out items:- dumplings: these dumplings are legit. Clearly sealed by hand, and the filling is very umami. I recommend the 3 flavors and the lamb & zucchini one.- crab cheese puff: if you like crab rangoon, this is literally the most elevated version of a crab rangoon Ive ever had. You can actually see the stringy flesh of the crab meat in pastry, and its fried to perfection.- potstickers: surprisingly good. It has more of a thick skin and the bottom is super crunchy and crispy.- pumpkin pancake: deceptive name, but this is basically a wonderful fried pumpkin mochi with red bean paste inside. The mochi is soft and gooey and the red bean paste is not oversweet. Probably one of my favorite items.- Beef pancake: Pretty good if you like ground beef + scallion-ish pancake- xiao long bao: These are more standard. Definitely not bad but Id rather leave more stomach room for other things.- Popcorn chicken: Better than at most hotpot places, but still not that good. Decent if you are really craving fried chicken.- Scallion pancake: not that good imo, pretty dense.- Fried bun with condense milk: really interesting texture on these, and really well fried. The bun itself is not too sweet. Worth a try, but not my favorite.
Panda Express
1035 El Monte Ave, Mountain View, CA 94040, United States
No secret that with the Pandemic, many many restaurants are impacted and food quality has been dropped due lack of funds/ proper staff/ quality of produce etc. While some may not expect food franchises to be impacted, unfortunately they have.And amidst all this, there is this particular Panda Express branch that is delivering above and beyond Delicious Express FoodThe food here is phenomenal!! My favorites are the Honey Walnut Shrimp, Orange Chicken and Being Beef. But can be sure everything else tastes equally good as wellI have been visiting this store every week since the start of the year and no matter what time it is-you willl see a bunch of hard working employees running the branch at fully throttle. And with masks - while I get tired after 30 mins of mask wearing, you guys wear it all day, in that hot kitchen. Wow!!A big shout out to the branch, the manager, the staff and all the cooks!! You guys are awesome!!
Seasons Noodles & Dumplings Garden
702 Villa St, Mountain View, CA 94041, United States
My friend and i were looking for restaurants still open at 8:00pm (a difficult task in the south bay) and decided to try seasons.upon entering, there were a lot of available tables. service was relatively friendly. menu has a variety of noodle soups, noodles, and other meat dishes.unfortunately i was pretty underwhelmed by the quality/flavor of the food itself.// braised beef noodle soup ($) //i was excited to try the niu rou mian as it seems like this is the most popular dish. however, the soup lacked flavor depth for me. it was slightly bland and tasted a bit watered down? i was really looking for that flavorful broth with a bit of kick. the noodles were chewy and good, but the broth was disappointing. it was also lukewarm which did not help.// pork and cabbage pie ($) //the pie came out hot and fresh. it tasted like how i thought it would, but nothing extraordinary. it was also really oily.overall, due to other places in the bay area, i wouldnt come back but im glad i tried it.
Hon Sushi
1477 Plymouth St, Mountain View, CA 94043, United States
Had the tonkotsu ramen here. The noodles were average, the meat was average, the soup base tastes alright and was served very hot. Serving size was just about right for me. The staff were friendly and the food was ready in under 10 minutes, which is relatively fast. Nothing particularly notable in the restaurant decor, but it was nice that its quiet. This is probably not a place that I would go out of my way to visit for a ramen fix, but I might visit this place again if I am nearby and need something warm on a cold winter night.A year later, I came back and had the Fire in the Hall roll. The rice wasnt so great relative to other sushi places, but the crunchy outside and the very reasonable price more or less made up for it. Same friendly staff as usual, even faster this time (made the roll in front of me in ~5 minutes). I would recommend this over the ramen.A week after that, I had the Cherry Blossom, which I would recommend over Fire in the Hall (it gets better every time I visit!) But see my photo of this dish and notice how each piece is cut to a slightly difference size, which not something you often see in quality sushi restaurants. Its not the kind of thing that bothers me and I kind of appreciate the laid back and non-intimidating atmosphere of how they run this place. Just be sure to set your expectations right.