Top Southeast Asian Restaurant in San Carlos
Rangoon Ruby Burmese Cuisine
680 Laurel St, San Carlos, CA 94070, United States
We came here for dinner and ordered chicken kebat and a Rangoon chicken curry, both at a medium level spice, a palata, a side of coconut rice and Burmese-Indian rice as sides and sticky rice with ice cream as a dessert.The Chicken kebash was delicious and complex in flavors. The curry was a rich dish with melt-in-your-mouth chicken. The spicy ness level in general was mild but not hot, so I asked for more spice and they gave us a homemade chili that was really spicy but flavorful. Use carefully!We also ordered coconut rice and Burmese-Indian rice as sides to have a contrast with the chickens. The coconut rice was delicious, rich and sticky and went well with the dishes. The Burmese Indian rice on the other hand was dry tasted as almost as if it was reheated but the flavor was nice and strong. The palata was really really good! The sticky rice with ice cream was delicious and well made. The rice was at a perfect level of sweetness so it wasn't overly sweet or overpowering the ice cream. The presentation was really nice and it was clear that the chef took their time to make a nice dish.The place was clean and tidy and it was a nice place overall with a simple decoration. I was surprised to see a piece of paper covering the table instead of a tablecloth tho. The food was served quickly and the servers refilled our water constantly!The service in general was just ok. There was one woman, (might be the owner or manager?) that went around asking for orders and how the food was. She was welcoming and warm and that made us feel valued and cared for. The rest of the staff was quite quiet, serious and even looked bored or sad.The prices are good but on the expensive end. The size of portions of the chicken dishes and the rice sides were big and the food was high quality, so it made us feel like we had a good value for the food. However, I do have to say that the palata was around $9-10 which was really too much.In general the food was delicious and I'd recommend this place to explore different flavors and dishes.Service 3/5Food 4/5Price 4/5Place 5/5
Red Hot Chilli Pepper
1125 San Carlos Ave, San Carlos, CA 94070, United States
Very disappointing experience. For a Hakka Chinese aka Indo Chinese restaurant, for the prices that they are charging, the portion sizes are way too small! Example, you get a small bowl of Hakka Noodles barely enough for 1 person, and they charge $13, and thats bland with no meat. The hot and sour chicken soup did not have a single piece of chicken. And it was just hot and spicy, no sour taste as it should have been. For $17 we ordered their bestseller chilli chicken. Usually its the signature dish of every Hakka restaurant. What a huge disappointment with their dish which was again tasteless with almost 50% green peppers instead of all chicken like it should be. As well again the portion size was way too small for $17!We were visiting from Toronto and decided to try it out, as we have many Hakka Chinese restaurants there. We were very disappointed with both the taste and the portion sizes. You always have leftovers after a meal at a Hakka Chinese restaurant. And here we had no leftovers! Back in Toronto we get more than double the portion sizes as compared to this place, and that too for half the price and the taste is authentic Hakka Chinese made with Indian spices. Yet we were very surprised to see this place packed? Go figure!
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Thaibodia Bistro - San Jose
1865 W San Carlos St, San Jose, CA 95128, United States
I just want to preface being Khmer (Cambodian)-American, my palate is partial to certain flavors and ingredients. I don’t expect a 5-star experience, but want to feel comfortable and enjoy good food! With that said,I recently moved to the Bay area and have been craving Southeast Asian fare. Thaibodia did not satisfy my craving.Atmosphere: The interior decor is indistinguishable from any other restaurant of any other cuisine. There is some SEA decor but nothing too obvious as a lot was hidden toward the back of the restaurant. We were a party of two and opted for the four seater table directly to the right upon entrance. This faces parallel to the street with a nice sunny window. This window hosts a ton of plants - which as a plant lover I would typically be okay with ..but not here. There seemed to be lot of gnats and small flies flying around this table. I am certain I saw a fly trap as well. Behind the table is a wall outlet that has a Glade Plug-in. The fragrance was EXTREMELY distracting and smelled awful for a restaurant. I thought my entire dining experience would be ruined by the smell of “fresh linen” aka toxic, hormone disrupting fumes. If you are the owner/manager of this establishment and you are reading this - please remove the Glade Plug In, leave that for the restroom..not the dining room. Table was set with a pair of dirty/not completely cleaned dishes.Food: As a starter, we ordered the Papaya salad with Salted Crab - It was just okay, but I would not order it again. Flavor was unbalanced. Too sugary sweet, too unbearably salty. The two soups for dinner: Salaw Kako with Squid - my partner said bland but edible. I can’t speak to it much. Salaw machu Ktiss with Chicken - acceptable taste wise, but I couldnt get past an early issue I found with the soup. My initial order had a dark hair that was found before I could dig in. See photo. I was offered a new order to which I obliged. At this point, I was ready to walk out but I was so hungry. I later learned I would regret this decision. We didn’t finish nearly half our food and it was a disappointment to spend however much we did on this dinner. That evening we spent walking down Santana Row and I became very ill. I am not sure if this was related to the dinner, but my experience at Thaibodia has led me to have an inkling it may have been a slight result.Service was poor and the server did not seem to care or be receptive to my discomfort or their shortcomings that evening. I hope they can do better, but this is not the place for me.