Tamarine - Palo Alto

The decoration of this restaurant is very nice, This actually a fancy Vietnamese restaurant. The food taste very delicious, one of their starter name Tamarine taste are very tasty. Service here are good they close at 10pm but if there still have customer then they will wait and also they won’t bring the bill out if you won’t asked them. However, there are still some problems that need to be fixed! Like they should bring all the dishes at the same time, secondly they need to learn the table etiquette, finally when they change plates they also should change cutlery! Overall it’s still very good place !!! Lifetime experiment !!!

This is one of the best restaurants I have been to on University Avenue. The food is excellent with aesthetic presentation rarely seen at other Vietnamese restaurants. The sautéed beef and lamb chops were favorites among the party goers. The private function room could host about 30-40 people.

One of my favorites. The menu is delicious and a little creative. The appetizers are all so good that I’ve opted to order tons of them to share family style with my party, instead of all doing individual entrees. Standout appetizers and side dishes: tea leaf beef, the taro rolls, honey squash soup (seasonal), fried calamari (they are the only place I know who can offer a gluten free version), and their arugula salad with persimmon (divine). Standout entrees: they’re all pretty solid. I really enjoy the clay pot cod and duck dishes. Standout desserts: the tapioca pudding is delicious but know the pandan sorbet that comes with it is very, very sharp and tart. The passion fruit pavlova is a consistent crowd pleaser.

Had this place saved for a while but our experience was a little disappointing. We came here without a reservation and we were seated at the bar. One of the glasses we got was chipped and had a sharp edge, my partner almost cut his lip. There was no recognition or apology when we pointed out the chipped glass. We got the shaking beef, garlic noodle, black cod, Brussels sprouts, and the appetizer platter. Shaking beef was very tender but I found the sauce to be too sweet. The black cod’s flavor also felt imbalanced and leaned towards the sweet side. Garlic noodles were very flavorful and had a really nice Smokey taste. Brussels sprouts were good, the shiitake mushrooms added an extra touch. The appetizer platter (tamarine taste) is definitely not worth the price. None of the appetizers were memorable and the sauces looked like they came straight out of the sauce packet.

For the ambience and service, everything was phenomenal. It was my mom’s bday so I wanted to choose a place that didn’t screw it up And to my relief, Tamarine’s staff and waiter did not disappoint. Super attentive—they provided a little birthday placard and card, plus a sorbet dessert at the end. My mom was very pleased. In terms of food—everything was very solid. Nothing mind-blowing or revelatory, just feels very well executed. Found plenty of parking in the parking structure next door. For a group of 4, we ordered 4 appetizers and 3 entrees: taro root rolls, tea leaf beef rolls, banh mi roti, green papaya salad, lemongrass seabass, shaking beef, tiger prawns with garlic noodles. It was more than enough food.