Straits Cafe-Palo Alto
(650) 494-7168
3295 El Camino Real
Palo Alto,
CA
94306
37.4207
-122.1371
Neighborhood: Ventura
What People Are Saying About Straits Cafe-Palo Alto
The Editor
Contributor
Citysearch
The Scene
Straits may be the nicest looking restaurant on the Peninsula. The dining room is outfitted with lots of teak, orchids, and Balinese furniture. An exotic patio is a marvel: One would never know that El Camino is just a wall away.
The Food
Chris Yeo brought Singaporean cuisine to San Francisco with much fanfare in 1987. Yeo opened a second Straits Cafe in Palo Alto in '98. Straits serves marvelous Singaporean dishes that will put your senses into overdrive. Drawing influences from China, Malaysia, India and Indonesia, the cuisine can be homey, spicy, sweet, bright, and sometimes even zany. Definitely go heavy on the appetizers. Grilled oysters, satays of all kinds, Chinese-inspired springrolls, and grilled Indian bread with curry sauce are tops. Start out with a Singapore Sling or another potent cocktails.
User Reviews
Tom999
March 18, 2009
I was pleasantly surprised when my friends invited me to Straits Cafe last week. I haven't been there for a while now and the place has changed! ---for the better!! The deco is so much subdue now...like the place has matured. I like the host, who was very polite and helpful. We went at Happy Hours and stayed until dinner. The drinks were only $5 unitl 6:00pm. Great value. The roti was still the best in town. The grilled sea-bass was out of this world. Definitely will go back again with my date.
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Anonymous
July 11, 2008
Very spicy food. If you don't want their fusion drinks there is very little to choose from. Tables are very close together limiting private conversations. Probably won't go back. Trader Vics is just down the street
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Kasenna
June 18, 2008
Unfortunately we were told by our management this place was superb and that our company celebration lunch had to be here. We arrived to no air-conditioning on a 100+ day and they didn't even have a fan turned on. Appetizers amounted to 1 small triangle shaped bread the size of an appetizer, and 1 other appetizer per person. Main dishes were served that could feed 4 people to tables of 11-12. My boss didn't even eat more than rice and a few bites of the main courses because he was concerned there was not enough food for employees. We had to ask to have rice delivered. It was almost like they were going out of there way to insult us. And this was a set price luncheon. The word of mouth after this party from our 50+ employees will last for the next year. Most of the good reviews on this website are from 2006. They had great reviews from our management - most who went regularly in 2006, but the place has gone downhill. Don't under any circumstances plan a group event here.
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