My first review ever. I am generally very patient and forgiving. But this one tops all. I would give a zero if possible. I ordered a Togo in person from this restaurant. I ordered two samosa soup and 1 tea leaf salad vegetarian. I waited and waited and it took them 40 mins to get the order ready for me. I enquired couple of times while I was waiting and they are like something went wrong and chef is preparing the order. I was like it's okay, kitchen would be busy as things were opening after covid and place was getting crowded. After 30 mins on clock another server who noticed me waiting for 30 mins comes and checks with me on what was I waiting for. I explained him and he said he will check and get it quickly. After another 10 mins I finally got my order and went home. After reaching home, I opened the order and it was totally incorrect. Instead of two samosa soup, they gave me two samosas. I called and checked with them and they are like we cannot deliver or fix since the person who took the order keyed in incorrectly. The manager is like next time when you come in, I will give you two samosa soup free. I told him if he can't fix the order now there is nothing else he can do as I care least about two damn free **** soups. Unfortunately, this isn't the first time this place has messed up my order. Once, I ordered Togo tea leaf salad, and they forgot to put send tea leaf sauce in it. One of the worst manager and servers. read more

Just had a birthday dinner where waiter told one of my friends "he cannot Add". The waiter Jose Fernandez seemed high on the job and was strangely over hyper and racist all evening. They lost our business, in other update catfish was not at all fresh and tasted bad read more

One of the exceptionally bad services I've had in the Bay Area. 1. We had an order of beer. I have no idea what happened but the server did not bring it out to our table for at least 20minutes even after a reminder. 2. I had a few folks visiting, who were non beef and non pork eaters. We were served an entrée of beef which we did not order. 3. One of our orders was garlic noodles with chicken. My niece ate the meat, and then realized it was not chicken which the server accepted. This was pork btw. This is when we all were terribly pissed. John, who was the manager that night accepted this quality of bad service and offered "free" dessert which we denied since we were not there for free food, but for quality food which clearly did not exist. I would like to remind the restaurant owner that no amount of free food and discounts can replace the quality of service and the food. I will not return to this place and will discourage all my friends and family to visit them (we all love Burmese food, but not restaurant) read more

Service was just ok but the food was very good! Perhaps we came at an off time (between lunch and dinner). The food definitely exceeded expectations. We got the garlic noodles, lemongrass chicken, and fiery beef. Delicious flavors! read more

Burma Ruby - Burmese Near Me - Palo Alto, California

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I wouldn't recommend this place to my friends nor would I return. Our servers were making us provide service at our own table, they stood at one end and passed entrees to one individual making them to pass the food around and utensils. luckily for our friend the makeshift server the food/plates were cold, unfortunately for us the food was freakin cold. for the price point portions are small. wait staff and management are rude. we asked for one of the individuals to have their check separate, the waitress told us there would be a charge of $1.50, which was fine. she then later came back and said oh we forgot to charge the $1.50 could you add it to my tip?! are you serious?? it was shitty that we had to serve ourselves and eat cold food, they charged us 20% for a group of 6 and then asked for another $1.50. all in all, look past this place and walk on. go home and eat cereal. read more

Good food overall, tea leaves salad was great, enjoyed veggie lettuce wraps. Enough vegetarian options. Fiery vegetables, pad Thai were interesting. Veggie kebat was ok. Service was a bit slow. The hostesses were friendly and courteous. read more

Good food. Good location and good service. Solid 4 stars. We met a friend here for dinner and were not disappointed with anything. We got the Tea leaf salad and Palatha for the appetizers and they both were very good. The slight lemon that we could taste in the Tea leaf salad made it very nice and fresh. The only thing to remember with the tea leaf salad is that it is pretty filling. Very good for sharing. The Palatha was also good and predictable in taste. For the main course we ordered the Fiery Chicken with Tofu and the Mixed Vegetable curry. The Mixed Vegetable Curry was good but tasted very similar to the curry we got with the Palatha. Both were good but I was hoping for a more unique taste. The Fiery Chicken with Tofu was my favorite dish for the night and would order it again for sure. I got the Burmese ice tea and it was good and very similar to the Thai ice tea, which I like a lot. Overall a good place and I would definitely go again. read more

Its so random that Burma Ruby is the sister restaurant of Rangoon Ruby, which is located just a few blocks away - same chefs, and menu! It baffles me that both locations can run successfully in such close proximity (this one is in a slightly more prime location directly on University Ave than the former). Friday night was bustling like crazy! Our party of 4 ordered a selection of items: tea leaf salad, samosa soup, pumpkin chicken stew, Burmese eggplant curry, and Rangoon noodles. Overall the meal was great! Tea leaf salad was on point. It was missing the spicy kick that it normally has, but nonetheless, the flavors were right on. The samosa soup was thick and chunky. For the price, the portion was a lot smaller than I expected and than that of other places. For the main entrees, the pumpkin chicken stew was amazing - super soft pumpkin and chicken, and so flavorful! The eggplant curry was good, but the eggplant could've been slightly more cooked for a more melt-in-your-mouth appeal. The star of the meal was definitely the Rangoon noodle dish! It was so creamy and just rich enough that it allowed you to devour the entire dish if your heart desired. The dish worked really well with the other items we ordered, as well. read more

Attentive service! Tea leaf salad rocks. However, I felt the food was too refined to where it felt unauthentic. Don't get me wrong, the food was very good but something was just off key... maybe it was too pan asian fusion and not focused on traditional Burmese. read more

Same owner as Ruby Rangoon. Same menu as well. Party of 4 for lunch today. We made reservations on opentable but wasn't necessary for a Tuesday lunch at noon. The place was busier when we were done with our meal, but not to capacity. Hostess was friendly and showed us to our table. Waitress took our drink and lunch orders. Tap water here is actually served with hint of cucumber. If you don't like cucumber then you might have to request just tap water. We had a tea leaf salad to start. The salad was good, typically Burmese tea leaf salad. I had the country style beef curry. The beef was clearly overdone. It was tough and chewy. I ordered the curry mild, but it was underwhelming and needed heat. The coconut rice was an additional $2. One of my coworkers ordered the Chicken Crisp which was like a sweet and sour chicken from Panda Express. I tried a couple of pieces and noted there was some odd flavoring to the chicken, maybe the flour it was coated in before frying or the oil that they fried it in, but it left a bad aftertaste that the sticky, heavy sauce could not cover up. Another coworker ordered the pumpkin pork curry, which was good, and the other ordered the Ohnoh Kawt Swe which was also good and had the authentic flavors. Service was good. There was a person constantly coming around filling up water cups. Would expect service to check in at least once to ask how everything is going. Was difficult in flagging down a service staff for a pair of chopsticks. I would be open to coming back here, but it would not be on my own choosing. read more

Party of 2. We ordered the Tea Leaf Salad, Mango shrimp dish, Garlic pork and coconut rice. The tea salad tasted ok. It comes to you with all ingredients separated; the attendant will mix at your table. A smallish portion for $17, i say pass on this. The Mango Shrimp dish came with sliced white onions in a fragrant tastey mango sauce; twas a good sized portion. The shrimps were large sized, tender and cooked just right. The Garlic pork dish with veggies; contained plump slices of pork, sauteed veggies in a brown sauce. Nothing special here, not even the flavor. Meh. And we ordered a bowl rice: choice of coconut, regular or jasmine. We choose coconut and it was fine. Except for the yummy shrimp dish and moist coconut rice, the rest of the items were ok. $55.00 for the above without tax. The Red wine of the day was Crios Malbec, Mendoza Winery, Argentina. Delicious, slightly fruity, good body, fine finish. $12 well spent. Decor: you pay for the upscale decor. It's noisy inside on a Saturday night. We opted for outside dining and it was pleasant. Customer service: ok There are other choices for Burmese food; see my SF recommendation. read more

It's rare that I give 1 stars but people who know what quality Burmese food or Thai even would agree this place cooks Cheap food. Customer service- great, truly. Ambiance and interior- great Food though. I got the Vegetable Kebat and my bf got the Curry and it was sitting in red oil. Tofu was hard and rubbery. We were with meat eaters at the table too and they said everything was mediocre. Burma Ruby step up your ingredients. This place is (like a previous reviewer stated) "the Outback/Red Lobster of Burmese food" plus it's expensive $$$$$ Go somewhere where the owners care about the food they're giving you not the check you're giving them read more

We had a reservation for two. We went there because we had such a nice experience and good food at their sister restaurant, Rangoon Ruby two years ago while in town. They told us they had a shortage of servers, well, one server, but still sat many customers. When our food came out, one of our dishes, the curry pork, the most expensive item from we ordered, came out luke warm. When our server asked how everything was while we were eating, we told her of such. Her reply was, "I'm sorry." Since it took a while for her to come back to us to pay, we went up to the counter and there the manager asked how everything was. Again we told him about the food, and he said, "I'm sorry." I would have expected more from the manager. If this was our first experience, we would never have gone to their sister restaurant! read more

Excellent upscale Burmese food with lots of vegetarian choices, friendly staff and wonderful atmosphere. The green tea leaf salad was excellent, as were the samosas, palata, samosa soup, fiery green beans with tofu, and succulent eggplant. Our 19yo enjoyed his birthday dinner lots. read more

3 stars is for the service. The waiter came to our table 3 times. 1 for drinks, 1 to ask if were ready (we were not) and then the 3rd to get our order. On the 3rd visit to the table, when we were about to order she says "entrees are to share in between 2 or 3 people each". Why didn't you say that BEFORE so we don't have to change our order while you are looking at us with an expression of annoyance because it's taking us too long to order???? Food was good. Maybe not my favorite, but everyone else in my party loved it. read more

+ good ambiance; can get a seat by the big open window so get the outdoor feeling + hostess was patient while we tried to decide what to order + rangoon noodles - the best dish we had +/- tea leaf salad - it was good; however, it wasn't as refreshing as I hoped; fun to watch them mix it front of you +/- catfish chowder - meh - rangoon lemongrass chicken - very little bits of chicken - our table didn't have have napkins; when we asked for some, the hostess gave us paper napkins vs. the cloth napkins that was set up at other tables. When I asked for a cloth one, she only gave me one (vs. the entire table). read more

Extremely busy for a Wed. night. Sat for 40" before a waiter told us you have to order by phone. Old favorite sesame beef fell short this time. Miss the classier location on University read more

We had Pad thai, at first it was too spicy and we asked them to remake it for us. Second time was too sweet. We ordered garlic noodle, avoid this dish at all times. Service was good....food not so good. I would not recommend this place! read more

This was my first time trying Burmese cuisine and am glad I tried it at Burma Ruby!! My friend made a reservation for 4 of us on friday night at 8.30, and once I got there I realized why a reservation was needed here!! The place was bursting at the seams (all tables filled inside and a long line out the door), literally!! :) We ordered a bunch of items to share: samosa soup, northern fried tofu, mango tofu, egg & okra curry, Burmese eggplant curry, and couple servings of rice. The samosa soup was unique and was very tasty, but my favorite was the egg & okra curry. The okra was cooked just right and the curry was delicious. Like I mentioned before, this place gets packed, so the service is a little slow. So just enjoy the delicious food and the company of your friends/family and you won't notice the slow service at all :) read more

Extremely over priced and terrible service. Outdoor area is just sad (wobbly tables in the middle of University Ave -- at least other restaurants have tried to make their outdoor areas nice.) Won't be coming back, only came here because the restaurant we wanted to go to lost our reservation. I love Burmese food but the food here is just greasy and not that flavorful. Prices have skyrocketed since the last time I came here, which I understand but if you're going to raise prices at least make sure the service is acceptable. read more

If you're looking for great food Burma ruby is the way to go ! If you're looking for great service ask for mr Angelo . Very charismatic dude, Really made us feel as if we were his only table in the restaurant . recommended the tea leaf salad to start , thumbs up on the ruby tart ! The noise level is a little higher than average but the food and the tiki drinks really make up for it ! read more

Fabulous food and cocktails. It's was girl's night out for us and our server Max did an outstanding job with our table. Cocktails came with presentation ... great 'Kodak' moment ;). We loved the pumpkin tofu dish along with the mango prawns, ruby prawns, green beans, tea leaf salad (yummm), salt and pepper calamari (so tender), etc. Since we were celebrating two birthdays, Max brought the celebrants complimentary scoop of ice cream with a fiery firework like candle (another 'Kodak' moment). Be prepared for loud conversations, talking out loud, or going deaf ... it's just noisy. Not a great place to propose ... she's not gonna hear you .. whaatusay? Go for the pleasure side of taste ;) read more

The place seemed a bit crammed. There were just way too many tables and very narrow space to wall in between. It seemed like a dressy place though a few came in in casuals. My friend ordered the tea leaf salad($14). It was unique. Supposedly they ferment the tea leaves and puree them. Lots of tasty nuts. Especially like the yellow beans. I ordered the rangoon lemongrass chicken ($15). It was just fine. But beware when they say 'hot' they mean it. I wonder what type of beans were in it though, because they definitely were not the usual green beans. I felt it was a bit over priced. read more

Burma Ruby - Burmese Near Me - Palo Alto, California

We went on a Sunday afternoon. I wanted to support my southeastern Asian people. Place was almost empty, it's a sister restaurant of Rangoon Ruby. Same menu, same owner, & same high prices. We ordered deep fried calamari, Burmese Pad Thai, coconut noodle soup, fish chowder noodle soup. The 3 of us liked the coconut noodle soup, the only dish out of all the four dishes. Calamari was plain & unseasoned, served with a sweet & sour dipping sauce. Pad Thai was too saucy. Fish chowder was too fishy. The service was good. Prices were overpriced- all the dishes we ordered were over $10. Not worth it especially if they were just decent & small portioned. Would I come back? What do you think? Maybe for the drinks at the bar, it's equally expensive. read more

So, I have to compare this place to another Burmese restaurant in SF, Burma Superstar. Service is definitely far better than Burma Superstar but as the food taste goes, I will have to go with Burma Superstar. Servers are excellent here and very attentive. And the foods are good too. Plus, they explain everything to you before they let you eat the food which I liked. And the ambiance is great too. Great place for any kind of occasion. read more

The place was expensive. I knew this going in. But I wanted to see if the food was worth it. And it wasn't. I had the pad Thai shrimp, burmese Indian rice, pumpkin salmon stew, palata. None of it was great. Portions were small. Didn't enjoy it. read more

I just love the tea leaf salad here. It is one of the best I have had in the bay area. Few other options are also good (samosa salad, palata). Ambience is relaxed and dimly lit (unlike Rangoon Ruby which is a bit more formal).., perfect for dinner time. It can get noisy though. Also, depending on were you get to be seated., you might be very close to your neighbours. read more

What's the saying? When it's good, open a second restaurant, right? Rangoon Ruby has definitely been a hit and continues to remain packed to the point that the same people opened up pretty much the same restaurant down the street in a flashier, higher foot traffic space right on University Ave. The space itself may not be that much bigger than its older sister but it definitely is a flashier version, with a tall bar display and changing neon lights. They seemed to have ironed out some kinks other reviewers pointed out because we came as a large group for a birthday, ordered a ton of dishes and everything came out pretty swiftly. What to get: palata and tea leaf salad for starters. The green beans, pea leaves, eggplant with shrimp, lemongrass pork/chicken are all good. If you like sweet entrees the mango chicken is nice but I found it a bit too sweet, and I really like mangoes. Go big and get duck in your garlic noodles too. The best part: birthday celebrations here are met with what looks like a firework going off in a bowl of ice cream. It is definitely a catchy way to end a dinner. 7/10 people were sure it was peach ice cream but we were told it was mango. Either way, can you go wrong? If you are looking for something different than Rangoon Ruby, this isn't it as the menu is literally the same. It would be cool if the two places had a couple of unique items. If they both stay super active parts of the Palo Alto dining scene, I hope that's where they are headed next. read more

Was informed by Rangoon Ruby that they have a new sister restaurant, so we came here instead. The decor is modern with high ceiling. The place still has plenty of seats around 6:30, but very packed later. The seating space is very tight. All the usual Burmese dishes, which I am not an expert about. All the food are on a saltier side for me (especially the tea leaf salad), but I love the mango fish dish and palate. A bit awkward when we overheard the manager(?) getting mad at one of the staff's ordering mistake, and because all the tables are packed together, everyone heard, from the look of it... read more

More like "Boo-ma Ruby" Food was just ok... Got the tea leaf salad, that was good but a little overboard on richness. The salt and pepper calamari was not what we expected... Very battered, and no salt and pepper? Salmon crisp also way overly battered. It was like a Mai ploy drenched fried to hell Panda Express type thing. Fiery beef, poor quality beef.. Chinese food flavor profile. I will say the Ruby string beans were really good. Overall... A sad way to spend $130 - one of those times that you feel you definitely didn't get what you pay for. Basically got $50 of chinese food for more than twice the price. Doesn't seem like Burmese food. Two stars for the friendly staff, place looks nice too... It's just the food needs to be better. Sorry... That's the truth! But, also most importantly, we wouldn't go back. read more

My family and I came here for an early Mother's Day dinner and were not disappointed! The waitress was very friendly and got our drink orders right away and brought me a glass of water upon request (I'm glad they do this!). Appetizers: Lettuce Wrap - They were able to make this a vegetarian option for my mom. The waitress was also kind enough to inform us that the sauce provided with the wraps contains fish sauce. Palata - We ordered this "spicy" and boy was it spicy! The coconut chicken curry was delcious, but a little to hot for me to handle! Tea Leaf Salad - We ordered the vegetarian version of this one as well and it was still incredibly tastly. It was a great crunch to it and has a flavor profile I've never encountered before! A must try! Main Course: Mint Jalapeno Chicken - I didn't find this dish too appetizing, it was a little bland for my taste. Others at the table did enjoy it though Veggie Kebat - I thought that these veggies had AMAZING flavor, it was actually one of my favorite dishes that night Burmese Pad Thai - nothing to special here, it tasted like pad thai and the noodles were cooked well. read more

Came here with a couple of friends, one of whom has been here many times. In fact, one of the women knew which dish she would order! We didn't order much since we weren't that hungry, but we got some sort of sweet chicken, spinach, and garlic noodles. The garlic noodles were the flat kind, and they didn't have as much flavor as garlic noodles I've had elsewhere (more at like Vietnamese restaurants). I probably wouldn't order that again. I also got a fruity drink that was nice and strong and came in a a neat tiki cup. Chicken was good, from what I remember, but nothing outstanding. Prices are on the more expensive side, but they are on par with the other restaurants in this area. Staff was nice and the restaurant was clean. read more

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My boyfriend and I came here for dinner on a weeknight. We made a reservation ahead of time, but there were plenty of tables available when we arrived. We got some flack for being too early(?) for our reservation--service overall was not the friendliest. We ordered a curry dish and the tea leaf salad. Both were good, nothing exceptional. I grew up in a Chinese-Burmese family and still prefer my Dad's cooking! Rice is not included with entrees. We were asked if we wanted rice, but were not told that it would be an extra charge--after the meal, we saw the $2.50 charge for a single bowl of jasmine rice. Overall, I enjoyed the food here, but it's a bit too expensive to be a regular date night spot for us and not quite nice enough to be a fancy splurge. read more

I would have put 4* for the food (tasty, innovative) but major problem with service and check 5 of us having dinner. Ordered 5 beers to start and a bottle of wine for the meal. Wine came first and it was complicated to have our waiter understand that we wanted our beers first and that the white wine should be kept cold... Worst was the check. Even if we were only 5, a 20% tip was automatically added.. and then, total refusal from our server to split the bill equally in 5 and run 5 cards. How difficult is that? "The rule is 3 max". Why is that? And it was 9:30 pm and the restaurant was not even super busy. read more

Construction on University Ave (was told it should end by Sept. 2018) must be a challenge for both businesses & customers; however, we made our way along pedestrian re-routing & we're happy we did! Our very friendly & efficient waitress informed us that tea leaf salad is very popular along with any of the kebat options. We ordered chicken kebab, medium spicy, along with stir fried string beans and coconut rice. All were tasty! We'll definitely return. read more

The General Manager (John) is so welcoming and helpful! It's our first experience to Burmese cuisine and be helped us navigate thru the delicious menu. As recommended, the tea leaves salad was as great he said it would be! Great service and food :) read more

Came here for a small snack inbetween lunch and dinner. It's a nice prime location with seating that opens out to the street. Perfect for late summer weather. tried some of the recommended dishes. The Tea Leaf Salad. Good for the first few bites... but it's super rich. lots of oil I needed a beer to cut through all the oil. Also had the Nan Gyi Dok. Good flavors... the noodles where a little mushy. Change the noodles and the dish would be much better. read more

Great food, great service! My husband, his family and I (total of 6) came here for dinner on a Thursday evening without reservations. It was my birthday and kind of an impromptu univ ave dinner plan. The hostess was super kind to find us a table within minutes. We ordered the tea leaf salad, palata, veggie curry and mango tofu with some Burmese-Indian rice. Everything tasted great. We really enjoyed ourselves! After a hearty, satisfying meal, they surprised me with a dessert, which was on the house :) overall they took great care, the food was awesome and we had a lovely evening!! Oh and the lychee martini was fantastic!! read more

Excellent tea leaf salad, moist and crispy at the same time. Loved it. The rate for Burmese Indian rice is very less. Very close to Indian biriyani. :) read more

Burma Ruby - Burmese Near Me - Palo Alto, California

We had dinner here last night for my wife's birthday and she was amazed!! The server recommended the tea leaf salad and we were super impressed. It just got better with the delicious green beans, coconut rice, lamb curry and that bread OMG!! I couldn't stop eating bc it was so tasty. Ended with some birthday dessert, fried pudding. Staff was on point and price was surprisingly reasonable for the high end service and scrumptious food. Wine and whisky to boot, thanks BR, you did us right for her Bday! Definitely making this a tradition. read more

Burma Ruby - Burmese Near Me - Palo Alto, California