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    Dara Thai

    4.7 (27 reviews)
    Closed 11:30 am - 2:30 pm, 5:00 PM - 8:30 PM
    Updated 1 month ago

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    DARA THAI ATMOSPHERE

    What's the vibe?
    Dogs allowed
    Outdoor seating

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    Recommended Reviews - Dara Thai

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    Reviews With Photos

    Eggplant pork
    Elayna N.

    I would say 3.5/5 m. I'm almost convinced it's the same cooking as before they changed the name tbh. We got take out and had no issues picking up. Plenty of parking. Pad Thai 4/5 This was tasty and had a load of shrimp!! Worth the upgrade. Shrimp was cooked perfectly. Eggplant pork 4/5 Tasty and savory. Eggplant well cooked down and blends well with the bell peppers and meat. Meat was tender and juicy. Pad see ew 3/5 Pad see ew needs that wok hei flavor. It's not flavorful enough so not that tasty. Too much random other stuff in it like carrots. Tom yum 2/5 Too sweet and not enough lemongrass. Just really not that tasty for usual tom yum. For veggie and tofu and it was packed with ingredients though. Chicken satay 4/5 This was grilled well and flavorful. The sauce was tasty and went well with the cucumber salad. Overall I'd come back for the dishes like eggplant or pad thai. Nothing that needs wok hei flavor. Prices were ok.

    Thai iced tea
    Caroline T.

    Belmont needs more great neighborhood spots - Dara Thai has delivered. We look forward to coming back. For just having opened recently, it was packed in a Sunday evening with returning customers showing up. The service was good for the amount of tables they had to handle all at once. Half of the tables are outside so dress for the weather. 5 stars for both the braised beef Penang curry and chicken pad Thai. Great flavors while not being too salty. Bonus for the heart shaped straw in our drinks.

    Green curry lunch special
    Ruby A.

    I absolutely LOVED this restaurant. I've been craving Pad Thai and a Thai Tea and saw this place just opened so of course I had to try it immediately. The ambiance is very gentle and welcoming, and the owner Tanya is a sweetheart. We ordered calamari, pad thai, green curry lunch special that came with rice and salad, and my order of Thai tea. It's the small things that they do that make the service spectacular. My straw was heart shaped and our toothpicks came with cute little characters. I encourage everyone to stop by and try this place out! You will leave feeling satisfied and full! Will be back in a heartbeat

    Gai Kra Pow
    Alan B.

    Food was great and the service is even better! Absolutely loved the pork skewers and Gai Kra Pow! The owners are incredibly friendly and accommodating! Definitely a find! One of my three favorite Thai restaurants on the Peninsula!

    Chicken satay + Rangoon
    Valery T.

    Soft opening! This Thai spot is such a great edition to the peninsula area. I've been on the search for good Thai food & have def found the delicious flavors here. The service, food, and location is an absolute 10/10. The restaurant is run by a family and the owners mom is the chef here! Her dishes are phenomenal... every dish had a delicious flavor. Lots of tasty options on the menu, which means I have to come back to try more! They also have great lunch specials so I'll be back for that

    Sam N.

    New restaurant in Belmont and definitely a must-try! So many delicious options, especially if you're looking for high-protein meals. Everything was so good that I completely forgot to take photos of the main courses , but trust me the appetizers were amazing. It's a family-run business, the service was exceptional, and the restaurant was spotless. You can really tell they take pride in what they do. I'll definitely be coming back!

    D B.

    Everything was amazing: had larb, pad see ew and pad kra pow. The mango sticky rice was delicious also. Very authentic flavors and nice and friendly staff

    Pad Thai

    Sooo good. I was following this place on social media and had high hopes/expectations. More than exceeded. Food was fantastic- great flavors and presentation. We had papaya salad, drunken noodles, pad Thai, and pumpkin curry. All were delicious but the pumpkin curry was my favorite. You can adjust the spice level for each dish - we like it hot and they did not disappoint! Service was also good - warm, friendly and helpful. Overall a great experience and we will definitely be back!

    Tried this new restaurant in Belmont last night. Family friendly staff grandma and mom cooks. Food was top notch excellent flavors and choices. Welcome to Belmont!

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    19 days ago

    Business owner information

    Photo of Tanya S.

    Tanya S.

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    1 month ago

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    Tanya S.

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    27 days ago

    They recently opened and the service and food are off the charts. Very traditional and a tasty menu. I would come back on a weekly basis.

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    Tanya S.

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    15 days ago

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    Tanya S.

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    10 days ago

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    Tanya S.

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    17 days ago

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    Tanya S.

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    19 days ago

    Business owner information

    Photo of Tanya S.

    Tanya S.

    Helpful 2
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    29 days ago

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    Tanya S.

    Helpful 2
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    18 days ago

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    Tanya S.

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    Photo of Valery T.
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    1 month ago

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    Photo of Tanya S.

    Tanya S.

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    25 days ago

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    Tanya S.

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    2 days ago

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    Tanya S.

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    22 days ago

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    Tanya S.

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    22 days ago

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    Tanya S.

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    26 days ago

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    Tanya S.

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    14 days ago

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    Tanya S.

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    8 days ago

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    Tanya S.

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    18 days ago

    Service was slow. And the food was very mediocre. I would not come back. The only good thing is the mango sticky rice

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    Tanya S.

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    Photo of Bev L.
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    24 days ago

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    Tanya S.

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    1 month ago

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    Tanya S.

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    1 month ago

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    Tanya S.

    Helpful 5
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    10 days ago

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    Tanya S.

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    10 days ago

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    Tanya S.

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    1 month ago

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    Tanya S.

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    29 days ago

    Business owner information

    Photo of Tanya S.

    Tanya S.

    Helpful 1
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    1 month ago

    This is a new place that replaced another. The people are extremely nice and my basil chicken was excellent! I can't wait to try more!

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    Tanya S.

    Helpful 1
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    Love this 5
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    1 month ago

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    Tanya S.

    Helpful 1
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    Love this 8
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    Ask the Community - Dara Thai

    Does Dara Thai accept catering orders delivered to Palo Alto? If yes, is there an email we can contact for catering?

    Thank you so much for reaching out and thinking of DARA THAI! ❤️ Yes! We do offer catering, including delivery to Palo Alto. Please feel free to contact us directly via phone… 

    Don’t See Your Question? Ask Away!

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    Dumpling & Dough

    Dumpling & Dough

    4.4
    (159 reviews)
    1.6 mi

    Very fast service, several healthy options, great for families and low-key…read more Came here after kids' sports events and it was perfect. The greens and dumplings are amazing and portion sizes are generous. Some of the dumplings are not freshly made there and are made from frozen packs.

    Came on a Friday in the early evening and this place was completely empty except for one patron,…read morewhich made me nervous that the food wasn't going to be great. Glad that that wasn't the case! Ordered xiao long bao, fried tofu, sheng jian bao, Beijing potstickers, pea shoots, and green curry with rice. - Xiao long bao: quite tasty and probably my favorite in this area. The soup inside was really sweet and savory and there was a lot of it. Meat was tender and the flavor was spot on. The skin was nice and thin, but with enough elasticity that it didn't tear when the dumplings were still hot out of the steamer and being picked up with chopsticks. I wish they would steam on napa cabbage instead of the foil cups though. Towards the end, the dough was trying to stick and that's no bueno. Also, wouldn't cabbage be cheaper? - Fried tofu: favorite dish of the night, surprisingly. Super crispy coating, and the soy sauce they serve it with has enough salt and flavor to really make it shine! Will order this again and again. - Sheng jian bao: I have serious doubts that these are made in-house (though they might be?). They looked like the frozen ones that every restaurant with sheng jian bao on the menu seems to be serving nowadays. Not that they're bad. In fact, they're pretty good, with a good amount of soup inside, but the dough was a little tough. - Beijing potstickers: like regular potstickers, only less good. Didn't like the dough on these, but they were super juicy! Wish I'd known that before I bit into mine and all the juice came shooting out of the opposite end. Don't be like me, eat this with the butt end in your spoon to catch all the liquid. - Pea shoots: I spit out half of these onto my plate because they were so tough that I couldn't chew the woody stems. I haaaaaaate when restaurants do this - the people preparing the food know what a tender pea shoot feels like. If they're not good, don't serve them to customers. It was like $17 for a plate of greens that were almost inedible, and super unenjoyable to eat. Aside from the poor quality of the veggies themselves, the way they prepared them was perfect, and the flavor was so good. Made me sad that I could barely eat them. - Green curry: ok, but not great. There wasn't enough flavor and there was too much heat. I expect Thai curry to be spicy, but not marking this on the menu for someone who is just trying this for the first time feels like a mistake. Also, not letting someone choose their level of spice also feels like a mistake. Speaking to the menu, there are things about it that make it hard to order. Basically, everything is in English, which is fine, but there are dishes that are translated or simplified that make it hard to know what's what. "Pork buns" are sheng jian bao. I wouldn't have known that if I hadn't asked, and to me and most people I know, a pork bun is just another simplified name for a char siu bao. The only reason why I knew they had sheng jiang bao on the menu was because of the photos on Yelp. Maybe just calling it sheng jiang bao or "pan fried dumplings" would be more helpful. Photos or a brief description (or Chinese characters, for those who can read them) would have been even more helpful. Other notes: the waitstaff is friendly enough, and the kitchen is efficient. Wish they had ice water here. Water is served in carafes that appear to get reused without first being washed, with a sprig of some kind of green thing inside. It goes from the kitchen tap into their fridge to cool a bit before being served, but there is no ice. A water filter on that tap would go a long way to make the water taste more palatable. Not sure what the green thing was, but it didn't impart any appreciable flavor. Will ask for ice next time and hope that it's available because at least if the water were actually cold, it would mask the tap flavor. We'll be back to try other things on the menu, and to order the XLB and fried tofu again, but with tempered expectations.

    Photos
    Fresh-made dumplings
    Fresh-made dumplings
    Redbean piggy bun inside
    Redbean piggy bun inside
    Thai Papaya Salad

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    Thai Papaya Salad
    Kajiken

    Kajiken

    4.4
    (1.5k reviews)
    4.5 mi
    $$

    Kajiken was the perfect Michelin-recommended lunch stop before my flight out of SFO! There was a…read moreshort line when I arrived, but the staff turned tables quickly and kept everything moving efficiently, so the wait wasn't long at all. I ordered their #1 recommendation, the Homura Aburasoba, and immediately scarfed it down. Popping the perfectly runny egg yolk into the noodles was incredibly satisfying, and every bite was packed with rich, savory umami. The noodles themselves were thick, chewy, and had a great bite that held up well to the sauce. I also tried the Wagyu dish, but it arrived more cooked than it appeared in the photos, which made the texture and overall experience a bit underwhelming. The sauce also leaned on the creamier side, which isn't my favorite pairing with Wagyu, so I'd probably skip that one next time. That said, the Homura Aburasoba alone is worth coming back for and easily earns Kajiken a well-deserved 5/5.

    This was our first time coming here so we weren't familiar with the menu. I went to the restroom…read moreand came back and was immediately asked if i knew what i wanted to order. We had just arrived so we said no. My parner said that while i was in the bathroom he too was asked about 4 times if he was ready to order. Overall the food was okay, interesting noodle dish that I would try again, but the service was not it... We felt very rushed and pushed to place our orders, which didn't make sense as the restaurant wasnt very busy at that time. And they had plenty of staff just standing around the back so it wasn't like they were short staffed trying to stay afloat on orders or something. I also don't recommend ordering your appetizer and main dish together, as they all came at the same time and made it hard to eat our main dish as it gets cold quick which it also says on the instructions on how to eat these noodles. After all the rushing to place our orders we never even received one of our appetizers yet we were being charged for it.... -Long story short, food was okay -Dont order your apps and meal together unless you want it all at the same time - Service needs work... stop rushing your customers...

    Photos
    Inside
    Inside
    Oroshi Ponzu Karaage($10)
    Oroshi Ponzu Karaage($10)
    Complimentary Accoutrements ($0) Vinegar, Chili Oil, Dried Garlic, Sesame seeds, & Chili Powder

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    Complimentary Accoutrements ($0) Vinegar, Chili Oil, Dried Garlic, Sesame seeds, & Chili Powder
    Blue Sky Café

    Blue Sky Café

    4.3
    (647 reviews)
    0.2 mi
    $$

    "Everything was delicious! I will be back" not greasy at all…read more Thanks to my friend, Anna for introducing me to this place!

    We came to Blue Sky last night just for the salt and pepper spare ribs and pork chop, which are…read moreusually the dishes we crave. We also decided to try a couple of things we had never ordered before after seeing other tables enjoy them. The beef chow fun looked amazing when we saw someone else order it, so we gave it a try. Unfortunately, it was a bit disappointing. The noodles were on the dry side and lacked the flavorful wok hei and savory taste that I usually look for in a good beef chow fun. It was just missing that something special. We also ordered the Chinese chicken salad because we wanted something lighter to balance out the meal. I was expecting the traditional shredded chicken with lettuce, but instead it came with thin tortilla-style chips underneath. That really changed the whole feel of the dish for me. I was hoping for a refreshing salad, but the chips made it feel more greasy, and the mustard oil dressing was not really my preference. The chicken was also a little dry. I probably would not order this again. The good news is the salt and pepper spare ribs were still delicious, just like we expected. They remain one of our favorites here. Overall, I would stick with the dishes we already know and love and skip the beef chow fun and chicken salad next time.

    Photos
    Small, sparse, busy restaurant
    Small, sparse, busy restaurant
    Sweet and Sour Pork Rice Plate
    Sweet and Sour Pork Rice Plate
    Sweet and sour pork

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    Sweet and sour pork
    Hunan Mifen San Mateo

    Hunan Mifen San Mateo

    4.3
    (75 reviews)
    2.7 mi
    $$

    Hunan Mifen is another good spot worth trying if you love authentic Asian cuisine…read more I don't eat spicy food so I was happy that they have some dishes that is not spicy, I love the flavor of their broth, tasty not salty and it has a balance. I love that they have variety of appetizers and side dishes. Price is very reasonable for a freshly cook dishes. I would give them two thumbs up

    Had low expectations coming here and was pleasantly surprised!…read more Food: T-he braised beef noodles were amazing. Noodles were chewier than most beef noodle soups I've had and the beef pieces were very tender and soft. The soup wasn't too spicy by itself and had alot of depth and flavor. -Pro-tip: There is a little self-serve station near the kitchen where you can get add'l condiments like cilantro, green onion, chili, and pickled daikon. SCORE. Add in the cilantro/green onion for a flavor explosion. -Ordered one of the combo noodles + 2 sides. For my sides, I got a blanched bok choy and a fried gyoza. The bok choy was needed to help cut the spiciness of the soup and to add veggies b/c without it, you'd just be having carbs, beef, and soup. Gyoza was a win too. Service: FAST and friendly, just how I like my non-fine dining restaurant experiences. You scan a QR code at the table and then choose an english/chinese option. If you have questions, you can ask the staff, but there isn't a TON of options to choose from, so make it easy on yourself and order a noodle soup. Ambiance: Ample seating at 1:30pm on a Sunday. Didn't have to wait, which was a big plus as all the other restaurants in San Mateo over near 3rd/4th and B street were packed. Overall: Highly recommend and would come again. This might be my favorite niu rou mian spot!

    Photos
    Hunan Mifen San Mateo
    Hunan Mifen San Mateo
    Hunan Mifen San Mateo

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    Dara Thai - thai - Updated August 2026

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