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

I had business lunch at Burma Ruby on a weekday. We ordered Tea Leaf Salad, Calamari appetizer, Mango Chicken Lunch, Burma Shrimp Lunch, and Country Style Beef Curry Lunch, with jasmine rice, and hot tea. I found it amusing how their signature Tea Leaf Salad is served: initially, its ingredients are grouped separately on the plate, and then the server mixes it up at your table. All dishes were flavorful and very satisfying, with spot on service - timely, but not in your way professional. Side note: you tend to forget how that's supposed to be done at the multitude of restaurants in the Bay Area, the city, and up north, some places are lacking in good service, and others are interrupting the flow of the meal with either untimely or overly chatty and unnecessary friendliness, forgetting to do what you asked for. None of that here. I should try them for dinner soon. read more

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Eh....I used to love this place. Ordered take out Saturday night. The food was tasteless; even the tea leaf salad was bad. I won't be back.

The food is good here. If you don't mind sitting literally shoulder to shoulder with strangers, then this is a great place for you. I, on the other hand, am very put-off when I'm seated almost on-the-lap of the customer at the next table. It was VERY awkward. We waited 30 minutes and then the hostess brought us to this teeny, tiny table which was sandwiched between a million other teeny tiny tables. We were stepping on people and brushing against other seated customers as we were being seated. AWKWARD, very AWKWARD. If this is your thing, and this is your idea of being urban and metro, then welcome to Burma Ruby. Have a nice community meal! But if you are anything like me, and look forward to eating your food in a comfortable setting, where you can talk openly and freely to your table mate without feeling like you're talking to the rest of the table, then steer clear of this place! We went during peak hours, so if you can manage to get in when it's not crowded, that would be the thing to do, because the food was good and we didn't have any problems with the service, ambience etc. Because of the mega-awkwardness of our visit here, we will not be returning. A word to the owner/manager if you happen to be reading. Space out your tables! You have plenty of space and plenty of business. In the end, you'll have happier, more satisfied customers and isn't that what you're after? "Going for too much" with what seems like greedy table-crowding, might pull in more dollars for a time, but I think can hurt you in the end. 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

It's the same owners as Rangoon Ruby, and the space actually isn't that much bigger. Apparently, the chef at this location came from Burma superstar? The menu is the same as at Rangoon Ruby. One gripe: at both places, I always have to ask 3 or 4 times before I can get some chopsticks. With a group of 11, we did everything family style, but we needed doubles on a lot of dishes since portions aren't that big. - Palata: not like roti but more like green onion pancakes with curry - Tea leaf salad: less flavorful this time? more mild? I usually like it for all the textures and flavors - Salt and pepper calamari: texture was a bit rubbery - Fried tofu: nice and crisp - Duck garlic noodles: noodle texture was a little off, and the duck flavor didn't go through - Jalapeno mint pork: very flavorful, reminded me of larb - Basil chicken: like a sweet soy base, not bad - Eggplant: surprisingly not super oily - Chili beef: tender, good with rice - Pad thai: standard The drink list is quite topical, but you can order whatever at the bar. It is nice that for a birthday, they do the same thing as at Rangoon Ruby with the sparkling fire cracker candle in a bowl of ice cream. I think I was less impressed with the food than I was at Rangoon Ruby. Or maybe it's just not a great idea to eat here with such a big group? read more

Came here on a mid-week evening for dinner. It was surprisingly busy compared to other restaurants and luckily they had a table for us 4 even without reservations (advice, make a reservation next time). We had the pad thai, lamb curry, sesame chicken, and tea leaf salad. All the portions were good enough for a family style dinner. You can also adjust the spiciness level of the pad thai and curry. Overall, it was very tasty food that was well seasoned. Only draw back was that it was pretty noisy despite being a relatively medium sized restaurant. The walls really echoed the chatter. 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

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

Waitress described Burmese food as a combination of Thai, Indian, Chinese food. Service was very attentive, but was quite bothersome at times and kept checking in on our table every 5 minutes to see if we wanted to have our table cleaned. Appetizer- palata with lamb curry (not bad, but not that impressive) Main course- Tea Leaf Salad - the waitress explains what the ingredients are (romaine lettuce, dried garlic, lemon, tea leaf in olive oil, dried corn, mild jalapenos, tomatoes, and etc) and then squeezes the lemon and mixes it in front of you. Pretty delicious, would definitely order this again. Lemongrass lamb with coconut rice - The coconut rice is absolutely delicious. It's a sweet sticky rice, and goes well with saucy foods. The lemongrass lamb wasn't anything special. Dessert- Oven Baked Sooji with Vanilla Ice cream and strawberries was also quite delicious. It had a cream of wheat texture and complemented the ice cream really well. Would definitely recommend this. In general, felt that the dinner was quite pricey, but definitely worth trying out. If it's too crowded at Burma Ruby, Rangoon Ruby a few blocks down has exactly the same menu too. 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

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

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

I often wonder what would happen when the staff come by and ask how the food is and you say it was bad. Well today I found out. When the server asked I told him that the food (I got the tea salad and mint jalapeño chicken) was not that good. He apologized but that was about it - I didn't expect much; after all, he probably doesn't have much say. The 1-star reflects the quality of the food - even if you just compare it to it's sister restaurant, Rangoon Ruby down the road. read more

We were one of the last tables for dinner on Friday. The food and service was very disappointing. First they got the wrong order and when they got all the food all the dishes were salty or underprepared. The house fried rice was raw and had excessive turmeric while crispy chicken and basil chili swai were extremely salty. We complained about the food and highlighted the issues with the food but they didn't offer to compensate. Poor customer service. 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

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

First time trying this place. Ordered the veggie wrap to start off with, expected a little more flavor. Had the eggplant curry with jasmine white rice; spices were just right on this one & Burmese Pad Thai. The pad Thai could have had a tad more noodles & less tofu, but still it was great in flavor. Only 3 stars due to the service being no so great. Our server came to us three times. Once to place our order. Saw him again when our food was ready and then last when we were finished with our meal after having to wait about 20 mins to pay the bill. Went for an early dinner around 5pm on a Sunday. Parking was easy. Place wasn't packed so we were seated right away. May give this place another try in hopes of better service in the future. 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

Went here for my birthday dinner... we have been to another Burmese place in Palo Alto and were disappointed.. but thought we should give this cuisine another go and Burma Ruby was an excellent choice! Service - Very quick, patient in explaining things & courteous staff. Food - We had Tea leaf salad & Samosa soup, with some virgin drink. Tea Leaf salad was very well made. Very well-balanced portion of all the seeds, herbs, vegetables & dressing / chutney. Good portion overall. Samosa Soup was the surprise winner on our dinner table. It was a very unique combo of Samosa, Falafel, lentils and potato. My husband and I just loved it... Ambiance - Not too formal, not too casual either.. it was noisy, but overall was nice and clean and cheerful 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

First time tasting Burmese cuisine and it was absolutely delicious. Melvin was our server and we was great!

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

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

I have only infrequently eaten Burmese style food, certainly this restaurant will inspire me to eat more! The tea salad is both unusual and very tasty, great crunch and tossed at the table by a server. The shrimp curry medium heat, was flavorful and delicious. Green beans had nice flavor and were cooked al dente, perfect! We shared coconut rice which had a nice flavor without being too heavily coconut. I will return. 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

I've tried the sister restaurant before so was looking forward to trying out this one. We didn't have reservations on a Thursday evening but was able to get a table. We started out with the tea salad which was good and it was tossed and mixed in front of us by the staff. They had to replace lettuce with cabbage because of the recent recall. We shared entrees of the burmese pad thai which was flavorful but it could have used more noodles and less onion. We also got the chicken which was very dry. The reason for the decrease in stars was because after our meal we both experienced a lot of stomach pain so we think that one of the food items must have been bad. read more

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

Went there 2 years ago and the food was outstanding. Went for lunch today, and ordered 3 things, each of which was mediocre at best. there are many very good burmese options in the bay area. I would never go back to this place. 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

That's our to go to restaurant every time when any of our family or friends is in town! We absolutely love it. There are several more locations and one of them is Rangoon ruby. Rangoon was out initial location but because it's always busy and it's thought to get reservations. Then we started going to Burma and live it. Highly recommend garlic noodles (ask them to add chicken), Burmese chicken salad and chicken wraps! Those are delicious read more

I thoroughly enjoy the food here. Fresh and tasty. Service is always polite, not rushed, and professional. I could really eat here every day. I am removing one star just because of pricing. I know it's Palo Alto, but the portions do seem a bit small for the amount of food served. 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