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    Mingalaba

    3.9 (2.8k reviews)
    ModerateBurmese, Chinese
    Open 11:30 am - 9:00 pm
    Updated 1 month ago

    Waitlist - Mingalaba

    Live Current wait: 8 - 18 mins

    Order Mingalaba Takeout or Delivery

    Mingalaba Photos

    Business Info

    MINGALABA ATMOSPHERE

    What's the vibe?
    Casual
    Classy
    Moderate noise
    Good for groups

    Recommended Reviews - Mingalaba

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    Reviews With Photos

    House Special Noodle
    Samuel L.

    A small restaurant with big flavors. It was my first time trying Burmese Chinese fusion and it did not disappoint. Every dish we had was cooked to perfection and packed with flavor. My personal favorite was the house special noodle, unique in flavor, noodles cooked well with a nice layer of texture on top. Definitely a must try stop if you're in the area!

    House Special Noodle with chicken
    Crystal H.

    We ordered a few to-go items over the phone around Sunday 4pm. Staff said food would be ready in 15 mins. We arrived 20 mins after and it was already sitting on the to-go table. The restaurant was about less than half full. We ordered the House Special Noodle with chicken, Lamb Curry Dahl, and beef curry. The curries were good. The house special noodle with chicken was really good. We liked that they used paper to-go containers. Parking was street parking for us.

    Pan Fried String Beans with Prawns, Burmese curry fish, Nan Gyi Dok
    Julia T.

    This is my favorite Burmese place to eat in the Bay Area. I mostly love it because it has a vegetarian nan gyi dok option with tofu instead of only being offered with chicken, and this is my favorite dish. The string beans with prawns is also really flavorful and perfectly cookies. The paratha is buttery, flaky, served hot and with a delicious curry sauce. The mango lassi is creamy and smooth. The Burmese curry fish was really well flavored and well cooked with very tender fish. The portions are a bit small and kind of pricey but I keep coming back to this place for the Nan gyi dok. Service is courteous, inside seating is a bit cramped since it's a narrow restaurant but it's usually overall a lovely experience!

    Cool tea.
    Lita B.

    It's been awhile since we ate here and decided to return to some good Burmese food. The Mango salad was way too tart for me. It's not the mango season yet so I should know better that it's not gonna be sweet. The Beef Rangoon was lovely. The parantha with curry sauce for appetizers was hands down and always the best. Always save the sauce for great accompaniment for other dishes. The Prawns Seafood was a bit spicy and too tangy to my liking, I did like the okra addition but the dish didn't please me overall. The Thai iced tea was delightful. The dishes we ordered wasn't consistent with ones I enjoyed in the past. Maybe I should stick with the dishes that I'm used to. You are forgiven because I know some of your dishes are amazing. The service was polite and accommodating.

    Burmese Style Curry Beef House Special Noodle
    Simon Q.

    tldr: Mostly delicious and well presented Burmese cuisine with Chinese flair. Very good overall experience. We got four items with two Parathas from the menu to share. Total: $113 before tax and gratuity Paratha 4.5 It was soft, flaky, with a rich buttery taste. Paired with a curry dipping sauce it was an appetizer winner. Burmese Style Curry Beef 3.5 We really wanted to like this dish. It was flavorful but sadly the beef was a bit too tough and chewy. Basil Spicy Chicken 5 The STAR of the show! The chicken was not only flavorful, but it was super juicy and cooked to perfection. Not an easy feat to achieve with chicken breast meat. Pan Fried String Bean 4 As what you can expect. The strange beans were cooked well and it didn't have that usually muddy flavor from undercook string beans. It was also well seasons and had a light crisp to it. Needless to say, we will be returning soon to try other dishes.

    Jasmine tea
    Kim F.

    I am in town for some business meetings, one of our ex executive leaders, lives in the area and recommended. We try Burmese cuisine... Gosh, we were not disappointed. The recommended dish is any of their basil sauce, dishes several of us at the table enjoyed the basil dishes. They definitely had some bites that were a little spicy, but in a very good way... I enjoyed the spicy basil chicken and it was very good and I love how fresh the vegetables are... You had a choice of three ways of Rice... selected the coconut rice.... oh the flavor is coming together were so good We also enjoyed some appetizers that were really delicious. I think the key is in the sauce that comes with all of the side dishes. Service was really quick. We were definitely not waiting long for any of our meals and they came out piping hot. The ambience is really cozy. The space is small but that's what makes it so awesome and it's right in the center of a little bit of a shopping district that was cozy. I think the biggest treat of the night was the jasmine tea... I love the concept of how it comes out and you wait for the bloom of the flower to know your tea is ready to drink... That was the star of the evening... But the food was good too

    Menu 3
    Winston L.

    Overall, thought the food was pretty good here, but the portion sizes were a little on the small side for sharing with a decent sized group (6). Ordered these items - Paratha Regular Catfish Chowder without Noodles Large Coconut Chicken Soup with Noodles Tea Leaf Salad Burmese Style Curry Lamb Pan Fried Okra Tofu House Special Noodle with Chicken Rangoon Beef Thought the standouts were - Paratha - hard to go wrong with this one at most restaurants Rangoon Beef - kind of reminiscent of Peking-style Pork Chops Coconut Chicken Soup - coconut curry noodle soup bowl

    Menu
    Selina L.

    Food quality and flavor was okay. Some of the dishes were overly salty for my taste. I know Burmese food to be full of spices, but I don't remember things tasting this salty at other Burmese places that I've been to? We ordered many dishes to share and most of what we ordered were the most popular dishes as mentioned in other reviews. Portion sizes were really really small, except for the lamb curry which was decent size. Ambiance and service were fine. But overall an underwhelming experience for me.

    Eleanor C.

    I am extremely pissed at the take out order I had today! I feel robbed! I specifically ordered Pan Fried "Okra" Prawn (not spicy) and when I got back to office I realized the item cost me $26.30 was tiny portion of "string beans" with 5 prawns!! FIVE!!! Not to mention my okra became string beans, the portion is so small to the point that a 10 yr old kid who finish and will call him/herself hungry! I didn't even realized he placed the wrong order on the receipt when I paid, OKRA and STRING BEANS, how can he messed it up!? This restaurant used to be so good, and I am extremely baffled how they can survive with the quality of food that they are serving right now. My only fault was I trusted too much of the process for this simple order, but the quality for what I paid was totally not worth it!

    Coconut Chicken Soup with Noodle
    Rabab R.

    What a delicious delicious meal! I've found my new fav Burmese restaurant and I couldn't be more excited. Every item was so well spiced and tasty - we got the paratha, noodle coconut chicken soup, basil pork and tea leaf salad. U went home with a full and happy stomach. Big shout out to July for her incredible service and warmth - cannot wait to be back!

    Rex H.

    Burmese Chinese food is comfort and flavor. Of course tea leaf salad is a must but all the dishes were flavorful and varied. It's a little pricier for Burmese-Chinese but in a great location and no surprise it's packed to the gills during peak dining times.

    Menu

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    Page 1 of 70

    Ask the Community - Mingalaba

    Which of your dishes are vegan? Thanks!

    Probably best to contact the restaurant and ask them directly since they will know every ingredient that is used to prepare each dish

    Do they take reservations?

    According to their website, no. https://mingalabarestaurant.com/

    What's your corkage fee?

    $25

    Do they check for vaccination status? If yes do they still have an outdoor table?

    They do not check status, no. But yes there is outside seating! (Not a ton of heat lamps, so dress warm)

    Are dogs allowed in the outdoor seating?

    Yep!

    On the website you list party platters, how much are they and what do they include?

    Are they open? I haven't been able to reach them.

    I was able to call an order ahead for pick up lAst week!

    What are Burmese soups like?

    We had the coconut chicken soup similar to the Thai version but with slightly different ingredients. I loved it!

    What's the best thing on the menu?

    The tea leaf salad... enough for a meal or good for sharing!

    Is there a parking lot nearby?

    Tons! There's limited street parking but there's a parking lot behind the restaurant (no restaurant entrance) and another one across the street behind the stores. The furthest parking lot is roughly 5-8 minutes walk

    What are their soy free food options? Website says soy free options available.

    All Asian countries are about soy

    View All 12 Questions

    Hot Wok Bistro

    Hot Wok Bistro

    4.2
    (776 reviews)
    0.9 mi
    $$

    This is a little local spot in San Mateo which is a great spot for Chinese food. Service is quick…read moreand attentive and the owner Jin is super nice and sweet. We ordered the appetizer chicken wings, the scramble eggs with shrimp, walnut shrimp and sweet and sour pork. Most Chinese places the food would be very salty or you could taste the msg but this location the food tasted nothing like that. Flavors were really good, not over fried or battered, and not overly saucy on any of our dishes. I can see why it is one of the best Chinese food restaurants San Mateo!

    Still coming here, still hot, fresh and delicious. For all the times I've been here I've never…read moretried the Chow Fun so I decided to try it today with chicken -- it was outstanding! One of the best chow funs I've ever had. The sauce they use is wonderful and the noodles were perfectly al dente. I think I even like this better than their chow mein. It came with broccoli which tasted so good. The description said it has crispy bean sprouts and I don't like bean sprouts so I asked them to leave it out. What I was not expecting was so much white onion (the scallions were fine) and I put most of it aside on the plate. But that did not take away my enjoyment of the dish. And next time I will ask for no bean sprouts, no white onion -- and extra broccoli! Their hot & sour as wonderful as always, as is their hot tea -- it actually has a unique flavor that I love. Hot Wok Bistro, always a great experience!

    Photos
    Interior
    Interior
    Salt & pepper chicken wings
    Salt & pepper chicken wings
    Inside the restaurant. (it's not very big but it's very cool!) It seems a lot of people order the food to go.

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    Inside the restaurant. (it's not very big but it's very cool!) It seems a lot of people order the food to go.
    Zhen Restaurant

    Zhen Restaurant

    3.6
    (99 reviews)
    2.7 mi

    Surprised on the number of 1 star reviews but after reading it was all service driven as the food…read moredefinitely deserves more than 1 star. Black Pepper beef Ribs- delish! tender pieces with grilled bell peppers and red onion made this dish pair really well with rice. Fried rice with Scallop & egg white- a little light on the seasoning but still a decent fired rice dish which with the beef ribs dish was a match made in heaven. Seafood clay pot- more tofu than seafood but still a tasty and well seasoned clay pot. Also ordered a couple of dim sum plates (Shrimp dumpling & beef Balls). Both were on par with other dim sum locales so nothing negative about their flavors. Overall service was fine; given it was the lunch hour but all the food came out relatively quickly and would definitely have a return visit.

    We celebrated our baby's 100 day celebration here at peak weekend lunch time…read more The staff were so friendly in helping us get set up with the table and attending to our group. The dim sum here was excellent and reminded me of home. Not only did everything taste good but it was served piping hot and came out quickly. The breakdown of our dishes is below: Walnut Shrimp - Hot and plump shrimp that has a bounce in your mouth covered with tangy mayo. We enjoyed the light fry. Dried Scallop Egg White Fried Rice - Fragrant but oily and plenty of flavor. BBQ Pork & Egg Cheong Fun - Soft sheets of rice noodle roll with a generous amount of ingredients. Hargow - Very good with big shrimp and a sesame oil flavor. Shumai - Soft thin skin withmore seafood than pork taste. Chiu Chow dumpling & Beancurd roll were ok but had fresh ingredients. Chicken Feet - I liked the overall flavor but it didn't seep all the way in. Parking is challenging but the taste is well worth a visit!

    Photos
    Black Garlic Pork Ribs 黑金葡萄骨
    Black Garlic Pork Ribs 黑金葡萄骨
    Zhen Restaurant
    Zhen Restaurant

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    Li's Knife Cut Noodle

    Li's Knife Cut Noodle

    4.4
    (192 reviews)
    3.2 mi
    $$

    Came here with my family for my birthday dinner and was completely blown away with how good…read moreeverything was. This place is pretty tight, my family of 5 were pretty crammed at our table but we made it work. We came hungry and ordered a lot of stuff to try. The highlights from the plates we shared was the beef pancake. It was extremely flavorful, and the veggies brightened them up nicely. I decided to order the spicy stir fried pork noodle with the knife cut noodles and they were amazing! The pork was extremely tender and the broth was super flavorful, but oily! They advertise free noodle refills, but with all the appetizers we had and the generous portion of noodles given, I was too stuffed to ask for more. Since there's always room for dessert, we tried the sesame balls and the coconut lava balls. The sesame balls were pretty standard, but the coconut lava balls were phenomenal! They were crispy, and had a great coconut filling that had small amounts of sago. To order, there's a QR code that you scan to place your order, which I appreciated because it was nice to see photos of the food. The service was pretty quick from when ordering food to receiving it. I will definitely be recommending my friends to this place if in the area and am already looking forward to coming back!

    This place was packed for lunch, even on a weekday. When we arrived around 12:30pm on a Thursday,…read morewe got the last table but the crowd kept coming and the tables kept turning over. They were filling all the tables even as we left. - spicy beef tendon appetizer - tendon was very tender. There was the numbing spice but the dish itself wasn't actually spicy. Decent - 7/10 - F04 Tomato Egg & Stir Fried Minced Pork & Hot Chili Oil Splashed Combo Noodles - I tried each flavor individually and liked them all. The tomato egg has great tomato flavor and the egg was tender and silky and not overcooked. The stir fried mince pork and hot chili oil splashed flavors were very similar - heavy spice and very garlicky. Couldn't really tell these two apart (or they were kinda premixed already when it came) so I ended up eating the two together, while keeping the tomato egg on the other side for a change of flavor. The knife cut noodles were fresh and bouncy. Some pieces were thicker and you can tell that it was actually fresh cut. Texture was good and not super starchy. 8.5/10 - I'd order this again! Others in my party tried the mala beef soup with potato noodle. I didn't try but was told that the soup had good mala flavor but was missing the depth of a good beef soup. Noodles looked thick and chewy while the beef was very tender. One bowl was enough for us so none of us got to do their noodle refill. Maybe next time.

    Photos
    Inside
    Inside
    Lotus root salad
    Lotus root salad
    Cute graphics on their wares

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    Cute graphics on their wares

    Mingalaba - burmese - Updated July 2026

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