I recently tried Burmese food and fell in love so I decided to check this place out by my job. I went during lunch and there was no wait at all and they let us choose whichever open table we wanted, inside or outside. For food we ended up getting The Paratha, Coconut Rice, House Special Noodles, and the Burmese Special Noodles. For starters decided to try out the Paratha as many reviewers raved about it and I was not disappointed. The curry dipping sauces that come with the Paratha have so much flavor and pair very nicely with it. Next is the coconut rice which was good and tasted just like your average coconut rice, nothing really special about it, but it was good. The House Special Noodles seemed to be popular throughout Yelp so I gave them a try and although I did enjoy them I didn't think they were that special. On the other hand the Burmese Special Noodles were I believe the star of lunch. They have a slight spice to them that truly gives them so much flavor as opposed to the House special noodles. I will definitely order the Paratha and the Burmese special noodles again. There's street parking all around, but can take about 5-10 mins to find parking. The customer service was good and the food was as well. I would definitely recommend this to anyone who already enjoys Burmese food or anyone that wants to give it a try. read more

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I love this place. It has a really cute outdoor dining area and the food is extremely good. It's my go to place whenever I'm in Burlingame. This time I tried their house noodles which was rich in flavor and just so comforting. The staff is very friendly. There's usually some wait during lunch or dinner time but it's worth it. read more

Mingalaba - House Special Noodle - Burmese Near Me - Burlingame, California

Very good! the sauteed eggplants with garlic are absolutely a bomb 5stars and more if possible! the pancake that we ordered as an appetizer was good, but I would say that the 2 dipping sauces that are coming with it are even better! one of the 2 had a delicate, sweet coconut note that we really, really loved. The Jasmine tea was very refreshing too and perfectly cleaned the palate in between the different dishes. I don't remember the exact name of the samosas style dish, it was ok, probably a bit bland for my liking, I won't reorder it next time. The service was attentive, our waiter was very informative and polite, we had a lot of questions ( it was our first time at their restaurant). I absolutely can't wait to go back and try more dishes on their extremely extensive menu. read more

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Okay, I don't eat out as much as I used to... But 3 dishes + fresh ginger lemonade shouldn't come out to $108. Oh wait, that included 2 plain white rice sides... Did I forget to mention there were 3 of us... Looking closer at the bill... what's this... 18% gratuity added to the bill . That seems kind of steep and sneaky being automatically added to the bill to serve 3 people a very ordinary undemanding meal. When i inquired about the tip being added to the bill, the server brought over a manager, he brought the menu that shows the mandatory tip schedule... serving 2 - 5 charges 18% gratuity, if 6 or more it's 20%. Was service stellar? No, by any measure. We ordered 3 curry dishes, meaning they'd been prepared and simmering in advance. The plain white rice, was cooked in advance too. So, why weren't all the dishes served at once? Instead, there were gaps of at least 5 minutes, between food being served to us. First they brought out 2 meat curry dishes. We waited, expecting the rice to come out immediately, nope. A wait, then the the rice came out. Another wait, finally the chicken pumpkin curry arrived. Of course this all happened before we knew should the mandatory gratuity schedule. Enough griping about the surprise mandatory gratuity schedule and on with the review of the food. Lamb curry was tender and not gamey, sauce was well prepared and very reminiscent of Indian style red curry, only a little less oily. The other meat curry dish looked to be the same. The third curry dish, chicken pumpkin yellow curry, was well prepared and somewhat reminiscent of Thai yellow curry, but less spicy. They were all good decent curries, but not remarkable. Portions were on the small side. Everyone tried the fresh ginger lemonade. I was expecting something special, since they touted it as fresh and remarkable. I thought it good for cleansing the palate, but again it unremarkable. Lemons and ginger came through and had decent balance. No one raved about it, in fact my dining companions wrinkled their noses at it. Moment of truth... would I go back... NO. IMHO the restaurant is overpriced for the quality, quantity and service being provided. Plus the sneaky mandatory gratuity was a real turnoff for us, a small party with a simple order. read more

Mingalaba - Minimum gratuity is 18% for 2 - 5 guests 20% for parties of 6 or more - Burmese Near Me - Burlingame, California

I posted a photo of one of the dishes I ordered on my Instagram story and my friend from Texas asked me what type of food it was. I replied Burmese and she said she didn't even know where to find that type of cuisine. How blessed are we to be able to indulge in a variety of foods in the bay area. Jasmine T. and I got there at 6pm on a Wednesday and were able to snag one of the last few tables. There's a $15 per person minimum so you will most likely need to order more than two items. An iced tea would've sufficed to reach that minimum, but I'd much rather spend a little extra to try another dish on the menu. Guess that's how they get you! For appetizers, we got the Paratha. It's like a crispy pan-fried tortilla (asian pancake) with curry dipping sauces. You can never go wrong with this. For one entree, we got the Rainbow Salad. This was our favorite of the night. Don't let the word "salad" fool you. This dish has 18 ingredients and is sooo flavorful. It has three types of noodles and chili oil in it, yum! For the other entree, we got the House Special Noodle. It's made with coconut curry and chicken. It was good, but I prefer my noodles more al dente. Overall, it was a very satisfying meal. If you're into taking photos of your food, make sure to have your phone out and ready, because Burmese restaurants typically present the dish and proceed to mix immediately after. For parking, there's a metered lot nearby that only accepts quarters. read more

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I've been coming here for 8 years. Food and service have really declined. I've even gone as far as to very gently bring it up and they shrug and actually push back on me. Their house special noodle is still great. I ordered the mango chicken tonight. Total $26. And maybe equal to half cup of chicken. And 3 slices of mango? $18 for a side of string beans is embarrassing. read more

Mingalaba - Mango chicken - Burmese Near Me - Burlingame, California

A delightful first experience. We dined outdoors on a Sunday evening. There was quite a wait but the food made it worth it! We ordered house special noodles with tofu, stir-fried stringbeans, coconut rice, and the paratha with curry dip and coconut dip. The noodles were addictive, the stringbeans perfectly flash fried and fresh with complex flavor from the dried shrimp, and the paratha indulgent. My friend ordered the coconut rice so I only had a bite. Fresh, flavorful, and filling meal. Reasonable prices. Plenty of outdoor dining with inside seating available as well. All covid protocols were in place (masks, distancing, sanitizer). read more

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The chicken just tasted very soapy. We trashed it eventually. The house noodles were okay. Overall not worth it. read more

Mingalaba is my new favorite Burmese restaurant... maybe even favorite restaurant at the moment. My husband and I were walking around Burlingame looking for something to eat - when I saw the sign for Mingalaba I remembered a family member had highly recommended it. We put our name down, walked around for maybe 30 mins, came back and sat down right away. Our favorite dishes by far are the Paratha and House Special Noodle - their coconut curry sauce is to die for!! Other delicious sides were the hot & sour soup and veggie samosas. I would come back just for the Paratha alone... already dreaming about my next visit :) read more

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We were very disappointed with the portion size of the tea leaf salad. It's about 1/3 the size since I last had it from this restaurant before the pandemic. Also we were talked into their specialty non alcoholic ginger/lemon/mint drink. When we received the bill they charged $50 for the 5 glasses. The food was good but not worth what they charged. We have crossed this place off our birthday celebration list of restaurants. read more

I was in the mood for something absolutely delicious my husband and I were walking on Burlingame Ave and I convinced him to try Burmese food with me he has never had it he's pretty picky about his food we ordered spicy asparagus chicken and vegetable fried rice both came piping hot and seems like it was freshly made very very flavorful and at the end, my husband said wow I have never seen you eat so fast LOL. *It was a bit of a wait but trust me worth it read more

Not sure how I overlooked reviewing Mingalaba, one of my favorites in downtown Burlingame. Always fresh, tasty, and friendly. My go to's are the fried rice with brown rice, the roti w/ curry appetizer, and mango chicken. I haven't had anything from the food items that I didn't like. I do avoid the spicy foods, but still great! Only 1 thing I didn't like was the decaf tea option, which was just a teabag. read more

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Heard great things about this place from multiple friends and finally ordered their take out. Expectations were high, a bit on the salty side but the flavors, man! Got House Special Noodles (laksa I think), Burmese Style Curry Chicken, Bak kut teh and an extra side serving of Sambal Belacan ( I think it's the name, super spicy and delicious!) read more

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The worst food we have ever ordered from what was once a fantastic restaurant! What happened??? Food did not seem fresh, vegetables were soggy and tasteless , meat was on the tough side and chicken was bland! Will never go back!!!! read more

Stopped here for lunch for my favorite tea leaf salad and house noodle. Delicious. Portions are small which I find to be great - can try a couple things by yourself without being too full or carrying home giant bags of take out. A nice place to eat solo. House noodle had an almost floral (but not perfumey) fragrant quality that is mouthwatering. It's creamy but not overly so. The tea leaf salad (with shrimp powder) is crunchy, spicy, pungent, and so satisfyingly crunchy from the cabbage and the peanuts. I love this place. read more

5/5 I love this place so much. Their paratha is to die for. I would go back just to get this appetizer. It's perfect and pairs so well with their curry dipping sauce. The service is always efficient and friendly! Other dishes that I love are their house noodles, honey walnut shrimp, and their curry shrimp! Everything is super flavorful and so well made. Definitely one of my favs in burlingame and am so happy I found this place. This is a go to for us whenever we're craving for Burmese food. read more

Great food and fantastic service. I must try again! You need to try the okra shrimp. It is the best! read more

We ordered food on Doordash for take out. Food was ready in 30 min. Highly recommend the paratha which comes with curry. The paratha was so soft and layered! The curry was nice and creamy, just the right taste. For main course we had shan noodles (which has tofu in it), spicy basil fish and pan fried green beans. Everything was tasty and worth it. read more

Mingalaba - Burmese Near Me - Burlingame, California

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Great Pan fried okra tofu Basil spicy fish -- sweet and sour sauce Fish kebat -- simple saute with slight sweetness Meh Rainbow salad -- saucy vermicelli, good flavors but on the salty side read more

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Not sure why I never reviewed this spot, but anyway, I've had some of the best tasting burmese food at this restaurant. I've tried a couple of other spots but they just didn't really compare. My favorites have got to be their House Special Noodles (both tofu and chicken versions were good) and their Coconut Chicken Curry Soup. I'm glad they have Yelp Waitlist so that we can join when we're within 5 miles, sinve that saves a chunk of waiting time. It really sucks how small and cramped their restaurant is, and that really affects their business because they're strict on the time limit per table and will ACTUALLY ask you to leave once your time is up. Portion size and pricing-wise, it's definitely steep prices and small plates for what it is. Anything with seafood will cost more than $20 a portion. read more

Been here a few times now and have loved it everything I've tried. The only reason I took one star off is because they have a host who gets really rude. Other than that, the place is amazing! Great patio seating in addition to indoor. read more

Mingalaba - Wine - Burmese Near Me - Burlingame, California

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I feel like this place must have a really unsanitary kitchen. The clean plates they gave us before the food came out still had some food stuck to the bottom. When the food came out the rice had something else in it, they took it back and I'm very sure they just took out the piece and gave it right back to us cuz it came back immediately. The tea leaf salad was appetizer-sized, wayyyy too small for $15. The picture I'm attaching is the dish without ANY BITES taken yet, so you can see how tiny it is for the price. The tea leaf salad also had a rock in it that almost broke my tooth. So, too many instances of weird outside stuff inside the food. Food quality besides all the foreign bits: The curry was super bland and the sticky rice was just normal rice. But the server was really nice and the tea leaf salad was yummy. read more

Mingalaba - Small. No bites taken yet :( Tea Leaf Salad - Burmese Near Me - Burlingame, California

Fish chowder was the great, tasted very close to how my grandmother and aunt make theirs! Would definitely return! Worth the hype!

Lovely ambiance on a very cute street. Food was pretty tasty, came out quickly and had a range of options for vegetarians and vegans across spice levels. Portion sizes are a bit small for sharing but decent for one person. The service is what dinged the stars for me. When we ordered sambusa soup and got regular sambusas, the waiter and then the manager argued with us about it. Very cold treatment after that, never checked in on how we were doing unless we flagged them down to order more (group of 8 on a slow Wednesday night). I really wanted to like this place but this isn't what I expect for a place that's $50/head for dinner (no alcohol). read more

OK. So I moved to NYC so every time I come back to Cali I have one thing on my mind... EAT ALL THE BURMESE FOOD I POSSIBLY CAN. My Mom and aunties were dropping my off to SFO airport and we decided to eat here before. They never had burmese food so it was nice exposing them to something new. BUT we had to cut the spice out. Paratha - My family loveddd this. You can go wrong with paratha... Crab and Cheese dumplings - Standard I just wanted something crunchy and fried. Tea Leaf salad - I LIVE for this salad. I wish there were more burmese restaurants in NYC. House Special Noodle - I normally order the Ong Noh Kaw Soi, but since it was hot and my family didn't want soup. This is basically the same thing without the soup. Very good and was a favorite among the fam. Tofu Vegetable Kebat - Aunties wanted to eat healthy. I let them devour this on their own. Combo Fried Rice - I know... basic. But they wanted a rice dish. But for fried rice this is was pretty good and definitely above average. They don't serve dessert here, but they allowed us to eat the dessert we had bought from Copenhagen bakery across the street. Until it got busy and we had to leave which was fine. Would highly recommend if you don't want to trek into the city for Burmese food. read more

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My go to when in Burlingame. The tea leaf salad is a game changer. I dream and drool about that salad. Small restaurant. Service always outstanding. This is a must try. read more

Ate here last night (a Monday), was able to sit outside and the food and service were SO good! Why haven't I been going here every month?? Will do in the future! Paratha, Green papaya salad (refreshing!), House Special Noodles (delicate and flavorful) and Eggplant (a bit more traditional in the Chinese style with a slightly sweet sauce but the included veggies are great...including the jalapeno which actually wasn't too hot that you couldn't eat straight up). On the rotation now! read more

Customer since 2017. 7/7'24 Ordered T leaf salad and house special noodles my usual favorite but portions were 30% less & 1 piece of Roti $12. Won't be going too often. Noti read more

For us, it was off our usual beaten path. Our friends invited us here for lunch. Okay, Burmese food is not all that unique in the Bay Area, and our expectations were mild and tepid. I am happy to say that the taste of our food exceeded my pre-conceived expectations. Many of the items on the menu displayed that familiar red chile symbol next to the dish. I expected spicy. I wanted spicy. Although not all dishes had a consistent spiciness level, the tea leaf salad and the lamb curry fulfilled my spice cravings. Notable favorites were the coconut chicken soup and lamb curry (very tender lamb pieces). Least favorite: mango chicken. Needless to say, no leftovers on this trip! read more

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The food was good but we were surprised by the $15 per person minimum purchase requirement. The times we dined here before there were no such requirement. I guess it's hit or miss if the server imposed this minimum. Also prices has gone up +10% and the portions slightly smaller since we were here too. Oh well, other restaurants have done the same so not unusual. Still a good place to dine. You just need to be aware of the changes. By the way, the coconut rice tastes like regular steam rice with a few roasted coconut strands on top. No infused coconut flavor in rice. read more

Mingalaba - Chicken curry noodles, paratha, Coconut rice. - Burmese Near Me - Burlingame, California

I ordered the rainbow salad and the mohinga catfish stew with rice noodles. Both were absolutely delicious. I took one star off because the serving size of the rainbow salad, which used to be good for two people, is much smaller than when i last ate here about two years ago :( read more

food is delicious. Samosas in wafer thin crust service is prompt even when very busy ambience is casual read more

Sooo good. We ordered to-go in the restaurant and the food was ready in ~15 mins. We ordered the Tea Leaf Salad, Burmese Style Curry Chicken, Coconut Rice, and House-Special Noodle. All of the food was really good. My favorite had to be the house-special noodle. I think if you don't plan on eating the rice plain, you could get away with steamed rice instead of coconut rice (if that's an option). The only thing I would warn against is having the tea leaf salad for late dinner. I think the caffeine kept us up. Not sure. I also wonder if there is MSG in their food. That could have also been the issue too. But it was all soooo good, I would totally get everything again. read more

Had been highly recommended by a friend so I had to try it out. And it did not disappoint. There was about a 39 min wait when we got there. You check in then you can walk around the downtown which is not that bad. Once we got seated, customer service was amazing. We got attended to right away. Ordered paratha, the started. Pancake with this special sauce. It was amazing!! We could not get enough of it. For the entree, we ordered house noodle (5stars by itself) basil chicken and fried rice (chicken). All was exceptional but our favorite was the house noodle. I just wish there was desert because I bet it would be good to. Will definitely be back. read more

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A really great restaurant with incredible food. The restaurant is located in the charming Burlingame downtown area, with both indoor and outdoor seating. Ended up getting a few items that overall would rate 5/5! To begin, tried their paratha with curry dipping sauce and coconut curry chicken soup. Followed the course with coconut rice, beef curry, and the house chicken curry noodles. All fantastic and flavorful dishes. Further the customer service was great, even being a small establishment the waiters were attentive as well as gave us space as we dined. Overall would definitely come back again! read more

We dined her a few times over the past couple of months ago and had a pretty crummy experience. Most recently, the dish I ordered and received were completely different and instead of telling us they ran out, the waitress tried to make it seem as though it was the dish I ordered. The ingredients of the food are very low quality for the price, the wait staff consistently try to rush you out. Not coming back here. read more

I've always wanted to try this place and this was my second visit to a Burmese restaurant. The restaurant is not large but there is also outdoor seating available. The interior is cozy and nicely decorated. The food was delicious but the portions were small and prices were higher than expected. We had the customary tea salad; slightly bitter but seasoned well and the rainbow salad which was colorful and tasty, which I preferred over the tea salad. The staff is very accommodating and service was quick and efficient. However our server was not as knowledgeable about the menu and was not very helpful with recommendations. Overall it was a great experience and I would try more things next time. read more

A cozy, family-friendly restaurant with beautiful art and paintings from Burma. Service is nice but expect a bit of a wait on weekends (and a slightly rushed service if I may dare say so - they gave us the bill before we were done eating). I liked that the servers were all wearing nice floral printed shirts. I don't believe the place is halal which is why I stuck to vegetarian food. Got the following items: - Parantha (think a flaky layered parantha) served with two small gravies. One had a bit of a creamy base while the other one was more on the soupy side. I really enjoyed it. - Special House noodles with tofu. These were flat noodles, mildly spiced with tofu in a turmeric sauce (more on the dry side) garnished with some crunchy fried noodle type stuff and coriander. It was nice although portion size was kind of small. - Spicy veggie curry with okra and cauliflower. This reminded me of an Indian dish called channa Daal. They had cooked some lentils with veggies and spices. It had a warm comforting feel to it but wasn't as spicy as it indicated. - Burmese iced tea - a more intense version of the Thai iced tea. Served in beautiful tall glasses. I liked the meal overall. Nice place for a family meal or special occasion. read more

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Great food in a lovely location in Burlingame downtown. The special house noodle is top notch! My fiancé and I are really addicted to this. The rest of the food are good, quite a small portion but it tastes right. I wish it could be a bit less expensive so I'll definitely come more often. read more

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This was one of my favorite restaurants before owner issues, they jacked up their prices on everything. 2 dollars per person for hot water??? Are you kidding me... Although not illegal definitely off-putting. They will try to nickel and dime you whenever they can. Don't bother coming here anymore it isn't the same as before read more