Very very costly for simple Burmese food. Tea leaf salad quantity was very less compare to other Burmese places. They added too much dressing so tasted bitter. Rainbow salad was okay. better than tea leaf salad. Samosa soup does n't had much samosa it was just curry gravy with too many bug green chilies. Costed 64$ for just these 3 items as they added 15% gratuity by default. Not coming back. read more

I came for my birthday and was able to make reservations in advance the night before which was nice. We had to wait maybe 20 minutes to be seated because they were pretty busy but once we sat down the service was very quick which worked out since we had one person in our group headed to the airport after dinner. We ordered 9-10 dishes for a group of seven people which was just enough. The dishes here are on the smaller side. Unfortunately, I have to give them one star because we all ended up with stomach issues either that night or the next day. I ended up eating some leftover coconut chicken curry for lunch which I think was the culprit. Either undercooked chicken or contaminated food. Really disappointing because this place had such high reviews and the dishes themselves had tasted pretty good. read more

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Wonderful food, service and location! Friendly, fast staff- good outdoor seating on Burlingame Ave.

Since Fall of 2000 we've been here at least 15 times through December 2023. Make sure to put your name on the waitlist when you arrive as it gets very busy for dinner. They serve you really fast, the food is always consistently really good. Because I'm vegan I only get non-meat items and there's plenty to choose from. This is our go to Burmese restaurant in the SF Peninsula. read more

I am sure Mingalaba would've been a great place to dine in and eat pre-COVID but given I'm still hesitant about even outdoor dining, we elected to do takeout for our first visit. Tea leaf salad - just not as good as takeout as I'm sure it would've been had we dined in. The presentation was quite messy in the takeout box and after adding in the tea leaves, the salad became too oily for me compared to other tea leaf salads I've tried in past. Good flavor though and love the crunch in every bite from the peanuts and the fried garlic. Vegetarian Samosas - 4 per order. Decent size but still on the expensive side for samosas, $12. A bit oily as it's fried but appreciate that they layer the samosas on napkins to help drain the excess oil. Tastewise, it was good! It is not as heavily spiced as Indian samosas but I still really enjoyed the curry flavor coming through. House Special Noodle - We really enjoyed this, especially with the coconut curry flavor really coming through. Texture of the noodles were really good. The fried thin noodles as a topping on top didn't stay super crunchy in the takeout box but that's understandable. Would definitely come back again! read more

I don't do bad review often. This is one of them The food is mediocre. Everything is overrated. I asked for hot water although they sell tea. Then I said please just charged me for hot water. She insisted I will give you the tea and you don't have to use the tea. I sad I just can't drink caffeine. You can charge me whatever. Then She said fine with attitude. After the meal, I went to the bathroom. It was occupied. Then I was waiting outside the bathroom. She said wait outside. So I went out to wait outside but it is not all the way to my table. She made me walk back to wait at my table. This is overpriced, overrated, mediocre food and , rude service. I am not coming back. read more

Went there for an important dinner with five others last night and spent over three hundred dollars. Were there for about an hour and a half. Food was fine but service was curt and rushed. We were there about 90 minutes. When the waiter brought us our bill, as soon as we'd paid, and this is not exaggeration, he said, "okay, you pay, you go now. You here long enough. You go..." and literally was making shooing motions with his hands. We'd had no negative interactions with him at all. At first I thought he was joking. I said, "I'm sorry, what?" "You here enough now now. Too long. 90 minutes is our policy. Time to go." And again, he made shooing motions." I said, "you're joking, right?" He got angry. "No, 90 minutes. Please go right now. Others waiting." We were still finishing up the last bits of the desert and he's hovering at the table demanding we leave. There were maybe three or four people waiting outside and a few other tables clearing off. Certainly not a long line. But in any case, in 60 years of eating dinners out, I've never had a waiter demand we leave immediately upon paying and literally telling us to get out with a rude and hostile disposition. Again, we hadn't been hanging out there forever after finishing our meal. We weren't even quite finished. Still picking at the last bits. Maybe had been there right about 90 minutes. This was the most rude, tasteless, classless interaction I've ever had with a waiter anywhere. I waited tables when I was young and know exactly what's involved. This was completely and totally uncalled for and also embarrassing for me as we'd brought important company here. I'll never bring anyone here again for any reason. I suggest you find a place that appreciates your business and treats you like a human being. read more

Wasted a trip here How hard is it to update your yelp page, website or set up a voice message on your business line? Or redirect to business phone to another number? In the 5 mins I've stood in front of the restaurant, the phone has been ringing non stop. Looks like there wil be other disappointed people looking to pick up Mingalaba for Mother's Day read more

Mingalaba - Burmese Near Me - Burlingame, California

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Here are some items you should/need to order off the menu: Mango Salad (vegetarian) Samusa Soup Shan Noodle Okra Egg Curry (I sub steamed tofu instead of egg) Coconut rice Walnut Broccoli Tofu Green Beans All of these dishes are vegetarian and vegan friendly, plus they have more options on their menu for plant-based foodies. Most of all, regardless of if you eat meat or not- the above dishes are not to be missed! I've eaten at Mingalaba many dozens of times in the past 5 years and always order some combination off this list and am never let down. I'd also like to say, the service here is really good considering how difficult the pandemic has been for restaurants. read more

I love Mandalay. The moment I discovered Mingalaba is their sister restaurant, I braved the rain to come here! Also I hate the rain. Moving on... The place was packed. I immediately had high hopes. But the tea leaf salad didn't have any citrus and was lacking flavor. The house special noodles was decent but nothing that stood out like at Mandalay, and the prawns in the Rainbow Prawns were overcooked but the veggies undercooked. How did that happen? Anyways, either way it wasn't anything to write home about but it wasn't the worst thing I've had either. read more

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Mingalaba = DELICIOUSNESS!! (Aaaaand maybe a bit of reflux for my sensitive whiteness but totally worth it!). Given that my geography is *so* very lacking and having no previous experience with cuisine from Burma prior, I had no idea what flavors to expect. I was so nervous! While visiting a cousin in Burlingame, she recommended we try Mingalaba for one of our dinners. Traveling with a sometimes picky eating 1 year old proves challenging to get her a full stomach. Not this time! Not this dinner! Fortunately my mixed-plate-offspring LOVED EVERY BITE! And so did we!! The flavors reminded us very much of a Thai-Chinese-Malaysian twist. I hope I don't offend anyone by saying that- but that's what it was like for us at Mingalaba and in an amazing way!! The staff at the Burlingame Mingalaba are very friendly and the service was wonderful! The restaurant itself is narrow with about 12 to 15 tables inside. It's cozy but slightly tight. The decor is very ethnic and tasteful. Beautiful location! Here's what we ordered: -Parantha (like a naughty tortilla pancake)- where have you been all my life?!?! -Beef broccoli -Chicken and coconut soup (like a thick Tom kah) - House special noodles - Fried string beans - Combination fried rice That fed three adults and a baby with lots of leftovers. Do yourself a favor and make your way out here! It's life changing!! read more

Teeny tiny place but oh is the food so good!! Generous vegetarian section on the menu. Vegetable curry was full of flavor. Pumpkin tofu was finger licking food. Green beans tofu was crispy and garlicky. Tea leaf salad was superb. We were a very big group but they somehow fit us in for which we were grateful. Would definitely return! read more

I wanted to love this restaurant, but there are better Burmese restaurants in San Francisco. The service and food were just alright. This place doesn't take reservations, so you just put your name on a list, but this system was so ineffective. The guy monitoring the list doesn't even seat you in the order from the list. I tried the ginger lemonade, tea leaf salad, Burmese pork and potatoes curry, garlic noodles with tofu, and white rice. The ginger lemonade was very good! The tea leaf salad was quite small and didn't have as many ingredients as other places I have tried. The curry was good, but we definitely didn't get any potatoes. And the garlic noodles had absolutely no garlic flavor to it. The food was ok, but I was expecting more. read more

Great food. Good service. Casual ambience. Good place for a quick Burmese lunch. It's right in downtown- so, great location but difficult for parking read more

We came here for a quick dinner and they did not disappoint. The rainbow salad was different than what i expected but it was still good, very flavorful. I really liked the coconut rice with the curry. read more

Mingalaba - Rainbow Salad - Burmese Near Me - Burlingame, California

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We went here for lunch as I was craving Burmese food. The Samusa and paratha was pretty good, but the Tea Leaf Salad was legit disgusting. We had four people in my party try it and all of us agreed it tasted like the smell of a horse at a barn. It was really bitter as well. We told the waitress that it was not good and she said it's their most popular item. Well at most Burmese places, it's my go-to, but here....never again. Also the waitress kept trying to up sale me on quantity and I had to slow her down and tell her "no" when she kept asking me if I wanted the large of all the items. It was very annoying. Don't think I can come back again even though I did like a lot of the food. read more

Came to outdoor dine on a Wednesday night, there was a waitlist! We ordered the Paratha appetizer, burmese style noodles, and burmese pork curry. I appreciated the heaters for outdoors, as it got chilly. I love burmese food, as it's very flavorful with spice, acid, and salt. A lot of the food was marked spicy on the menu, but was just the right level of spice (and I can't handle spice well)! The pork chunks in the curry were a little dense, and the portions were a little small for the price. But the service was great and the food tasted good! read more

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This restaurant is packed with great service and delicious food with impeccable presentation. We prefer to visits them during weekdays since they do not take reservations. read more

We tried Mingalaba with suggestions from friends and wow are we happy we did! Everything was simply delicious. We had the tea leaf salad - earthy goodness, Burmese style curry beef - just spicy enough and smooth coconut rice. I highly recommend! read more

This place used to be a go to for me and my family, but it has gone downhill over these past few years. The portion sizes have gotten significantly smaller, the prices have increased, and they charge for the littlest things. For example, asking for hot water or bringing your own cake for a birthday celebration. While ordering we constantly felt pressured by our server to order more food or drinks that we didn't want, like appetizers or more items based on our group size. Overall, I wouldn't come back here again unless there are some changes done. On the bright side, at least the food tastes decent. read more

I had high hopes for this restaurant - one of the highest rated Burmese restaurants on Yelp. The last time I had a samusa soup was at Burmese Superstar and I loved it, so I had high expectations. However the soup was just alright. It was thicker than I expected, and more on the falafel side than the samusa side. I liked the bites that picked up a bit of samusa, but unfortunately there weren't too many. The soup is served with a lemon wedge, which I highly recommend squeezing in, because it brightens the soup. It's pricey, too, at $14+. read more

Mingalaba - Burmese Near Me - Burlingame, California

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Came here with a friend who grew up in Burlingame and said this was a great place for Burmese food. We had a late lunch on a weekend and the place was quite full - we got the last open table when we went in. We split a papaya salad, eggplant, and a curry chicken, and a bowl of coconut rice. The papaya salad was a great balance of sweet, sour, and savory, and our two entrees were solid! The rice was slightly disappointing because it felt sort of mushy/overcooked, but I definitely prefer rice on the ""drier"" side. read more

Mingalaba - Burmese Near Me - Burlingame, California

My favorite spot in the Bay. Amazing garlic eggplant, chicken dishes. Never had a bad meal in 15 years

Tried Mango salad- 4.5/5 very interesting mix of flavors- sweet and crunchy mango, pungent purple onion, tarte tomatoes, with gritty spicy paste. I didn't care too much for the cilantro. Fried rice with egg- 4.5/5 subtle savory taste. Interesting that it has green peas. The The big deep fried omlet on top was oily and unnecessary since the fried rice has egg in it. Okra egg curry- 4/5 this tastes exactly like a South Indian dish called egg pulusu. It is essentially boiled eggs and cut okra in a tomato-tamarind sauce. This will probably go best with white rice but it didn't come with it. This is the only one I'll skip next time since I'm so familiar with the taste. All the dishes seem to be a fusion of Indian, Thai, and Chinese cuisines. Portions could be a bit bigger for the price. The appetizers are nearly the same price as the curry entrees. read more

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Best things on the menu are 1. house special noodles 2. Lamb curry (which is similar to rogan josh) 3. black bean fish Service is mediocre as some days are good and others not so good. The ambience is also mediocre. Food makes up for it. read more

Flavors seemed excellent all around - I had no gripes about my tea leaf salad, beef curry, and coconut rice. The tea leaf salad is a bit on the richer/oily side but on accepting this style, it makes for a very satisfying composition of mouthfeels - crunchy, chewy, rich. Service was a tad inconsistent but I would t say it impedes my enjoyment of the menu. Pretty expensive so I would only find myself back here for a special occasion in the future. read more

I highly recommend the Burmese food here. Everything is extremely light, but there are distinct flavors to each dish. I enjoyed the crunchiness from the tea leaf salad, but if you don't like peanuts then stay away from this dish. Also, I wouldn't call it a salad because there is only cabbage as veggie pieces. I really enjoyed the roti and fresh coconut, as well as spicy basil fish. The chicken curry and beef basil dish was okay. There were too many fatty pieces for me. read more

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This restaurant is as very busy. The food was good. But the portion was small. The Buddha fried rice had only few pieces of veggie. Definitely not worths the money. Should just ordered the white rice instead. read more

Mingalaba is a gem in Burlingame! Everything we got was super flavorful and delicious. I let my friend order most things because she's a regular but nothing I had missed. We got the paratha (my choice), house noodles with chicken, pork curry with a side of coconut rice, and the tea leaf salad. The paratha really impressed me--I had no idea that Burmese cuisine had it as well, and was pleasantly surprised by how flaky it was and how good the two types of curries were. My other two favorite dishes were the house noodles and the tea leaf salad. In particular, the tea leaf salad had a really good mix of spiciness, acidity, and umami. Burma Love's version isn't nearly as spicy, so I was pleasantly surprised. It's a must-order dish for me. I wish that the coconut rice was a little more fluffy and less clumpy, but the flavors were really good and it paired nicely with the curries. There's a lot of stuff on the menu, so I would recommend going with the classics and then branching off when you return (which I most definitely will when I'm in the area)! read more

Their outdoor seating has heater but don't have propane. Very bad for older customers.

Pumpkin vegetarian option. I love Burmese in the bay area and this spot did not disappoint. Would recommend. read more

Mingalaba - Pumpkin vegetarian option. I love Burmese in the bay area and this spot did not disappoint. Would recommend. - Burmese Near Me - Burlingame, California

The tea leaf salad was delicious. It had tons of flavor, and textures. There a little bit of jalapeno in it, so if you can't handle it, you can ask them to remove it before they mix it. The Burmese style noodles tasted really fresh. It was light and refreshing with cucumbers, and cilantro. The fried crispy onions on top was a good touch and added some nice texture. Paratha is like roti and comes with 2 delicious dipping sauces. After we finished the paratha, we kept the curry sauces at the table for our other dishes! This place is popular, and gets busy during lunch. read more

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RIPPING PEOPLE OFF BLINDLY--SCAMMING YOU FOR MONEY-- BEWARE!!! The food may be good, but these people are DISHONEST and ripping people off by adding in a 16% tip automatically to EVERY bill. As we all know as diners, a tip for parties of 6 or more is likely to be added to your bill. At Mingalaba, they are adding a 16% tip for themselves to EVERY single check. Since most people don't really, really look at their bill when they pay, this means that you are being scammed and ripped off!!!!!! You will end up writing in a tip of 15-20% like you always do, but then this means you have now tipped them not 15-20% as you have written in, but you have now tipped them more than 31-36% because they are adding in a 16% tip to your bill that most people will not realize!!! And, I mean it that you are tipping more than 31-36% because when you write in your tip, YOU ARE TIPPING ON A FALSE TOTAL because THEY ADDED THAT 16% TIP TO YOUR TOTAL that you then end up tipping them on. THESE PEOPLE ARE PULLING IN A LOT OF EXTRA MONEY THAT YHEY ARE RIPPING PROPLE OFF FOR. I recently dined here, and then days later looked at my receipt. I was furious to see that they had already added in their scam of a 16% tip. I went back in to ask them to refund their 16% tip and let them know that it is very dishonest that they do this. They only refunded me half if what we wrote in as a tip which was not what I asked for. So in the end, THEY STILL SCAMMED US AND RIPPED US OFF GOR MONEY. Needless to say, I will never give them a single penny more of my money, so they can rip me off. read more

Interesting cozy restaurant. The dishes are unique, especially the tea leaves. The dishes are strongly flavored

This place has some really good food! The parata, walnut prawn, and sweet and sour chicken were very delicious. The staff was nice too, it was getting pretty chilly outside and while they were closing out, they put another heating lamp outside for us. Thanks for that! read more

Looking at the food itself this place is great. The parvatha is simple but goes great with the curry sauces. The curry and house noodles were super flavorful. Def 4 stars. But I gotta take away a star because the portions are very small for the price you pay. My niece, who is 7, can probably finish 2 of these entrees herself. The curry dish also does not come with rice. Shocking, I know. What is more shocking is they charged $3.75 for a small bowl of white rice. Come here for a special occasion. But I can't justify spending that much for what I get. I wish I knew about the rice; would've brought some in a ziplock bag. read more

Went on a Friday evening to Burlingame downtown. Looked up on Yelp and found that it was hugely rated, so decided to dine in. We were quickly seated within 10 mins. The staff seemed very busy and overwhelmed. We had to wave to ask someone to take our order. Our server was in hurry and quickly took the order and left. Ordered: Rainbow salad: good, must try Basil shrimp: it was super tasty Coconut rice: it was average Veggie Chowmein: again average Mango lassi: fresh and good Food was good, service was ok. read more

Mingalaba is a fast moving, crowded little place in fashionable Burlingame that serves some nice Asian food that has just the right amount of kick in it to make it interesting. I liked the food and atmosphere and the pricing was slightly more than other Southeast Asian places but it's Burlingame. I liked the spicy chicken dishes and hopefully the picks show well enough the portion size that is acceptable. My only beef is that the staff has an issue with simple math or using the calculator function on their iphone. Our party of four business folks are on a per diem basis and we asked for individual bills, he brought one bill so we asked him to just divide it evenly by four. Simple enough? Not for him. Said he could do two cards maximum. Even if you take the fees associated with use of a credit card it still comes out even. While in the process of bullshitting us with a story; I felt that deduction of the tip was in order going from 22% downward the longer this story yarned along with eventually he saying he didn't understand. Guess what...Life is a two-way street. Action/Reaction. Push -Pull. Not a huge deal for me but if he keeps spinning this malarkey he is only hurting himself and limiting his cash haul income each day. Will give it another try next time in B-Game. read more

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I was watching a show about Myanmar and learned that "Mingalaba" is a greeting. note: not stroller friendly too narrow space, has high chairs so ok for sitting babies! SO MUCH DELICIOUSNESS! Green tea leaf salad is interesting - has a bit of bitterness from the leaves but not too intensely, a tang from the sauce, savory from the garlic chips. Rainbow salad was very light, refreshing, and still filling. Great for sharing! Chicken and asparagus - fresh from the heat! Not a favorite but still really good. Paratha - I love these styles of bread and this was flaky but not too greasy. Burmese Style Curry Beef - this actually reminded me of the HK style curry but the beef cut was too tough. it would be perfect if they use a tender cut of beef. Avocado Tempura Shrimp Spring Rolls - a great dish for a refreshing start. Spicy basil fish - this was highly recommended to us from our friend who took us here, and it was indeed delicious as told! They were still really busy at 3pm. The staff was super helpful in providing hot water for warming up my baby's bottle. Thank you! read more

First visit for Burmese food and the line was out the door so make sure you write your name on the list cause this places packs the house! we had a group of 6 started with appetizers crab & cheese dumplings , paratha , tea leaf salad so tasty! green papaya salad , pan fried string beans , beef with broccoli and house special noodles with a bottle of La Honda Pinot Noir or you can bring your own bottle of wine with a corkage fee. Don't forget to save room for Mango Sticky Rice YUMMY! love the deco inside , staff very friendly and quick with serving even when they are very busy. lots of parking street and parking lots, they have couple tables outside to enjoy your meal when the weather is nice and enjoy a nice walk around burlingame after your meal. will return again soon! read more