The Refined Palate

Orinda, United States

4.3

Closed now

20 reviews

Accepts Credit Cards

Contacts

QR code, vCard

Telephone:
+1 925-566-4877
Website:
www.refinedpalateorinda.com
Address:
19 Orinda Way, Orinda, CA, 94563
Nearby public transportation stops & stations:
0.3 miOrinda
1.9 miRedwood Valley Railway
Categories:
QR code
Download QR Image Download vCard

Map

Streetview

Activate map

Bussiness info

Takes Reservations
Yes
Delivery
No
Take-out
Yes
Accepts Credit Cards
Yes
Good For
Lunch
Parking
Private Lot
Bike Parking
Yes
Good for Kids
Yes
Good for Groups
Yes
Attire
Casual
Ambience
Casual
Noise Level
Quiet
Alcohol
No
Outdoor Seating
No
Wi-Fi
No
Has TV
No
Waiter Service
Yes
Caters
Yes

Today

Today 11:30 am – 2:30 pm
5:30 pm – 8:30 pm
Closed now
Local time (Orinda) 09:03 Saturday, 31 May 2025

Business hours

Monday 11:30 am – 2:30 pm
5:30 pm – 8:30 pm
Tuesday 11:30 am – 2:30 pm
5:30 pm – 8:30 pm
Wednesday 11:30 am – 2:30 pm
5:30 pm – 8:30 pm
Thursday 11:30 am – 2:30 pm
5:30 pm – 8:30 pm
Friday 11:30 am – 2:30 pm
5:30 pm – 8:30 pm
Saturday 11:30 am – 2:30 pm
5:30 pm – 8:30 pm
Sunday –

Description

Specialties

We serve unique Burmese cuisine. This includes dishes from various regions of the Southeast Asian country of Burma (now officially known as Myanmar). The diversity of Myanmar’s cuisine has also been contributed to by the myriad of local ethnic minorities.

History

Established in 2013.

Burmese cuisine is characterized by extensive use of fish products like fish sauce and ngapi (fermented seafood). Owing to the geographic location of Myanmar, Burmese cuisine has been influenced by Chinese cuisine, Indian cuisine and Thai cuisine.

Related places

You might also like:
4.2
mi
Royal Rangoon
2826 Telegraph Ave
4.4
mi
BOBO Drinks
2037 Shattuck Ave (Downtown Berkeley)
5.2
mi
Burma Superstar
4721 Telegraph Ave (Temescal, North Oakland)
5.8
mi
Cafe Karla
1734 San Pablo Ave (West Berkeley)

Nearby

Browse nearby places:
1
ft
Hilton House Consign & Design Inc
21 Orinda Way And 19 Orinda Way
1
ft
Orinda Grooming
19 Orinda Way Ste J
1
ft
Village Pizza
19 Orinda Way
1
ft
Treible Stationers
19 Orinda Way Ste D
1
ft
ComForcare Senior Services
19 Orinda Way
1
ft
Hair 2000
19 Orinda Way

20 reviews of The Refined Palate

No registration required
Place rating: 2
El Sobrante, CA
Meh.
Stopped by for lunch on a Monday afternoon. Only one other customer. The menu is pretty small and initially nothing looked too appealing. So I ordered the roasted garlic noodles with chicken off of the specials menu. Not impressed. Pretty bland with a heap of noodles and some chicken, no other substantial ingredients. I ate probably like ¼ of it and brought the leftovers home to bf, he didn’t even eat more than 1 bite. And he eats almost anything lol.
Hopefully next time (if there is a next time, I haven’t quite decided) I will ask for a recommendation and perhaps that may change my opinion. Interior is bright and there’s plenty of seating. But honestly in this area I don’t ever see it being a full house at The Refined Palate.
Place rating: 5
San Francisco, CA
WoW! What a find!
Fish Chowder
Garlic Noodles with Chicken
Roti with Chicken Dip
All are a must Must MUST MUST Try!!!
Bottomline, just like the first line, WoW, and amazing affordable for Orinda!!!
Place rating: 5
Oakland, CA
This place is a real find! 15 minutes from Oakland with parking right outside. The owner is a charming and kindly man. The food is delicious, unusual, and really good value for money. You can order one dish and will be able to take enough for another meal home with you.
But for me the biggest bonus is that they can make just about everything absolutely gluten-​free.
After lunch, I loved it so much that I ordered enough to take home and feed five of us this evening. And I will be coming back for take-​outs.
Place rating: 5
Orinda, CA
I’ve had three fantastic meals here. Even the mixed vegetables, a dish that could succomb to bland ordinariness, is rich and nuanced in flavor. The atmosphere and décor is not refined, but the chef is amazing. I had been going to Burma Superstar in Oakland and San Francisco for several years, but The Refined Palate is even better, and there are no lines to get in. More people should eat here or I’m afriad they’ll go out of business.
Place rating: 5
Orinda, CA
Really good, odd this is in orinda. Chicken soup and tea leaf salad is outstanding. Adding more so Unilocal posts this.
Place rating: 5
Orinda, CA
First don’t take your family there if you are not sure you like oriental food.
I loved the coconut chicken noodle in square bowl and enjoyed the lamb. Had a taste of my wife Tea Leaf salad and we both enjoyed it.
But when I like spicy and was adding supplied spices to my food, my wife complained about pork being too spicy for her, even the waitress said it is not spicy.
Waitress was not fluent in English, so don’t expect too much help.
White clothed tables and cloth napkins did make nice impression and we have been for late lunch only.
Place rating: 4
Lafayette, CA
There aren’t many Burmese restaurants in the East Bay and San Francisco so was surprised to see this pop up in a former deli location in Orinda. Rumor is the owner formerly owned Burma Superstar but he wasn’t in so I haven’t asked yet.
The «classic» dish is the Tea Leaf salad which sounds strange but tastes delicious and refreshing and doesn’t have any caffiene effect that I could tell. Had the very thick, rich (coconut milk) very orange chicken soup that comes in an interesting ceramic square bowl (ask for a soup bowl to eat out of if server does not bring it). Husband had a beef/​potato dish that he liked.
I would have picked a name more evocative of Burmese Cuisine because the Refined Palate is hard to wrap your head around. Limited menu as I think the kitchen is fairly small but we did not have problems finding something we wanted. The service is gracious but leisurely. There is a complimentary sweet tapioca dessert but it would be nice to have at least one other offering, even if it wasn’t Burmese. There aren’t choices that would appeal to most suburban children unless they are on the adventurous side, except the chicken soup so parents of picky eaters could have a problem.
The quantity is extremely generous for many customers there will be enough left over for lunch, the meals here are a very good value. I am eager to come back and try the other dishes, the garlic noodles and also the fish chowder are next on my list.
Place rating: 5
San Francisco, CA
Was in the area and searched Unilocal for a lunch spot. Saw the reviews and decided to try it. Got cold feet looking at the simple menu and the location. Don’t be fooled, this place exceeded expectations!
The coconut chicken noodle was easily the best soup I have ever had. I ordered the mango pork dish and couldn’t stop eating. The reviews are accurate this is a hidden gem. If you find yourself passing by and in need of lunch/​dinner make sure to go to The Refined Palate!
Place rating: 5
Orinda, CA
One of the few places with good food in Orinda. We have always done takeout, and the portions are very generous, so there’s often leftovers for lunch, which is always nice. Love the tea leaf salad, of course, but other dishes are also very tasty. The only thing is the restaurant name — where did that come from?
Place rating: 4
Walnut Creek, CA
I still really enjoy this restaurant however I have some ideas that will make it better.
–Offer a beverage other than one type of hot tea. Not all of us like caffeine with our meal.
–Offer a dessert other than tapioca. A frozen dessert would be wonderful, or something traditional or you can’t go wrong with chocolate!
–Offer at least one dish kids will like, something that is lightly seasoned, maybe deep fried.
On our most recent visit we tried the tea leaf salad, it was delicious! I was concerned the caffeine from the tea might keep us up at night but it did not. The owner/​waiter was preoccupied with a private party and so our service wasn’t as good as it should have been.
Place rating: 4
Walnut Creek, CA
Really yummy food & the owners are so nice! I came in for lunch with my 2 year old & they treated her like a princess! Made sure she & I had everything we needed.
Place rating: 5
Orinda, CA
Love this place! Best food in Orinda. Even our young kids like it. We usually do takeout. It’s always fresh. Owners are super nice. Place is always clean, and you can see the kitchen which I like.
Place rating: 3
Oakland, CA
The Refined Palate is burmese food. menu has less than 20 items. not interested in try new items. just went with the familiar.
eats: mohinga soup (7)
-«fresh fish simmered with lemon grass in heavy chowder topped with yellow
bean fritter and roasted onion” — forget to mention msg (not a lot)
–crunchiness with the noodles (lots of noodles) quite a contrast.
–burmese food interesting, not addictive.
3.5 stars
Place rating: 5
San Francisco, CA
My wife and I just moved from SF to Orinda and this was our favorite culinary experience in Orinda so far. We were blown away by all aspects of our experience — food, service and affordability. We will definitely become regulars here.
Food — we ordered three dishes: (1) tea leaf salad, (2) seafood chowder and (3) lamb masala. The dishes were all so different from anything we had tasted before and were each uniquely delicious. The portions were generous (the lamb dish had a ton of high-​quality meat).
Service — the chef, William Lue, gave us excellent service throughout our meal. He explained the menu to us (we know little about Burmese food), made awesome recommendations on what to eat and even gave us little tasters of some of the things we didn’t order.
Place rating: 3
Oakland, CA
Pretty small menu with about 10 dishes; their website menu pretty much covers it (
).
Went with the Ono Kaw Swe (Coconut chicken noodle, $ 7) soup that comes in a shallow covered square bowl that the waiter uncovers when it is delivered to your table (
). They also bring a chopped, hot pepper relish with the food (
)
The soup didn’t have the fried onions /​shallots from the other picture of this dish, but did have a more orange tinted broth. The broth itself was very one note with not much besides the coconut milk coming through where usually this soup has more curry notes. The thickish, flat rice noodles were nicely cooked and there was a good amount of chicken chunks (
).
The square flat bowl was challenging to eat out of.
Heater wasn’t on when i arrived at the beginning of lunch service and it was really cold (basically same as outside). though it warmed up through my time there. They were having some equipment issues so the tea I asked for took awhile to arrive (
)
Pretty good value at the current price points.
Place rating: 4
Richmond, CA
Ignore the décor. The food is fantastic. Not a huge menu but the servings are huge and very very tasty. Lots of good chili options to dose it up as you prefer, nice staff and service.
Tamarind seafood was lush, perfectly cooked shrimp and scallops and fish just right. Tea Leaf salad is good and crunchy, chicken coconut soup is a gentle dish with balanced elements, not overpowering like a curry it resembles. Mango chutney pork was tasty if sometimes not tender enough and the chicken masala was sensational.
Now I know more about this place and the food (and great owner) we’ll be back often.
Place rating: 5
Brooklyn, NY
Holy heaven!
I definitely think This is the God of Burmese restaurants.
William leu is the owner, he used to own Burmese superstar and this is his new masterpiece. What a treasure. I can’t wait to say, I went there when.
Go here, or miss out!
Place rating: 4
San Francisco Bay Area, CA
Pros:
The fish chowder here is excellent and very affordable by Orinda lunch standards.
The coconut rice is very tasty.
The other items are fine, but not as impressive.
Cons:
The service can be pretty slow.
The interior can be dirty. Spider webs can be seen along the ceiling, I’ve seen a few spiders crawling around inside as well.
Place rating: 4
Hayward, CA
Place
— Very homey place, lots of space. The chile plants were an awesome sight.
Food
— Delicious. Burmese Tea Leaf Salad was especially delicious.
Service
— The waitress was very nice, specially since she was serving a bunch of people.
Price
— Fair, a bit on the expensive side, but for the delicious dish, I’d pay for it.
Go back?
— I’ve been there twice now. Its kept up being delicious.
Place rating: 4
Lafayette, CA
On my first visit the food was good (fish noodles, tea leaf salad) and the service was friendly. Great start! Need to try more items to see if stars go up or down.
The staff was not very attentive however. On 3 occasions during my meal people stood in the front door for minutes wondering whether to wait or seat themselves, and were ignored by the distracted staff. That is not good.
I’m really excited that they’ve taken the risk to open a Burmese restaurant away from the more cosmopolitan Berkeley. Non-​mainstream restaurants have not fared well in Lamorinda: Tao, focused on Ramen had to give up and change their name to iSushi and add Sushi to their menu because that’s all folks here know of Japanese cuisine. Kopitiam, which had a famous chef from Singapore, great food, and a welcoming staff couldn’t make a go of it — too unfamiliar a menu for suburbanites. Hopefully, they won’t have to cave in and add Phad Thai to satisfy their customers… and hopefully they’ll up their customer service level. I’ll be back and I hope they make it!