Burma Ruby

I only get Burmese cuisine when I crave tea leaf salad. They make theirs with cheap iceberg salad instead of higher quality leafy greens. The other items I ordered was similarly disappointing.

We tried the Samosa salad, palati and Rangoon noodles. Everything was delicious. Do not forget to try their featured cocktails with Sake.

Burma Ruby is one of my favorite restaurants to order from Doordash, since they serve all your typical Burmese dishes and arrive hot. Though not fabulous, they’re a solid go-​to for the night, when you’re desperate for a solid meal. You have to order the rice separately (shame) but their veggie kebat is super tasty (pumpkin stew is okay). Good for Palo Alto!

No portrait of Aung Sun Suu Kyi?
Usually suspect of fancy ethnic restaurants, I loved my experience at Burma Ruby and did not grumble under my breath that I’d be better off at a hole-​in-​the-​wall. Our server Matthew issued excellent suggestions for dishes in each category.
Going with his recommendations, we ordered tea leaf salad, salt and pepper calamari, coconut chicken noodle soup, fiery chicken tofu, shrimp curry, and coconut pudding. All excellent.
Extremely busy space, same menu as Rangoon Ruby, and apparently, a formula that really works, if the crowds are any indication.
Our server Matthew was one of the best I’ve ever encountered — we loved him!

we had a nice lunch, with a particularly attentive and friendly hostess and a nice waiter. everything was great until we got the bill, and noticed a 3% «affordable care act» tax. let me be clear: my parents and i are supporters of the ACA and are very happy that workers at burma ruby are being given healthcare. if an additional 50 cents had been added to the cost of each entrée, we never would have noticed. what i object to is a hidden, made-​up «tax» added to the bill, with an explanation that absolves the restaurant of accountability and claims they’re not «politicizing» the issue when clearly they are.

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.

I found myself in Palo Alto tonight looking for something uniquely Palo Alto. So I decided to try Burma Ruby. It looked beautiful and impressive from the outside, so I thought I’d try it.
The hostess was wonderful. The food was not exceptional but was good. I ordered the Pad Thai with chicken, at the waitress’ suggestion.
The attitudes of the staff were a mixed bag — at best. My waitress had an ironic and seething attitude. Due to this I did not have a pleasant feeling as I ordered and ate. Her attitude changed about ²⁄₃ into my meal when another staff member gave her a correct-​your-​attitude direct look. Respecting this change of heart I left her her a tip.
Two of the male servers who filled my glass and brought me my food had appropriate, good attitudes and this helped my feeling as I ate.
Her attitude reverted again to something seething when she left me my bill and we left off.
As I left the restaurant, the man seated at the doorway, whose job it was to greet and say goodbye to customers, gave me a very unpleasant and unequivocally, unmistakeable, seething and clearly dismissive «Thank You.»
I really don’t think I’ll be returning. I am just not at all interested in restaurants that do not have an agreed-​upon and well-​managed professional attitude across all their staff, especially when located on upscale University Avenue in Palo Alto.
I’m sure I’ll find a better experience elsewhere.

This is my first review here, but I have been here about 4x. Every time I’ve been here the experience has been great. The food is great, especially the tea leaf salad… can’t ever go wrong with that! Perfect tasting. I have also tried the palata, similar to roti, and it was yum! I’ve tried the chicken kebat, basil swai (delicious and flavorful), Garlic shrimp and eggplant and they’re all really great. I usually order the Burmese-​Indian rice because it’s so different and great tasting. Amazing flavor, could be a little strong for some though… IMO. It has whole cardamom in it. But their coconut rice, IS coconut rice! Loved it. I’ve had some that didn’t have the coconut flavor, but Burma does. Absolute perfection.
But most importantly in this review is about the service. I was there once before last night and the general manager, John, had recommended great dishes to us and had also boxed our food when we were done. Guess he was busy and forgot to give us our leftovers and we had a lot left, but we didn’t say anything and left.
Last night, John, recognized me and apologize that he had forgotten to give us our food. He did try to catch us, but we were gone already. But for him to remember me after almost 3 or 4 weeks of dining there, that’s impressive. So he offered me a complimentary dish if we wanted another one and dessert, but the girls and I had more than enough food already, so I didn’t bother saying anything. But we wouldn’t skip the complimentary dessert! As we were looking at the menu, John had dropped off a take out bag for me. He ordered me my Basil Swai and coconut rice! That was super sweet and professional of him. And top of that, he already put in the order of a dessert for us with sparklers!
Amazing amazing service. I didn’t need the complimentary dishes or dessert, but I just love the customer service here. That is what hospitality is. This is how and why you get repeating customers. Thank you John!

Burma Ruby was my first exposure to Burmese food, and it was pretty good to my novice palate. After trying a few other options in the Bay Area, I revisited Burma Ruby hoping that it was as tasty as before. You can probably see where this is going.
Tea Leaf Salad — Burma Ruby’s version is made with lettuce instead of cabbage. Too bad, because I find that the traditional cabbage preparation adds even more texture and contrast to the salad. The flavors were still as vibrant as before. Probably the best dish they have.
Coconut Chicken Palata — This time the Palata was underdone and doughy in the center. The coconut chicken was fine, nothing standout.
Rangoon Lemongrass Chicken — There was no lemongrass flavor. Ironic because the Pork Curry dish with no lemongrass in the description was served with lemongrass stalks. The chicken tasted more like crappy basil chili than anything else.
Mango Chicken — The better of the three entrees. The sweet mango purée was delicious and there were lots of sliced mango tossed in. There was an underlying taste resembling star anise. I thought it was fine, but my dining partner found it too strong.
Burmese Curried Beef — A red curry dish with potatoes. Beef was tender and had good flavor. We asked for extra spicy though, and this was more a medium-​mild, if that.
Fried Rice with Chicken — I liked the yellow beans, but the overall dish was very bland. The chicken needed more seasoning.
Service was nice — they were great with water refills and the manager offered us dessert after we expressed some of issues we had with the food.
Overall though, I thought Burma Ruby wasn’t as good as other local Burmese restaurants. In the South Bay, I recommend Kyusu in San Jose. Much better entrees and even better tea leaf salad.

Came here for lunch and they take reservations!
Tea leaf salad — they explain and mix it for you
Basil Chili Beef — spiced beef with some greens, its alright, not that spicy but I dont think I would order again.

Like everyone else on Unilocal,I come here for the tea leaf salad. I try to order that as my entrée, but my dinner companion always wants to share tsk tsk. The rest of the food here is just average and a bit on the salty side. I’ve had the minted jalapeño chicken, lemongrass chicken, and pumpkin pork stew. Also, the seafood quality is sub par. I do love love love their coconut rice and their alcoholic bowls that you can share and be merry with :)
This restaurant is beautifully decorated, newer and on the main Univ Ave strip so lots of people watching opportunities. It’s also not as crowded as the original Rangoon Ruby location on Emerson and you don’t have to deal with the mean Asian hostess who looks down on you if you don’t have reservations. Not sure if it’s just me but I always have issues with opening the main door to this place — I can never seem to find the handle or know whether to push or pull…

To begin with the restroom is right next to the kitchen.
After having the food both of us are having a terrible night now. Stomach ache and nausea. Gonna stay away from this place.

I can’t stop getting the Tea Leaf Salad! This time around, I also ordered the Chicken and Shrimp Biryani too. SO delicious.
I was here for a friend’s birthday party and they handled the large group of 15 people really well. There was plenty of time between appetizers and main meals. The service was impeccable.
My only complaint was that my shrimp and chicken was sliiiightly on the well-​done side. Not enough to take away a star.
Due to the large group, I was able to sample a few other things:
The calamari appetizer hit the nail on the head. The calamari was perfectly cooked and the coating was crispy perfection. It’s served with a delicious homemade sweet chili sauce. Perfection.
Sesame beef was surprisingly good. Hot, crispy, delicious, and I only had a couple of tougher-​to-​chew pieces. I would order it again, for sure.
Someone next to me ordered the veggie pumpkin stew and wasn’t at all happy with the tofu in it… she actually sent it back. She reordered and got the veggie curry instead and was very happy with it… I didn’t try the coconut rice, but MAN, it smelled amazing. I’m going to get some of it next time. There WILL be a next time!

Came here for dinner on a Friday night around 6:30 with my boyfriend and sat outside. However, they failed to inform us that their heaters were not working. Fortunately, it wasn’t that chilly, but it would’ve been nice to know there wouldn’t be heat before we decided to sit outside. We ordered the salt & pepper calamari appetizer, Rangoon noodle, and Burmese Pad Thai.
We waited around an hour for our food. I get it — Friday nights can be busy. But multiple tables near us who arrived after us received their orders and were happily munching away already. I asked the host about the status of my order, and he said the noodles are made in the same section as the salads. So, if multiple people are ordering salads, the noodles will be delayed. Okay???
As for taste, the calamari and Rangoon noodles were average, and the Burmese Pad Thai was decent. Definitely not worth the price though.
On the bright side, the restaurant was nice enough to take some money off the bill for the ridiculous wait. +1 star for that.
Overall: mediocre, overpriced food and awful service.

I would come here just for the tea leaf salad. Seriously. (though some may find it a bit too salty) I preferably like the flavor-​town it’s packed in it. Pretty unique salad that I’ve never really tasted anywhere else and it’s fairly healthy — minus the sodium.
The place is very modern, filled with colorful lights shining against the walls on the bar, with outside heating lamps and decent silverware.
The warm meals however, were really lacking. I believe I got the chicken curry or something and it was overly cooked and had very dry pieces of chicken. My friend and I really couldn’t finish more of this plate because of how bad it was — though the sauce wasn’t as bad.
The bathrooms were oddly placed too — one of which is near the kitchen door in a tightly squeezed spot. My waitress was also pretty bland — she did nothing wrong, but she seemed to be in an off-​mood from looking at her behavior — probably having a bad day.

I ordered a $ 3.50 soda, only to find later that refills aren’t complimentary. The waiter asked if I wanted a refill and I naturally agreed. When I got the bill I was charged $ 3.50 for each refill. Not to mention, it was a fountain soda in a small glass that was 75% ice! Ridiculous.
Funny thing, I looked up «refills» for this place (and Rangoon Ruby) on Unilocal and several diners had the EXACT same experience.
If I had to rate the food, I’d say 3 starts at best. The crispy beef tasted the same as Panda Express, which isn’t bad, mind you. The Tea Leaf salad was okay. I like how they mixed it at the table. The Garlic Eggplant Shrimp was good, not great. The Garlic Noodle with Pork was okay as well. Pricing was a little steep for mediocre food, but they are in Palo Alto where I presume the rent is outrageous.
I thought the food was over-​priced to begin with, but the whole soda refill situation really soured me on this place. Food wasn’t good enough to overcome that irritated feeling I got when I left so I won’t be back.

Like a Red Lobster or Outback Steakhouse of Burmese food, Burma Ruby is a great place for large parties, nice cocktails, but probably not for great food.
The service and atmosphere is nice, they have ample seating (although it does seem like it does get busy around lunch and dinner time), and the food they serve is somewhat decent.
Tea Leaf Salad —
Okay, this is a decently solid dish, the ingredients are great, but the dressing may be a little too much, I’d ask them to go easy on the dressing; it’s slightly too oily for what is supposed to be a refreshing salad and appetizer.
Garlic Noodle with Pork —
Where’s the garlic? This does not taste like garlic noodles… there’s also not a lot of pork… not sure what happened with this dish.
Mint Jalapeño Pork —
Not sure if the mint or jalapeño really comes out, it is a little spicy but it wasn’t the main flavor of the dish, sugar and oil were probably a little higher on the list. The name sounds great, but that’s all that’s great about this dish.
Overall, the food was pretty pricey for what I actually got. The service was decent and the décor is nice, but the tables are crammed to close to each other for this to actually be a really nice experience. This place feels a lot like a chain restaurant now where they are maximizing seating rather than developing a great culinary experience for its diners.
And being a sister restaurant to Rangoon Ruby (Palo Alto, San Carlos, and SF), I think Rangoon Ruby’s food tastes better while also having better décor.

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 3^rd to get our order. On the 3^rd 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.

Wish This Was Closer To Home…
Pros: Excellent food. Nice value. Friendly service.
Cons: It’s noisy. Parking (or the lack of) comes with the territory.
Suggestion: Go early, especially on weekends. It gets busy.
Star Ratings:
— Overall: 4
— Food Quality: 4
— Food Quantity: 5
— Dining Room Attractiveness: 4
— Menu: 5
— Service: 5
— Noise: 3
— Price: 5
— Value: 5
— Parking: 3
— Restrooms: 4
What to do when you live in San Jose and you’re meeting friends from San Mateo for dinner… and neither wants to drive very far. You find a place in Palo Alto. But which one? Since the other couple had a nice dinner recently at Burma Ruby, we decided to try it.
— Location: Burma Ruby is on University Avenue about midway through the downtown area. There’s such a revolving door of restaurants and shops in this part of Palo Alto. Turn your head and a change happens before your eyes. Except for institutions like banks, I’m amazed anything survives the sky high rent and fickleness of consumers.
— Exterior: Nothing exceptional, but the front of Burma Ruby is actually a set of doors which open to bring a sense of the outside to the dining room. On this particular Saturday, the cool evening breeze was a welcome relief to the hot plates surrounding us.
— Dining Room: Soothing. Tropical pastel colors on the walls… relatively spacious spacing among tables and ceiling fans overhead created a nice environment for our meal.
— Menu: Since Burma is (was) a small country adjacent to a couple of major nations, it’s not surprising to see the menu reflect influences from neighboring areas, such as India and China. The list of choices in every category… appetizer, salad/​soup and entrée… was long and luscious. We couldn’t wait to order.
— Food: Very good. We simply split a bunch of plates because there were too many things to pass up. We began with the Tea Leaf Salad and Vegetable Samosas (4). A great start. Nice portions, flavors and textures.
Then we shared 4 entrees. Fiery Tofu and Vegetables is available as mild, medium or hot. We chose medium and it was fine. In fact, the 2 guys could have gone for hot, but the women were a bit more mild. Chicken and Shrimp Biryani arrived in a clay pot with rice, raisins and nuts simmering on the bottom. A great dish, as long as you don’t mind pulling chicken off a couple of drumsticks. Lemongrass Chicken was very good, though my wife said the lemon was a bit subtle (fine by me) and a friend claimed the «grass» was missing. Pumpkin Tofu Stew was an unexpected menu item, but turned out to be a nice choice. A side order of Coconut Rice completed the meal.
— Liquor List: A nice variety of wine (by the glass and bottle… though a few more by the glass would be helpful), beer (8 on tap… I had the Rangoon Gold, but the server brought be the «Prohibition» to taste afterward and it was even better), cocktails and soft drinks. Our companions had Burmese Ice Tea. It looked good enough to drink by the gallon.
— Price and Value: Excellent, especially for Palo Alto. It’s obvious we ate well, but the bill came to $ 66 per couple before tip. We certainly got our money’s worth.
— Service: Our server, Andrea, was friendly, patient and professional. Despite seeming to have a number of tables in different parts of the room, she stayed on top of things and never seemed to miss a beat. I gave her 25%…and it was deserved.
Separately, the manager continually walked around Burma Ruby to make sure everything went smoothly. He’s a very friendly and helpful guy who made sure the takeout order for our friends was handled well.
— Parking: It’s Palo Alto. Enough said.
— Restroom (just one): Actually quite respectable. Almost a respite from the noise and commotion. In fact, the kitchen was just outside the door and if you want an appreciation of the people who make your food, just watch for a minute. The staff works very, very hard to put food on the table.
We’d certainly recommend Burma Ruby as a solid selection in downtown Palo Alto.

From what I gather, Burmese cuisine features a combination of flavors I would normally associate with Thai, Indian, and Chinese cuisines. It’s tasty.
By far, the best dish from dinner at Burma Ruby was the tea leaf salad. I’d recommend splitting everything family style to try a variety.