Rangoon Ruby

This restaurant food charges exhorbitant prices for the quality and quantity of food they serve. We ordered Rangoon noodles, which is just another salad but not placed and priced as salad items. The fried rice had no vegetables at all, when we asked them to add some vegetables, they just added a few pieces of brocoli and charged us $ 4 extra. The lady (probably burmese) who is the manager is also kind of rude. Will never ever go to any of their restaurants, just not worth it.

So good! Came for lunch and had a wonderful meal. We shared the tea leaf salad, noodle soup and garlic noodles. The soup was good but the portion was on the small side. The noodles were good. The salad was amazing! Our server was very friendly and brought our food fast and quickly. Can’t wait to go back and try other things!

I can’t believe i have never written a review about this place before. I have probably been here about 15 times since i moved back to the bay area. Rangoon Ruby was actually my first experience with burmese food and man i wasn’t disappointed. We ALWAYS get the tea leaf salad to start (which is AMAZING) and the palata with vegetarian curry. Their most popular item is definitely the tea leaf salad. I see almost every single table order this thing. They get their tea leaves from Burma and prepare it at the table. The dish has such an interesting depth of flavor it’s like nothing i have ever tasted. Do yourself a favor and try it. As for the palata, the flakey pancake-​like bread that comes out with the it is to die for delicious.
We have had a variety of different dishes here but i think the stand out dishes are the walnut prawns and the garlic pork. I could easily eat both of those every single day. Mango chicken is pretty good too but nothing to write home about. Definitely get the coconut rice it is sooooooo good. You really cant go wrong ordering off of this menu. Go here. I think I am hungry now

Excellent service, great tasting food. Facilities immaculate and expertly designed. Highly recommended to anyone.

Very good food and served in an upscale environment. Service was flawless and the food was exceptional! The tea leaf salad is on of my faves. Ive had it at many Burmese spots before but never this good. The curries are so deep in flavor without being overpowering.
Looking at recent reviews, I noticed the one star from Fiona H. My dear, you are a dimwit! You are paying for the ACA tax anywhere you go, where the business is following the law. The only difference is that most places will bury the tax in the overall cost so that its hidden. Its good that we see how much we are paying for this federally imposed nonsense. On your bill it was two dollars and change right? That’s going to make you boycott a restaurant? The fact that they show you instead of hiding it in the item prices? Wow, you are dumb. I’m against the ACA myself because it forces citizens under threat of financial penalty, to purchase a product from the most corrupt industry in America. Thus, I’m glad when a business shows us what we are paying for it. It should make us angry but not at the small business that is complying with federal law, rather our anger should be directed at the strong arm robbery that the insurance industry is pulling off with the help of the feds as their muscle.
Fiona, you are confusing a restaurant review with politics. Unilocal readers want to know if the food and service is good not how upset you are with the federal tax system. Would you also give a gas station a poor review because the pump shows you how much federal tax you are paying there? You clearly need to educate yourself on these matters.

As my very first time coming to this restaurant, I had no expectations for Burmese food for this was something I had never experienced. I’m very glad to say that Ive come here first. The service is excellent, they do not mind elaborating on items in the menu, they also give samples of wines and sake just in case you are unsure. Our first visit was based on suggestions which we had the veggie samosas, green tea salad (not sure what the actual dish name is), and mango chicken with a side of coconut rice. Everything was amazing!!! Will most definitely come back to try out the rest of the menu and a dessert.

Must have the tea leaf salad. It’s one of very few salads I would consider eating every day. Coconut rice is sweet and aromatic. Samosa soup very different but delicious. Fantastic place.

One star due to cost of food and «Affordable Care Act Tax» that is added to the check. I was aware of the cost and have no problem paying a premium for good food. However, I don’t know if it was worth the cost per dish. Plus we weren’t notified of the ACA tax til the bill came — had I known in advance, I would have boycotted this place! I disagree with organizations that do this. It is the cost of doing business!
Great service. Food was good but not worth the price. Spice level is mild only but they do have a great pepper sauce that’s quite spicy. They are unique in that the bathroom has a TV screen and mouthwash.

Good food but the points below justify the low rating.
— The place is extremely noisy and it makes it impossible to have a conversation.
— There was a 2.68% extra charge for the Affordable Care Act on my bill. I was not notified of this charge ahead.
I think we should boycott any restaurants that pass onto their customer their ACA taxes.
Why not xx% for PG&E and yy% for their phone bill???
This is ridiculous.

We have eaten in and gotten carry out from Rangoon Ruby about a half dozen times and, while the prices are a bit steep, the food rarely disappoints.
The last time we did carry out we got Lettuce Wraps (good), Garlic Noodles w/​Pork (good), Shrimp and Eggplant (very good), Garlic Chili Green Beans (great), and my new favorite dish — Pumpkin Chicken Stew (great). This all rolled up to $ 88 for two people, but there were plenty of leftovers for the next day.
Food quality here is very good and when you select «hot» the dished are definitely HOT. And we like spicy food. I can’t imagine what «very hot» tastes like!

Really nice food with lots of good menu options for both veg and non veg people. Samosa soup was a stellar.

I love this place, I eat here about once a week for lunch. I love the chicken salad, the crispy chicken, and the sesame chicken, but everything that I get is really good. (Same goes for my wife and co-​workers.) The staff is really friendly, and takes great care of you.
My wife and I went in for an early Saturday dinner with our 11mo old daughter, and they handled that really well. She behaved, but made a bit of a mess. Again, the staff is great!

I was originally going to leave a poor review, but the manager at Rangoon Ruby went above and beyond what she had to do so I am now leaving a very positive review instead.
I got beef curry sauce spilled on me. It dripped over my right shoulder and down to my jeans, and a little bit even got in my hair. The waitress was very unapologetic and I couldn’t believe her attitude of, «sorry, not intentional, end of story!» She looked very reluctant even to retrieve some paper towels for me. Could have also offered me some water to wet the towels. It basically ruined my mood for the rest of the dinner.
I wasn’t going to say anything but knew I was going to write a bad review. But at the end of the meal my wife mentioned it to the manager. The manager was super nice and apologetic on the restaurant’s behalf. She comped our meal, though I don’t think it was necessary. A nice apology and maybe a desert would have been ok. So I can’t say enough good things about the manager – the lady was super. She turned around my view of the restaurant entirely by doing something I certainly wasn’t expecting. Thanks again.

So if you’ve never experienced Burmese food before, or never even heard about a country named Burma, this is a good place to go to to expand your taste palate.
My family is from Burma so this cuisine is nothing new to me. I will say that for what it is, it’s way overpriced. But hey, this is San Carlos where they can hike up prices as much as they want. I wanted to try a staple dish to compare to what I usually have at home, so I ordered their mohinga (which they call monk hingar — I’m not really sure why.) I think it was $ 12 for a bowl, but my family cooks that all the time, and it is definitely a very cheap dish to make.
For price alone, I don’t think this place is worth it. But the food is good, the ambience is good, the staff is friendly. They could stand to move their tables a little further apart though — I felt like I was dining with the couple sitting next to me the whole time.

We were there today and had the BEST MEAL EVER!
The service was amazing and every single dish we ordered was no less than amazing!
We ordered the samosa for first dish, for main course one of the beef dishes and a tofu and vegetable main course.
We will defiantly come again!

Nice enough place but the food was bad.
Started with the palata appetizer. It was a joke of greasy doughy fried flatbread with an undercooked center served with a tiny bowl of chicken curry for $ 11. We ate the fried portion and left the uncooked dough on the plate. Way overpriced IMHO.
For the main course we had the Rangoon Chicken with coconut rice and Garlic Noodles with Tofu. Both were pretty average in flavor, but the noodles tasted rotten and within 5 minutes our stomach was terribly full. Apparently this can happen when cooks add baking soda to the food to make rice or noodles soft and to make people feel full. Disappointing.

MANGO CHICKEN W COCONUT RICE (⁵⁄₅ NOMs)
We are going all mango over mango. Mango is probably one of our most favorite fruits especially when its combined with other nomnom things like Chicken. Sweet mango with super soft and tender chicken made for a perfect flavor combination. Such two opposite things created one great dish that would satisfy any hungry nomster. Very soft and light dish that won’t make you fall into food come for the rest of the day. Its one of those dishes that taste great and also make you feel healthy and great afterwords. Might have been the mango purer, but didn’t taste like they just drench the whole thing in sauce and instead let the full flavor of chicken shine. Served with you choice of rice and we went with something new a Coconut Rice. It has a nice light hint of coconut that complimented the sweet mango and chicken flavors. No wonder this came so highly recommended by our Bay area nomster fans.
CHICKEN CRISP $ 12 (⁵⁄₅ NOMs)
Chicken good, good Burmese chicken is even better. Chicken is a great meat and they made it even better. Crispy chicken deep fried and tossed with garlic, ginger and chili sauce. It really i all about the ginger and chili sauce combination that makes this dish so good. Doesn’t really taste heavy or overpowering, even though it was deep fried and drenched in so much sauce. One of those dishes you just might slow down and chew slowly to savor every single bite. It does have a bit of a kick to it so make sure to enjoy it with some rice and refreshing iced tea. Served with a nice bowl of very soft sticky rice. Also comes with a few broccolis, but really we all know that we don’t care about that and just want more of that chicken in chili sauce. Excellent dish that you should defiantly try.
SALT & PEPPER CALAMARI $ 11 (⁴⁄₅ NOMs)
Little loud circles of crispy calamari appetizers. Just something about crispy food texture that is always better then normal stuff. Great starter dish for your Burmese nomnom adventure. Very light and crispy it will tie you over until the main course arrives. Loud noise with every bite from all that crispiness and yet you won’t feel heavy from eating too many breadcrumbs. Its also a very simple dish, not too much going on, but that is probably what makes it so great.
SAMOSAS $ 10 (³⁄₅ NOMs)
Diving into Burmese deep fried vegetarian appetizers. Its four big deep fried rice turnovers filled with a whole lot of vegetables like potatoes, red onions, peas, and carrots. It defiantly taste potatoey, like very very potatoey with some spice. It comes with a unique ten spice blend, but not really sure if we taste it or just the potatoes. What really gives this dish excitement is the special house sauce. It will add that very needed moisture so it doesn’t taste as dry and some extra flavor goodness. Big and heavy, careful they just might fill you up before the main course. Make sure to slip these with a friend or a few so you have enough room to enjoy some food Burmese food.

So rare is it I am this happy with a place. The whole place drips with luxury class dining BUT without that associated price tag which is incredible. Like seriously.
My palate is picky and even more so when it comes to noodles and Asian associated cuisine. While this is the first time I’ve had Burmese food I can easily say it will not be my last. So glad I came here especially.
I got the fried tofu appetizer and it was superb and lightly crunchy with the sweet and sour sauce that wasn’t overbearing but the tofu was so so so good and just for perfectly. I always order fried calamari or fried tofu all over and they do it justice. One of those simple dishes that many can screw up but not here.
The garlic noodles were very pad Thai-​esque but oh man the flavor was bursting with all kinds of herbal notes and it was like some Symphony in my mouth with tears rolling down my cheeks… It was that good. I got it with duck and it is so very hard to find good duck anywhere but it was just flawlessly executed and it was tender and not gamey at all. Just tender and flavorful. So good.
Would come back if I could find somebody to go with me every day of the week. Such an awesome place with obvious attention to ambiance and décor which is highly appreciated and so unusual in San Carlos to find such a respectably tasty establishment.
Highly recommend.

Came in midday on a Saturday after attending the Palo Alto Art and wine. Having also experienced the Palo Alto venue I must say the space at this location is much better. They also do not have a full bar, here in San Carlos, but they have the same amazing bathroom standards as Palo Alto.
The food was pretty okay, nothing to write home about but watching the server make the tea leaf salad was the best part. They also carry the same food as the Palo Alto venue, same standards as well. All in all it was pretty delicious, the service was sub-​par which was surprising due to the restaurant only being half full.
Overall, I probably won’t visit this location again unless in the area and everything else is booked.

Came here with a small group for a birthday and loved everything about this place. The décor is lovely, the space is cozy and intimate, and the service is decidedly upscale. We were very well attended but never felt smothered. The table was kept clean, dishes cleared, silverware replaced.
Most of us have never had Burmese food so we ordered the tea leaf salad to start on recommendation from our server and three other dishes to share between four ladies.
The tea leaf salad is incredible. Impossible to describe! Delicious flavors, lots of crunch. Our waiter mixed it at the table and told us everything that was in it. The dishes we ordered for dinner were fantastic as well. I was worried it wouldn’t be enough food but we couldn’t finish — and believe me, we tried! I rarely overeat but we all did that night because everything was so delicious.
We took the leftovers to go and they were just as yummy the next day. Our birthday dessert came with a a sparkling torch in it which was very exciting and the desserts were really good. Too bad we couldn’t eat them! Order less, eat slowly, enjoy Rangoon.