Palo Alto dining-Tamarine vs Evvia vs ??

Need a spot in Palo Alto for a 6 person birthday celebration. Haven’t been to Tamarine in a few years but used to like it a lot back in the day. I like Evvia and have been in the last year or two. Still seems like consistent good quality Greek food. Any thoughts? Also looked at Tai Pan on line but have never been. Birthday group is 2 oldish people (us!) and 4 late 20 early 30’s offspring and wives.

My son had his graduation party at Tamarine 2 years ago and it was perfect for us. We were a group of 8, old and young.

This coming from someone who generally shy away from University Avenue for a variety of reasons, so take my comments with a grain of salt.

They are all adequate food-wise and has decent interior for birthday celebrations. Evvia is affiliated with Kokkari in SF, and like Kokkari, is one of the better Greek choices in the area, as you knew already. Though, like many of its University Avenue neighbors, is pricey for the food.

I only had Tamarine once and I don’t remember the details about the meal. Though the flavors didn’t stand out for me.

If you want nicely decorated decent Cantonese, Tai Pan would fit the bill since in the immediate vicinity, as there aren’t really many Cantonese choices in the lower Peninsula.

There has been good comments about Zola on this board, though I haven’t had a chance to go.

What are your criteria for picking the venue?

Need a place to walk to from where we are staying after driving all afternoon to get to PA.Want it to be festive since we’re celebrating 3 birthdays. I lived in Menlo Park/portola Valley for many years and realize there is no restaurants in the area that I love. But we have had some good meals at tamarine a long time ago and evvia has always been consistent. I did go to website and was shocked at how pricey they have gotten. Tai-Pan does sound decent. I’d probably overall like the patio at Delfina but the hassle of their no reservation policy really bugs me.

I haven’t been, but I heard Nola is festive. But I think someone mentioned here that the food is no longer what it was.

Nola’s is where my sons have gone to party in PA for many years. I just made a reservation at 3 Seasons outdoor patio. May be perfect.

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Recently had a work meal at Tamarine, where the group picked a price point and the kitchen brought out a bunch of apps, mains and desserts for us. Tried a majority of the items on the menu. Pretty much the same experience as every time before. Decent, but nothing that really stood out, except maybe the Alaskan black cod. It was melt-in-the-mouth tender, and delicious. Its not particularly Vietnamese but its definitely the highlight for me.

I was just going through this site and saw this thread from 2017. We still live in Santa Barbara but come to Menlo Park 10 days a month. We started getting Tamarine delivered during the pandemic and have found some favorite items but I need some new ideas for delivery or dining. We still go to Portola Valley a lot for dining especially because we have two grandkids now and we can have casual dinners at Amigos Grill or Portola Kitchen outside. I need some Chinese restaurant suggestions and Ettan looks great. Sounds like there is some good Thai in San Carlos.

I am with sck. Tamarine is ok at best. You have my longer thoughts on the other thread.

Thai in san carlos is issarn garden. Style is northern. If you have been haunted by the taste of northern sausages like you get at the open air market in chang mai, they make their own as issarn garden, and have place of pride at top of the specalties section. Only order from the issarn part of the menu. The gang om (?) Soup is also something special.

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Totally agree about the sausage @ Isarn Thai, love their crispy rice ball salad too… :yum: