Roost & Roast — Restaurant in Palo Alto

If you are in the neighborhood looking for to-go, and like chicken karaage, don't mind some grease, you might like this place. Or check out the rice dishes or Thai iced tea machine.

The quality of chicken is no worse than most places around here, and since Bonchon chain has gone down the drain, this may be the slightly better option (at R&R you don't get soy garlic or gochujang, you get toasted rice nori? Or sweet chili sauce on the side).

Several years ago, this place used to be a chicken place with a different name (Tony?we don't recall). Now it's got a spiffy looking sign and clean cut look.

We didn't want rice, so we ordered the chicken a la carte option with a mix of wing, thighs, drumsticks, which tasted like bone-in chicken karaage and also tried the popcorn chicken, which was exactly like the taiwanese fried chicken at those bubble tea places, right down to the two skewers.

The bone in fried chicken smelled like your typical fresh fried chicken, overall tasted fresh, but was very greasy, oily. They do give you fresh lime wedges that cut the grease a bit.

The fat, particularly in the chicken wings is 80% rendered, which given that NO place around here we have tried has yet to render properly (why?why?) we either fry ourselves and smell the lingering chickeny odor for days in our rental apartment while working from home, or just settle for mostly rendered, and spit out pieces of rendered fat. (Yes, truly we have sunk to a new low)

The popcorn chicken was less greasy, but like other taiwanese fried chicken places, pieces were rather rubbery, fatty, and mostly fried batter pieces (Some people love this). We got a mixed batch, some were pale, powdery, some were dark brown/black in color.

They package your chicken in vented eco-friendly containers. Not closing the lids keeps chicken crispy. The plastic bag accumulate lots of moisture, but guessing paper bags might leave grease spots in your car.

They are generous with the deep fried Thai basil, but maybe it's the season? There was no aroma or taste (normally you can smell the sharp herbal note of Thai basil).

Service is friendly, but store procedure could be improved. Once you place your order on one of the two kiosks, an estimated wait time/txt msg when order is ready would be nice.

As it was, we waited outside, (there isn't really a waiting area or seating inside) hovering at the entryway, making sure we didn't miss our name being called from inside the store, while not blocking potential customers from entering.

Good to know: if you order a rice dish, they do carry the worst quality splintery chopsticks that a lot of silicon valley restaurants use (i am on a mission to eliminate these splintery cheapo chopsticks from restaurants everywhere! Saving one tender...

Yikes, this plaza's parking lot is hot garbage on a weekend afternoon. My review of this place isn't affected by that, but just reader beware if you plan to go.

Roost and Roast sounded like my perfect place to check out. I like chicken. I like fried chicken. Easy decision to go.

I ordered: Hat Yai Fried Chicken Meal Roti and Curry Popcorn Chicken

They surprisingly did not have khao mun gai/hainanese chicken. No biggie.

The fried chicken had an excellent crunch and the chicken was very moist, but the flavor was extremely light and def needed the sweet chili sauce on the side. If it had just a touch more seasoning/salt, it would have been great. The meal comes with jasmine rice (which was cooked fantastically) and cucumber slices to cut through the oil. 4/5

The roti and curry was alright. The roti wasn't as light and thin as I'm used to having it, but the curry sauce was so very light. It definitely leaned more towards the coconut milk flavor than the curry flavor. 2/5

The popcorn chicken didn't have a distinct smell or flavor. Like the fried chicken, it could have used more seasoning, whether on the outside after frying or on the inside while marinating. The portion for this was extremely generous and the fried Thai basil definitely helped, but this too needed to be eaten with sweet chili. 3/5

Dining tables can be hard to get, so be prepared to eat in your car or enjoy it at home. If you're lucky, you can grab a table, but they're all shared between the other...

I absolutely LOVE this place! It is one of my favorite places to eat in Palo Alto! I love the 3-piece Hat Yai Chicken and Rice with the sweet chili sauce. The chicken is always crunchy and the pickled carrots and daikon, crispy onions and cucumbers are just the perfect combination! The portion is perfectly filling without overwhelming!

The staff are always polite even during really busy hours. They can get quite busy after 5, so sometimes the wait can feel a bit long, especially if you're really hungry! The front end always looks clean and orderly. There are a lot of people that come through whether they order for pick-up or at the counter.

The location is convenient, especially to Stanford. It is also right next to Palmetto Superfoods, which is an acai bowl shop, which is my favorite placed to grab an acai bowl! Even though the plaza is always busy, we always manage to find a parking spot.

Definitely recommend you stop by and grab...