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Saint Michael's Alley

United States California Palo AltoSaint Michael's Alley

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A descendant of a bohemian beatnik cafe, this is now a refined spot for modern Californian fare.

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A descendant of a bohemian beatnik cafe, this is now a refined spot for modern Californian fare.

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MargaretMargaret

1850

Lovely venue with ok service and variable food - given the price point, a pretty disappointing meal. Bread service was not included but was a $4 extra which seems rather stingy for a $100/plate meal. The highlight was probably the very tasty brussel sprout appetizer with harissa aioli with a delightful amount of spice, cream, and crunch. 4.5/5. The broccoli appetizer was the worst preparation I have ever had: a pile of boiled green stalks arrived vaguely infused with spice but with no salt or umame and were wincingly bitter 1/5. My wife ordered the arugula salad - staff thought they were being kind in just bringing out a split plate for both of us but didn't ask and I don't like arugula so I just gave her my half. She said it was passable. For entree I had the steak medium rare. It arrived cool to the touch and cooked medium to medium-well; the menu promised a coffee rub but very little flavor other than the meat was discernible and there was a meaningful amount of gristle on the outer rim. It also came with a side of...wait for it...bitter broccoli. At these these strands had a chance to mop up some of the steak juice and butter to give it some body. 3.5/5. Honestly when you pay $60 for a steak and think "I could make this better at home and probably have had steak equally tasty at Sizzler for 1/6 the price" it's not a great feeling. My wife had the fish and eggplant dish and rather enjoyed its novel preparation. (4/5?) I finished with the banana bread pudding, which was excellent. It came out quickly with cold ice cream and hot pudding with crunchy edges. 4.5/5. My wife had the chocolate cinnamon cake and really enjoyed it (4.5/5?) The wines by the glass were quite good and reasonably priced for their quality.

David E. WeeklyDavid E. Weekly

50

The food is not bad at all, but I simply do not think it is worth the price that you must pay to have it. I had the tomato and mozzarella salad, which was literally slices of two different tomatoes, with three different mozzarella balls with a salmon on the side for $23. The salmon looked like the ones you buy from Costco and it was a little dry. The three scallops are like $40 and the steak as well. For the price you pay, you do not get a good enough portion or quality of food. The service here was also eh for the kind of restaurant it is. Our server forgot our bread without realizing for a while and our waters were not refilled for a long time (it was not that busy at the restaurant). It was also very chilly indoors, granted, it was hot outside so that's probably why the fans were on but it was cold. Overall, this place is okay, but if you're going to spend a lot of money on a meal, I would go elsewhere.

Kara PangKara Pang

40

Took a friend here for brunch on her birthday. If you're coming past the 84, expect quite a bit of local driving. Kind of nestled deep in Palo Alto. Other than that, pretty solid spot for brunch over the weekends. Ordered their salmon eggs Benedict, good Hollandaise, tomato slice was properly cooked so that it melded with the rest of the dish's texture and wasn't too crisp. There's a lack of appetizers during brunch, was hoping there's be something like oysters to share, but the fruit plate sufficed. The dessert menu is very straight forward, a lot of safe choices. Nothing stands out, but I doubt you'd be disappointed with what you find.

B. LiB. Li

10

We visited here and dined outside to celebrate an occasion. The staff were exceptionally nice and accomodating, and since we dined outdoors, they even offered us blankets to wear. A very cozy meal indeed! As for the the food, the pork belly was exceptional, and the ravioli was also very good. The lamb tenderloin was cooked with Sichuan peppercorns, but didn't have that characteristic numbing taste which was the only (mild) letdown during the meal (I cook with a lot of Sichuanese ingredients). But overall the experience was great and we'd definitely recommend trying this place out.

Triya BhattacharyaTriya Bhattacharya

00

Excellent service and loved the warm ambience. The appetizers were great, but predictable. We tried the beet salad (recommend), the bruschetta(bread was very hard), the Chinese eggplant (recommend), and the bread basket. For mains, we ordered the special for the night pappardelle with sea food, and another veggie pasta dish (can’t recollect the name). My pappardelle was dry and pretty uncooked so I had to send it back (one less star). The chef was apologetic and they remade my dish, and this time around it was much better. 5 stars for the service.

Smitha KSmitha K

10

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Overview

4.4

(282 reviews)$$$

Phone

+1 650-326-2530

Call

Website

stmikes.com

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Deep Dive

A deep dive into Saint Michael's Alley

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