Saint Michael's Alley — Restaurant in Palo Alto

A casual, cozy historic PA spot serving New American cuisine.

I came here on a Thursday night for a birthday dinner. Our table of 5 was seated immediately. We sat down, read our menus, ordered a few starters to share, then each did our own entrees.

Ambiance - 4 stars. The place is cute, artwork on the walls, low ceilings, and cozy.

Ahi tuna poke - 5 stars. Raw chunks of tuna with wasabi, edamame, seaweed salad, and a yogurt sauce. Fresh and light, the wasabi brightened the tuna and the edamame and sesame added some texture. We shared this dish but I definitely wanted more.

Crispy pork belly - 3 stars. Served with a thai chili vinaigrette and cucumber/onion salad. I found the pork slightly overdone and I was satisfied just with my bite.

Special burrata & endive salad - 4 stars. I'm a sucker for burrata and this was creamy, stretchy, and delicious. The rest of the salad was good too, but really, are you paying attention to salad when there's burrata?

Salmon with green curry sauce - 5 stars. A perfectly cooked piece of salmon on top of baby bok choy and asparagus, topped with a creamy spicy Thai green curry sauce. A generous portion, though the dish was light enough that I wasn't stuffed to the gills after. Lots of complex flavors, I would order this again.

Service - 3 stars. There was a table near us that came in after we did that had their own prix fixe kinda thing going on. They were clearly some kind of party, and had brought all their own alcohol, and our service suffered because of it. They were doted on (as they probably should have been) but we were ignored. It took 20 minutes before someone came by to take our order and throughout the night our service was less attentive than it could have been.

Overall, I enjoyed my meal at St. Michael's Alley and I'd...

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...

Can I give 3.5 stars?

I grew up in Palo Alto, and somehow never made it to this Palo Alto institution until recently. Dinner was good, service was very friendly and helpful. For the price point, I think they can do better.

ARTICHOKE AND CHEESE TART This was the star of the meal. It was fantastic.

HAMACHI CRUDO WITH MEYER LEMON GELEE What were we thinking ordering this? The quality of the hamachi was so-so, the Meyer Lemon overwhelmed the Hamachi.

HAZELNUT AND HONEY ENCRUSTED RACK OF LAMB The lamb was good. Not great. The red quinoa and asparagus were very good. Call me crazy, but I felt that the minted pea puree that came with my husband's scallops was a better match for the lamb than the tomato olive ragu that it came with.

SEARED WILD SEA SCALLOPS, MINTED PEA PUREE Again, scallops were good, not great.

TIRAMISU Delicious, creamy, not too rich.

PROFITEROLES I thought I would like the mint ice cream, but these convinced me that classic vanilla is the best match.

BASIL GIMLET I ordered a Basil Gimlet, but I think I got a standard Gimlet. It was very good, but not a Basil Gimlet.

My husband had a cocktail he really enjoyed as well, but I can't recall the name.

The service was friendly and helpful. Overall, the only 2 items that I would order again are the Artichoke and Cheese Tart, and the Tiramisu. The food was good, not great, which was a little disappointing (at this high price point, I would choose Evvia over SMA in...