Tamarine Restaurant & Gallery — Restaurant in Palo Alto

Last night we went to Tamarine to celebrate my son and MIL's birthdays. We were very excited because my wife's last visit was phenomenal.

We enjoyed the claypot cod and vegan avocado spring rolls. However, most other dishes were underwhelming. Our least favorite was the chicken meatball which although cooked smelled like undercooked chicken. The Ha Long Bay soup was served lukewarm. The food appears to have dropped significantly in quality since August 2022 although reviews here suggest otherwise. We felt like it lacked both the presentation and flavor that we came to expect from a fine dining restaurant.

It would have still been a 3 star experience had the service been good. Unfortunately, our waitress made an already bad experience terrible. She seemed disinterested in serving us. She tried to upsell us sparkling water and wine right after introducing herself. During the rest of the meal, she was inattentive to our needs. For example, we ordered two drinks. We only got one. When we asked for the second drink after 10 minutes when the food had arrived, she got us the drink and offered to comp it. Yet, she proceeded to add it to our tab.

She didn't enquire about our food preferences at any point or offer us any useful recommendations. All we got were half-hearted platitudes and insincere remarks that made us cringe. After the entrees came out she disappeared completely. I get that it was a busy night but at no point did we feel like she made the slightest effort to make us feel welcome or comfortable. We waited for a long time before flagging down another server to ask for our waters to be refilled. We also had to wait a while to flag her down for our check.

We weren't asked about desserts. Not that we could give how slow the service was and it was bedtime for my son. When we made the reservation and mentioned the occasion we were told that they offered chocolate lava cakes celebrate birthdays. She offered a weak and insincere apology when we mentioned that we weren't offered the lava cake we were promised. She offered to get it for us after we paid the bill, almost out of pity. "We can get one if you like.. there is a dessert menu and that sort of a thing... I can still get it.. Do you want it?".

To make things worse, we were slapped with a 20% gratuity (+ 4% employer mandate) for a table of 4 adults (bill attached) for this travesty of a service. The menu mentions a mandatory 20% gratuity for a table 5 and over. I don't know if infants count. Our bills shows that we were a table of 4. It's possible that the reservation indicated we were a table of 5, but a diligent waitress would have checked it first.We were at our wits end and in no mood to discuss this with her.

We were extremely disappointed. Especially since my wife's last experience was nothing short of stellar. What should have been a celebration was marred by sub par food and very poor service. My in-laws had flown in from out of town to celebrate with us and the evening was an absolute trainwreck.

I would not recommend Tamarine to anyone or...

The worse service I’ve ever experienced. We came to celebrate my birthday with family. There were 7 of us . The waitress just ignored us for the first 20 minutes. Finally we got menus . Instead of regular water they brought us sparkling water , which none of us drinks , ever ! We kept asking for a normal water and the guy who was serving water either did non understand us or pretended not to . They kept bringing this sparkling water in bottles . We had a bottle of champagne with us , so the waitress opened it and without asking us just poured full glasses to our teenage kids . Another 30 minutes passed until we could order . The food was mediocre Asia food that you can eat at any bistro, but for the price of gourmet meal. 5 out of our group are vegan , so we mostly ordered vegan food- veggies and tofu and rice , nothing fancy. We brought our cake again because we are vegan . Everything was so slow that we were just tired of waiting and the whole meal took too long . So we decided we will just blow the candles on cake and take it home to eat later , but again the same waitress just decided without asking us to cut the cake into huge pieces and serve into plates. We literally asked her to put it back in the box. The catch was - they charge you CAKE fee! I was aware of cork fee, but cake fee ?! And without giving us heads up ! So the cake fee is per served plate so no wonder she didn’t even ask us and just took upon herself to serve it onto plates , when no one asked her . The waitress was super weird and condescending . She came really close to your face to speak to you and talk to you like you were a complete idiot. Everyone at our party felt really uncomfortable in her presence. The evening was ruined. So , here we get our bill. The sparkling water we did not ask and did not drink , we were really thirsty from all the salt in the food but only one of us managed to get still water and we all drunk if that one glass, the cork fee , the cake fee , the food that took too long to arrive and was really mediocre , gratuity that was already included, which otherwise I would not pay for the way we were treated and additional Palo Alto cost of living fee or something like that . Over to $500 !!! No meat , no cocktails, no desserts! Veggies , rice and tofu !!! Needless to say we are not coming back and I do not recommend this...

Duck & Taro 3 duck leg confit, super dry and tough; braised taro, super dry on the inside; coconut ginger sauce, creamy, flavorful; kale, bok choy, slightly bitter Blue Crab Nori Tacos 5 crispy nori shells, white rice, avocado, mayo, chives, lemon flavor, salty, refreshing, flavorful Wok Beef Noodles 4 pad sew ew, flat rice noodles, bitter Chinese broccoli, slightly dry Wagyu steak slices, eggs, sweet soy, oyster sauce Tamarine Prawns 3 five jumbo shrimp, flash fried, sweet & sour tamarind sauce, rice crisps Grilled Pork Skewers 4 medium juicy, medium flavorful Banh Xeo 3 crispy golden pancake, shrimp, pork, veggies, fish sauce, not flavorful Ha Long Bay Soup 3 crab dumplings, green soup, coconut milk, slightly sour Banh Mi Roti 4 crispy, curry dipping Hokkaido Scallop Crudo 5 raw, super refreshing, slightly sweet Kanpachi Crudo 4 raw, mixed w/ oranges & pomelo (red meat orange), hard sesame crackers, refreshing, not flavorful Chicken Meatballs 5 ground chicken skewer, tender, juicy, grilled, glazed, cured egg yolk, tamari-ginger dipping sauce, sweet, savory, flavorful Coconut Prawns 5 deep fried, juicy inside, large, mango & chili dipping sauce Coconut-spiced Chicken 3 crispy, boneless, dry, coconut purple rice, dried anchovies, peanuts Tiger Prawns & Garlic Noodles 5 chewy, slightly sweet & spicy, only 4, soggy egg noodles Lemongrass Seabass 5 tender, juicy, not a big fan of lemongrass flavor Salt & Pepper Calamari 5 cilantro lime sauce Tea Leaf Beef 4 slightly sour, ground beef Shaking Beef 4 tender, some slightly dry, some raw inside, sweet & savory soy sauce Pan Seared Duck Breast 4 medium rare, some hard to chew, carrot puree Clay Pot Cod 3 juicy, too sweet Roasted Halibut 3 crispy skin, tender, medium juicy, fish wasn't flavorful Hoisin Lamb Chops 4 medium rare, chewy, medium flavorful, sweet potato fries slightly soggy, bok choy undercooked Chili Lime Aubergine 4 eggplant, soft, refreshing Banana Beignets 4 fried banana, coconut gelato Coconut Pandan Creme Brulee 3 green, don't like pandan flavor Meyer Lemon Mousse & Lychee Sorbet 4 orange, pomelo, sesame almond cracker, refreshing,...