Lunch Options, Mountain View
 

When I first moved to Seattle, I asked for and received great ideas for lunch spots near where I worked. I'm on my way back to Silicon Valley and thought I'd ask for the same down here. I'll be on Middlefield near where the old Netscape buildings were. (by the 85 overpass).

Anyone have any great ideas for lunch spots? Especially anywhere new as I've been away for a few years.

I like cheap tasty food and am happy to try new things.

I'm looking forward to being back somewhere with good Mexican food. I've enjoyed the burritos at La Costeña (some colleagues were partial to La Bamba, but I disagree). I liked the hand pulled noodles place on Castro in Mountain View. The Shawarmas at the Middle Estern place on California Ave in Palo Alto wer much to my liking, heard they opened a new place on University. Good sushi is always appreciated, when I was here before Seto Sushi in Sunnyvale was the place to go. I'll have a car so driving a bit shouldn't be a problem.

Basically looking for hidden gems are worth a try.

I work down Whisman near Central, so not far away. First of all, the fast food Chinese place at Whisman and Middlefield has gone downhill but upprice -- continue further to the one at Rengstorff next to Burrito Real (which is now the place that is owned by the guy who used to own La Costena). I find Burrito Real good but rather pricey and prefer Savor Mexico at San Antonio and California.

Not too impressed with the other places at Whisman and Middlefield either. Some like the Japanese place, but it seems to me that they don't replace their cooking oil often enough. Roger's Deli has been around for decades and I ask, "why?"

Takeout bentos at the Japanese Market at Grant and El Camino (behind Burger King) are a popular option around here. I have never tried the Indian place buried in the same strip mall.

Everyone has their favorite sandwich chain -- mine is neither Quizno's nor (heaven forbid!) Subway, but Togo's, with the nearest store on El Camino.

Report back on new places you find.

Thanks for the great info, I'll be sure to report back after I start the new job on the 19th.

As ubiquitous as they are, I've still never been to a Togo's. I'll have to give them a try for sandwiches.

You could also try the Idine restaurants on Castro, Cantakerous Seafood and New Maharaja....can't comment on their food, although I 've been meaning to go, for one reason or other, just keep putting it off.

Neither is cheap per your 'cheap and tasty' IMO, but I don't consider Seto Sushi in Sunnyvale cheap either. Its still very popular by the way.


Update 4/16: Had the petrale sole for lunch at Cantankerous Seafood this week, was good. Nice place, run by Scotts under a different name. Smaller than a Scotts.

One of the cheapest on Castro is "Food Street" -- Chinese. Not as cheap is the ramen place, Ryowa Ramen. I like the Manila Grill further up towards El Camino (where there is usually parking), but then I lived in the Philippines for 3 years long ago. The challenge on the main part of Castro is parking can be annoying at lunchtime, although you could possibly take the light rail for 3 stops from Ellis/Middlefield -- one light rail ticket is good for 2 hours, so it will do your round trip.

old topic, i know, but since i have an opinion, here it is:

1) the indian places (not nearly as cheap as they used to be, but still my fav)
2) the tied house (love the sausauge platter)
3) the chinese place on the north side of villa between castro and the tied house (i don't like chinese food, but can tolerate that place)
4) michaels (at the end of shoreline)
5) the mexican place at on dana north of castro (la bamba is my favorite burrito place in the view)
6) maldanado's pizza (near latham/rengstorff)
7) tung kee (lots of bang for the buck; i'm still convinced it's a front of some sort)
8) tienfu (another tolerable chinese place)

regarding parking, even during the boom days, i only encountered a problem ONCE during lunch.

fyi, there are some great places in downtown sunnyvale as well. joslyn's (sp) in town and country village is pretty neat.

Tung Kee is now New Tung Kee and it is in San Antonio mall, next to Mervyn's. Large portions, low prices, tasteless.

Michaels is a great suggestion especially on nice sunny days -- and it's rarely crowded for Saturday or Sunday brunch/lunch.

In downtown Sunnyvale, what about the micro-brew place, Stoddard's? Really good food, but noisy -- not noisy if you sit out back on a nice day.

Burrito Real and La Costena make good burritos but they are no longer cheap and now have different owners; I haven't tried La Bamba in a while, but I liked it last time.

Wow, looking over this thread, I have now made 3 out of 6 responses, I guess food is WAY too important to me! :)

Thanks for all the suggestions, I've been remiss in reporting back as I ended up getting an apartment right off castro so most days I just go home and make myself lunch. I haven't yet been able to try out many of the suggested places.

In Sunnyvale have tried Stoddards and Basil Thai, both were tasty and I would go back to either. Have hit La Castena and Burrito Real, interesting about the change in owners, the burritos were good but not as outstanding as I remembered. I'll give La Bamba a shot.

Don't remember ever seeing Michael's, I'll have to go a-looking.

I think the Mexican place mentioned is Fiesta del Mar? I haven't been since I returned to the bay area but I remember liking the "grandma's recipe" which was chicken with some kind of Orange sauce. I think the owner's sister owns Palo Alto Sol on California Avenue in Palo Alto which has the same dish.

No - That place is also good, but the place I'm talking about is between Castro and Shoreline on Dana. It's a full-blown restaurant, but with reasonable prices. In fact, I think I will go there right NOW.

i had a chance to do some more fact checking today on my own memory which doesn't do too well with respect to names of lunch spots

this one's called the golden wok.

los charros is its official name. the other place i was thinking of was not fiesta del mar, but la fiesta. it's a few blocks south (east?) of castro on villa. iirc fiesta del mar is on shoreline near the freeway (i used to live at the shadows across the street back my school had a housing crisis) though i vaguely recall seeing another one downtown.

Aha, a difference of opinion. I'm not a big fan of "Golden Wok" which does a lot of home delivery (I think there's another branch on Cal Ave in Palo Alto).

Also "Pasta ?" on Castro St, the second restaurant by the guys who started on University Ave in Palo Alto, seems too pricey at lunch -- they have the same menu for both lunch and dinner.

Been disappointed as well with Amici's Pizza further down towards El Camino -- expensive and nothing special. The most famous pizza places in Mountain View are "Frankie, Johnny, and Luigi's Too" on El Camino and "Tony & Alba's" on Escuela near Cost Plus, but "Tony & Alba's" was sold a few years back and there are no longer any waits (with good reason, it went downhill). FJ&L makes a more acidic pizza. Kapp's on Castro St. is OK too, IMO.

"Fiesta Del Mar" has a second restaurant near the M.V. postoffice on Villa. It's kind of easy to figure out the connection, since this one is named "Fiesta Del Mar Too." "La Fiesta" is sort of in a secret location, surrounded by auto repair shops in the very non-descript neighborhood further south down Villa.

Does anyone in the area make a decent Chicago style pizza (Stuffed would be ideal)? The thicker the better.

For pizza, I've always thought Applewood makes a decent pie.

Was also disappointed in Amici's, was hoping it would be better as it is about 100 yards from my front door.

Tried Manila Grill recently and I think I should try again at lunch, went late one night and everything seemed like it had been sitting around on the steam trays for way too many hours.

and here's a good article that describes the pedigree of the varous La Fiesta restaurants: Always a party

I went there last night for the first time in about a year and my only thoughts were: the food quality has tailed off a bit while the prices keep moving north. Back in the day, 2 people could eat there with drinks for $25 (even less with a coupon from the Stanford phone book). But, now you no longer get free soup and even the a la carte burritos are over $10. I have no trouble paying the price for a nice dinner, but I think La Fiesta's impression of itself may no longer be grounded too firmly in reality. I'll stick with La Bamba, thanks.

[Does anyone in the area make a decent Chicago style pizza (Stuffed would be ideal)? The thicker the better.]

Saw a coupon in this weeks Penny Saver for Pizza Chicago in Santa Clara (1576 halford ave, west of Lawrence). Anyone been there? It doesn't have a description of the pizza, but I assume with the name that it's Chicago style.

Yeah, I've been there and have also been to the one on El Camino in Palo Alto (coincidentally another couponing advertiser in the Stanford directory). The pizza's a little greasy for my tastes, but isn't half bad. I recommend the Great Chicago Fire.

Been to the Pizza Chicago in Palo Alto (since it's only about 2 miles from my home). It's OK but not real Chicago pizza, IMO. Heavy couponer.

There are branches of Pizzeria Uno in the South Bay -- I seem to recall one on either El Camino or Stevens Creek in Cupertino (now why do I get those streets mixed up? :) ) which serve a franchise chain version of Chicago stuffed pizza.

I've never found really outstanding stuffed pizza outside of the Chicago area, and that's one of the things I look forward to on every trip to the Chicago area -- a stuffed spinach and pepperoni pizza! mmmmm......

Curious that in all my years of living around here, I've never had an Applewood Pizza.

Too bad about La Fiesta, I haven't eaten there in years. Now I won't have to! And I've only eaten at Manila Grill at lunch, and only gotten the pork adobo or lechon (when they have lechon).

I didn't mention that all four of us who dined at La Fiesta Wednesday experienced incredible stomach pains yesterday. My friend believes the soup he ordered had sat out too long.

A favorite haunt of mine while out west is Hobees. They have several locations around Silicon Valley. Great California fare, with special attention to freshness. In fact, try to get into one on a Sunday morning and you'll find yourself waiting an hour+ for one of their breakfasts. Oh, and no matter if it's for breakfast, lunch or dinner, you really REALLY ought to try their blueberry coffeecake. It's what put them on the map many years ago and is still what gets me coming back. They even sell take-out tins of the coffeecake that serve about a dozen and hold up very well on flights. I brought home a couple of them just last week. (And they freeze well, too.)

Mmmm... now I'm hungry.

I once sat next to Peter Taber (I think that's how it's spelled), the founder of Hobee's, at a political luncheon at another restaurant when we were served rubber chicken. It was funny to hear him comment on that -- he said that the one thing he would never compromise on is the quality of the ingredients used in his restaurants. As far as I can tell, Hobee's restaurants -- all of which are pretty funky looking -- stick to that commitment to this day.

The very first Hobee's is on Central Expressway in a very nondescript strip mall at Rengstorff. Stop by sometime and see how it all began (but totally avoid the Chinese place in the same strip mall no matter how long the line at Hobee's).

who da thunk? personally, i can't stand breakfast food (a combination of hating eggs and not wanting to eat so quickly upon waking), but whenever my friends would corner me into hobee's, i would always suggest the rengstorff/central location because it was quite convenient, but they would always decline based on sanitary concerns.

moving on, does anyone eat "lunch" at hobee's?

What a great post - memory lane for me since I've eaten at many of these restaurants during my 20 years in Sunnyvale. FJL's pizza is truly awesome. My mouth is watering thinking about it.


I am surprised to see nobody mentioned the Sechuan Garden just west of Central on Castro. Awesome food and service. Went there at least once per week for lunch (try the Garden Chicken Fillet) for 20 years. MMM!!!!

This quote made me feel guilty not having tried Applewood after all these years so, with my kids, we set out to "Applewood-2-Go" on El Camino in Sunnyvale (near the Mountain View border). Figured we'd drop in, wait for a pizza, and take it back to the office.

The sign said "OPEN," the hours on the door said it was open, but no one was there. There was a sign with a number to call if the place was locked during business hours.

Didn't sound like a pleasant prospect (How long would it take them to show up AFTER we called? Was the oven even ON?) so we went across the street to Togo's for lunch. When we got back to pick up the car, the place was still signed as OPEN but locked tighter than a drum.

Still haven't tried Applewood, alas....I guess you gotta go to the main store in Menlo Park.