Mingalaba Restaurant

I travel to the Burlingame/Redwood City area about once a month so I like to try different places to eat. This was one of my favorites. Service was great and very knowledgeable. My server answered all my questions and made great recommendations based on my feedback. (I like spicy 🔥). I ordered the Vegetarian Samusas, Curry Chicken with coconut rice, and Pork Basil stir fry. It was all awesome & I have plenty for my lunch tomorrow. The parking is a bit tough, but it is on downtown Burlingame. But there are parking lots around with signs directing you.

Atmosphere: 5

Food: 5

Service: 5

delicious vegetarian - option food. Portions are a little small so order more than you think you need! Taste-wise, probably one of the best Burmese places in bay area.

Atmosphere: 5

Food: 5

Service: 5

This is a go to for me and my family! Everything that we have not disappoint us. It doesn’t matter if we dine in or delivery. This is a few of our favorite dishes. Tea leaf salad, pork and pumpkin stew, salt & pepper prawns, basil spicy fish, any type of curry, and won’t forget about the paratha.

Atmosphere: 5

Food: 5

Service: 5

Mingalaba has been a favorite of mine for a long time! I was delighted to go in as a new vegan and learn that a lot of their menu is naturally vegan. Staff was knowledgeable about ingredients and said that everything in the "vegetarian" section that doesn't explicitly mention egg is vegan. Tea leaf salad and most noodle dishes can also be made vegan. So delicious!

I’ve been to a few Burmese restaurants and Mingalaba is my favorite! When we arrived on a Tuesday night the restaurant was full with a brief wait, so clearly others agree.

They have the best tea leaf salad I have ever tasted.

We also enjoyed the other dishes we got:

-Burmese Style Noodles were very good, we weren’t sure what to expect since they come room temp but we loved every bite.

-Pan Fried String Beans with Pork was salty but flavorful

-Rangoon Beef was solid too

Overall a great spot!

Atmosphere: 4

Food: 5

Service: 5

Unbelievably small portions, left hungry, food was good but more like appetizer potions, not exactly cheap either

Atmosphere: 4

Food: 4

Service: 4

Very tasty food everytime we have been. One feedback for the restaurant is that for the price, you may consider the portion size .its very very small portion sizes. When you are charging almost 18 to 20 dollars per dish, offer more than a cup of food so customer feels a bit satisfied. It won’t cost you that much more and it will make your customers even more happy.

Atmosphere: 4

Food: 5

Service: 5

Been here a couple times now. Their usually pretty busy and requires a wait. It's a relatively small sized restaurant. Had the tea leaf salad $18.50, coconut chicken soup $18.50, lamb curry dahl $25, Burmese style curry chicken $19, Burmese style curry prawns $24, tampoi rice $10. All the food is slightly above average. Portions are a but small for the price. Service is decent. Food takes a while to come out. Overall, it's decent. But I do have pretty high standards for Burmese food since I have Burmese family and have tried a lot of Burmese restaurants

Atmosphere: 4

Food: 4

Service: 4

Loved their Burmese coconut chicken soup! Service was great, waiters were really nice and attentive. Ambience was nice and cozy. A room for improvement would be to add a small portion (half bowl?) of white rice with any curry, with option to change to other type of rice or bread for additional cost.

Atmosphere: 5

Food: 5

Service: 5

Add noodles to the coconut chicken soup and you get one of the most comforting dishes I’ve ever eaten

I visited Mingalaba Restaurant today. I like your food and I often order online, sometimes with friends. Today I decided to eat inside the restaurant. I asked to pay first and the staff gave me a check. I’m a student, I work and study, I left a $1 tip. One employee spoke to me rudely and said I left too little, that it should be 15% — $2. I said “okay” and changed it to $2 as he asked. After that, he told me, “Next time, order to-go.” It made me feel very uncomfortable and I couldn’t enjoy my meal.
I went to him and calmly said: “I want to say something. Taking food to-go or eating here is my choice. And how much tip I leave, it’s my decision. You cannot tell me what to do.” He became aggressive, raised his voice, interrupted me and did not let me speak.
If you have a required tip amount for dining in, please write it somewhere and make it clear for customers. I will not come back to your restaurant

Mingalaba is a wonderful restaurant - interesting mix of different food types. They do have my favorite spring roll of any restaurant I've ever eaten at - a spring roll (not deep fried) with tempura shrimp wrapped in avocado with a Burmese sauce that is really delicious. Also like the string beans with tofu, the Tea Leaf Salad and the vegetable chow fun - just very delicious. The service is wonderful, the people are nice, not long waits - just a nice place. Very casual - nothing fancy but if you want authentic food that tastes great, this is a wonderful place. I've also found that their take-out is really good too - comes hot, timely and not overly-priced. Strongly recommended.

Atmosphere: 4

Food: 5

Service: 5

Service was meh

Atmosphere: 4

Food: 3

Service: 2

Really impressed by the staff’s attention to detail. Just one small example of how much they are paying attention was that they noticed my two year-old had chewed up her paper straw and they brought her out a new straw without us mentioning anything. The food was excellent. We liked all the dishes we ordered. We especially like the samosa soup and the house noodles. We would definitely come back here again.

Food: 5

Service: 5

Recommended dishes: House Noodles

I visited this place since we were in the area and have been here in the past pre-covid. Food was good but not worth coming back. It was so overpriced.
We had 3 dishes that costs us $80:
1. Tea Leaf Salad
2. Roti with curry sauce appetizer
3. Green beans
Tea was $3.00 per person, not fixed price for the tiny pot.
They require a $15.00 min per person.
Lastly, they charge a whooping 16% service charge!
So not only are their dishes $20 a piece, they add this crazy service charge, which made me not leave any tip. I will never go there again. Oh and hardly any Asians dine there, which tell me Asians are going somewhere else.

Atmosphere: 3

Food: 2

Service: 3