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fown9

The best indian restaurant in bay area is Sakoon, on castro in MV, try the lunch buffet and kerala fish curry

The best japanese sushi in bay area is Hoshi in santa clara, try the toro.

The best vietnamese homestyle in bay area is Tofoo Com Chay in downtown san jose, try the vegetarian bamboo soup noodle

The best cheap michelin french in bay area is at Chez TJ, in downtown MV.

The best burmese restaurant in bay area is Rangoon Cafe in palo alto.

The best chinese hot pot in bay area is wuji hot pot in milpitas

The best indonesian restaurant in bay area is bay leaf in sunnyvale. try nasi bungkus

The best korean bbq in bay area is gooyi gooyi in santa clara CA

The best independent coffeeshops in bay area are in MV (dana street, red rock)

The best steakhouse in bay area is alexander steakhouse in cupertino

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I disagree with this article, but in the interest of balancing your claims:

There are better rated restaurants in most of the categories you mentioned elsewhere in the Bay. For example, I know of at least two Indian places that I personally consider better than Sakoon and have better ratings on Yelp. There are a half dozen that have better ratings on Yelp but which I have never been to. And that's just within five miles of Menlo Park, to say nothing of the city.

You are of course free to your own opinion, but I'd caution other readers that this is just one opinion among many, and is probably not as near the mean as one might hope given the authoritative tone of the assertions made.

And to add to the point above, Yelp ratings are not well-normalized across markets. The things that people care about in the 'burbs is different than in the city and places get voted up or down for odd reasons.

For example, Joya in Palo Alto is a pretty amazing restaurant but only gets 3.5 stars. The Cheesecake Factory (which is a pretty crappy chain) gets a 5. This is not really good data.

You are not wrong, and I hope my hedging made it clear that I do not consider Yelp authoritative either. It is a signal among many.

which 2 indian places do you consider to be better?

I would say Little India Cafe is better value for money, and Amber is better quality food overall.

Some of this list is just plain incorrect.

For example, Rangoon Ruby in Palo Alto is a pale imitation of Burma Superstar in San Francisco, a restaurant is openly models itself after.

Claiming that the best independent coffeeshop is in MV is really going out on a limb and ignoring the myriad of amazing coffee houses in SF - like Sightglass or Blue Bottle.

As someone who's lived in the city and in Sunnyvale and Palo Alto and Menlo Park, I pretty much agree with every that jwz has said and not much has changed.

It's true that there are some great places on the peninsula, but there's no critical mass. And often those places are in a strip mall and severely lacking in ambiance and atmosphere.

Not to detract from your point, but Burma Superstar has locations in Oakland and Alameda (Alameda almost never has a line) and Blue Bottle's roastery is in Oakland as well. Also Philz.

Tofoo Com Chay is superb and that kind of place (Dong Phuong Tofu is another good one) is found only in SJ. Although Oakland's Chinatown has a great Banh Mi place, Cam Huong.

I also visited a Blue Bottle in NYC and had some of the best coffee of my trip.

I brought up dana roasting and red rock cafe not because they only have great coffee, but also they have a great atmosphere with lively discussions amongst thinkers and live music to boot. No coffeeshops in san francisco has that great combination.

I think the peninsula is getting better, but we've still got a long way to go. The astronomical rents in SF are causing a lot of places to move down to the valley. There was a good article which just came out on the peninsula dining scene in the Palo Alto Weekly talking about the renaissance in dining.

http://www.paloaltoonline.com/news/2014/01/17/palo-altos-din...

Renaissance would imply "re-birth" though, which I'm not sure good dining ever existed here. :-D

http://www.vivesol.biz/mountainview/

And while there's many good places in the area that serve a good burrito or tao lunch, you need to ViVe Sol if you wan the best Mexican cuisine.

Stay away from the things you can get anywhere - the good stuff starts with their incredible mole, home-style casseroles, steaks covered in roasted peppers, etc.

Mmmm... spicy chocolate chicken...

All of those places were somewhere on my list of good places (but not at the top) at some time in the past and have fallen off as I have discovered even better places.

Hoshi is still great though and one of my favorites, but definitely not the best sushi in the South Bay. Also - you can't judge a sushi place by its toro according to Jiro-san.

would love your list then :)

Hachi Ju Hachi for Japanese. Kebab and Curry for Indian.

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