Straits – Burlingame

I’ve lived in Burlingame/​San Mateo my whole life. Hadn’t eaten at Straits Burlingame for a few years and decided to give it another try. Went in for lunch — the place was completely empty. Had the Straits Butter Chicken. Really poor quality — all dark meat, lots of fat. Ate the rice and sauce and left most of the chicken. Will never go back. It’s a cool interior ~ too bad they can’t raise the bar with their food.; (

Oh Burlingame… why the plethora of mediocre restaurants w mediocre food and service? This is our fourth time eating here and maybe our last. They do a few things well but it’s never consistent. Today we had the fried chicken and buttermilk biscuits. It takes true talent to make dark meat dry. The menu claimed the chicken was a leg and thigh and while I could make out the leg, the piece that was allegedly the thigh looked more like an… enlarged and misshapen wing? It also had no seasoning. The loco moco, which was good the last time we had it had dry overcooked rice this time. The décor is modern and impracticable. What’s up with the square cushion chairs w no backs?! Also this place is pretty dirty from the flies in the bathroom to the super sticky floors. Service is pretty mediocre too. Not bad, just inattentive. If you don’t want to wait to get seated and are ok w substandard food, give this place a try.

It was not a busy day, in fact it was dead when we, a party of 5, come in to have early dinner but the service was neglectful. Took a while to even get to us when we were the only party sitting in that section, HH happens at the bar section only. The waitress with purple hair came in maybe twice to ask if we needed anything. It was not what I expected from an empty establishment. We ordered a lot of food and the food was excellent but service needs to have a revamp.

I just love it here and come at least once a week. The staff are fantastic, the manager is a doll, they just can’t do enough for you.
They have a great wine list, and the menu is a dream. I just love the tamarind beef, probably my favourite thing.
You won’t be disappointed, no matter what night of the week you come. Highly recommended.

AWESOME EVERYTIME!!! I tried this place with friends and my boyfriend for the first time and we really enjoyed the food so when my daughter came in town, i let her try the restaurant and for the the second time the food was awesome and went home with a happy tummy. It’s a little pricey so you can’t really come here as often but it’s worth it once in awhile.

Nothing too special. Server was more dismissive than friendly, but not rude. Just not too warm of an atmosphere. But the food did come out pretty quickly. Large group of early-​twenties girls at a table in an entire different section kept clapping loudly and shrieking. The servers said nothing.
Garlic Noodles w/​chicken: noodles were a little overdone but nice flavor. A little too much sauce.
Roti Prata-didn’t personally try it but the group thought it was alright. They said they would’ve preferred Indian Naan bread. Got it with the free check-​in; never would have paid 8 bucks for it though! Sauce was pretty good.
Crab Cake Benedict-​okay. The veggies it came with might have been the best part.
Fuji Apple Prawn Salad-​this I really liked! Very nice, mild flavor and was a refreshing appetizer.
Ahi Tuna Tar Tare-didn’t like it as much as Seared Ahi Tuna. Not the freshest, and a pretty small portion for $ 16.
Seafood Vermicelli Noodles-​possibly the worst vermicelli noodles I’ve ever tasted. Server said he liked it because it wasn’t too saucy; well, there wasn’t nearly enough sauce. Bland, and not much seafood. Mainly noodles.
Coffee-​way too thin.
It’s one of those places you think is alright in the moment (we were also starving after a two-​hour drive), but later it’s more of a: what were we thinking???
Wouldn’t come back unless every item was free with check-​in.

One of my favorite places:
Service is away quick
Food is AMAZING
drinks are AMAZING
you can never go wrong with picking this place

We went there for the the happy hour and really enjoyed the selection on the menu! great wine appetizers. The service was great, We really enjoyed Augustine with his super friendly personality. Great place and awesome location!

I like it. It’s hopping, the food is good (go during happy hour and get great deals), and the service is great.

Expensive but nice vibe.
One of the better roti prata I had in the bay area, pretty authentic I must say.
Mee goreng was decent as well.
Many of the dishes on the menu were not Singaporean at all (I know, I grew up there!) but I guess it does well for an Asian fusion theme.

After getting my hair done from around the corner at Tamer and Mickel, I was starving… Since I was parked across from straits, I decided to grab a quick bite from there at the bar area. Instead of a quick bite, it became almost a full meal because it happened to be happy hour and everything sounded delicious. I ordered almost everything on the happy hour menu! The food was delicious! It was full of flavor with a fun whimsical presentation. The lychee cocktail I ordered was amazing too, not too sweet, and wasn’t shy of alcohol too, just the right punch.
Aside from the tasty food, the atmosphere and vibe was so fun. Not stuffy at all. I was dining by myself but I didn’t feel awkward at all. The bartenders were so nice and even cared enough to ask how was my day was. The servers were nice as well and not over bearing. I ordered quite a lot of food therefore I was there for a little while and never once did I feel rushed. Over all, food was delicious, service was great, vibe was awesome. I would definitely come back, but this time with more people to enjoy their full menu and many cocktails.

Huge shoutout to Straits for the awesome customer service. Over time this place has become my go to spot whenever I want to grab a drink with my friends in the area. On top of that, I’ve been here a few times for dinner as well.
Appetizers:
Roti Parata — thin flaky roti, a bit difficult to share, but still good!
Soup — can’t really remember which one I had but I’d get it again
Entrées:
Butter Chicken — easily my favorite. I usually need more rice for this because this is one of the dishes that you can share
Beer rendang — similar to the chicken but with different sauce
I also had a few other orders of the noodle dishes
TLDR; this is my go to spot for food and drinks. Shoutout to Arjay, Dennis, and Garrett for always being accommodating and super friendly!

Small places at 4pm on a Sunday, why not!
What I ordered:
— Lemongrass Mint Soda (Made me think of lemonade, not bad! I definitely forgot that lemongrass was sour)
— Garlic Fries (we loved that they had skinny fries, but there was barely any garlic on the fries unfortunately)
— Roti (highly recommended so we had to get it)
— Beef Carpaccio (the salad overwhelmed the beef slices, there were six slices, but for $ 11, I’ll consider ordering something else next time)
I think I’ll pass on their small plates next time, but will consider coming back for dinner to try their other items.

After 5 years I was leaving my place of employment and my colleagues decided to throw me Farewell diner here.
I would say this is a solid 3.5
The only reason is while food is good it’s not great.
The Roti Parata snd garlic noodles are stand out dishes.
The cocktails are also great however slightly on the weak side.
This is a place you got ambience not necessarily asian food!

Amazing fusion restaurant. Highly recommend the roti prata, samosa, and Straits seafood risotto. Been here four times and the food and service is always consistent.

Food — 5
Service — Slow, but that’s fine, we weren’t in a hurry
Atmosphere– loud, high ceilings, spacious, chic
Cleanliness– 4.5
Business Casual. Even in Burlingame, most «casual» is more on the business looking side. at least for this place.
Good was delicious! We enjoyed the
Tuna Tower — which had fancy wasabi blended sauce drizzled on the plate and a few crisp wontons artfully decorated around the tower
Crab Coquettes– not a huge fan as they were breaded and I believe flash fried, but tasted good enough to eat.
Season Curried Vegetables — that I couldn’t get enough of along with some of that addictive and quite fluffy Jasmjne Rice.
Our waitstaff was little uncoordinated and we had to flag them down for our bill, but they were busy and my date and I had a lot of talking to do, so all was well. We took our sweet time just like them. m
Would I return?
Oh sure!
The Singaporean food was a delightful treat. Yum.

Food — 5
Service — Slow, but that’s fine, we weren’t in a hurry
Atmosphere– loud, high ceilings, spacious, chic
Cleanliness– 4.5
Business Casual. Even in Burlingame, most «casual» is more on the business looking side. at least for this place.
Food was delicious! We enjoyed the…
Tuna Tower — which had fancy wasabi blended sauce drizzled on the plate and a few crisp wontons artfully decorated around the tower
Crab Coquettes– not a huge fan as they were breaded and I believe flash fried, but tasted good enough to eat.
Season Curried Vegetables — that I couldn’t get enough of along with some of that addictive and quite fluffy Jasmjne Rice.
Our waitstaff was little uncoordinated and we had to flag them down for our bill, but they were busy and my date and I had a lot of talking to do, so all was well. We took our sweet time just like them.
Would I return?
Oh sure!
The Singaporean food was a delightful treat. Yum.

Great place. Good food. Reasonable rates and nice ambience. No complaints. Great for a friendly hang-​out or even for a date night. Will definitely come here again.

If I can help it, I would give them zero. Bad service, bad food.

Was here a month ago for a business lunch and ordered gluten free seafood vermicelli noodles. We made it clear from the very beginning that my colleague is celiac and there cannot be any chance of cross-​contamination. The waitress assured us that the meal is gluten free and the kitchen will make sure that there are no cross-​contamination issues. The meal got my friend super sick immediately and we are more then sure that it was because the meal was not gluten free. Not coming back. Also agree on the over priced meals and portion sizes.

I’ve always received excellent service and food with my friends.

Food was decent. I’m abit of stickler when it comes to Indonesian/​Malaysian/​Singaporean dishes so I was pleasantly surprised.
Sadly what ruined the experience was how atrocious the service was. We had a business dinner for eight and it took almost half an hour JUST to get drinks out to us. Then they bring out the entrees half an hour later BEFORE the appetizers which we had to wait another 15 minutes for. Then they mix up our orders twice, with missing side dishes for two entrees which of course they bring out after everyone has more or less finished eating.
For how much they are charging for the food it was just unthinkable we’d get service on par with a low-​end Denny’s.
Avoid this place, there are better options at Burlingame for you to eat at.

The straits in Burlingame is my go to spot when I don’t want to go into the city and just want a chill night with a friend or two. The garlic noodles are my favorite! The fries and duck sliders are good too. The staff is friendly and it’s fun to talk to them during a game, they’re a lot friendlier than the Santana row straits. All in all its a great place !

Overall I would give it a 3.5 star. We came here for a work lunch, and ordered a bunch of appetizers to share. The service was friendly but they did seem to be short staffed. The roti with curry sauce was excellent; the calamari was just mediocre. My beef rendang tastes very yummy and the flavor was great, however the beef was a bit tough and I expect beef rendang to be tender. Overall not bad.

Wait, you’re telling me that this place is Asian fusion? At first glance, I thought that Straits was simply an upscale American lounge/​restaurant like the many others scattered throughout the San Mateo area; however, I couldn’t be happier that I’m wrong.
My first experience at Straits must have been a few months back, but I’ll just talk about my recent experience. Me and some coworkers came by for lunch the other day. Just to start off, the service was super friendly, our host/​server was consistently checking on us to make sure if everything was satisfactory.
We ended up ordering the following:
Roti Parata — The roti was nice and flaky. I wish it came with more curry
Crispy Calamari — I don’t normally eat calamari, but the texture was pretty good, not too tough/​chewy
Butter Chicken — Amazing! This is the kind of dish that I could eat with rice and the sauce alone. Of course, the chicken is a bonus.
Beef Rendang — Decently large chunks of meat, but not exactly how I enjoy it
Mee Goreng — I basically ate all of this even though we were eating family style
Crème Brulee — I’m not big on crème brûlée’s because these things are usually overly sweet. However, this one was really good after someone ate the crystalized sugar on top for me :]
Super glad that I was able to find this place so close to work. Will definitely be back!

HH review: awful.
Limited (and crappy) beer selection. 4 $ bud light and Kirin. What a joke. These beers are craptastic and should be normally 4 $. Other beers are not on HH.
Shitty HH food menu. Portion sizes are good to absolutely abysmal. Chicken satay is appropriate and actually tasty. Then you get the sliders and garlic noodles and really begin to question the menu/​integrity of the restaurant. The pork belly sliders are 4 mini baguette slices with pickle, slice of fat, cabbage. Buahahahaha. What a joke.
Never again.

Okay, in all honesty, I’m probably more than a month behind on reviews, and this was one of them. But I do have this drafted: «Damn. The heat is on.» And from my photos (attached with the review) this is what I got. I was with fellow Unilocaler Rhea M. (
) on this tasty food adventure. Now, don’t look at my pictures and say like «Oh, that’s not that dish or this dish.» I’m going to come straight forward and say these are the two dishes I (believed) picked: Spicy Basil Chicken and Strait’s Butter Chicken. I definitely do remember the ambiance and the mood of this place though so let’s talk about that first.
First walking into this establishment, it seems like the new trend in Asian restaurants are large and grandiose. You know, like sculptures and all this stuff that is supposed to add to the experience to your taste buds. I think P.F. Chang’s had to do something about this. The diverse menu speaks to it as well, with this Asian Fusion genre of food. If you’re looking for a place that specializes in one food, and does an amazing job for it, this is probably not going to be the place to go. With the ambiance, so goes with the lighting. I mean, what’s up with the low lighting that I can’t even take a correct picture without flash? (See picture) I mean, I’m trying to be discrete, and damn can’t even do that!
Now the food. Let’s say the prices doesn’t really exactly match the meal? This goes with the Asian Fusion genre. Charging these prices for the amount of food made me feel «meh.» I mean look at that bowl of food! Okay, Asian food. I like that we’re trying new things, but come on… don’t jump on the band wagon of French food. That’s one thing why I’m not a super big fan of French food. I’m not trying to ask for buffet amount, just a little more.
One thing I do remember though, the one thing that stood out here was definitely the food. Let’s just say it had a good kick (notice the peppers on there). Was it good? Yes. Worth the price? No. Would I come back? Maybe, pending positive talks from my fellow friend/​yelper:
. Hey, who knows, maybe I’ll be back next year and post an update.

This place is cute and the food was yummy!
satay — awesome.
roti — omg the curry. SO GOOD. HELLA delish.
crème brule — interesting twist with the addition of chocolate, toffee and marshmellow on top. To be honest… I would have liked it more without the marshmellow.

It’s Wednesday morning and I was asked to make a reservation tonight at 7P for 25 people — Woohoo! we were able to get a reservation. RJ helped me out and advised that I pre-​order appetizers so it is easier on the group when they arrive. I was also asked to reserve 5 chili crabs and 5 chili lobster. They only had 4 crabs, 3 lobsters and they will put it aside for us for this evening. RJ ROCKS!!! he was sooooo easy to work with, patient, and helpful.
We have been here before and we will continue to come due to wonderful service.

I ordered Straits food from Barrelhouse. It’s basic pub food — garlic fries, Barrelhouse salad, steak tacos and pork sliders.
Garlic Fries — 3 Stars — It’s hard to mess up garlic fries.
Barrelhouse Salad — 2 Stars — When you hard boiled eggs and there is a green ring around the yolk, that means you boiled the eggs for too long. Cooking school 101.
Pork Sliders — 2 Stars — Tiny, dry sandwiches.
Steak Tacos — 2 Stars — You cannot make up for overcooked steak with tomatoes and avocado.
So, super weird experience. You order the food at Barrelhouse and a Straits employee brings it over. It is a separate tab that is paid to Straits. I understood all this. We ordered our food. The employee brought the bill at the same time. Halfway through our fries, he comes over and says, «Oh, you didn’t put down a card.» Obviously, he wants us to pay — now. So, I give him my card.
We order the salad, tacos and sliders. He brings them with the tab. He comes by once and says, «Oh, you didn’t put down a card.» We ignore him, because we are eating and talking. Then he comes by again and says to me, «You got the tacos, right? I will charge those to your card.» He leaves. He comes back and says he needs my card. I ask him if Straits is closing and we need to close our tab. He says no. I say, «What is the rush, then?» He says, «There is no rush.» I say, «Well it seems like there is a rush because this is the third time you’ve been to our table for us to pay.» He back peddles and says, «There is no rush.» But, by this time, I’m feeling a little weird and I give him my card and say, «Just charge everything to it.» (Side Note: I had bought drinks all night and my friend was going to pay for the meal, but was irritated about being interrupted several times.)
I decide I want to talk to his manager and head over. On the way over there, he meets me on the sidewalk and asks me «What is the problem?» I explain that we felt rushed and it felt like the constant demands for payment made me feel like he thought we were going to leave without paying or something. He says, «I don’t know what the problem is. No one has ever complained about this before. This isn’t a problem. No one has ever complained about this before.»
I said, «Well, this will be the first.»
Talked to the manager, who said he would talk to him. Gave 20% tips in both cases because I’m a human being, but, man. This was kind of embarrassing.

Looking for a full bar and Asian food? Here you go.
They have happy hour and delicious drinks, and at night its a great atmosphere for a local chic bar.
Their food is pretty good and flavorful. And with a Unilocal check-​in you get a free Roti Prata.
Why only 3 stars you ask? Well…
1. Their happy hour used to be longer and their food menu was larger.
2. Their happy hour drink selection used to have my favorite drinks on it. Not anymore…
3. Their food portions for dinner are small, but considered as family style. I SWEAR they shrunk even MORE the last time I was there (2 days ago). The bowls were literally the size of a small kids bowl. Was extremely disappointed and went home hungry even if I paid the same amount as normal. They get a –25 stars for that.
4. S.L.O…w… service. Water slow, drink order slow, drinks slow, food order slow, apps slow, food slow, forgot to bring you your skirt steak, sorry, here is your steak now… BUT the waiter does remember me since I go there enough, and he deeply apologized and comped a dessert for me.
Conclusion. Yeah, if someone says, «Hey let’s go to Straits», and the other restaurant options they are bringing up is not what I want, I will say yes. But if not, I probably won’t go…

Disappointing girl’s night out
DISAPPOINTMENT #1: Got to Straits for drinks after dinner. Ordered the lychee sangria. Waitress walks away and it takes the time for all of us to go to the bathroom for her to come back and say they ran out. Why wouldn’t this be communicated to the servers so they don’t have disappointed customers?
DISAPPOINTMENT #2: We ordered our drinks and it took a total of 40 mins from the time we sat down at 8:20pm until my friends got their drinks. The bartenders didn’t make our drinks until almost at the 40 minutes. We were sitting next to the bar.
DISAPPOINTMENT #3: My drink came 45 minutes later after my friend’s drink was made and delivered and mine was sitting next to it. Yep, got up and picked up my own drink after seeing it sit there for a good 5 minutes.
DISAPPOINTMENT #4: My friend complained about the chili rim missing on her drink.
DISAPPOINTMENT #5: Water stopped being served after the waitress picked up our bill or maybe even before that. Two out of four of our water glasses were empty.
I had two stars for my review, but it looks as if my complaint about service isn’t the only one. Get your shi* together, Straits.

Asian Fusion sounds exotic, but not sure that Straits fits into this category.
The Rice, Noodles & Vegetables category is interesting because there are barely any vegetarian options. The curried vegetables are okay, but I’d rather go to a Thai restaurant for green curry.
The roti prata comes with yellow curry, but this is a chicken based sauce. Luckily the green curry sauce is vegetable based.
On the upside, the mixed drinks are tasty.

We had dessert in this fine place. Carlos, the waiter, was so nice and professional, probably one of the best waiters I interacted with in the Bay Area over the last 2 years.
Chocolate lava is a MUST! Although I was full after dinner, my friend ordered it and after trying it, I decided it have it. Although the kitchen was almost closed, Carlos put a big smile on his face and went checked if they can do it for us. It was so good.
The ambience, dessert, service, Seats, space inside, seats outside all were amazing.
5 stars and coming back.

First check into Unilocal,you get a free Roti Prata order! The Roti, Garlic Noodles, Coconut Fried Rice, Chicken Satay are my favorite dishes here. This Straits location isn’t as large as the one in Santana Row, but it’s certainly still a great place to relax and have a bite to eat or drink I came for happy hour. The food was great and the portions were decent, considering their happy hour prices for appetizers and drinks were $ 5 each.
Overall, it’s a fun place to go for cocktails and wine. I’d recommend trying straits if you’re in the mood for asian fusion food.

I am really picky when it comes to my Malaysian/​Singaporean food because I grew up in Malaysia. I did like the roti prata and the grilled beef grape leaf, everything else was just so-​so. I know it’s suppose to be «fusion» but I thought the mee goreng was too sweet and saucy, the Hainan chicken was deep fried when it should be boiled in broth for hours for tenderness but frying the chicken made it hard and dry, the Hainan chili was way too sweet. Overall, I didn’t like the lack of authencity and the food was overpriced for what it was. The resto had a nice décor, lively atmosphere for happy hour but I definitely wouldn’t go back for the food.