Cafe Silan

I’d like to re-​iterate that this place is CLOSED due to fire damage! Please save us some grief and change the profile!

They are closed due to a fire, and won’t be back in business until at least 2011:
They need to have a note on the front page of their website so people don’t waste their time making the trip.

This place is CLOSED due to fire damage. Jul 17^th 2010. I hope that it reopens as I would like to give it a try. One star is no reflection on the food. It might be a good idea for owners to put this on their website. We fought Menlo Park art and wine festival traffic to try them out only to be disappointed.

Cute place! It’s not very big, but has beautiful décor and is kind of quaint. Had dinner with my boyfriend there, the server was very nice about explaining dishes/​recommending them. We shared the Mediterranean plate appetizer and the Havir U Gost (thin pizza with ground beef and veggies). Delicious :) I don’t quite know why everyone raves so much about the bread, it was good but nothing that extraordinary.
The plate had hummus/​yogurt/​red lentil [this was pretty interesting!] /​roasted eggplant [mmm eat it with the yogurt and it’s yummy!]/ dolma [which was herb-​y and pretty good!]
The pizza was thin and crispy, just the way I like it, and the combination of ground beef and fresh veggies paired really well.
Will be back to try the borani and eriste! :)

I would give this place 10 stars if I could. It is just that good. I have eaten here many times, and it is always fantastic. To begin with, the tiny restaurant has charming décor and a friendly, efficient staff. But that’s just the beginning. The food is the real deal. Everything is fresh, you can taste the quality in the ingredients. For example, fresh greens star in salads that are lightly dressed. Main courses are excellent, from the lamb kebabs to the flatbread, light falafel balls with swiss chard and yogurt, pasta and authentic Kurdish dishes. Especially love the mixed appetizer plate with homemade yogurt, pita bread, eggplant and hummus. Desserts are also delicious, but we are often too full to order them.
Love this place!!!

i am really into Silan these days. It is probably the best restaurant on Santa Cruz Ave other than Marche, which is a much more expensive place. Silan is great for lunch too; I had a business meeting there once. My first time there I was stumped over what cuisine it was since the menu seems to have Italian, Mediterranean, and Greek dishes. I asked the waitress and she said it was Kurdish. Anyway, Kurdish food is great, and you must visit Silan. Try their rice pudding dessert. It was exceptional.

It is a tiny place, with with 5 or 6 small tables, most of which only seat two. We arrived, a party of seven, without much prior notice. The server was friendly and seemed up to the monumental challenge. We watched from the entryway for 15 minutes or so, taking bets on which diners would leave first and what sort of table-​tetris might be arranged to accommodate our septet.
Three of us shared the Half-​Moon Bay (butternut squash ravioli), a saucy vegetable dish with chard and chickpea-​bulgur balls, and a simple salad in yogurt dressing accompanied by the same.
Everything was just about amazing. I can’t put my finger on the spices in the sauces, but the complex flavors came together perfectly.
The only exception was the salad: the cut and texture of the romaine didn’t quite fit with the dressing that was offered. Squares of silky butter lettuce would have worked wonderfully, but the romaine was flavorless (local /​organic might have been better?) and cut in crisp, unappealing strips.
That aside, I will definitely come here again.

Cute little place with very good food. I like the murals on the wall and the coziness of this place.
Got there at 11.15 and hung around for 15 waiting for them to open. Looks like a very small operation and there was just 1 cook and 1 waiter the whole time we were there but they did a great job. The bread they serve with yogurt sauce was delish and addictive. The appetizer combo was yummy. The chicken wrap was very good as well.

Spotted this place several months ago and finally got to try it. Nice little café on a corner in downtown Menlo Park.
The ravioli: the sauce and the filling were both very tasty, and I could taste both the portobello and the pink sauce at the same time. The flavors were simple but perfect.
The ‘Bodega Bay’ salad comes on top of pita flatbreads, so it’s like open-​faced mini sandwiches. The dressing was fantastic; the sweetness of the honey mustard went perfectly with the saltiness of the smoked salmon. The salad also had good sized chunks of goat cheese, lots of chopped onions and sliced beets, which made for a great combination of flavors.
The service was not great. Our server never really smiled, and he brought out the chewy pita bread at the same time he brought out our meal. He did, however, make sure our water glasses were always full.
I recommend going with someone else and sharing one pasta and one salad. It will run you $ 16 a person with tip, but it’s a really good meal in a really pleasant environment. The restaurant is small (only room for about 20 people) with really cool Middle Eastern décor.

Great small restaurant on Santa Cruz featuring Kurdish (Middle Eastern) food. Got to try the falafel entrée and the lamb casserole; food looked and tasted very authentic. The flavors were well-​balanced and not overly spiced nor pungent. But the real show here is the waiter /​owner.
The man runs the show himself and is ridiculously hospitable and charming. He even hooked me and my buddy up with an extra falafel so that we «would not brawl in his restaurant over the 3^rd one.» Great service and food at respectable prices is hard to find but Silan definitely got it.

Had a simple but decent lunch here last weekend — their lamb wrap with hummus and some other stuff. May have enjoyed the big, open windows more if the weather hadn’t been so hot. Really liked the décor.

We ate here because the BF is a dolma-​whore. Seriously.
The appetizer plate ($ 10) was OK. Large portion of stuff and I love the eggplant concoction (especially mixed with the chili sauce on the table!). Our entrée was the Petaluma chicken shish kebab. Small order of food, but perfect for one person, unlike huge portions at other places. The mustard glaze on the chicken was pretty good. The best part? The broccoli. I’m thinking there’s probably at least a tablespoon of butter per broccoli piece, and I’m OK with that. Why else do we go to restaurants if not to be completely ignorant to the sheer amount of calories we’re taking in? Yum!
BF got the dough (yogurt) drink and said it was very bland. I hate those things anywhere and everywhere, so I’ll take his word for it.
Summary: cute ambiance, small restaurant, the food is OK (nothing to write home about or anything). We may or may not be back. 3-​stars.

Yum. We had been wanting to try this place for awhile after walking by hundreds of times … I wish we’d tried it sooner!
Atmosphere is cozy and comfortable. Food is delicious … we thought this was an Italian restaurant, so we were sort of in a pizza/​pasta mode … tried gnocchi (perfect little pillows swimming in a light but flavorful sauce!) and raviolis (awesome … really a wonderful pesto-​based sauce, we were dipping bread in it to sop it all up!) … both were great.
The waiter was friendly and yes, busy … he was the only one serving all fifteen guests in this tiny little place. But if I wanted to snap my fingers at someone and have him delivering the check at the very moment I put my silverware down, I would have gone somewhere else! In today’s fast-​paced, crazy world, it is important to remember that «service» hasn’t always translated directly to «speed» … sadly, that is what people expect, but it also means a lot of things, including respect, courtesy, attention to detail. This waiter had it all, recommending a delicious pumpkin dessert and bringing us complimentary mint tea to help us digest afterwards when we told him we were stuffed! How can that not be great service?! Who cares that it took ten minutes to get the check?
This place is great. Come here if you go out to eat for relaxation and good food … you probably won’t like it if you demand speedy «service.»

Atmosphere: Since moving to the Bay Area last year, I’ve been continually disappointed in the atmosphere in most restaurants. BUT this place has a really nice atmosphere in addition to delicious, flavorful food.
Food: Awesome! The bread is fresh from their wood fired oven, served with yogurt. It has a really nice smokey flavor. The first time I asked the waiter for an entrée suggestion and he told me to go with a traditional Turkish dish with barley and swiss chard. Wow! I ate slowly to savor it.
Service: The reason I went back a second time is because of the waiter. Super friendly, really concerned that we enjoy our meal. We tried 3 different wines before deciding on a bottle.
Overall: One of the best deals in the area. The atmosphere, ambiance, food, service, and affordability are reasons why you should visit Café Silan. Don’t blink or you will walk right past it!

Upon arriving, we were seated by a young, serious looking boy who brought us our menus.
We were served doughy lavash bread with a yogurt dipping sauce when we arrived. My two peeps and I got 2 appetizers — I’m afraid I can’t quite remember their names, but one was a mixed grilled vegetable dish, served cold with pesto and sliced beets, and the other was a fried ravioli filled with eggs and cheese, and served with a sweet chili sauce. Both were intriguing and unusual. For our entrees, one of us got a salmon and shrimp dish, served on a bed of bulgur (although the menu said rice), another got a grilled lamb dish, and I got one of the grilled folded pizzas with spinach and onions (sort of a like a flattened and less filling calzone). We liked everything well enough, although it didn’t blow our minds.
I have to make note of their interesting serving ware — not at all mitchy-​matchy; it seems as though they went and bought up a bunch of stuff at a Goodwill store and used it here. I liked it :) The service was unobtrusive but attentive, and the restaurant is family-​run. It’s definitely the place to go to have a long, leisurely meal.

Kurdish food! I finally found a new cuisine I haven’t tried.
I loved this restaurant. It’s small — maybe 8 – 10 tables total, but super cute. Located in downtown Menlo Park, which I didn’t even know existed.
The menu is interesting and reasonably priced. Since my friend and I met for lunch we chose to go with a cabrese appetizer and wraps (chicken and lamb). The wraps were $ 8 – 9 and neither of us finished more than half. The food was truly excellent (their lavash bread is to die for) and the service was super attentive.
I definitely recommend coming on a Sunday to take advantage of the fabulous farmer’s market on a neighboring street. Almost entirely fruit and veggie (I think I saw one honey stand and one fish stand), and the prices were really reasonable.

VEGETARIAN REVIEW
This is my favorite restaurant in Menlo Park, hands down. Not corporate, lovely homey décor, and good ethnic music. The service can be slow, but the food is usually incredibly good and fresh. Our favorites are the cold appetizer plates and the kebabs (especially when tomatoes are in season). We also really enjoy the spinach and the folded pizza bread — you will, too!
For dessert, stay away from the baklava and order the fruits and cream. They are lush, delicious, and spectacular.

Cool, cozy Kurdish café.
Great place for a mellow meal of kebobs, lamb stew, and a variety of Middle Eastern/​Mediterranean sauces and appetizers [like hummous (chickpea dip), baba ghanoush (eggplant dip) and dolmas (grape leaves)…except offered on the menu under their Kurdish names, which I can’t recall].
If you don’t expect prompt service, you won’t be disappointed. This place is excellent if you’re in the mood for a reasonably-​priced meal in a no-​rush, comfortable and casual environment.
Only one complaint: the quality and taste of the Maste Siwan (yogurt based cucumber dip) can be really inconsistent, so I wouldn’t recommending eating just that dish as your main meal (which any normal person… besides me… wouldn’t do anyway).

I went to this place once and had a great experience, but went back today for lunch with some coworkers, ordered the same wrap I had last time, and halfway through my wrap, I chomped down on a QUARTER! Yes, as in the 25 cent piece you put in a parking meter.
I let my mind wander as to how a quarter could have found it’s way into my wrap, but I’ll spare you the details now. Suffice it to say that I was sufficiently grossed out and didn’t eat the rest of my meal.
The waiter (and owner, I think?) didn’t charge me for my meal (which I didn’t eat most of), and gave me a couple of half-​hearted apologies, but he lacked the shock or concern I expected for something so bizarre and disgusting.
I really liked this place, but I definitely won’t go back now! Eeewww!

THe first time i’ve had Kurdish food. It was very intresting. The portion was HUGE and very affordable. I got a really big meaty stuffed salad wrap for 5.50 and I only could finish half. The hummus was also really yummy. the bread they served it with was to die for! You can tell they make everything from the bread to the wrap fresh. Has a home cooked meal touch to it. The service IS a lil slow since there is only one server and one cook… but this place is really small and cozy so its not that bad… The server is so nice though… very friendly and making sure everything is alright. and since its in lovely Santa Cruz Avenue… and the weather is so great… you can’t NOT like this place.