Indo Cafe Saratoga

This is a great locally-​owned and operated restaurant that serves super tasty food! We just finished an order of beef rendang with coconut rice and it was spicy, just like I like it! Plus, they really trim the beef before cooking. Many Asian restaurants just throw in whatever beef is there, and you end up chewing through gristle and all kinds of funky stuff. Not these people, they care about every bite you take. I like that. Plus, they are super helpful and kind.
I’m not sure why they put 2 rice orders in my to go bag. I told them I needed enough rice for 2, but now we have enough for 4 – 6. I guess some people eat a lot more rice than we do. I would have liked to order a veggie side dish, but didn’t see anything that looked like something I know and would enjoy. Anyway, I will still continue going there. Not such a great dining experience in their restaurant, very cramped, so we usually bring it home.

This place is hidden. If you are looking for it. It’s behind the UPS store. I had trouble finding it. I came here because my best friend really loves this place. I never had mayalasian food before. The food is good. I’m just not a big spicy food person. If you really love spicy food. This is the place for you. It’s burning hot spicy. I kind had hard time eating it because it was super spicy. I would come back. I would ask for mild verision if they have it.

Probably the best Indo restaurant in the whole US. We tried Gudeg, Nasi Rames, and Pempek as an appetizer. They come with large portion & superbly delicious taste. Very authentic, even I would say the Pempek is better than the regular ones we had in Indonesia. Coming back for more!

If you have ever been to Jakarta or Bali (or dreamed about going to those places), you’ll love the Indo Café Saratoga. It’s a hidden gem worth seeking out. Authentic Indonesian food, served by friendly people. We had some of the best fried chicken, sate, nasi goreng (fried rice), and beef rendang (spicy stew). Be sure to try the Indonesian salad — a real treat.

This restaurant has been on my «to try» list for a long time, a very long time actually. My husband and I recently came here for dinner on a Friday night. The restaurant is tucked away behind the main street.
The restaurant itself is very small with a few chairs and tables. Luckily it wasn’t too crowded when we arrived, so got seated immediately. Here’s what we ordered:
— Fish cake for appetizers: very different and good. You get a hint of the fish smell without the overpowering smell, so that’s good. Comes with a side of sauce.
— Combo padang for entrée: Delicious! The plate comes with a huge bowl of rice with generous portions of beef rendang, jackfruit curry and egg curry, and two chicken satays. The curries are spicy spicy and they really hit the spot. The egg curry was my personal favorite and beef rendang was very flavorful. Didn’t care too much for the jackfruit curry.
— For drinks, we ordered the first one on the menu. Definitely try it because it was fabulous.
Service is very very quick and friendly. Yummm food. Highly recommend!

The indonesian food here is nicely made, which made you have even more appetite. It’s very hard to find SEA food in the Bay Area. Having lived in SEA for a while, I really miss SEA food. Although it’s nothing like the food in Indo or Singapore and both I and my friend both ended up with diarrhea the next day, i still appreciate this.
I ordered the Bali style chicken dish — very nicely decorated, though the skewers taste very weird, the side dishes are very salted, the spicy chicken is also salted, but I still enjoy this meal that is not easy to find in the Bay Area.
Spicy fried rice — this is the dish that made us diarrhea.
People in the store are very nice. Location is hard to find, it’s off the main road and at the back. We drove 45 minutes to come all the way down here!

Everything in here is mostly spicy. If you like spicy, this is the place for you. We tried the daily special which was a type of rendang but with spicy sauce. The meat was tender and flavorful. We also got the mie tek tek, lemper and pempek.
Mie tek tek: can be made not spicy or mild if you cannot handle chillies. The noodle itself is okay. Good but not amazing. But the chicken that comes with it is fragrant and delicious.
Lemper: lemper is a type of snacks. Sticky rice filled with assorted meat (can be chicken or fish or other things) wrapped with pandan leaf. It is something that is hard to find in the Bay Area. We thought it’s good enough. A good replacement when you crave for it but the rice can be better. The filling has a good flavor though.
Pempek: super spicy but the pempek (fish cake) is great. The sauce is very spicy.
Indo café is tucked in a small alleyway, hidden from the main road. It is in a nice neighborhood where you can shop after your eat. The owners are very friendly. The place is small so not recommended for a big group. So ready your napkins… Be quick when you need to wipe your nose because the food is hot!

Visited San Jose for a few hours and I had to take Simone out to eat for some quality time.
We decided to find an Indonesian Restaurant.
It is pretty small restaurant but the flavors of the food are delicious.
Simone is vegetarian and she ordered Mee Goreng Mamak and I had the Nasi Rames. For appetizers we had the deep fried Tofu.
I have to say it was really delicious. The portions to me… are a lot. I couldnt eat the entire thing. But the flavors are absolutely delicious.
The environment… like I said its small inside. You may eat outside if you want to. The thing that bothered me really is there is an oven fan or ice machine sound. I am not sure. After a while, I just totally forgot about it. Some people dont notice these things.
I am a very AUDITORY person which makes me sensitive to noises and vibrations, so you may think otherwise if youre not like me.
The food just totally won me over the noise. Delicous!

I feel that most of the negative reviews about this place are due to the unfamiliarity to what Indonesian food is supposed to be like… or maybe they just don’t like Indonesian food. Well, nevermind the second point, because how can you not like Indonesian food? Some of our dishes consist of several different items on one plate, eaten with a spoon and fork with each bite ideally consisting of a bit of everything. We do have a lot of fried items and no, they are not the same with the stuff you get from state fairs. It is generally spicy but it is understandable that the owners have to make it milder to accomodate customers’ taste here in the US… which is why you can always ask for chili sauce (sambal) on the side!
The coconut rice was pretty close to what we get at home, rendang was flavorful and tender, potato patty on point, and the chili sauce on the egg had a kick to it (although I prefer it to be spicier). The peanut sauce on batagor was lovely, I liked the creamy/​chunky combination plus the sweetness of it, and the assorted fishcakes were crunchy! The only issue I had was with the mie bakso… the broth was lacking salt and I wish they put a mix of egg noodle and rice noodle as we usually do at home. Pricewise it is slightly higher but hey, you get a lot of food! Overall, I’d do the two hour drive back to this place and try other stuff, especially based on that coconut rice.

Thanks to all that gave hints on how to find this joint! To say it is hidden is an understatement!
While their food may be authentic, the preparation doesn’t measure up. Curry was excellent, but meats were overlooked and dry… when I cut into the chicken it sucked all the moisture out of the room! I enjoyed the curried egg and found the rice cakes scattered on the top surprisingly tasty when dredged in the sauce.
My biggest complaint is the refrigerator in the corner of the room shaking and rattling and screaming in pain… wait, maybe that was me? In any event, I tipped large in the hope that they might spend the extra dough to put that sad reefer out of its misery!

You people are out of your minds. This is a solid two star. The couple that run this place are very attentive and the service is good. That’s the best part of this restaurant. The place is also very small. Further, this is not authentic Indo and the menu does not have a balance. It’s basically all spicy hot and sweet. This is the americanized version of spicy and not real spice. It’s all hot sauce and red pepper. Further, the worst part is that there is nothing really healthy on the menu. Almost all the food is oily, deep fried, or full of sugar and syrup. We tried a few dishes and then apologized and went up the street for some healthy sushi.

Nestled right behind the UPS store in Saratoga, you’ll find this Indonesian gem. It was difficult to find the address is basically down an alley behind the UPS store literally. We arrived late in the evening right before they were closing and the place was pretty much deserted. Food came out very fast… We had… Risoles, Sate, Ayam Betutu, Coconut rice, Indonesian cold salad, and Saucijzenbroodjes. My favorite items were the Ayam Betutu and coconut rice. Everything was so amazing and very delicious.
This establishment is inexpensive and cash only.

Indo Café is one of the best-​tasting family-​style Indonesian restaurants I have had in the Bay Area. Make sure to bring cash, since the restaurant is cash only.
Came with a friend on a Tuesday night. We spent about five minutes searching for the restaurant. I dub thee a hidden gem in the back alleys. Concealed from the main street, you will have to go to the back parking lot to uncover it. Even then, you may easily miss the small sign that indicates the restaurant’s existence. For me, I just used the nearby plaza with a parking lot as a reference: on the other side of the street, there should be an alley. Walk into the alley and you should see it on the right.
The ambiance is more family-​style (as opposed to romantic or chic), and there is indoor and outdoor seating.
I ordered a Nasi Campur and a ginger drink (tea?). Similar to the eats in Asia, you get an assortment of flavors in a serving. Although the chili egg in the Nasi Campur is considered to be of medium spiciness, it may be considered very spicy to U.S. palettes. Upon request, you can switch out the spicy fried egg for a non-​spicy fried egg coated in curry sauce.
Since my preference for sweet food and drinks is toward the light side, I was able to mix my sweet ginger drink to contain just a hint of sugar (which can either brown or white sugar).
Overall, the quality of the food was noticeably superior than some of the other Indonesian restaurants I frequent. For example, at the time of my writing, the mixture of rice, vegetables, and meat was not as rice-​intensive as one of the others I have in mind. The chicken kebab was juicy; the curry had a light buttery flavor; and the overall meal was flavorful and rich.
I’m hoping Maria and Rick’s passion for Indonesian food will remain strong. Their passion is undeniably shown in the taste of their food. And should I find another that wins over my tastebuds, I believe this place will always have a place for my stomach.

One of the best and authentic Indonesian restaurants I have ever been to!
Difficult to find first time but once you find it it is easy. They are located behind the UPS building with parking in the back.
Small, family owned, friendly service, with wonderful food. I tried the Swirl Rice Combo with fried chicken. If you can’t take spicy food like me, get them to switch the chili egg to yellow curry egg! The chicken simply melts in your mouth, the potato patty is also good, w great beef rendang (roast beef).
If you have a sweet tooth definitely try the Teh Kotak, great Indonesian sweet tea!
Will definitely come back again and try their other items!

This hidden place serves good and interesting Indonesian food. We found this on Unilocal and we were glad that we were using a GPS to find it. It is totally hidden. Even the GPS brought us to the back of a building in a parking lot and we still couldn’t find it.
The entrance is down a side walkway from the parking lot behind the building (there is no window or entrance in the parking lot or on the street). Follow the sign to UPS from the parking lot and then halfway down the walkway, there is a door on the left and the very tiny place is inside. There are only a few tables that each seat multiple people (so if crowded, you will share a table). There are a few tables outside in the walkway.
Once inside, it does not look like a restaurant, but instead looks like a take out deli. But regardless of the looks and total lack of ambiance the food is good!
Being unfamiliar with Indonesian food, we relied on the guidance of the staff. We chose an appetizer, Otak Otak ($ 5.00) which was made from ground fish packed firmly and wrapped in leaves and steamed. It was served with a nice peanut sauce in a tiny plastic cup.
We then had two entrees that we shared.
Swirl Rice Combo ($ 10.99) had meat, fried chicken, and some other interesting tasting items. There were two sauces, a dark brown sauce and a yellow curry sauce, and two kinds of rice, yellow and coconut. It was an interesting assortment and blend of tastes. Very Good!
The Siomay Bandung ($ 14.99) was fish balls in a mild/​moderate spicy peanut sauce. Also very good!
My wife also had some Teh Kotek (a sweet Indonesian tea served cold) ($ 2.00/glass).
We enjoyed the tasty food (4 stars). The lack of ambiance deducted a star (–1 star).
We will probably return to try other items on the menu. Come for the good food and not for the surroundings.

I think this is my first time trying Indonesian food. It’s like a combo of Thai, Indian, and Ethiopian if that makes sense. I get the two rice combo dish and this other dish that was like mine but had more veggies. I didn’t really taste the difference in the rice even with the coconut option but it was still good. The skin of the fried chicken is bomb but the skin sorta dry. I also liked the fried egg in the sauce. I would say my favorite meat is the chicken satay. I got the fish appetizer that’s in some type of banana leaf but I would pass on that. The most popular drink has some yells jelly and green jelly and it reminded me of some Vietnamese dessert drink from bambu

This hidden gem is a round trip to Spicytown. Wow — my mouth was on fire, in a (mostly) good way. I had the Padang Rice Combo, which featured steamed rice, beef rendeng, chili egg, chicken sate and young jackfruit curry”. My faves were the chicken satay from my combo and the fried chicken that came with my wife’s Swirl Rice Combo. I also enjoyed the chili egg, although it was sweeter than I expected. The jackfruit tasted like pickled artichoke hearts but I liked those a lot as well. The beef rendeng was more bland than I expected and it was probably my least favorite dish, but the hurdle was high so don’t read too much into that. I was thankful for the rice, which helped cool me down.
I realize every other Unilocal review has mentioned the crazy tucked away location for Indo Café, but holy heck this place is really hidden. Behind the UPS store accessed only through the parking lot in the back? Seriously?
Sometimes little holes in the wall are special places to try. Indo Café is a great example. Great place. We’ll be back.

Very very small restaurant, located behind the UPS store (you have to walk to the parking lot and enter through the back, no entrance on Saratoga Avenue. There are 4 tables inside, we went on a coldish evening, so tables outside were not open, but I assume if the weather permits, the tables outside would be very nice. I also hear many people order to go instead of eating in since space is so limited.
Service was a little slower, but we were not in a rush, and the kitchen seemed very busy, so we had no issue with this. Staff was very nice.
The Food was AMAZING! We got the Nasi Campur as I wanted to try a little of everything, it’s a great combination plate with a whole bunch of different flavors.
I would highly recommend this place, I would come here again to eat, or if I was in a bind for time, order togo.

I always go all out whenever I come here. I come from Indonesia so I’m always deprived of the authentic homemade indonesian food…
Lets start by saying how overpriced everything is lol $ 15 bucks for a bowl of mie bakso where it should’ve been maybe $ 6 or $ 7 bucks but hey they thinkin must be we importing everythin from Indonesia so we MUST jack up the price. Fine! Every entrée is around $ 11 or above. Expensive but very yummy and authentic.
Came here 2 people and bill was $ 80 bucks hehe the peanut sauce is amazing and if you like spicy ask for sambal terasi!
Recommended: Empek empek, siomay, and their nasi dishes!

This is a great place to get some good solid inexpensive Indonesian food with a wide selection of choices similar to what you might find in a warteg back in Jakarta — except nicer, cleaner, and your plates are preassembled complete with all the sides. If it weren’t so far away, I would probably eat here once a week.
I especially loved that they offer so many of the popular pastries I grew up eating on an almost daily basis. I’m pretty sure I ordered every single one when I went and while a few had been slightly adjusted/​upgraded from the traditional version, everything was good.
Their cendol is delicious!
It really was nice having a taste of home.