Mandalay Restaurant
Balinese restaurant · Presidio Terrace ·
Burmese stalwart serving noodles, soups, salads, & mains
Burmese stalwart serving noodles, soups, salads, & mains
"Opened in 1984 on California Street, this super laidback, bright-yellow corner Burmese spot—cast in Disney-looking lettering—has grown into the city’s longest-running Burmese restaurant and earned an America’s Classics Award from the James Beard Foundation. The pioneering tea leaf salad, tossed tableside, is a fresh, crunchy mainstay, and the zingy ginger lemonade is a local favorite; the sour samusa soup even drew attention from the James Beard folks. Regulars return for flaky paratha and standout noodles: Singapore-style noodles with prawn, chicken, and pork tossed in a slew of curry spices, and the kaw soi dok of egg noodles mixed with fried onions and garlic chips that stun the dinnertime crowds. Drinks don’t get enough attention here, from the small booze menu with the $14 Mandalay cooler (lemon, ginger, mint, and cold beer) to tall, milkshake-ish glasses of Burmese iced tea—creamy, orange from the tea and milk’s combining, and sugary. Service is warm, casual, and almost goofy in a family friend kind of way, and the room even boasts a personal drawing from The Simpsons creator Matt Groening." - Paolo Bicchieri
"San Francisco is home to an impressive number of Burmese restaurants but the first and, therefore, oldest is Mandalay, the Richmond District institution that opened in 1984. It changed owners (within the same family) but continues to offer Southeast Asian specialties including mango chicken, Burmese curry beef, and fish chowder. The must-order item at the no-frills, yellow-walled restaurant is the tea leaf salad, a textural delight made with fermented tea leaves, fried garlic, dried shrimp, sesame seeds, lemon, green pepper, and roasted peanuts." - Paolo Bicchieri
"One of San Francisco’s oldest and most well-regarded Burmese restaurants, Mandalay also offers its full menu for delivery. The restaurant’s colorful, crunchy Burmese salads — including what’s probably the best-fermented tea leaf salad in the city — are great to-go options, as are the intensely flavorful soups and noodle dishes." - Dianne de Guzman
"This California Street Burmese restaurant is known for its tableside tea leaf salads and uber-attentive service, with numerous family members making stops with ginger lemonade throughout the meal. In 2024, Mandalay was named an America’s Classics winner, with the foundation recognizing the innovative restaurant as a high watermark in a city with plenty of fantastic Burmese options." - Paolo Bicchieri
"Mandalay was the first Burmese restaurant to open in the city back in 1984, and the Richmond spot is still the undisputed best of the bunch—they're holding it down with hearty dishes you’ll instinctively want to hunker down over on foggy nights. Creamy ong no kaw soi is packed with bouncy noodles and strips of chicken. The balada is flaky perfection. And the tea leaf salad here comes without romaine lettuce, making it an earthier and more intensely nutty version than the others in town." - julia chen 1
