Madera - Menlo Park

Beautiful location and ambience. The food is delicious too. Portions are fairly small but I honestly don't see one person ordering 3 different things and finish... read more Beautiful location and ambience. The food is delicious too. Portions are fairly small but I honestly don't see one person ordering 3 different things and finishing them. We made reservations so would recommend the same. We ordered multiple dishes to share amongst our group of 5. I think we could've eaten more but also like the fact that I did not leave the restaurant super full. Among the appetizers and small bites, we got deviled eggs, oysters and tuna Crudo. I think the tuna was the best of the 3. The yolk of deviled eggs was very creamy and delicious. Oysters on the shell aren't exactly my favorite (I prefer the baked version) but they were pretty good too! From the entrees, we got the chicken, lobster frittata and the salmon. The chicken was simply the best. The sauce was amazing. The cook on the chicken was good too! Definitely recommend. The salmon was good but not as good as the chicken. The frittata was a flop. I love frittatas and I love lobster and this dish was just a fail on both bland, chunky, dry and not much to look at. Do not order this. For dessert, since we couldn't choose, we got the beignets, the poached pears with cheese crumble/cake and the sage ice cream. The sage ice cream was the best of these 3 with the pears a close second. I actually really liked the deconstructed nature of the pears and the cheese. I just loved the ice cream more because I've never had it before and it really tasted of sage with a background of pistachio. Yummy!! The beignets were not like the OG from NOLA. Much bigger and more oily than what we like. So, not something I would recommend. I also got a green drink with a bunch of greens and it was really good. I don't remember the name though. Now, pricing wise, I don't think the food was worth what we paid. It's good food but that deviled egg dish is $23, which is ridiculous. So you are paying for the name of the restaurant, the experience, the food and that Michelin star which comes and goes. I'm glad I came here once to experience their menu but it's not something that is worth a second look especially if it's your purse that's going to be lighter after the meal.

I would give them one more star if there was one, for amazing service.we were greeted and checked on by multiple folks. Great drinks and good food in this beaut... read more I would give them one more star if there was one, for amazing service.we were greeted and checked on by multiple folks. Great drinks and good food in this beautiful restaurant with a gorgeous view.

Not a memorable experience. None of the dishes we ordered stood out for us. The prawns dish was dry, had a strong burnt taste, which overpowered any other flavo... read more Not a memorable experience. None of the dishes we ordered stood out for us. The prawns dish was dry, had a strong burnt taste, which overpowered any other flavors. The chicken was extremely extremely salty, and we couldn’t eat it. How can a Michelin star not get the salt right? The risotto was good. Service was slow. After handing out the menus, no one came to our table for 15mins. Our server didn’t bother to explain the menu, or tell us anything about the dishes we ordered. Only saving grace was the desert.. it was delish, and the views are great! Probably my least favorite of all Michelin restaurants I’ve been to.

Food didn't feel particularly specially enough for everything to total almost $100 While I did leave feeling very full and satisfied, wat we got didn't justify... read more Food didn't feel particularly specially enough for everything to total almost $100 While I did leave feeling very full and satisfied, wat we got didn't justify the price. Nothing felt particularly special or creative to me. Every dish was perfectlycooked, but lacked a variety of texture and flavor that makes food exciting for me. Would not recommend this place for aMichelin star restaurant experience. It was extremely underwhelming.

My husband surprised me with a reservation to Madera for our anniversary on a Monday. Our reservation was at 5:30 pm but they suggested getting there about 15 m... read more My husband surprised me with a reservation to Madera for our anniversary on a Monday. Our reservation was at 5:30 pm but they suggested getting there about 15 minutes early, so we got there around 5:15 pm and was seated right away. They have an openkitchen close to the entrance and lovely dining room with vaulted ceilings as well as outdoor patio spaces as well. I requestedto sit inside but closer to the windows for the beautiful green scenery in the background. The menu is nice and small which wasgreat because I am typically overwhelmed when the menu is endless. We ordered the smoked deviled eggs, grill octopus, Ora kingsalmon, liberty farms dry aged duck breast. The smoked deviled eggs were really good and topped with trout roe so it was a greatcombination. The grilled octopus was perfectly cooked and have a nice Smokey taste to it as well. The star of the night were thelarge dishes, Ora king salmon and livery farms dry aged duck breast. The Ora king salmon was hands down the best salmon I’vetried. The skin was very nice and crispy, while the salmon was perfectly cooked. The salmon quality itself was the best I’vehad. I wasn’t served a belly piece but it sure feels like it with all of the omega oozing out of it. This was perfect pairedwith small cuts of citrus and a type of herb sauce. The duck breast was also perfectly cooked and amazingly flavored. The duckskin itself was very nice and crispy while the duck breast meat was still juicy. My husband and I both would come back just forthe salmon and duck breast. And of course we had to celebrate our anniversary with dessert! We were so full that we ended upgetting just 1 dessert to share. I unfortunately don’t remember the name of the dessert but it was a cheesecake made out ofsheep’s milk. The cheesecake wasn’t a traditional cheesecake. It was just soft cheesecake with no breading served on sometype of glazed with strawberries and topped with pistachios crumbles. I didn’t think I’ll like sheep milk