Red Lantern

restaurant is now located at
211 s first st san jose, ca
it is now at the mosaic restaurant @ the four points by sheraton
they are open all day!

How sad this was my 300^th review
My co-​worker and I decided to go to an early lunch to celebrate her birthday. She had seen this place and wanted to give it a try. I am always up to try a new place :)
We walk into the joint to find it so dark the chairs were hard to see. I wonder if they were trying to save on electricity?
The service ruined my experience here. Our waiter smelled badly of cigarette smoke so we never asked him to refill our waters and were relieved to have someone else bring out the lunches.
The dish i tried was the something that looked like shredded pork but I was told it was beef. I am not sure what the name of it was but it was not appetizing at all. When I told the waiter he just shrugged.
I will not be back to this overpriced fusion place.

OVERRATED.
Been here 3 times, twice for dinner, once for drinks.
As for the party scene here (which we unexpectedly stumbled upon– one night after dessert at Tartine we decided to have one drink) — after a certain time they take away the normal drink glasses and have everyone drink out of RED PLASTIC PARTY CUPS!?! Talk about high school all over again. And the scene is FILIPINO AUNTIES wearing upgraded forever 21 apparel, on weeknights, taking millions of PICTURES to add to their facebook profiles. You aren’t 25 anymore auntie, who is watching your children? Anyway, that was unexpected.
As for dinner, we ordered lumpia of course, beef short ribs, and some other dish– obviously not notable enough to remember.
Lumpia was 2 pieces cut in half to make 4 (5 dollars for 2 pieces of shanghai lumpia?!- outrageous)
Here is where I was really confused– BEEF SHORTRIBS is KARE KARE, and I had no idea that I was really ordering KARE KARE. So I told the server, this is not beef short ribs, this is Kare Kare and if I had known I never would have ordered this because of course– no one makes it better than my grandpa (Kapapangan of origin). Also if you are filipino you know Kare Kare is made of Oxtail not beef (only when you don’t want to pay for the pricey oxtail, you make it with beef). So $ 20 dollars for Kare Kare that is not even Oxtail is a rip off.
Probably wouldn’t ever go here again.

So, I came here despite reading the reviews because I was thinking
coupon+ 3.5 stars, not bad!
The surrounding of Redwood City was SUPER cute.
When I came in, there was no hostess (we had a reservation at 7p). I actually walked inside the curtained off dining area and it was pretty empty. and no hostess. So i went back outside to wait for my friend A; when we came back, then a girl from the bar came over.
It *is* really dark inside. and i was starving.
We ordered the calamari appetizer, some sort of manila short ribs dish, and crab fried rice.
I decided to keep an open mind, even though the waiter was on the slower side in taking our order and didn’t keep my water refilled (I drink a LOT of water. and the food was salty).
The food came a little slower than I’d like, but when the calamari came it was SO GOOD! The sauce was interesting, but yeah, I was starving and there was a LOT in a little box.
Then the other 2 dishes came pretty quickly. Okay, i have NO idea what people mean when they say the crab fried rice is amazing — it is NOT. the rice is soft and overcooked, i don’t know where the crab is, and as A so aptly put it, «It needs. more. taste…» I think they forgot the salt.
When the manila short ribs came, it was like this soupy, peanut thing (I think they should mention that on the menu.). and I figured that I could remedy to fried rice blandness with the sauce. The sauce was. interesting. Good, even. It was just realllllly peanut-​buttery… and the beef was soft… and the eggplant was good. Just the flavors were strange. I didn’t eat much of it. (also there were huge hunks of fat. that i accidentally bit onto. bleh).
I just went back to the calamari.
But anyway, the dishes were all in these medium sized bowls. Kinda small for the price. (although, of course, it was pretty deep, but honestly, like. it didnt look good).
Halfway through dinner, I just felt queasy. And we decided to skip on dessert and leave.
I REALLY tried to keep an open mind, but this place is not very yummy, the service is a little slow and neglects you. and yeah.
definitely helped out in the bill department, but even that didn’t help a bad dinner.
In Summary:
Yummy calamari+overcooked mushy colorful rice+mysterymeat in peanut butter = not my cup of tea.

I’m downgrading my first review for them. I came here last night with a couple of gals and I was disappointed. The menu is still awesome and the ambiance is still nice BUT the service just went downhill. To be specific, I felt that we didn’t receive proper attention nor did we get our food in a timely manner.
When we ordered our food, my dish came out first. More than 10 minutes later, the 2^nd dish came out. The 3^rd dish came out several minutes after that. The strange thing about that was the 3^rd dish was the appetizer. I would be much more understanding if the restaurant were packed but it wasn’t. Before the 3^rd dish came out, a server came to ask us «is everything ok?» I think that’s rather appropriate if all of us have our food and our water glasses were full but that wasn’t the case.
I’m not saying that the server wasn’t nice because he was but it still doesn’t change what happened.
I sincerely hope they step it up. For the cost of the meal and ambiance, they should have a better system for service.
If anything, I am embarrassed because I recommended this restaurant to my friends and I raved about it. Luckily, they enjoyed their food and mango lemon drops.

Came here with coworkers last night and Happy Hour was on point! Drink special were ok.$ 10 a drink, not really happy there, but the food was really good and portions were amazing!
The only neg– they ran out of 2 things. we ordered the pork adobo ribs but they were out and we also tried ordering the pineapple upside down cake but they were out of that, too. I guess that just means we have to go back.
Awesomeness to share with 4 people:
HH all $ 5 each!
1. Calamari– gives you a lot. Perfect breading and seasoning and the sauce was amazing.
2. Chicken satay– pretty good.3 big pieces but a little heavy on the coconut curry sauce, otherwise, deelish.
3. Lumpia– They give you a good amount. Not bad. your typical veggie egg roll with light wrapping paper and good sauce.
4. Roti– was pretty good. sauce was good. roti was thicker than usual, I am used to the singaporean roti, where its pretty thin.
Salad– Shared chicken apple salad. pretty good.Great portion for sharing
Dessert– Chocolate fudge thingy. really good. very fudgey for those chocoholics. very yummy finish.
Ambiance and decoration is very very cool!

I took my husband to Red Lantern for his birthday and we both liked it a lot. I’m always excited when I can find a good Asian restaurant that doesn’t add MSG to their food. This is one of those places.
I found confusing and amusing the flowery and delicate wording on the menu:
Soup = «Heavenly Mist»
Salad = «Tropical Harvest»
Appetizers = «Delightful Bliss»
Entrees = «Taste of Paradise»
Out of character with the language on the rest of the menu, side dishes are called «Side Dishes.» I suggest something more euphemistic and puzzling like «More Pleasure,» «Carbohydrate Ecstasy» or «Bite of Rapture.» And perhaps «Wines by the Glass» could be called «Dionysian Libations» or «Grape Goggles.»
While we’re at it, may we call the dessert «Happy Ending?» I’m just trying to help keep the language on the menu consistently vague and mysterious.
We ordered neither Heavenly Mist nor Tropical Harvest, but we did get the following:
* Martabak $ 10 — Singaporean Griddled Pancake Stuffed with Madras Spice Lamb Served with Mango Chutney. This was probably our favorite dish. I’m not sure if we’ve ever had Singaporean food before. The «Delightful Bliss» tasted like Indian food to us, and it had fabulous sweet and savory flavor combinations.
* Cambogee Beef $ 24 — WokTossed Cubes of Beef Tenderloin Seasoned with Lemongrass, Kaffir Lime, Galangal and Fresh Herb Salad. This was a fine dish, but seemed overpriced at $ 24 and didn’t measure up to Tamarine’s Shaking Beef. On its own, the beef was tender and tasty, as was the salad.
* Oseng Oseng Buncis $ 11 — Javanese Wok-​Tossed Green Beans with Kaffir Lime and Palm Sugar Soy. We enjoyed it, though we weren’t blown away. It was fresh, just not a standout.
* Brown rice — Carbohydrate ecstasy, well rice — it was good.
* Singapore Sling $ 10 — Faaaaaabulous! Went down like tropical fruit juice with a kick.
* Chocolate Dessert — I forget the name of it, but it tasted to me like dark chocolate butter and wasn’t the most inspired dessert. I suspect their other desserts are stronger. Next time we’ll ask for a recommendation. It was thoughtful that they put a candle in it in honor of Mr. L’s birthday.
Ambiance: 4.5 stars — Gorgeous, romantic, dimly-​lit. Oh yeah, they’ve got red lanterns here too! Table are close to other tables. We were seated near another couple and could hear their conversation, so that was a little bit of a bummer.
Service: 5 stars — I love that when I asked our server what he recommended, he told us without hesitation. We chose from the most popular dishes. Service was friendly and quick.
Food: 4 stars — Overall really excellent. Our chocolate dessert was our weakest dish. Mr. L didn’t ask what they recommended for this course, which may have been our mistake. They kindly comped it for his birthday (so sweet when restaurants do that — thank you!).
Drink: 5 stars — We had our first and second Singapore Slings ever. Yummy!
Value: 3.5 stars — Without the Groupon, it would’ve been fairly expensive.
I’d never heard of Red Lantern until a Groupon was offered for it, so I did my usual Unilocal research. Ken K. gave it 4 stars, so I thought I’d definitely like it. As usual, Ken was right on. This is a very solid 4 star rating, and if we hadn’t been to Tamarine in Palo Alto, we might’ve even given the food a higher rating. Still, on its own, Red Lantern is a lovely restaurant with tasty food and top-​notch service.

Went to this place for dinner one night back on Feb 15^th (the day after Valentine’s Day) I totally remember the date because it was the date that I saw my ex again since our breakup. Anywho. That would be another story. Ha… So the décor is nice. The food was decent. My drink (forgot what I got. I think it was a lycheetini) was pretty good and strong. Situtated in the downtown area. Close to movie theatre. Used the
certificate. It was a memorable night for me cause got to talk alot to my ex who is my boyfriend again now. even though the restaurant was so-​so good, the night was great. :)

Highly recommend the rack of lamb.
But beware, the portions are family style.

Eh, not the greatest.
I try my best to avoid «American» Chinese restaurants because why go eat at these restaurants, when you can have home-​cooked, authentic Chinese food right at home!
This place is a quasi-​upscale «Chinese» restaurant. The décor is beautiful and great service compared to other Chinese restaurants. We came here for lunch, and the lunch specials were decently priced.
If you order anything outside of the lunch special, be prepare for a pricey meal.
Average per person for lunch special: $ 13

This place was cool– nice décor!
The ahi poke was delicious and so is the murtabak!
They had chicken rendang. I prefer beef, personally, but the chicken was tasty– I just would have used all white meat and would have taken the skin off, but then again, I am not the chef.
I liked this place and I am happy it is there! YUM

Both my dad and I did not like this place… at all.
We got the poke since people seemed to like it but it was a small bowl of overly marinated tuna pieces with soy sauce. As the one star says, Eek! Me thinks not. I was expecting something more fresh and flavorful since poke is supposed to be popular in Hawaii thus the tropical citrus expectations. I was way off base. The fried chips were good but they were cold. They should have fried them to order, would have made them much better.
The calamari was whatever. Yes, it wasn’t greasy but the calamari was rubbery and the dipping sauce was what the heck to me. Didn’t use it. The calamari was kind of spicy since they fry it with jalapenos so be careful when you eat it since the lighting is dim and if you bit into a pepper, you might not be so hot sweating in front of whoever you are with.
The soup with coconut base was recommended to us by the waitress. I love everything coconut but not at Red Lantern. I feel like coconut should be rich and creamy but the soup was watered down and depressing.
The short ribs were okay. but barely there. The presentation was nice but they were dry.
The roti was another what the heck. It was not your typical Malaysian/​Thai roti. Instead, the dough was heavy, green and too thick. It was served with two sauces. One was Greek style and too tart the other was just weird.
I asked for a bowl of brown rice since I like to eat Asian food with a nice warm bowl of rice. This my fellow Unilocaler was not warm. I asked for brown rice so I knew it would be drier than white but the brown rice served here tasted like it was cooked two days ago and forgotten about. It wasn’t very warm either –_​– .
Overall, we didn’t like this place. We had to our stare down our waitress to order and the place was not busy. We also had to ask for our glasses to be refilled with water. We could barely understand the second server who helped us after he ignored us by talking to another table 3 feet from us… did I mention he was standing right next to us when he knew I grabbed his attention for a reason?
I’m not fussy. Seriously. I don’t mind waiting a little when a restaurant is busy but it was not tonight and our service was pretty bad. Our food was even more unpleasant… not going to go back again.

I am wavering between 1 and 2 stars, but either way, eek, steer clear of this place.
This is kind of an Asian fusion place, which is the kind of food I usually really like. The décor of the place is very trendy and I like it a lot. The dishes and plates they use for the food is pretty looking. However, the goodness stops here.
We were there for a Unilocal Eats night, but decided against the Unilocal eats menu because we wanted to try something else. First off, the menu is very confusing — which part are the appetizers and which are the entrees? We ordered what we thought was 1 entrée, 1 appetizer and 1 soup — the «pork and shrimp dumpling», the lamb and pork samosas, and the soup with the coconut milk.
Everything came in random order. The samosas arrived first, then the dumplings, then the soup. As we have a tiny 2-​people table, I have to put a dish on my lap to make room for things at one point. They really need to pace the food a bit better.
Now, onto the food. The samosas tastes ok but they’re in no way like samosas (I know this is fusion, but these look more like those curry pastries from dim sum). When the dumplings came, we were surprised. Instead of something like gyoza with a skin, we got some big meat patties grilled on lemongrass stalks. It still looks nice, but the meat tastes pretty bland (and where’s the shrimp?). The good stuff is in the sauce — kudos to them for using real thai peppers, but otherwise, the dish kinda sucked.
The soup came the last. Oh, the soup. It tastes like watered down coconut milk with not much flavours (it’s rather disgusting, actually), and they put in some cabbage and asparagus to «fusion it up», which, sadly, didn’t work. The soup isn’t spicy at all, despite being advertised as so on the menu.
The mister also ordered a glass of wine. He wanted the Conundrum ’05 initially, but was informed that they ran out, so he ordered a Riesling instead. It tasted dry, more like a Chardonnay (I don’t quite trust the waiter, haha), but since it’s a Jacobs Creek, maybe that’s how the Australian Riesling tastes like.
We ordered a banana split for dessert. It’s standard, but probably the best item I’ve had all night.
Overall, it was a disappointing meal. The waiter, while pretty nice and more attentive than the people some other reviewers got, can barely speak English. I have trouble figuring out what he is saying most of the time. When he handed us the dessert menu, he had a dirty dish cloth on one hand still, and that makes me a bit more than uncomfortable (he then used that to wipe down my table… but seriously, he could’ve put it in his back pocket first.)
It feels like the staff is just quickly put together, rather than them paying for decent waitstaff. That doesn’t work when you’re paying a premium for the meals!

I’m glad there’s now an upscale Asian restaurant in Redwood City, though I’ve had no first-​hand experience until recently. That’s because the place has been so popular that every single time we’ve tried to make a reservation here, we’ve struck out. Cold. Granted, it was usually the same day (which would explain why there was muffled laughter on the other end of the phone). OK, OK, so we’re last-​minute planners.
The first solution was to stop by after dinner for late night drinks and appetizers. That was 6 months ago, and I don’t recall much except the cocktail list was pretty good, but the staff was noticeably unfriendly. The final solution was to make a ressie for the Sunday night on a recent 3 day weekend… Finally — we were in! We brought friends with us, ordered piles of food, and proceeded to share everything in sight without getting our fingers caught in the whirlwind of chopsticks.
FAVORITES:
– Chicken rengang (entrée): Very tasty; in dense, flavorful sauce (almost a paste)
– Martabak (app): Pancake stuffed with spiced, ground lamb; nice mango chutney on the side; very rich and delicious! Seemed almost Moroccan if you ignore the chutney.
JUST SAY NO:
– Manila Short ribs (entrée): this may have been a mis-​delivery, since it looked more like a stew than short ribs; strange, fatty texture; overly chewy; I tried one piece and wanted no more.
– Garlic chips (app): I normally love garlic, but these must be an acquired taste; seemed like something you would get out of a bag
NOTHING SPECIAL:
– Cambogee Beef (entrée): Passable; Almost the same price as the «shaking beef» at Tamarine, but not half as good, so kind of a ripoff.
– Calamari (app): Your basic fried calamari; Please pass the no-​doze.
– Pawon Salad (app): I don’t remember because it was completely unmemorable
– Roti Prata (app): Dull; Seemed like store-​bread that was placed in the oven; It turned to cardboard in just minutes (The homemade, multi-​layered roti from Straits completely blows this away)
– Phuket noodles (entrée): Phuket dude, it’s just your standard Pad Thai
Service was terrible: We waited over 10 minutes to order our drinks, then the drinks took another 10 minutes to arrive; We had to signal our waiter to order; Then the wrong dishes started showing up, meaning we had to quiz the servers on each one that arrived. At the end we had to flag down someone to pay the bill.
Prices were high. $ 70 per couple seemed mildly outrageous for the bad service and un-​amazing-​ness of the food.
Ambiance was attractive, urban, sexy, DARK. There seems to be an ongoing game called: «Let’s see how dark we can make it before our guests can’t see their meals.» The score is currently Red Lantern: 253, Guests: 12

As the peninsula version of Betelnut in San Francisco, this restaurant is slightly lower in terms of the quality and taste for its dishes with perhaps a higher price tag. Moreover, the hip and trendy vibe is lost with its location on the outskirts of downtown Redwood City. Although the chilean sea bass in the Rangoon claypot was cooked well, there was a thick layer of mushrooms and assortment of garnishes that detracted from the flavors and texture of the fish. Moreover, the rendang curry lacks the spices and sauce that would normally make it one. The crab fried rice is good, but you may wonder what else you can get for the same price.
Service is friendly and helpful with suggestions. Street parking is ample and note the hours of the meters with the exception of Sunday for payment.

I went back here for lunch the other week. Since it was early the restaurant was empty and we were seated promptly by the window.
We started off with Nha Trang ($ 9.00) which is their seasoned calamari. It was served in a nice weave type basket and I was surprised at the generous portion size. The calamari was tasty as it was seasoned with curry giving it a nice yellowish color. (
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For our entrees we ordered Gulai Ayam and Papes Ikan both off their lunch menu. Their lunch entrees are $ 10 and include jasmine rice, pawon salad, orak arik, and shrimp crackers.
The Gulai Ayam is a spicy chicken curry served with cardamon-​yogurt sauce. The chicken was moist and tasty but there didn’t seem to be enough as it was dwarfed on the plate by the side dishes and crackers. (
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The Pepes Ikan is their fish of the day sauteed in sambal chilies and thai basil. The fish ended up being sea bass and it was moist and flaky. The chili and basil sauce was superb with complex flavors and mildly spicy. (
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They also have the following beers on draft: Hoegaarden, Lagunitas Indian Pale Ale, Leffe Blonde & Brown, Trumer Pils, and Deschutes Black Butte Porter. $ 5 for a pint
Overall I was satisfied with the food and will definitely be back for future meals here.

I came here for a private department gathering after work and I got tossed off the drinks. The bartenders were really nice too, and they let us slide on reusing our drink tickets!
I don’t know if the buzz contributed to how good I thought the asian tapas tasted (ribs, chicken, tofu), or how pretty the décor looked around me. I inhaled whatever came within a few feet of our seats including my drinks.
I had a good time; moving around and chatting with coworkers along long tables, the bar, and the cushy booth area. That’s where I proceeded to make a fool of myself.

Finally, I got to go back to The Red Lantern and try their Sea Bass claypot.
It was worth the wait!
It was cooked to perfection on bamboo skewers and placed in a bed of mushrooms. This is now one of my favorite sea bass examples from restaurants.
Unfortunately this is were the ‘great’ stopped. First off, the noodle dish my boyfriend ordered was not so good, it was too sweet. Next, the restaurant was busy when we got there so we sat at the family table, which was no problem… except that our server couldn’t seem to keep track of us. We had to get drink refills from the hostess and rice that was not delivered with the sea bass, from the bartender. I think the bartender could have easily and better handled our entire order. That combined with the raise in prices has to take away a star… or 2. :(
I’d still go back for the sea bass but, won’t rush back.
See ya there!

I stopped in for a drink before the Mandaloun event. Lately, my motor skills are kind of off so I’m clumsier than usual. Therefore, I managed to spill a lot of my drink picking it up from the bar. It was tasty. What a waste.
A friend ordered a glass of wine and the bartender poured wine from an already opened bottle and a new bottle. Odd and not good but he replaced it.
The food I saw looked interesting so I’d go back to check it out.

you can’t go wrong with their lunch specials. named after different cultures, red lantern’s lunches will take you on a mini exotic vacation. from thai to filipino, laos to malaysian, vietnamese to burmese…
i had the filipino which came with beef rib kare kare, a chicken satay, powan salad, orak arik (veggies), rice, and garlic chips. the beef rib was fork tender and so tasty! the salad was perfectly tangy. the chicken satay was smothered an a smooth peanut sauce that was buttery and delicious! all this for $ 12!
we also ordered a side of eggplant adobo. the first thing i noticed was that the eggplant came out in a bright and vibrant purple… unlike the cooked eggplant i’ve seen in other restaurants and my own home. the eggplant was tender and flavorful… an instant favorite and must have.
the thai iced tea is authentic and not overly sweetened. the perfect amount of milk floats on the top.
red lantern’s prices are more than reasonable and their portions are just right for me (but i’m a munchkin). service can be a bit slow… ok, it’s VERY slow… but the food makes you forget you have a waiter anyway (because they don’t check in with you during the meal). a great find in redwood city!