Asian Box
| Address: | 855 El Camino Real #21, Palo Alto, CA 94301, USA |
| Phone: | +1 650-391-9305 |
| Site: | asianbox.com |
| Rating: | 4 |
| Working: | 11AM–9PM 11AM–9PM 11AM–9PM 11AM–9PM 11AM–9PM 11AM–9PM 11AM–9PM |
Location
Photos 100
Reviews 13
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Nathan Yang
Asian Box makes really delicious and fast Asian fusion food. Ive been here so many times because theyre so consistent with their food. This restaurant is somewhat like advanced Chipotle for Asian foods. There are certainly a lot more choices to choose. Heres what I recommend: Base: Chilled Rice Noodles because the brown rice and jasmine rice are a bit plain in comparison. However, this is the least important choice since the rest of the ingredients easily drown out the base. Meat: Go with your favorite. Beef, shrimp, and chicken are my favorites. Topps: You MUST get the crispy shallots. They are amazing. I like them just as much as I love the legendary grilled onions from Liba Falafel. I also recommend the chopped peanuts, bean sprouts, and scallion oil. Skip the caramel eggs. Sauce: I recommend mixing Peanut Sauce and Miss Jones Sriracha. Its the perfect blend, and its not too spicy. Tamarind Vinaigrette + Peanut Sauce and No-Oil Fish Sauce + Peanut Sauce are also great combos. In fact, you just cant go wrong mixing Peanut Sauce with anything. The Palo Alto location for Asian Box has been open much longer than the Mountain View location. Ive found that service is slightly better in their MV location, and building there looks better too.
PI
pie app
Messy, too many staff, slow service. Messy tables. There are no napkins to clean the table myself. When i asked staff why no napkins they said excuse of "saving the landfill" when really is only to save them money and greatly inconvenience customers. Wet floor at front door: hazard. They do that annoying thing of shouting "welcome to the box" when you barely walk in. Take a poll: customers HATE that! It signifies cheap, soulless, money oriented, low intelligence place = bad food. Then they do that annoying thing of loudly, repeatedly, and with annoyance in their voice of calling out order #s over and over. Get a clue: give out numbers sticks or something other then annoying people while theyre eating. THEN they suddenly turned on "music" full volume but unbalanced speakers that just played the bass really loud and it was fast bump bump bump aroebics class non "music" that you couldnt hear any melody. When i pointed out the problem to staff they did nothing. food tasted ok. But FAIL ON THE REST.
SH
Sherry Li
I... LOVE this place! The concept is not original but the food is delicious! Everything is gluten-free and you get many choices to customize your box. You cant really go wrong with any of the options because they all taste great together. As someone who has been trying to eat healthy after the holidays but doesnt want the food to *taste* too healthy, this is the perfect place. First you choose a base (choice of jasmine rice, brown rice, asian salad, rice noodles) and then a meat (pork, chicken, beef, shrimp, tofu). I went with the asian salad for the extra veggies and the beef. You automatically get wok sauteed veggies (or you can opt for steamed) and other veggie toppings such as picked carrots, bean sprouts, etc. My box was literally an explosion of yummy veggies. And of course you get to choose your sauce. I went with the tamarind, but Im sure the other sauces are delicious too. Tl;dr tasty healthy box of veggies and meat.
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Kristin Rimbach
If you love the culinary excellence of The Slanted Door in San Francisco and the ease of Chipotle dining, then Asian Box is your new go-to restaurant. The concept is simple- select a base (rice, salad, or noodles), choose your protein (tofu, chicken, pork, beef, shrimp), add desired veggies and toppings, and finish it off with a sauce (hint: always go with the peanut sauce). I love Asian Box because I know the ingredients are fresh and sourced locally. The gourmet-fast food is healthy and paleo and gluten-free friendly! Bay Area locations currently exist in Palo Alto, Mountain View, and SF.
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Felix Remennik
Had a bit of a bad experience here. Its a modern, fast-food-like spot, and you get your food fast. Only problem was that I got the shrimp box and mine werent quite defrosted from the freezer- really didnt help the meal. I like the customization features and its quite cheap and quick, but the overall taste is not that great, and they murdered the box with Sriracha (which I usually love). Girlfriend got the beef bowl which was a bit better, but still nothing special. I might give it another shot as Im hoping that the shrimp issue was a one-time thing, but my first experience was not very good.
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Simon Karpen
Fresh, tasty food, gluten-free, and tons of flexibility - the food and concept get 5 stars. Minus two stars for execution - weve mostly stopped going because you spend so much time waiting behind Doordash / OrderAhead orders. Either rate limit these services, drop one of them, or open a separate kitchen to serve them; I dont go to a quick service restaurant to wait an extra 20 minutes for a bunch of take-out orders (worse - you cant even judge the wait by looking at the line, due to said take-out orders)
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Will Weingarten
While I thought the meal was decent enough (probably 3-4 stars on their own merit, the chicken was delicious), I was disappointed when I opened up my takeout box 15 minutes later and realized that the coconut peanut sauce I had paid .75 cents extra for was not there at all. Combined with my girlfriends egg being left off her order, its hard to imagine me going back to same location for a while, although the concept is sharp and I hope they continue to improve.
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Jenny Gao
The staff was very friendly and welcoming. However, the food itself is overpriced, a little bland, and not fresh. I got the tofu rice wrap which consisted of 2 miniature halves of 1 roll, some sauce, and plain salad leaves for $4.95. When I started eating, I was disappointed by the stiff rice wrap and the wilting veggies inside the box and the wrap. My friend got the chicken noodle soup which was alright, but not very authentic nor special.
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Emma Burtenshaw
Quick, good food. We always enjoy Asian Box. You choose your protein, salad/rice, toppings and sauce. The kids box is good, rice small portion of veg (cabbage/broccoli/carrot) which can be removed and kids always remark on how tender the chicken is. They usually pick the caramel sauce which can come on the side. there are tables outside. The line is usually at its longest at 12 when the high school students come for their lunch.
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Andrew Raj
I love Asian Box! They have so many options for everyone, including vegans and vegetarians! I recently got the Garden Box, which comes with extra tofu for just 20 cents more. Its a good "House Favorites" (in fact, all of them are good) but you can customize your box! So many options! Plus, their drinks are good as well. I love the Vietnamese coffee!
MA
Marion Bitsch
Not for coeliac people unfortunately :( I am gluten highly intolerant and dairy intolerant, I took a box with veggies and shrimps (and no sauce). It was fresh & yummy, but I can tell that it wasnt gluten free because it made me sick and I got both the stomac and skin reactions and that was the only new thing I had in my day.
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Allan Neoh
My second time here because of convenience. I like the concept and approach but it certainly does not reminiscence of street food flavor nor the quantity. Kinda small portions of everything and light on flavor profile. Food is ok but nothing exciting for $10 bucks. I want you guys to succeed being a sbo myself. Best wishes!!
MA
Mark Hilton
Tons of options! The boxes have a lot of variety with meat and veggies and it pairs really well. Sodas are a bit expensive. I ate here with a group and they got one of our orders wrong, and so they remade it, and let us keep the old order as well, no questions asked. Parking, however, is a nightmare during the lunch rush.
