St. Michael's Alley

Ambiance, outstanding service, and brilliant food.

Great evening, inventive menu

A little gem tucked away with a wonderfully executed menu highlighting locally sourced ingredients. Clearly the chef understands the difference between seasoning to enhance flavors rather than over-seasoning which is all too common these days.

Really good food and first class service.

Yummy brunch on the dog friendly patio

Took a friend here for brunch on her birthday.If you're coming past the 84, expect quite a bit of local driving. Kind of nestled deep in Palo Alto.Other than that, pretty solid spot for brunch over the weekends. Ordered their salmon eggs Benedict, good Hollandaise, tomato slice was properly cooked so that it melded with the rest of the dish's texture and wasn't too crisp.There's a lack of appetizers during brunch, was hoping there's be something like oysters to share, but the fruit plate sufficed.The dessert menu is very straight forward, a lot of safe choices. Nothing stands out, but I doubt you'd be disappointed with what you find.

Great atmosphere for a relaxing meal. Fairly cheap compared to other similar places. Menu changes quite often so there's always something new. Lamb was great!

Great food with fresh ingredients. Menu changes every 3 months and they capitalize on seasonal produce. Has a really nice ambience too.

Cozy restaurant for a date night. The drink menu is extensive with a wide selection of wines, spirits, cocktails, and beer. Service is attentive and friendly.

The appetizers and entrees were amazing. Dessert left room to be desired. Great service.

perfect service. Seating in patio was great choice. (Inside was quiet and classical atmosphere). Food was freshband tasty!

Came in for Sunday brunch with bestie - and thoroughly enjoyed our time. We don't need much, food, drinks, and a place where we can just hangout and talk. St. Michael's was just that, plus some. Now, this isn't your average diner, cafe, etc. Food: expect great flavors, a variety of sweet and savory. We ordered french toast and chilaquiles - both were delicious, well balanced and sharable. We also ordered a carafe of grapefruit mimosa - which was slightly too tangy. But drinkable - you get a full bottle of cava in there, win! Ambience: this is more of an upscale restaurant - expected for downtown PA. But it's not bougie - setup to be more of a dimlight dinner, the settings look very formal in normal light. It's a great place to impress someone while staying within budget.

Was really looking forwards to our dinner, but it was just a bit meh. Service was half-hearted, and food was 1-dimensional, comparable to a much cheaper restaurant. Plated & presented well though.

I made reservations and specifically notified an individual in my party had a birthday and to do something special for them, after the "bland, unsalted" meal, nothing was done, the birthday not even acknowledged which really ruined the night, if you are hungry, this is not the place for you, if you are full and need an expensive over priced snack, with their ridiculous small plates, this is the place for you.

Came here for our anniversary. I loved the pasta special they had that day. I think it was a casarecce with naked chicken and a lemon sauce. My wife had the short rib ravioli which was good but I preferred mine. Their cocktail list was amusing with some creative names and jokes mixed with the ingredients. I got the corpse reviver. It was a little too sour for me. All the appetizers were great. My favorite was the one with crab but the meat tar tar was good also.

Pleasant atmosphere, huge, tasty frittata.

Fourth time at St Michaels and it is phenomenal each and every time!

Visited with family to celebrate a birthday. Everyone's meal was delicious beautifully presented. The dining rooms are intimate and warm. Waitstaff were professional and helpful, skyhigh main waiter was a little hurried and abrupt (almost knocked over one server who was bringing full wine glasses from another room). We tried the desserts and they were all amazing. Looking forward to more celebrations here!!

American dining with a gourmet twist. Beautiful, elegant environment. Great service. Special lunch menus.

The food was very good. The dining room I was seated in was intimate. A good atmosphere to take a date.Service was mediocre; we were not told the specials and when we asked we were told we were told. The staff were also arguing with the people behind us.

Fantastic food and service was excellent

A quaint restaurant with great service and phenomenal food!

We have high expectations when dining at Saint Michael's Alley. The service is traditionally impeccable with caring staff. The wine list offers a wide selection, from affordable quality to expensive, as should be. For some reason however the cuisine has become less consistent. Hopefully only temporary.

Good food, nice service and ambiance. (lunch) nice touch with adjusted V, Ve, Gf menu options on request.

I had a pasta dish (cavatelli with broccoli rabe), it was terrible. Cooked for two minutes short of Al dente, no flavor, not the right oils. I can make a substantially better version of this effortlessly. The mushroom cake appetizer was good.

Good food. Adequate menu. Service was a bit frenetic and not as good as the food.

Awesome atmosphere and very attentive service. The food was fresh and delightful. Will surely recommend this place to friends. Affordable rates and large portions. Keep it up.

Great food and service.

Had a wonderful evening. Service was exceptional, food was very good (especially the steak tartar) and dessert with happy birthday wishes was uniquely memorable. Highly recommend.

Upscale cafe setting with high quality food, excellent service and a good wine list with a focus on Santa Cruz.

My experience at Saint Michael’s was really great. The location is great and the outdoor seating was very nice. It was great that we were able to bring our dog and the staff even had a water bowl waiting at the table for our arrival!The staff were all very personable, polite, easy to chat with. We had several appetizers and mains and each dish was delicious! We will definitely be back!

Our new favorite place. Great staff and food.

We visited St Michael's for pre theater dinner with our friends. The food and service were both excellent . Will rat there again when we are Palo Alto.

Long story short— I made one specific special request with my brunch order. Had our server simply told me that it might not be possible, I would have happily ordered something els. Instead, I was just brought food prepared to the exact opposite of my specification, twice. I tried eating it the second time it was served because my other guests were already halfway through their own meals, but it was terrible. When the check came, I whispered to our server to please take that item off the bill. He looked me straight in the face and said, “Sure, but can you tell me what the problem was?” It really took some self control not to get angry at that question.If you’re craving light and fluffy pancakes, don’t come here. And if you’re expecting a waitstaff that actually behaves like they know what words mean, also, don’t come here.

Not really my kind of food but very nice atmosphere and excellent service. Would highly recommend sitting outside as it's very loud indoors.

Loved the ambience to the T. Straight out of a novel. It is rightly labeled as a romantic restaurant, especially with the lighting at night. Food was extremely flavorful. A thorough treat for the senses. Vegetarian choices are limited though. Desserts were soul-satisfying. Staff was very courteous and pleasant too!

Always excellent choices for appetizers, entrees, and the rest. Attentive service without being intrusive. Outside dining is available and very pleasant. Competitive prices for an upscale casual spot in Palo Alto.

Nice atmosphere, but order my steak medium rare only for it to come back medium well. These guys should be better than that.

Very good food and nice location.

This is a nice restaurant with a comfortable dining room, a beautiful bar with additional seating for dinner, and an auxiliary site for larger groups. We love the wait staff and owner, and go there regularly. Food is good, ambiance is even better.

Good old fashioned service

This place is fantastic. The upscale atmosphere makes it nice for dinners and brunch, while you can also have a seat at the bar and watch a sports game. All of the food and dish presentations are wonderful. They always have good specials. The staff is friendly and chatty.

Great food, competent & discreet service, great setting. Quiet for lunch, easier to park than downtown Palo Alto. Had roasted pepper soup and sea bass with mushrooms & eggplant. Both excellent. Professional in every way.

Very good, modern American food. Great service. I was there for dinner, but I understand brunch also rocks

Quaint little place with good service. Try the filet mignon.

Wonderful evening dining at St. Michael's Alley. We were sitting in the back dining room which was lovely, but unfortunately the guests at the next tables were super loud and at times it was a challenge to carry on a conversation.Tuna poke noodles were refreshing and light. The portions much larger than I had expected.Steamed mussels were juicy and full of flavor. Brussels sprouts were crispy and well prepared. Drinks were well made. Service was cordial. Our server, while friendly and nice, was not clear on which items had dairy and needed to refer to the speciality menu multiple times. Would definitely recommend this place for a special evening out.

Great food, very small portions. The fact that there's fresh wasabi is a big plus -- it's absolutely nothing like the horseradish paste that's served as "wasabi" elsewhere.

We usually don't go to fancy restaurants but since we lived in Palo Alto and I always wanted to go there some day we finally did:) For dinner. The service was very friendly as expected. The prices are a bit too much. Because the food was not as good as I thought. I had the roasted chicken with the polenta edge. It was ok. But we both just expected more. The desserts were also only ok. We had better. We wouldn't come again. But I would like to try their breakfast and brunch some day. We heard a lot of good things about it:)

Amazing, per usual!! Great service, delicious food, and cozy atmosphere. Our food was prepared perfectly as ordered. The blueberry pancakes and eggs Benedict are truly some of the best anywhere.

Awesome fine dining, great food and service