Spur of the moment getaway with the honey. We will have a car but prefer to walk and get to know the area better.

Any suggestions on places to eat?

We've done Chinatown before and ate at Great Easter which was good. Of course had GGB and will definitely be back. Where else should we try?

Any particular places in North Beach or Embarcadero?

Any help would be appreciated.

Thank you!

Sorry your experience wasn't as good as mine. Very unfortunate indeed. I'm actually planning to go back within the next couple of weeks. Hopefully the quality hasn't dimished since my previous venture.

I usually go to Kabab & Curry or Mayuri, both in Santa Clara. I like Kabab & Curry better. Love their tandoori chicken and their eggplant.

I have only been to Amber for the lunch buffet and not dinner. It was good.

I just recently tried Cafe Dhaka in Santa Clara which is Bangladeshi food and it's my new favorite. They also serve Indian and Pakistani food but I didn't try it.

I know this is an old thread but I figured I would post my review anyways.

**********************************************************
1st time visiting Cafe Dhaka and it definitely won't be the last. I'm putting this on my regular rotation of cravings that I need to satisfy.

I went with a party of 4 and were greeted very warmly and seated right away. They brought a pitcher of water that had plastic wrap on the top and the menus. The gentleman helping us was fantastic! I cannot say enough about him. We told him we were interested in Bangladeshi cuisine and he went through the ENTIRE menu and told us about each plate and how it was different than some Indian dish we might have had. He asked us about our tastes, how spicy we liked to eat and how hungry we were and made recommendations. He was wearing latex gloves and cleared our plates after the appetizer and brought new plates and silverware for the mains so that we could get the true flavors of the dish.

We basically got what he suggested and already have a menu set up for next time.

The food:
Moghlai Paratha- stuffed with minced beef, egg, chopped onions and green peppers.
This was the standout dish for us. It was a bread-like crust stuffed with the ingredients above. It was golden and crispy on the outside and soft and chewy on the inside. The flavors were great and it was even better with the mint chutney. I would come back for this alone.

Sheek Kabab- thin slice of beef marinated herbs & spices, barbecued over clay oven.
This was different than any other sheek kabab I've had since it's sliced beef. It was served on a hot plate with onions that tasted even better when they were cooked through.

Rejala- mutton cooked with spices, ginger, garlic and poppy seed in a thick gravy.
This was surprisingly good. I was with some folks who don't generally eat goat because it's too gamey or "goaty" if you think that's a word. But this dish was good. The goat was not dry or fatty, the flavors didn't overwhelm the dish and the gravy was really good.

Kacchi Biryani- basmati rice prepared with marinated mutton with yogurt, ginger, garlic, onion, spices, chiles, fried onions.
We kept with the mutton theme and got this but it wasn't what I expected. I almost thought it was going to be more like creamy rice since it had yogurt but the rice was dry with big pieces of mutton. The flavors were good and the mutton again was good, not overcooked but it had some bones and some fatty pieces.

The gentlemen asked if we wanted dessert and offered to give us half orders so that we could try more things. We took him up on the offer and were glad we did. These were some of the best desserts. I think they were less sweet than usual Indian desserts.

Roshmalai- special process, snow white little balls made from milk and cooked in a cream sauce.
This was drier than expected with an almost airy flavor. Just ok.

Chomchom- made from pasteurised milk, butter, milk and cream and cooked in sugar syrup.
I believe this is most like gulab jamon but not as sweet or syrupy.

Doi- made from milk, sugar and yogurt.
This was the best by far. It was a sweet and tangy yogurt that was just good. We scraped every bit of this out of the plate.

Complimentary chai was good too.

All in all we had a great dinner and were thrilled with the service. The gentlemen sent us off with a menu where he circled what we got and what we should try for next time.

Will definitely go back.

Thanks again for all the recs! We are back and had the best time!

I'll try to review the places we went to but might have to come back and edit to add more detail.

Places we visited in no particular order:
Cafe Art Java
Le Petit Alep
Au Pied De Cochon
Bouston
Amir
Basha
Olive & Gourmando
Schwartz
Juliette & Chocolat
La Banquise
Titanic
St. Viateur
La Chilenita
Havre Aux Glaces

Cafe Art Java became my favorite place and we were there almost every morning. It was down the street from the hotel and across from the metro so we would head there and plan our day. I tried their espresso 1st to get the full flavor of the coffee and absolutely fell in love! Their latte's were great as well and my boyfriend, who doesn't drink that much coffee, also commented on how good it was. That's the place I miss the most.

Titanic was a great 1st lunch. Very filling! We had the meat pie and a salmon and cream cheese sandwich. The meat pie was spiced very well and had a great flaky crust almost like filo. The sandwich was really good! Smoked salmon with cream cheese with lettuce, tomato, and yellow green beans on a ciabbata bread. We have tried to recreate this sandwich since we got back. We've gotten pretty close. We also had the San Pellegrino limonatta which I hadn't had before.

Amir, Bouston and Basha became our go to places for when we wanted something fast, cheap and filling. The plates were big enough for the two of us and the food was really good. We had the lamb and chicken on several occasions always moist and flavorful. We didn't tire of this food and wished for more places like this where we live.

Juliette and Chocolate was pretty tasty. We had a chocolate crepe with a latte (again not as good as Cafe Art Java. The crepe was fresh, still warm and the edges were crispy.

Schwartz was an experience. We couldn't believe the line when we got there. Tons of people were waiting. We were there about 20 min before we got pulled out of line since there were only 2 of us. We ended up getting what you all recommended, medium fat, double mustard and Cott soda but no pickles. It was good. Still not sure what kind of meat it was but it looked a lot like corned beef.

O&G was tasty! Their latte was not as good as Cafe Art Java but it was ok. We also had the chocolate and banana brioche, which was divine! It looks really rich but the flavor isn't intense at all. Their Cuban panini was also good, not the best I had but still good and their plain croissant was really buttery.

Petit Alep was delicious! I can’t say enough about this place. Everything was just perfect. We had the filet mignon in a red spicy sauce that was so good I’m still craving it. The pita was more like a lavash bread and it was toasty. The salad had a great dressing that was refreshing. The rice had nice little bits of noodles. I’m hungry for this right now!

We followed Petit Alep with dessert at Havre Aux Glaces. The ice cream was really good and had more of gelato creaminess. We tried the dark chocolate, dulce de leche and strawberry sorbet.

La Banquise was a little out of the way but it was the only time we had poutine. Not bad. We really liked the curds more than the gravy. The fries were good, nice and crispy and not oily at all.

St. Viateur Bagel was good. I really enjoyed these bagels. They were right out of the oven and weren’t chewy or dry. We brought some back home with us and shared with some family members who also liked them better than ones we get here.

La Chilenita was a nice snack of empanadas and alfajores. The empanadas were heated up in a microwave but they still kept their flaky texture. The filling was a meat filling. The alfajores were really good. Crispy and crunchy cookies with a dulce filling rolled in grated coconuts. Very sweet and satisfying.

Au Pied De Cochon was outstanding! I didn’t think I would like it as much as I did. We had the cured foie gras tart which was tart filled with mashes potatoes topped with foie gras. It was good but this was my 1st time having foie gras and I don’t think I would like like it otherwise. We also had the happy pork chop and a special of the day swordfish. These dishes were amazing! The happy pork chop was in a vine and mushroom sauce with some herbs. The swordfish was served on top of cauliflower puree and topped with julienne vegetables in a nice sauce. Both dishes were splendid! We cleaned the entire plate and kept scooping up the sauce with some bread. We had a nice penacotta for dessert.

All in all, we ate really well and would definitely go back to Montreal! There were still places and eats we wanted to explore but didn’t have the time to.

Thank you so much for all the recommendations! I'm now mapping the places out to see what's around the area we can do sightseeing.

Any other places I'm missing? Any other recs are welcomed!

Oh, and we probably won't be able to go to Quebec City anymore.

I made reservations at Au Pied De Cochons. My mouth doesn't water per se but I do want to try it.

Here's our food list so far: I'm still trying to figure out where we'll actually be since we might go to Quebec City one of these days. I'm not too sure how far these places are from each other but they are basically places we want to try. Any recs will definitely be appreciated.

I'm probably more interested in lunch and dinner options since we're both ok with coffe and pastry or croissant for breakfast. Unless there is a really good breakfast place we have to try then please let me know where.

Monday
- Breakfast: St. Viateur for a bagel
- Lunch: Schwarts
- Dinner: cheap and good dinner rec?

Tuesday
- Breakfast: Cafe Art Java for the coffee
- Lunch: Poutine maybe at La Banquise or Patati Patata
- Dinner: cheap and good?

Wednesday
- Breakfast: Le Figaro for croissants
- Lunch: any cheap that aren't too heavy since we're going to APDC?
- Dinner: Au Pied De Cochon- any recs on what to order?

Thursday- hopefully in Quebec City
- Breakfast: Cafe Temporal
- Lunch: Al Wadi or Aux Anciens Canadiens (sp?) depending on our mood
- Dinner: coming back to Montreal?

Friday:
- Breakfast: ?
- Lunch: L'express or Lemeac
- Dinner:?

Saturday
- Breakfast: ?
- Lunch:?
- Dinner: Maybe Bonaparte?

What am I missing?

Thanks so much for all your help!!! I'm getting really excited to go!

I'm reading a lot about Au Pied De Cochon. Is it really worth it?

Thank you for the tips Maximilien!

The address of the hotel is:
475 President Kennedy Avenue
Montreal, Quebec H3A 1J7

I have been told by other people to go to Schwartz so that's already on the list.

I also read about bagels being really good, where is the best place for them?

A decently priced French cuisine?

What about bakeries that have good pastries and croissants for breakfast or midmorning snack?

Any help is appreciated!

My boyfriend and I will be staying at the Delta Montreal the 2nd week in August and we're looking to try out some places we can't really find in the San Francisco Bay Area.

We'll be walking and using public transit since we find we get to know areas better that way. We like everything, especially ethnic cuisine. The boyfriend loves Greek food. I heard there were some good Portugese places around so I'm interested in those.

We're on a budget but would like to go to 1 fancy dinner where we can get somewhat dressed up. A nice romantic setting with great food would be perfect. Otherwise, any good and cheap places work for us.

Any info on restaurants and what to order would be great!

Thanks in advance!

The Blue Monkey has good tacos but it's more of a bar/lounge place than actual restaurant.

La Victoria is great, as I mentioned before. Did you get some orange sauce? The sauce makes the food there in my opinion.
My fav food is the carne asada super quesadilla with lots of orange sauce. So good!

I like Las Cazuelas and I don't generally like restaurant Mexican food. I used to live with a lady who made food from scrath, have travelled to Mexico a handfuld of times, and have a boyfriend who's mother is a fantastic cook so I'm picky about Mexican food. Cazuelas is one of the few places I like. They have a lot of combo plates that are good. The meats are nicely flavored and they don't skimp on it. They have a salsa bar and complimentary chips when you order. I think they have good portions too.
I don't really get tacos there though. I go for the combo plates, chimichangas and other stuff. Tacos I like from Jalisco's on King and Virginia.

"Not break the bank" meaning less or around $20 a person since my parents will be picking up the bill.
My concern is that since we'll be out on Mother's Day, we'll get trapped into getting some "Mother's Day Brunch" food that will be expensive and not tasty.

My parents have basically left the itinerary up to my sister and myself and we eat a lot of ethnic foods but my parents and relatives don't. My parents have never had dim sum so I wanted to take them to try it but not sure how the rest of the pack will feel about it. I need options since we don't know where we will be eating.

Are there any places going up to SF that would be good for brunch/lunch? We'll be travelling from the South Bay.

I have some family coming from Guatemala and we will be touring San Francisco just for one day on Mother's Day.

Of course they want to hit up the tourist spots, Chinatown, Fisherman's Wharf, Alcatraz, etc. But I flat out refuse to eat at the tourist traps since I'm a snob. :-D

I don't venture to those areas too often but I used to live in the Mission. I doubt they will want to eat in the Mission and hence, I am at a loss of where to get lunch.

I was thinking eating in Chinatown but I have only been to Great Eastern and another place that has a green awning and I think "Snow" in the name. I want to say Snow Garden or something like that. I'm not sure if there are better places. Any recs?

What are some places near Fisherman's Wharf where we can eat at that isn't going to break the bank and can accomodate 8-10 people?

I need a list of options since they haven't finalized their itinerary so I'm not sure where we will actually be come lunch time or when they get hungry.

Thanks for the help.

Thanks for asking Melanie!

Party was great!. 18 people total. We were seated outside. They put together about 7 tables for us. The people at Cafe Artemis are extremely nice! We were there from 6:30 to about 9:30 just talking, eating and drinking. The main lady, I can't recall her name, is just wonderful. I've been there often enough where she now recognizes my face and she greeted me with a hug and said "happy birthday."

Service was good. There was only one time where someone got up to get a server. They were very attentive even though they had people inside and our party was outside. Water and bread was refilled as soon as we asked. They brought us extra pita with no charge. We sat down and glasses were filled with water. We ordered both the red and white sangria. The interesting thing is they put the fruit in the wine glasses and the pitcher of sangria comes seperately. It was ok. Not the best I've had but definitely not the worst. I enjoyed the white sangria a lot more than the red. I think the first batch we got was a little light. They came and asked if we were feeling it yet and no one was. The 2nd batch was better, a little stronger but still not that potent.

We started with the Meze Sampler- Combination meze platter with falafel, dolma, hummus, tabouli & babaganush, Lentil Kofte, Lebni, and Ezme. Everyone enjoyed this a lot. We had a lot of people trying Mediterrean food for the 1st time and they liked everything. The server was very nice and explained the items to the newbies.

We all ordered seperate dishes and of course picked off each others plates. I'll give a rundown of what dishes we had at the table.

Classic Greek Salad with chicken-Cucumber, tomato, red onion, capers, olives and feta with fresh lemon and olive oil was good. Chicken tasted like it had been marinated and it was cooked perfectly, still moist. Good portion too.

Combination Kebab Platter- samplings of beef shish, chicken shish, adana kebab, Lamb Kofte, doner (gyro) & grilled vegetables. This is for 2 people but could very well feed 4. Everything was so good on this platter! Nice flavor, cooked perfectly, moist, tender and juicy. The veggies had a nice bite to them, not soggy in the least.

Swordfish Kebab-Citrus marinated Swordfish with tomato, onions, peppers grilled & served with rice pilaf. Very tasty. The fish was nice and fresh, juicy and full of flavor. I would have liked more pieces, there were about 6. Two people split this meal and it was more than enough with the meze sampler.

Lamb Beyendi- Lamb sautéed with tomatoes, onion, garlic, peppers & olive oil, served over smoked eggplant puree. This is my favorite dish at this place. The lamb is fresh, succulent, tender and tasty and I love the eggplant puree.

Chicken Beyendi- Rosemary and garlic marinated chicken breast sautéed with tomatoes, onion, garlic, peppers and olive oil, served over eggplant puree. Also good. Only white mean chicken and very moist.

Lamb Kofte-Traditional ground lamb patties with toasted cumin, grilled and served with rice pilaf, tzatziki and grilled vegetables. Even people who don't like or eat lamb loved this. It is just good. Not gamey at all. HAd about 3 patties and again, two people split this meal.

Classic Turkish Doner (gyro)- Thin slices of marinated grilled beef and lamb with rice pilaf and grilled vegetables. I didn't get to try this but it looked really good.

We brought a cheesecake and they kindly put it in the kitchen for us and brought it out later with candles on it. They provided the candles for us. They brought us a knife, plates and utencils when we served it as well.

Overall I loved my birthday dinner and I love the food at Cafe Artemis!

Had dinner there two Sundays ago at aroud 7pm. Line was 3 tables ahead of me. Waited about 12-15 min to get seated for a part of 3.

I got the shoyu ramen, boyfriend got the special which was the cold shoyu noodles and friend got the kimchi pork.

The shoyu ramen was really good! The broth was dark and tasty, not salty at all. I didn't add anything to it as it was fine on it's own. The noodles were ok. They were a bit too firm for my taste but as they sat in the broth they cooked a little more. I wish they would have put in more noodles. There was half an egg in there, more soft than hard boiled in my opinion. They had one small piece of nori and a ton of green onion, I mean A TON! I'm sure I could have scooped some out and used it for another meal. Very small pieces of pork that were too fatty for my taste. I'm not sure if they ran out of meat or what but I only counted 4 pieces in my ramen and two of those were fatty.
The broth is the standout. I ate the entire bowl down to the last drop.
What I didn't like was that the bowls looked smaller and the price was higher than Do-Honketsu (sp?).

The cold shoyu noodles was just cold shoyu ramen. Not as good as the hot ramen. It came with two pieces of pork on the side which were good. No pork in the actual broth. The kimchi pork was good. Nicely spiced, very strong kimchi flavor. They put the mayonaise on the side and there were a good amount of thinly sliced pork throughout.

The only bad thing is that my friend found a hair in her rice. The hair was short and curly and looking around, no one there had curly hair. We tried not to think too much about it. We told them and they brought her more rice, but it was from the same big rice cooker. She didn't eat the rest of the rice and they didn't offer to comp or discount her meal.

But the shoyu was good!

*Mexican (esp. a good corn tortilla)
La Victoria in downtown San Pedro Square
Las Cazuelas on the Alameda and Race

*Japanese (sushi, the freshest)
Tomi Sushi on Saratoga or their sister Sushi Tomi in Mountain View

*Local foods and meats (probably not so hard to come across in CA)
Parcel 104

*"Authentic ethnic"
Zeni- Ehtiopian
Cafe Artemis- Mediterranean
Athena Grill- Greek
Krung Thai

*Fine wine, whisky, and beer
Paragon at the Montgomery Hotel
Vintage Wine Merchants in Santana Row

I had a beef noodle soup at Darda Seafood in Milpitas and homemade noodles that was really good. I'm not sure what the Chinese name is though. It was more like noddles and meat with broth as opposed to soup. Or they could have just given me a lot of noodles. In any case, I really liked it. The beef was very tender and a nice portion was included. The broth was very flavorful and dark but not salty at all. I didn't feel the need to drink water.
Not sure if that's what you are looking for but I'm throwing it out there.

I'm not sure if these are low end per se. I would saw modereate end. Ha! I rarely do high end because I'm poor.

Zeni- Ethiopian
Krung Thai
Grande Pizzeria
Hana- noodles
Kahoo- ramen
Ramen Halu
Ramen Rama- not as good as previous two ramen but ok
Tomi Sushi
Cafe Artemis- Mediterranean
Athena Grill
Falafel Drive In
House of Falafel
Hobees- breakfast
Vung Tau
Dakao- Vietnamese sammie
Sourdough Eatery
Las Cazuelas
Jalisco's Taqueria- next to Pink Elephant Bakery
La Victoria in Downtown
Andiamo Cafe- I have only eaten the Latin American food and not the Italian

Let me start by thanking Melanie again for organizing this!

It was a pleasure meeting the group as this was my 1st chowdown.

The restaurant was really quaint and the service was excellent. They gave us suggestions, answered all of our questions, served the hot pot, gave us free wontons and refilled everything we needed. Like Melanie mentioned, the food arrived really fast but it didn't take away anything from the preperation, temperature or flavor of the food.

Now on to the food. . .
I basically gave no input in what to order because my previous experience with Korean had just been BBQ and I wanted to expand my pallete. We ordered plenty of food and actually had some leftovers.

Yook Hwe, $15.95 – Raw beef with special sauce
I'm weird and do not generally like sweet tasting food. For me, sweet is for dessert. With that said, I wasn't too much of a fan of this. Since it also had some pear, and I do not like pears, it just didn't do anything for me. I can however say that the meat did have some good flavor with the pine nuts and raw egg. Flavorful and refreshing. I'd almost like to cook the meat to rare instead of raw to see if the flavors would infuse into the meat more.

Gool Jun, $13.95 – Oyster with fried green onion in batter
This was my favorite. I generally don't like friend foods but these were good. The oysters were fresh and plump, not overcooked at all. The batter wasn't heavy or oily and it added a nice crunch to the soft oyster. I don't know if I ate it right but I dipped the oysters in the crustacean sauce as I called it and it was really tasty. Would definitely get this again.

Gool Bo Sam, $17.95 – Fresh (raw) oyster with steamed pork and lettuce
This was a miss for me because the lettuce tasted too much of vinegar. I think I would have liked it more if it was fresh lettuce and not cabbage which is what I think we got. The oysters were big and plump. The pork was ok, a little too fatty (it was more like bacon than steamed pork). There was this red stringy filler that I'm not sure what it was but it was good with the oysters.

Duck bok ki, $10.95 – Rice cake with hot sauce
This wasn't as spicy as it looked and it was good. Mild rice cake with what I think was fishballs. Good and tasty.

Dae ji bul go kee, $11.95 – Korean barbecued pork
I like pork and I like BBQ. You can deduce that I like BBQ Pork. Good flavoring. Not spicy. Would get this again.

Kal bi, $18.95 x 2 – Korean barbecued short ribs
A staple and rightly so. It was good. Nice chunks of meat, Not too fatty or bland. Very well flavored. Definitely getting this again.

Heok yum so jun gol, $30.95 – Black goat in hot soup
Another miss for me. It was too gamey or as some said too "goaty." I'm not sure if it was sesame leaves or some other greens in it but they were a tad bitter but I could see how they went with the flavor of the goat.

Goon man doo, complimentary x 2 – Baked won ton
It's wonton. Can't really mess that up. And it was free, so it tasted even better. I took some of these home and had them this morning for breakfast. Nice thin, crisp shell. The filling wasn't too much. Good balance or pork, ginger and scallions is what I tasted. Not oily at all.

The rice water. . . I tasted it. I don't think I would order this. I was saving my sweet tooth for the ice cream.

The ice cream. I can't believe I hadn't been here before. Now I'm sure I'll be here once a week and my waistline will not be happy about it.

I'm sure we annoyed the owner as we (boyfriend and I) asked for a sample of almost everything- chicoo, falloda, saffron and galkhand and asked him what everything was. We settled on the mango ice cream and it was devine! Smooth and creamy with a deep mango flavor. I'm probably going to have to get some more of this tonight, just because it was so good.

Thanks again for letting us come! Can't wait till the next one!

Ha! OMG your post made me LOL! Too funny. At least you didn't get one of the younger boys.

My experience:
We went on a weekday around 2:30pm. The sign outside said they had a lunch buffet till 3pm.
We walked in and saw the steam table actually steaming but there wasn't any food or any other people in the restaurant. The only person there was a boy and we asked him if they were still serving the lunch buffet. He said "No".

Not sure if the sign was right or they ran out of food or what.

We did come back on another night for dinner and it was good. I think we talked to the owner and helped us pick our meals. We had excellent koobideh and kabob. We also tried the sour yogurt drink. He gave us the warning that it was an aquired taste but my boyfriend wanted to try it anyways so he got it. He didn't like it though.

Everything was good and flavorful. We haven't been back but I would still go.

I picked Mi Pueblo primarily for convenience. They could take my order over the phone and it's closer to my house and it was slightly cheaper than Pink Elephant.

I have had the cake from Pink Elephant and it was very good but you have to go there to order it and then go back to pick it up. I just didn't have the time nor the energy to make the trek.

I just called them to confirm the prices.

The one I bought was for about 15 people and it was $22.99. With fruit $26.99. For 15-20 people with decoration $29.99. For 40 people it is $49.00.

Mi Pueblo
235 E Julian St
San Jose, CA, 95112
(408) 292-3177

I have also had some from
Pink Elephant Bakery
415 S King Rd.
San Jose, CA, 95116

But you have to order it in person.
(408) 923-3436

What kind of live music Melanie? It doesn't say anything on the website about it.

Really short notice as I have been lagging on getting my birthday plans in order.

I'm looking for a place that has good food for about 20 people and less than $20 per person for this Saturday.

I have already done Krung Thai for the past 2 birthday dinners and I'm looking for something new.

Also, if anyone knows of a bar that isn't full of college kids (no offense it's just that my friends are all late 20's early 30's) that has music for dancing and a fun atmosphere, I would love to know about it.
Last year we went to Sofa Lounge and had a great time but they have since closed. Since I don't go bar hopping that much, I have no idea where to go. I generally stay away from Studio 8, Vault type places since it's too much meat market for me.

Thanks for the help!

Isn't Pad Kkee Mao = Drunk Noodle? That's what I always thought.

I live in San Jose and my two places are:

Krung Thai
http://www.newkrungthai.com/

Thair Pepper
2000 S Bascom Ave
Campbell, CA 95008

Thanks for asking Melanie. I ended up getting it at Mi Pueblo. Got just a barra (half a sheet cake, lengthwise) and it was very good. I asked that they please make it extra milky and they were happy to oblige. I got the fresh strawberry and whipped cream filling and whipped cream frosting with more strawberries. I would definitely order from them again. You have to go in and and order it 1st. They give you the option of paying for it then or paying when you pick it up.

I think it depends on how you want to do it. Either you split the bill with the whole group or you have everyone pay their own meal and pitch in for the birthday boy/girl.
I have found that if you want to feed a large group with not so much money then family style tends to be cheaper.

Also, what type of food are you looking for?

I have had some birthday dinners with around 20 people at Krung Thai on Winchester. They have been no more than $20 (including tax & tip) per person and we ate a lot. Last time it was $16 for about 14 peple and that was also pitching in for my meal so I didn't have to pay.
I have attended birthday parties at PF Changs ($16-22 per person) and Bucca ($12-18) per person (depending on the number of dishes you order.) I have also gone to Vung Tau with a large group but the person had pre-ordered and I knew going into it it was going to be $22 per person.

I recently saw large groups at Sonoma Chicken Coop in Campbell. In one group, the people ordered and paid at the counter. In the other, they had menus at the tables and the food was brought to them. I'm sure you can call them to find out what woud work.

I recommend having alcohol on a seperate bill or having them pay the waitress directly. Figuring out who drank how much is stressful and it's not fair to split that evenly if some people aren't drinking.

I have never put in the invitation that it was a no-host party but I guess with my group of friends it's assumed that we all pitch in. That sounds like a good idea though if that's what you are worried about.

When I graduated, I had my lunch at Thai Pepper. But I only had 15 people. It's in Campbell.
You might want to try Krung Thai as well. I have had many a birthday lunch/dinners there. They can section off an area for you. I've had 20+ people with no problems. We usually don't spend more than $20 per person.

There are good places in Willow Glen. John's Xlnt comes to mind.
www.johnsxlntfoods.com

Taiwan Restaurant
www.taiwanrestaurantsj.com

I definitely recommendt Cafe Artemis in the Pruneyard. Great food.
1875 S Bascom Ave
Campbell, CA 95008
http://www.cafeartemis.com/

Thai Pepper has some lunch specials and a coupon for 10% off.
http://www.mealdeals4u.com/mealdeals4u/ca/santaclara/thaipepper.htm

Michi Sushi
2220 Winchester Blvd
Campbell, CA 95008
www.michisushi.com

Mama Mia
200 E Hamilton Ave
Campbell, CA 95008
http://www.mamamias.com