Astaria Restaurant

Kerman, Michelle, Annie and I went to a moderately priced restaurant in San Mateo's downtown last night and enjoyed celebrating Annie's birthday. Annie's birthday is still a ways away, but we wanted to celebrate it before other things start happening and we're unable to find time to go out.

Kerman and I first discovered Astaria when we attended the Grand Opening event of the new Fremont Magnussen Lexus facilities in Warm Springs, Fremont. The delicious food was catered by Astaria and we thought we'd give it a try the next time we were going out on one of our birthday celebrations.

So that's what we did.

Astaria has a much more relaxed atmosphere than our last excursion and, though joking, Michelle was accurate when she said our last event was nearly 10 times more expensive than this one.

Here is a summary of our menu as I remember it:

Appetizers - Dolmathes, Marinated Prawns, Chicken Kabobs

Salad - Caesar Salad

Main Course - Napolean with Tri-Tip (me); Filet Mignon (Michelle); Paella (Kerman); Beef Shanks (Annie)
Dessert - something lemony (kerman and michelle); Astaria "Ho-Ho's" (Annie); complimentary birthday ice cream (Annie); something crispy with filo bread and nuts (me)

The grand total was a mere $220.

Good friends, good food, good times. (Except for the creepy elevator and decimated hotel lobby.) Final vote? 3.5/5.0 stars.