Where to eat in Millbrae

Most Palo Alto residents pass through Millbrae on the way to the airport and never leave the station. That is a missed meal. The town's small downtown, a few blocks of Broadway and El Camino Real just west of the tracks, is one of the densest places on the Peninsula for Chinese food, with Korean, Japanese and Malaysian kitchens mixed in. An Irish pub and an old-school Italian dining room round things out.

This guide names only places we confirmed on their own websites, location pages or first-party ordering pages in early November 2026. We describe what each menu offers and the hours each site posts. Prices are our rough read of posted menus, so treat them as a guide. For the station, the 1907 depot and airport hotels, see our Millbrae town guide.

How Millbrae's food is laid out

Millbrae Transit Center sits on the east side of town. Cross El Camino Real heading west and you reach Broadway, the old main street, which runs roughly parallel to El Camino one block over. Most restaurants sit on these two streets between Millbrae Avenue to the south and the city line to the north. A few chains and the hotel strip lie east of the station near Rollins Road and Highway 101.

Chinese noodles and regional cooking

Noodleosophy

Noodleosophy pulls its noodles by hand. Its founders, two university friends who left finance and software jobs, say they traveled through China looking for noodle styles with real history before opening. The Millbrae shop at 102 S. El Camino Real handles takeout and outdoor dining. Its site lists 11 a.m. to 8 p.m. Sunday to Thursday and until 8:30 p.m. on Friday and Saturday. It also runs shops in San Mateo and Cupertino and sells a raw noodle kit to cook at home. Bowls here are an inexpensive lunch by Peninsula standards.

Hubei Restaurant

Hubei Restaurant (written Hu Bei on its sign and site) at 1055 El Camino Real cooks dishes from central China alongside familiar Chinese plates. Its chef's recommendations include a pine nut fish, scored and fried so it opens like a flower, then finished with a sweet and sour tomato sauce and pine nuts. It takes orders for pickup through its own site and a first-party ordering page.

Royal Feast

Royal Feast at 148 El Camino Real is a Chinese restaurant a short walk from the station. Its site carries a 2026 copyright, a menu and online ordering. It does not post hours there, so call ahead if you plan a late dinner. For Chinese food closer to home, see our Chinese food guide.

Korean, Japanese and Malaysian

Han Sang

Han Sang at 420 Broadway focuses on Korean comfort dishes. Its site names sul-long-tang, the milky ox bone soup, plus suyuk (boiled sliced meat) and jeongol, a shared stew cooked at the table. It serves lunch from 11 a.m. to 2:30 p.m. and dinner from 5 to 10 p.m. every day, caters and books private parties. Our Korean food guide covers options in Palo Alto.

Bashamichi

Bashamichi at 1390 El Camino Real calls itself a casual Japanese bar and restaurant. The menu splits into yakitori and fried dishes, sushi and sake. Its site lists 11:30 a.m. to 9 p.m. every day and asks guests to phone for reservations. It sits at the south end of town, so it is a short drive or a 15 minute walk from the station.

Ipoh Garden

Ipoh Garden Malaysian Cuisine is named for Ipoh, a city in Malaysia known for its food. It sits at 100 El Camino Real at the north end of the strip. Its site lists takeout hours of 11 a.m. to 3 p.m. and 5 to 9 p.m. daily and links to online ordering. Malaysian food is rare around Palo Alto, which makes this one worth the ride.

An Irish pub and a North Beach-style Italian room

Fiddlers Green

Fiddlers Green at 333 El Camino Real has been a family-run Irish pub since 1991. The McElhone family grew up in it and opened a sister pub, Molly O's, in San Carlos in 2023. Breakfast runs all day. The menu lists a full Irish breakfast with Irish bacon, sausage and black and white pudding at $21.95, along with stew, traditional plates, sandwiches and burgers. The site lists 10 a.m. openings Monday to Friday and 9 a.m. on weekends, with closing between 8 and 9:30 p.m.

O Sole Mio

O Sole Mio at 352 Broadway bills itself as "a little bit of North Beach in Millbrae." The menu covers chicken, seafood, veal and pasta plus pizza, in the style of San Francisco's old Italian neighborhood. Its site lists dinner Tuesday to Sunday from 4 to 9 p.m. and does not list Monday hours. Our Italian and pizza guide covers Palo Alto.

Pastries and a quick bite by the station

Paris Baguette, the Korean-founded bakery cafe chain, has a Millbrae cafe at 655 Broadway. Its location page lists 6 a.m. to 9 p.m. most days and until 10 p.m. on Friday and Saturday. It is a cheap stop for coffee, cream breads and cake slices. For bakeries near home, see our bakeries and desserts guide.

If you only have a few minutes between trains, Chick-fil-A at 106 N. Rollins Road sits right beside the station. Its page lists 6:30 a.m. to 11 p.m. Monday to Saturday. Like every branch of the chain, it is closed on Sunday.

A sample Millbrae food crawl

This loop covers about a mile on foot and works best on a weekday or a Saturday, when every stop is open.

1. Late morning: Ride Caltrain to Millbrae and walk west to Paris Baguette on Broadway for coffee and a pastry.
2. Lunch: Head to Noodleosophy at the north end of El Camino Real for a bowl of hand-pulled noodles. Share a plate of Malaysian dishes at Ipoh Garden next door if you are with a group.
3. Afternoon: Walk back along Broadway past Han Sang and O Sole Mio. Read the menus in the windows for a future trip.
4. Early dinner: Settle into Fiddlers Green for a pint and stew, or book Han Sang for a pot of jeongol. Then walk back to the station for the train home.

Getting there from Palo Alto

• Caltrain: Millbrae is two fare zones from Palo Alto: $6.25 in October 2026 and $6.50 from January 1, 2027. On the late October weekday timetable an express took about 21 minutes and a local about 29. Our Caltrain guide explains Clipper and tickets.
• Driving: About 21 miles on Highway 101, 25 to 30 minutes outside rush hour. Downtown has metered street parking and small lots behind Broadway.
• Before a flight: SFO is one BART stop north, so lunch in Millbrae before a flight is easy. See our SFO guide.
• Staying over: Millbrae's hotels sit minutes from the terminals. You can compare hotels near SFO in Millbrae for an early departure.

What has changed

Millbrae's restaurant row turns over often. The biggest loss in recent years was Hong Kong Flower Lounge, the dim sum banquet hall that closed on December 31, 2022, according to the Almanac's Peninsula Foodist. Several Broadway restaurants did not post websites we could check, including some popular dim sum and hot pot rooms, so we left them off. For dim sum closer to home, see our dim sum guide.

Frequently asked questions