Taste

About Taste

Taste is a Szechuan restaurant at 423 University Avenue in downtown Palo Alto. It soft opened on December 8, 2017, in a space that had turned over several times in a short span. Palo Alto Online reported that Taste replaced Les Bizous, a French restaurant, which had itself followed a Cajun spot and, before that, a Turkish restaurant. Taste has outlasted all of them.

Szechuan cooking comes from Sichuan province in southwest China. It is known for chili heat and the tingling, numbing effect of Sichuan peppercorns. At Taste, that style sits alongside a long list of dim sum, so a table can mix fiery and gentle dishes.

What is on the menu

The restaurant posts its full menu on its online ordering site. Dishes change over time, so use these examples as a guide.

• Appetizers: cold Szechuan plates such as couple's delights, numbing spicy beef tripe, mung bean jelly, steamed chicken in chili sauce and pork wontons in chili oil, plus cucumber salad, pot stickers and scallion pancake.
• Dim sum: pork, shrimp and chive or vegetable dumplings, shrimp dumplings, shiu mai, barbecue pork buns, custard buns, molten lava buns and sesame balls with red bean.
• Soups: hot and sour soup, wonton soup, West Lake beef soup with tofu and chicken and corn soup.
• House specialties: live whole fish served spicy with pickled vegetables or grilled, Bo Bo chicken, chicken wings or fish fillet stir-fried with dried chilies, plus fish fillet or beef in flaming red oil.

When Taste opened, its menu was organized into seafood, poultry, beef and lamb, pork, sizzling plates, tofu and vegetables, griddle and clay pot dishes and noodles and rice. Palo Alto Online named mapo tofu, kung pao shrimp and lanzhou beef ramen among the early dishes.

Today's rice and noodle section is broad. It runs from crossing the bridge noodles and a Chengdu numbing spicy rice noodle soup to beef brisket noodle soup, cumin lamb chow mein, beef chow fun, Yangzhou fried rice and Hong Kong style pan-fried noodles. A spicy dry pot appears as its own section. The lunch specials pair stir-fries such as kung pao chicken, Mongolian beef and mapo tofu with rice, alongside Hainan chicken rice and Cantonese roast duck or barbecue pork rice. To drink, there are Chinese teas such as jasmine green, jade oolong, roasted four seasons oolong and chrysanthemum, plus beer, wine and sake.

How to order

Taste takes orders through its own ordering site, built on the KwickPOS system. The site describes itself as direct from the restaurant, not a third-party platform. It lists online business hours from 11 a.m. to 3 p.m. and 5 to 10:30 p.m. every day, with a break in the afternoon. The site offers pickup, curbside pickup and delivery within a set area. In the dining room, some tables use a QR code for ordering. The site notes a service charge on dine-in orders placed that way. You can also phone in an order. The big fish dishes are meant for sharing, so ask about portion sizes if you are ordering for a small group.

Who Taste suits

Taste works best for a group that likes to share. Szechuan dishes come out family style. A mix of a cold appetizer, a dim sum plate, a spicy main and a vegetable makes a good spread. People who do not like heat can lean on the dim sum, soups and pot stickers. The menu includes vegetable dumplings, vegetable buns and tofu dishes, but it does not label dishes as vegetarian, so ask about broth and sauces if that matters to you.

Tips for visiting

Spice levels in Szechuan cooking can be high. If you are unsure, ask the staff which dishes are mildest, or order one spicy plate and balance it with rice and dumplings. Taste is on the 400 block of University Avenue, an easy walk from the Palo Alto Caltrain station. Downtown parking is in city garages and on streets with posted limits. Our Chinese food guide covers more Szechuan, Cantonese and Taiwanese cooking around town. For the wider neighborhood, see our downtown guide. If you are eating late, our late-night food guide may help.

Location and getting there

Taste is at 423 University Avenue, Palo Alto, CA 94301, in the Downtown area of Palo Alto. Our Downtown guide covers what else is around.

The nearest train stop is the Palo Alto Caltrain station, about 0.4 miles away. That is roughly a 10 minute walk.

Parking: street spaces and city garages with posted limits (see parking in Palo Alto).

What is nearby

• Peninsula Optical, practice, under 0.1 mi
• Like! Hair Salon, salon or spa, under 0.1 mi
• Olivia & Lash, salon or spa, under 0.1 mi
• U.S. Bank University Avenue, service business, under 0.1 mi
• Marugame Udon, quick-service spot, under 0.1 mi
• Cogswell Plaza, 0.2 mi
• University Avenue, 0.2 mi
• Johnson Park, 0.2 mi

Other restaurants nearby: Cafe Venetia (under 0.1 mi); Yayoi (under 0.1 mi); Sushirrito (under 0.1 mi); Rooh (under 0.1 mi). Browse the full restaurants list.

Before you go

• Popular dinner spots in Palo Alto fill up on Friday and Saturday nights, so book ahead where the restaurant takes reservations.
• Many kitchens close earlier than in big cities. Plan to order by about 9 p.m. on weeknights unless the posted hours say otherwise.
• If you have allergies or dietary needs, call ahead or check the current menu on the restaurant's website.

About this listing

Checked October 30, 2026 against Taste Palo Alto online ordering site; Palo Alto Online report on the opening (2017). How our listings work. Map data © OpenStreetMap contributors.

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