Where to eat in Midtown

Midtown is the postwar heart of south Palo Alto, a neighborhood of 1950s ranch houses and Eichlers built around a modest shopping strip. Its food scene matches. You will not find tasting menus here. You will find a family burger grill that has fed Palo Alto since 1948, two taquerias, a long-running neighborhood cafe and the kind of pizza parlor that hosts team parties. Most of it sits within a two-minute walk of one corner, Middlefield Road at Colorado Avenue.

This guide groups Midtown's food by block, then covers the cluster a mile south at Charleston Center. Every linked business appears in our business directory, which shows hours as each place published them in October 2026. Hours vary, so check before you go. For the neighborhood itself, see our Midtown guide.

Where Midtown is

Midtown runs roughly from Oregon Expressway south to Loma Verde Avenue and from Alma Street east to West Bayshore Road. Middlefield Road is its main street. The commercial heart is Middlefield at Colorado Avenue, with a second small cluster where Middlefield meets Loma Verde. Safeway at 2811 Middlefield Road is the main grocery store.

From California Avenue, Midtown is about a mile southeast across Alma Street and the tracks. From downtown it is about 2 miles. Most visitors drive or bike.

Middlefield Road at Colorado Avenue

These places are all within a few storefronts of the corner. You can park once and walk to any of them.

Meals

• Kirk's Steakburgers: a family-run burger restaurant that started in Palo Alto in 1948 and still cooks over an open charcoal flame.
• Sancho's Taqueria: a fast-casual taqueria known for Baja-style fish tacos and California burritos, open 10 a.m. to 9 p.m. most days.
• Como Esta Taqueria: burritos, tacos, plates and breakfast, open six days a week and closed Sundays.
• Indochine: a Thai and Vietnamese restaurant with pho, curries, a long vegetarian list and drop-off catering.
• Round Table Pizza: the West Coast pizza chain's Colorado Avenue store, with party rooms and curbside pickup.
• Subway: an independently owned franchise open 8 a.m. to 11 p.m. daily as listed.

Coffee, boba and ice cream

• Palo Alto Cafe: a family-owned cafe since 1996 that roasts its own coffee and serves breakfast, sandwiches and smoothies.
• Teaspoon: a boba shop in Midtown Shopping Center serving milk teas, chai, fruit teas and Vietnamese coffee since 2017.
• Baskin-Robbins: the ice cream chain's shop at 2615 Middlefield Road, with online ordering and delivery.

Kirk's has beer and wine. Indochine lists lunch specials Monday to Saturday. Our burgers and sandwiches guide and tacos and burritos guide compare these with the rest of the city.

Midtown by meal

Pairing food with Winter Lodge

Winter Lodge, at 3009 Middlefield Road, is Midtown's one true attraction. It is a small outdoor ice rink open since 1956, a few blocks from the Colorado corner. After a skating session, Kirk's and the taquerias make an easy family dinner. The ice cream is a short walk away. Our Winter Lodge guide covers sessions and the season.

A mile south: Mitchell Park and Charleston Center

Keep going south on Middlefield past Loma Verde and East Meadow Drive and you reach Mitchell Park and the Charleston Center strip on the 3900 block. It is outside Midtown's official boundary but serves the same neighborhoods.

• Ada's Cafe: a nonprofit cafe in the Mitchell Park library building that trains and employs people with developmental disabilities. It serves breakfast, lunch and espresso and is closed Mondays.
• Rick's Ice Cream: an ice cream shop dating to 1956, now pairing classic flavors with Indian-inspired ones.
• Mountain Mike's: a family pizza parlor with dine-in, delivery, a party room and late hours most nights.
• Peet's Coffee: the chain's Charleston coffeebar at 3904 Middlefield Road, opening at 5 a.m. on weekdays.

Mitchell Park itself has playgrounds, a dog run and the Magical Bridge Playground. Our Mitchell Park guide covers it. A coffee from Ada's and an hour at the playground is a classic south Palo Alto morning.

Toward Highway 101: Edgewood Plaza

North of Midtown, past Oregon Expressway, Edgewood Plaza sits at Embarcadero Road and St. Francis Drive. It is about a mile from the Colorado corner. Chef Zhao Kitchen there serves Shanghainese food with soup dumplings and pan-fried pork buns and is closed Mondays. Our Midtown and Edgewood shopping guide explains the center.

Teams, parties and takeout

Midtown's restaurants are built for families. Sports teams, birthday groups and parents juggling practice schedules keep the Colorado corner busy on weekday evenings. A few practical notes from the directory listings:

• Party rooms. Round Table on Colorado Avenue lists party room bookings and catering. Mountain Mike's on the 3900 block lists a party room, patio seating and an arcade.
• Order ahead. Como Esta takes online orders through Toast. Sancho's lists dine-in, takeout, delivery and catering. Round Table lists curbside pickup.
• Catering. Indochine offers drop-off catering. Sancho's caters events too, from its Midtown shop or its other Palo Alto branch on Lytton Avenue.
• Dietary needs. Indochine has a dedicated vegetarian section on its menu. Rick's Ice Cream rotates about 48 flavors, so ask what is dairy-free that day.

Our kid-friendly restaurants guide covers family meals across the city.

A neighborhood that grew up eating out

Midtown filled with houses in the late 1940s and 1950s, when Palo Alto's population was growing fast. The Middlefield Road shops served those young families. Some of today's businesses still carry that era with them. Kirk's started on El Camino Real in 1948 and still grills over charcoal. Rick's Ice Cream has been scooping since 1956, now under owners who also run Pints of Joy. Winter Lodge opened the same decade. Newer arrivals, such as Teaspoon in 2017, sit in the same low storefronts. The result is a strip where three generations of Palo Alto food sit side by side, with free parking out back.

Parking and getting there

Parking is Midtown's big advantage over downtown. Shops and restaurants on Middlefield Road have surface lots behind and beside the storefronts, with no garages to hunt through. Bikes are common, since the Bryant Street bike boulevard runs parallel to Middlefield a few blocks west.

For visitors

Midtown is mostly for locals and people staying with friends in south Palo Alto. If you are in town for a family visit and want to stay close, compare Palo Alto hotels along El Camino Real, a short drive west. For a bigger night out, California Avenue is the closest dining street. Our California Avenue guide covers it.

Frequently asked questions