Takeout and pickup

Takeout in Palo Alto goes most smoothly when you order straight from the restaurant. Most of the city's independent kitchens now run their own online ordering through systems such as Toast, ChowNow or Square. You pick a time, pay ahead and walk in to collect a bag with your name on it. The restaurant keeps more of the money than it would through a delivery app. The menu is the restaurant's own, too.

This page lists restaurants whose websites link to first-party ordering for pickup, grouped by the area where you will collect your food. Each name links to our directory page, where you will find hours and the address. For the cheapest meals in town, see our cheap eats guide.

Why order direct

Delivery apps charge restaurants a commission on each order. When you order through the restaurant's own page, that cut largely disappears. Some restaurants say so outright. Lotus Thai Bistro on California Avenue asks customers to order through its own Toast page and describes it as a good way to support the business.

Direct orders have practical benefits too. Pickup times are set by the kitchen rather than an app's estimate. Special requests reach the cooks without being lost in translation. Our directory notes that menus and prices on delivery apps can differ from what you see in the restaurant, so the restaurant's own page is the safest reference.

Downtown pickup

• Nola, 535 Ramona Street. New Orleans and Southern food. Takeout is ordered online through Toast. Ramona Street between University and Hamilton is car-free, so park on a nearby street or in a garage and walk in.
• Tamarine, 546 University Avenue. Modern Vietnamese. Pickup goes through ChowNow, linked from its home page. Family-style dishes travel well for a dinner at home.
• Pizzeria Delfina, 651 Emerson Street. Neapolitan-inspired pizza, ordered for pickup through its Toast page. Gluten-free crust is offered on its red and white pies.
• Pho Ha Noi, 185 University Avenue. Northern-style Vietnamese pho. Its Palo Alto menu on Toast is grouped into beef pho, chicken pho, specialties and vegan dishes.
• Taste, 423 University Avenue. Szechuan cooking and dim sum, with direct online ordering through the restaurant's own KwickPOS page.

Downtown parking is the main hurdle. Street spaces allow two hours free, which is plenty for a pickup, but they fill at dinner. Upper levels of the city garages usually have room. See our downtown guide for the street grid.

California Avenue and Birch Street

• Terún, 448 South California Avenue. Southern Italian pizza. Online ordering, pickup and gift cards all run through Toast. The kitchen closes from 2 to 5 p.m., so time a lunch order before 2.
• Lotus Thai Bistro, 425 South California Avenue. Thai food, ordered through Toast or by phone. Closed Sundays.
• Anatolian Kitchen, 340 South California Avenue. Food from central and eastern Turkey, with online ordering through Toast on its website.
• Naschmarkt, 2323 Birch Street. Austrian schnitzel, goulash and strudel. Takeout orders go through Toast.
• Bistro Elan, 2363A Birch Street. California French cooking with pickup ordering through Toast. Open only Wednesday through Saturday.

The California Avenue district uses numbered city lots and two garages on Cambridge Avenue, plus a garage at 350 Sherman Avenue. Cal Ave itself is car-free between El Camino Real and Birch Street, so you cannot pull up in front of a restaurant there. Our California Avenue guide has a map of the area.

El Camino Real and the shopping centers

The easiest pickups in town are at places with their own parking.

• So Gong Dong Tofu House, 4127 El Camino Real. Korean soft tofu soup in 16 versions. Its online ordering page lists pickup, including curbside pickup and scheduled orders. Soup is one dish where a short drive home matters.
• State of Mind Slice House, 3850 El Camino Real. Round, pan and gluten-free pizza. Order whole pies online through the Toast link on its website or by phone.
• Sushi House, Town & Country Village. A Japanese restaurant founded in 1988. Order online through its ChowNow page or by phone during business hours.
• Taro San, Stanford Shopping Center. House-made udon and Japanese small plates. Its Toast ordering page lists a full, current menu.
• Chef Zhao Kitchen, Edgewood Plaza. Shanghainese cooking at 2180 West Bayshore Road. Its Toast ordering page carries the full menu, a catering menu and frozen goods to cook at home.

Town & Country Village and Stanford Shopping Center both have free surface lots. At Town & Country the lot near Trader Joe's is the most crowded at lunch, so park at the other end and walk. See our Town & Country guide for the layout.

Timing your order

1. Order before the rush. Kitchens are busiest from noon to 1 p.m. and from about 6 to 7 p.m. Place the order 30 minutes before you want it during those windows.
2. Use scheduled pickup. Many ordering pages let you choose a later time. It is the surest way to get food hot when you arrive.
3. Mind the afternoon gap. Several restaurants close between lunch and dinner. Online ordering usually pauses then too.
4. Check the last order time. Online ordering can close before the dining room does. Order by about 8:30 p.m. on weeknights.
5. Order by phone if the page is down. Ordering pages sometimes pause on busy nights. A call usually still works.

Picking up on the way home by train

Caltrain riders can collect dinner without moving a car at all. Pho Ha Noi, Tamarine and Taste are a short walk up University Avenue from the Palo Alto station. Terún, Lotus Thai and Anatolian Kitchen are a few minutes from the California Avenue station. Schedule the order for about 10 minutes after your train arrives, then walk over. Check the timetable in our Caltrain guide, since evening trains run less often than at rush hour.

Food that travels well

Some dishes hold up in a box better than others. Curries, braises, dumplings and family-style platters survive a 15-minute drive easily. Pizza is fine if you open the box lid a crack to let steam out. Fried food loses its crunch fast, so eat it first or reheat it in a hot oven. Noodle soups are the hardest. Ask whether the restaurant packs noodles and broth separately. Combine them at home.

Weather helps in Palo Alto. On most days from spring through fall, a picnic is a fine alternative to the drive home. Our guide to picnic spots lists parks near each dining district.

When delivery makes sense

Ordering direct for pickup helps the restaurant most, but it is not always practical. If you are in a hotel without a car or working late in an office, delivery apps cover most of Palo Alto. Several restaurants above link to delivery from their own sites. Tamarine, for example, links to DoorDash from its home page. Visitors who would rather someone else plan the eating can browse Bay Area food tours instead.

Frequently asked questions