Restaurants in Saratoga, CA

Saratoga is near the beach town of Santa Cruz which has the boardwalk with rides, also there is Big Basin State Park http://www.bigbasin.org/travelbasicsmain.html, Hakone Gardens, and Villa Montalvo. Enjoy!

... and Winchester Mystery House in San Jose.

[Laziz Kitchen] (http://lazizkitchen.com/) Spice Kitchen Incubator also does weekly to-go orders and feature a different chef every week.

I love Mahider - I can't recommend it strongly enough. The little Ethiopian Market right next door to it is really cool, too.

Afghan Kitchen is pretty good, as is Mahider. Mahider might be pretty fun for the kids seeing as you use injera to scoop up the food and and eat with your hands. The Afghan Kitchen has yummy food and their rice is super good. Their bulani appetizer is addictive. Looks like you might want Middle Eastern too. Maybe Shahrazad Market, they have a restaurant in the back, big tables for families. It's pretty yummy too.

Yeah Hot Pots in West Jordan

Bombay House is the best Indian restaurant I've ever eaten at.

Blue Nile is pretty good, affordable Ethiopian.

Laziz, Mama Africa, Mahider, Fav Bistro, Saffron Valley. Mazza is good too, but I recommend the others first.

Check the food inspection website first. I don't want to damage anyone's business by outing them specifically here, but some of them have atrocious records.

Cedars of Lebanon may fit your list and they have great food.

Ethiopian food is pretty good and it's an interesting experience (fewer utensils, eat with your hands/flatbread). So if you're trying to stretch your family's comfort zone, that wins on two fronts. Mazza is really good, too. Plus they have two locations, so you can call to see which is less busy. Myung Ga out by the E Center is supposed to be good Korean. It's on my list, but I haven't made it out there yet.

I haven't been to afghan kitchen but both of the other 2 are very good though quite different. Mazza is a fine dining restaurant that serves delicious and familiar middle eastern food. Nothing that you won't be able to quickly figure out. Mahider Ethiopian is really good but the food is going to much less familiar. A lot of it is served with a type of pancake that you use to scoop up the food with. You might get your family back to Mazza but if you want to try something really new, I would go for Mahindra.

Mazza is the only restaurant on your list I've gritted and I really liked it. One ethnic place I can't recommend highly enoughthough is Oh Mai. Best sandwiches I've ever had and amazing pho. The ingredients and bread are so fresh and flavorful, I can't get enough of that place. And it's really affordable. If you don't go for your birthday dinner, do yourself a favor and treat yourself to lunch there.

I’m going to second Mahider. I like to get the Taste of Mahider combo plate that lets you try many things, and can easily be shared between more than one person. The lamb is also very good. For an extra fee you can also have a coffee ceremony, which I haven’t done yet but would like to sometime.

Mahider is fantastic. It's messy since you eat with your hands, but that's part of the fun.

Sit Down Places: * ~~Mahider is a lot of fun. They have menu items geared towards a family sharing a platter with lots of little things to try. In our case the waiter made fun of one of us for asking for a fork (you are expected to eat with your fingers) and teased me about not being able to finish what I had ordered. We really enjoyed our visit.~~ * There are a number of good thai places, my favorites are Sawadee and Chanon. Serve You From the Counter Places: * Curry Fried Chicken - despite the name is really good. I'm not a big fan of the actual curry fried chicken, but the chicken schwarma is delicious. Watching bollywood music videos on the TV while you eat is an added bonus. * Chicken Express - is another nondescript name but serves good greek food fast food style. Kebabs and rice is their bread and butter. * Koko Kitchen - seems pretty authentic to my uneducated palate but my Japanese co-worker is only lukewarm on the place. Regardless I thought the food was good and there were tons of things to try if you wanted to be adventurous. * Oh Mai - You said you've done Vietnamese in the past, but it's worth mentioning my favorite Vietnamese sandwich. Edit: Confused Mahider with Blue Nile which is now closed.