Old Mountain View, Mountain View

Old Mountain View is definitely where it is at in Mountain View. The main drag in Old Mountain View is Castro Street. That’s where you will find all of the restaurants and cool spots. Here are my favorites:

--Chez TJ: Of course, you have to start with Chez TJ—the place to go for classy French food that will cost you almost as much as your monthly mortgage payment. And I don’t mean just an average person’s mortgage payment—I am talking a Mountain View size mortgage payment. Outstanding place. I’ve only been there once and don’t expect I will go again. Just don’t have that kind of money to burn these days.

--Scratch: Classy American cuisine. A really cool date spot for a first date. Dim lights, good food. What else could you ask for?

--Cascal: Another great date spot, this Tapas joint has high ceilings and cool blue candle sconces. Really cool.

--Sakoon: My favorite Indian place in Mountain View.

--Xahn: An Asian fusion place specializing in Vietnamese food. It’s one of a number of East Asian places in Mountain View but it is the best for my money.

--Vaso Azzuro—My favorite Italian place in Mountain View. Great service and live music as well. Can’t beat that.

--Shezan—Okay so I already have an Indian place on the list, but Shezan is technically a Pakistani place and is just about as good as Sakoon.

Ephesus—the best place for Mediterranean food.

There are also a handful of pretty good watering holes here:

--Mervyn’s Lounge-Which bills itself as dive bar but is really more of a cozy neighborhood bar.

--Molly MaGees and St. Stephen’s Green—2 Irish Pubs.

--Zen Lounge—with Japanese décor straight out of a Kurasawa movie, dancing and theme nights like Wayback Wednesdays and Reverse Happy Hour Thursdays, this is heart of cool. This is the kind of place that me and George Constanza can’t get into because of those hip musicians with their complicated shoes. (Not to worry, Alberto’s also has dancing.)

So, put simply, Old Mountain View is the center of the action in Mountain View. (And north of Mountain View too. I think of it as the last outpost of real fun for young people until you hit South San Francisco, probably. Certainly better than comparatively sleepy Palo Alto.)

This is a great neighborhood. I come here about 4 or 5 times a month for meetings. The streets here are clean and organized, the is clean, and the people here are nice too! There are also a lot of shops and restaurants in this neighborhood. It has just the right amount of people and car in the streets, and the safety here is pretty good too. I've been here both during the day and night. Driving down one of the main streets at night here was really pretty too. There were many small lights and the street had an orange glow to it. I would love to live here if I had the money. Shopping is easy, and a bicycle is enough to travel around the neighborhood.