Paul Martin's American Grill - Mountain View

Love the ambiance and friendly staff. However, need to improve on gluten free menu options and accompaniments. How about adding corn tortilla chips and fresh veggies as options with appetizers...seems easy enough to do!

This place is FRESH!!! Scratch based kitchen in the back. Nothing but the freshest ingredients & allot of gluten free meals for those that like that stuff. I can't wait to come back and try other items on the menu.

Date night - good food, great service. gluten free offerings.

My wife and I have had four date nights at Paul Martin's over the past two months. The first time, we sat in the dining area. I had the "Brick" chicken, which was great - juicy, tender, slight mesquite flavor - and Moscow Mule, which was strong and not over powering.

When trying to book the next date night, we had the classic, "What do you wanna eat? I donno, what do you feel like?" We ended up at Paul Martin's again.

Since we dropped off our kids with my parents a little early, we decided to have a drink at the bar. Our bartender, Kevin, suggested a drink on this hot summer day - the Sparkling Lemonade - which was way too easy to drink. We had a friendly conversation with Kevin and ended up staying at the bar, which has an inexpensive Happy Hour menu. On Kevin's suggestion, my wife ordered the Veggie Burger - which is a mushroom patty mixed with cream cheese, topped with mixed greens, and aioli. It was amazing - the mushrooms had a slight savory crust. I had the "brick" chicken again... not as good as the last time, but decent. For dessert, I initially ordered the late harvest wine. Kevin asked, "are you suuureee?" Oh, not any more... "Here, have a taste", he said. Wow, he was right, too viscous and way too sweet (I know...duh, it's a late harvest). Since I'm gluten free, there wasn't many GF options for dessert. Kevin suggested the Campfire Sundae without the graham cracker crumble. Good looking out, Kevin! I'll be honest, I forgot how the dessert was - I'm sure it was great - but what stood out was Kevin's service. As a result, we have since had every date night at Paul Martin's.

Good food, Great Service. Gluten Free offerings. See you next week!

Six of us gal pals 35 years removed from our high school days arrived for happy hour. We were greeted pleasantly, sat at the "community table" near the bar, and then had the most excellent service by Rochelle, who was on-the-ball and very vigilant of our status of drinks, food, dessert, etc. She was amazing and very pleasant, even taking a photo of our group for us. Food was great and for me, double-great since most of it is gluten free!! Steak skewers were mouthwatering. Burgers (served with thin and perfectly cooked/salted fries), which we split in fours, were excellent in flavor and texture. Sweet potato fries had a seasoning on them that went well with the chipotle aioli. We had street tacos (fairly plain if you like that - shredded meat in tender soft corn taco shells with a slight chipotle aioli), chicken skewers (a little bland), and many other appetizers that were so satisfying. Let me emphasize that my group loved the aioli. We asked for bread and were served soft sliced sourdough with soft/whipped butter, which is very much appreciated so as not to ruin the bread. Do not leave here without having some salted caramel home made ice cream. It was to die for amazing. It was served with waver cookies in each order (3 generous scoops with two large shortbread or waver cookies). I really value good service, good attitudes of wait staff, good food, well-made drinks (all were great). They have valet parking since some of the area there is still under construction, and a handicap space right at the front door. Forgot to mention that they have outdoor seating as well. The restrooms were clean and spacious. I'd definitely go back.

CONTEXT
A few weeks back, I decided to do something for my 35th birthday and scoped out a few options for my friends to choose from (because apparently they don't like PF Changs).

I provided them 4 options and one said, "Paul Martin's is cool." Done.

Originally, they said it should be OK without a reservation, but given that we were a party of four (not 2), I decided to make a reservation anyways.

I am glad I did because we were surprised how busy it was when I arrived.

HOSTESS
She greeted and acknowledged me with a smile and a soft voice as soon as she return back to the front. I did not wait long as I entertained myself with an 1-2 year old walking around at the front of the restaurant trying to push the heavy door (I made it so that it seems the little one was strong enough to push it - that was fun).

SERVICE
I arrived about 15-20 minutes early, but they were happy to seat me early. I forgot what our waitress name was (taller than me 5'1, slender, blonde by appearance), but she was happy to cater to me while I wait for the rest of my group arrives.

Once they did (took them like forever!), she was able to accomodate us with a high chair, moved the other table farther to the side to make room for the "little one" and quickly got us seated.

She gave us enough time between each order (eg. drinks, appetizers but none, main selections and desserts) for us to get comfortable, socialized and enjoy our dinner.

FOOD
We ordered Blackened Ribeye, Cedar Plank Steelhead Salmon, and some sort of Chicken selection for the "little one" and the gluten-free guy (my best friend).

Though I found my plate a bit on the salty side, I was able to level out the saltiness with my friend's mash potatoes. I also had a taste of other folks Ribeye which was mightily yummy!

Soon after our dinner, I was surprised by our waitress of a nice candle with my Towering Chocolate Cake dessert and she topped it off with, "and to add to your incognito birthday celebration" (OK, she didn't say those exact words). The context behind that comment was, she made an annoucement that she assumed I was the birthday girl and I reacted, "not necessary to let the whole restaurant know."

We all had a good laugh.

VERDICT
I love the ambiance and the professional and warm desposition by our waitress (eg. sweet, kind and patient). I would recommend this restaurant to anyone who enjoys a romantic dining or some ol' friends get together for something low-key.