Restaurants in Fremont

The chefs at Bijan Restaurant draw in flavors from the Mediterranean’s coasts and stir them together to produce their eclectic menu. Their core menu focuses on Persian cuisine, including classic charbroiled kebabs and lamb shank, but they expand the borders of their culinary ventures to include greek salads, italian pastas, and pesto-bedecked pizzas.

In the separate bar and lounge, the very air tastes of distant lands, each table topped with an ornate, delicate glass hookah. Staffers fill the vessels with flavorful liquids as guests relax on plush couches or absorb the technicolor rays of flat-screen TVs. Colorfully painted walls provide a backdrop for details of intricate patterns, from polka-dot tile patterns to a portrait of a zebra donning its traditional jailhouse garb.

Biryani Bowl's chefs dish out a diverse menu of pan-seared and tandoor-cooked Indian cuisine, each plate rife with aromatic spices and helpings of steaming rice. The restaurant’s eponymous dum biryani dishes arrive to tables flanked by hearty vegetables, chicken, mutton, or shrimp, along with savory curries, tandoori delicacies, and rice dishes to suit varied tastes. Sweet-and-salty lassis complement Indo-Chinese dishes and desi wok noodles, as ice cream dishes and gulab jamon conclude meals more sweetly than a tiny fairy driving you home while humming lullabies.

Head chef and owner Jose Meza draws from his extensive 35-year career in cookery and restaurant management to dazzle patrons with authentic Mexican stews and cutlets and burritos and tortas stuffed with pintos, fritos, and black beans cooked without lard. The focus on a healthy, conscious lifestyle even extends to the tableware, as all the utensils and dishes are culled from material that's either biodegradable, recyclable, or able to be repurposed for plate-spinning acts. Juicy ribbons of shredded chicken and carnitas or morsels of marinated pork and charbroiled beef stuff tortillas and tacos alongside zesty, aromatic onions, cilantro, and salsa. Flaky fillets of sautéed fish come to life under sprinklings of Jose's secret blend of spices, and crisp leaves of lettuce, creamy guacamole, and savory beans fill crunchy tortilla shells on salad plates.

Warm sunlight flows in through a massive arched window and fills Thanh Vietnamese Restaurant from floor to vaulted ceiling. In the spacious dining room, noodles abound in a menu that features the snake-like carb paired with beef, pork, tofu, and myriad seafood in traditional dishes such as pho. Broken rice, cooked from fractured rice grains, lends its unique texture to various entrees, including a hearty one that combines steamed pork cake with a barbecue pork chop, egg, and shredded pork skin. Additionally, a lengthy list of sautéed tofu dishes satisfies soybean lovers.

While slurping noodly broths or a boba smoothie, patrons can turn their eyes to the bar counter, covered by glossy stone and illuminated by tulipesque orange lamps hanging from above. Backed by a gauzy white curtain, a stage positioned in front of the floor-to-ceiling window hosts live music and chopstick whittling on occasion.