The Bar by Madame Tam

I love the happy hour from 3pm to close everyday. The food is really good too and the prices as well.

3 stars because the service is so bad. I usually sit at the bar and get served pretty quickly, but after that is is impossible to get the attention on the servers. They are often at the end of the bar eating or chatting with each other. I think out of the 10 times I have been I have only been served promptly (re-order wise: ie, a new drink, more food)  once or twice.

Best happy hour in town if you can get re-served after your first drink.

I'm sure the bartenders are nice people, but they're not well-suited for tending bars. Got the RCA Dog look when I asked the most rudimentary questions, and we were kept waiting for the check long after we were finished.

Location/Atmosphere: Located on University Ave in Palo Alto, CA. Close to the CVS. There's 2 parts to this place. There's an actual restaurant, and there's the bar which looks almost like its own separate establishment, save for the one doorway that is open so you can walk into the other side. The Bar seems to be going for a tiki lounge look. It's nothing special, think the decor isn't quite to where they're going for, for the look.

Service: was okay. They were able to flag down if needed. But I think they were a little on the slow side. And I'm not sure why, but whenever they brought us things, like plates, or glasses of water, it was always short. Kinda strange. We'd get 3 glasses of water for 5 people, or 4 plates for 5 people. I really wanted to like this place for happy hour for drinks but, as of now it just isn't on the top of my list. It's great their happy hour lasts so long. It's from about 3pm to closing in the bar, and the restaurant is 3-7pm. But we ordered shots for our group. First of all, they didn't know quite a few of the drinks we attempted to order, or what a chaser was. Then we finally just ordered some shots of vodka. One, it took quite a while to get the shots. Second.... they were really warm!! It was so hard to take. And watching the "bartender" do her thing, it just looked like she wasn't the bartender, that maybe the bartender wasn't at work, and she was just trying to figure things out to the best of her ability. So yeah, the staff are friendly, but the service was just lacking.

Food/drink: As mentioned above, warm vodka was just not a good thing. Food on the other hand. We ordered most of the tacos: the kalbi, honey pork, and fish. They were pretty awesome.

Return factor: Unlikely. But if I were to come back, it would only be to have more of those wonderful tacos.