Eat in East San Jose, San Jose

Adega ★ 4.8

Adega is San Jose's only Michelin-starred restaurant, serving a seasonal Portuguese tasting menu with 500+ Iberian wines in the Alum Rock neighborhood.

Order: Multi-course tasting menu with Portuguese wine pairing

Com Tam Dat Thanh ★ 4.0

Com Tam Dat Thanh in East San Jose is beloved for authentic broken rice with charcoal-grilled pork chops, shrimp cakes, and family-recipe house sauces.

Order: Com tam with grilled pork and fried shrimp cake

Adega ★ 4.8

Adega is San Jose's sole Michelin-starred restaurant, where chefs craft a seasonal Portuguese tasting menu paired with 500+ Iberian wines in Alum Rock.

Order: Winter multi-course tasting menu with Portuguese wine pairing ($159 per person)

Com Tam Dat Thanh ★ 4.0

Com Tam Dat Thanh in East San Jose serves authentic Vietnamese broken rice plates with charcoal-grilled meats, fried shrimp cake, and house-prepared sauces.

Order: Com tam with grilled pork, fried shrimp cake, and shredded pork skin

Back A Yard Caribbean Grill - Capitol ★ 4.0

Back A Yard's East San Jose Capitol location serves authentic Jamaican oxtail, jerk chicken, and festival bread in a neighborhood setting on Capitol Expwy.

Order: Oxtail plate with rice and peas

Peters' Bakery ★ 4.5

San Jose legend baking since 1936 and famed for its Burnt Almond Cake: white custard encrusted in toasted almonds that regulars have ordered for decades.

Worth the queue: Burnt Almond Cake

Pink Elephant Bakery ★ 4.2

Family-owned East San Jose institution baking authentic pan dulce since 1978, with bolillos, flaky empanadas, flan, and towering tres leches cakes.

Worth the queue: Tres leches cake

CA Bakehouse ★ 4.2

Weekend-only East San Jose pop-up bakery renowned for pandan Portuguese egg tarts with handmade puff dough and ube croissants with kaya coconut filling.

Worth the queue: Pandan Portuguese egg tart

Mexico Bakery ★ 3.7

East San Jose bakery open until midnight serving conchas, orejas, puerquitos, empanadas, and tres leches cakes baked fresh throughout the day.

Worth the queue: Vanilla and chocolate conchas

Pena's Bakery ★ 3.8

East San Jose panaderia popular for pan dulce, rosca de reyes at Three Kings, quinceañera cakes, and fresh conchas rotating out of the oven all day.

Worth the queue: Three Kings rosca bread

Banh Mi Oven ★ 4.3

Banh Mi Oven in San Jose is the Story Road shop that bakes its baguettes fresh and loads them with pork belly, bulgogi or honey-lemongrass chicken fillings.

Try: Oven-baked pork belly banh mi

Thien Huong Sandwiches and Bakery ★ 4.1

Thien Huong Sandwiches and Bakery in San Jose is the Story Road dawn-to-dusk banh mi shop known for cash-only BBQ pork sandwiches at $7.50 a piece.

Try: BBQ pork banh mi

Tacos Los Tres Reyes ★ 4.3

Tacos Los Tres Reyes in San Jose is the Story Road truck stand serving carne asada, al pastor and birria with a self-serve salsa bar open into the night.

Try: Al pastor and birria tacos

Tacos Chencho ★ 4.2

Tacos Chencho in San Jose is the cash-only evening taco stand on Story Road offering $2 al pastor tacos with housemade salsas and freshly squeezed horchata.

Try: Al pastor tacos

Los Tacos De La Esquina CDMX ★ 4.0

Los Tacos De La Esquina CDMX in San Jose is the evening Story Road taco truck offering Mexico City-style quesabirria and burritos from the East Side corner.

Try: Quesabirria tacos

Delicias Juquilita Mexican Food ★ 4.2

Delicias Juquilita in San Jose is the Alum Rock Avenue food truck serving well-seasoned carne asada tortas and tacos with housemade salsa to the East Side.

Try: Carne asada torta

Orale Taco Truck ★ 3.9

Orale Taco Truck in San Jose is the Alum Rock late-night standby open until 03:00 on weekends with carne asada tacos and strawberry horchata.

Try: Carne asada tacos

DTSJ Brewing Co. ★ 4.0

DTSJ Brewing is an East San Jose nano brewery specializing in small-batch craft beers with vinyl listening Saturdays and a bring-your-own-food taproom.

Pho Ha Noi San Jose ★ 4.4

Pho Ha Noi San Jose is the Story Road pho landmark with lean northern-style broth, fresh Angus steak, shaken beef and nem nuong rolls at lunch and dinner.

Try: Northern-style beef pho

Com Tam Dat Thanh ★ 4.4

Com Tam Dat Thanh in San Jose is the Tully Road broken rice specialist with fried shrimp cake, grilled sugarcane shrimp and shredded pork on jasmine rice.

Try: Broken rice plate with grilled pork and shrimp cake

Com Tam Thien Huong ★ 4.2

Com Tam Thien Huong in San Jose is the Story Road broken rice mainstay with grilled pork chop, steamed egg cake and pickled vegetables on jasmine broken rice.

Try: Com tam suon nuong grilled pork chop rice plate

Lee's Sandwiches (Story Road) ★ 4.0

Lee's Sandwiches on Story Road in San Jose bakes baguettes daily for BBQ pork and grilled chicken banh mi sandwiches priced under six dollars.

Try: BBQ pork banh mi on fresh-baked baguette

Super Taqueria (McLaughlin Ave) ★ 4.0

Super Taqueria on McLaughlin in San Jose is the East Side outpost for carne asada super burritos with generous green salsa and big meat portions under $13.

Try: Super burrito with carne asada

Pho Dang ★ 4.2

Pho Dang in San Jose is the Story Road noodle house open six days a week with beef pho slow-cooked using specialty cuts and a Facebook-famous house broth.

Try: Beef pho with house-made broth

Tacos Los Tres Reyes ★ 4.3

Tacos Los Tres Reyes in San Jose is the Story Road truck where $3 to $5 al pastor and birria tacos come with a self-serve bar of housemade salsas.

Try: Al pastor street tacos

Duc Huong Sandwiches Story Rd ★ 4.5

Duc Huong on Story Road crafts San Jose's finest banh mi with house-made cold cuts and crispy baguettes, a Story Road staple and East Side local favorite.

Order: Banh mi dac biet with house-made cold cuts and pate

Why locals love it: Tucked in a Story Road strip mall, Duc Huong draws from-scratch banh mi seekers who know the side pickup window is the move to skip the line.

Tip: Arrive before 09:00 on weekends for fresh-from-the-oven pate chauds while they last.

Com Tam Thien Huong ★ 4.6

Com Tam Thien Huong serves Vietnamese broken rice with expertly grilled proteins, drawing long lines from San Jose's Little Saigon community at lunch daily.

Order: Com tam plate with BBQ pork and fried shrimp cake

Why locals love it: Overlooked by tourists who head to pho spots, this broken-rice specialist in Little Saigon regularly earns praise as one of the best com tam spots in the entire country.

Tip: Order the sampler plate to try grilled pork, shrimp cake, and egg cake side by side for under $15.

Back A Yard Caribbean Grill East ★ 4.1

Back A Yard on E. Capitol Expy delivers smoky jerk chicken, oxtail stew, and curried goat to East San Jose with Caribbean recipes perfected since 2004.

Order: Beef oxtail stew with white rice and plantains

Why locals love it: The East Capitol location is quieter than downtown but serves the same fragrant jerk chicken and oxtail stew that built Back A Yard's San Jose following since 2004.

Tip: The oxtail stew runs out by early afternoon on weekends - call ahead to reserve a portion.

Bun Bo Hue An Nam ★ 4.4

Bun Bo Hue An Nam serves San Jose's deeply aromatic Central Vietnamese spicy beef noodle soup from a humble Story Road storefront beloved on the East Side.

Order: Bun bo hue with extra pork knuckle and blood cake

Why locals love it: Central Vietnamese food is San Jose's most underrated cuisine corridor; An Nam's spicy lemongrass broth has regulars driving across the Bay but rarely appears on foodie lists.

Tip: Closed Tuesdays - plan ahead. Cash and debit only. Weekends open an hour earlier at 09:00.

Duc Huong Sandwiches McKee ★ 4.3

Duc Huong's McKee Road outpost delivers the same legendary house-made cold cuts and crispy baguette banh mi as the Story Road original, with shorter waits.

Order: Banh mi xa xiu with BBQ pork and house pickles

Why locals love it: The McKee Road location draws the same devoted banh mi crowd as the Story Road flagship but with even shorter lines, making it the insider choice for East San Jose regulars.

Tip: Spring rolls and pate chauds from the pastry case are self-serve - grab one while you wait for your sandwich order.

Bun Bo Hue An Nam ★ 4.4

Bun Bo Hue An Nam on Story Road serves Central Vietnamese spicy beef noodle soup, a San Jose East Side weekend morning institution loved by the community.

Order: Bun bo hue with spicy lemongrass and pork knuckle

Pho 21 ★ 3.9

Pho 21 on S. King Road in East San Jose serves generous Vietnamese noodle soups until 02:00 nightly, with self-serving robot assistants adding a modern touch.

Try: Pho bo dac biet with tendon, tripe, and meatballs

Tacos Montero ★ 4.2

Tacos Montero on McLaughlin Ave is an East San Jose taco truck serving handmade tortilla tacos until midnight weekdays and 01:00 on Friday and Saturday.

Try: Carne asada tacos on handmade corn tortillas

El Senor de los Tacos ★ 4.2

El Senor de los Tacos is an East San Jose food truck on Story Road serving birria tacos, birria pizza and birria ramen that draws late-night crowds.

Try: Quesabirria tacos