Elements Restaurant

The food here taste excellent, even better than some of the high end restaurants we experienced at nearby Santana row, Los Gatos etc. All the dishes presentations are nicely done (we went in for a group dinner). The sea bass dish can often be mishandled in restaurants. Our two orders all came out perfectly done, crispy tops and tender inside without being undercooked, can be wonderfully pared with either black rice or Jasmin rice. The restaurant's décor and ambiance are relatively low key and neighborhood (gem) oriented. If you care about the food taste rather than a fancy dinning environment, this place definitely gives you the bang for the buck.

The food here taste excellent, even better than some of the high end restaurants we experienced at nearby Santana row, Los Gatos etc. All the dishes presentations are nicely done (we went in for a group dinner). The sea bass dish can often be mishandled in restaurants. Our two orders all came out perfectly done, crispy tops and tender inside without being undercooked, can be wonderfully pared with either black rice or Jasmin rice. The restaurant's décor and ambiance are relatively low key and neighborhood (gem) oriented. If you care about the food taste rather than a fancy dinning environment, this place definitely gives you the bang for the buck.

We enjoyed a beautifully presented and served dinner at Elements last night (Wednesday) that would have been easily comparable to fine dining. Tristan, as always gracious and welcoming, is keeping Elements a jewel in our Valley. Please come down and support Small Business and a very hardworking member of our community for decades. Our tasty experience! APPS: Shrimp dumplings Green Papaya Salad with Fried Prawns Ahi Tuna Carpaccio MAINS: Beet salad -Shared Lemongrass-crusted Chilean Sea Bass Vegetarian Stuffed Tofu w/ Mixed Vegetables Seared Scallops & Prawns with soft shelled crab

We enjoyed a beautifully presented and served dinner at Elements last night (Wednesday) that would have been easily comparable to fine dining. Tristan, as always gracious and welcoming, is keeping Elements a jewel in our Valley. Please come down and support Small Business and a very hardworking member of our community for decades. Our tasty experience! APPS: Shrimp dumplings Green Papaya Salad with Fried Prawns Ahi Tuna Carpaccio MAINS: Beet salad -Shared Lemongrass-crusted Chilean Sea Bass Vegetarian Stuffed Tofu w/ Mixed Vegetables Seared Scallops & Prawns with soft shelled crab

Had our holiday company dinner this year at Elements after trying it one night just before they closed. It’s in a strip mall off of Almaden in South San Jose. But once you walk inside, it feels classy with a big glass wine cellar to the right, and an open kitchen towards the back. The restaurant is family-owned and operated. The chef and his father both work there, with possibly more family working other positions. It was packed with patrons on a Friday night. Their fusion cuisine is quite unique in that it is more French and Western than Vietnamese. So there are dishes such as Salmon Wellington that you would never see at a Vietnamese restaurant. For appetizers we ordered fried softshell crab, spring rolls and green salad. All solid in terms of taste and freshness. For entrees, each person at our table ordered a different dish. I ordered the Salmon Wellington, which was nicely breaded, in a plate of cream. There was a thick cheese inside the breading surrounding the perfectly cooked salmon. I tried the Australian rack of lamb, also well cooked and seasoned. The desserts were not quite on the level of the entrees. My colleagues had to chip away at the peach sorbet because it was frozen solid. The chocolate cake was spongy and tasty, but the ice cream on top was ordinary. The drink menu was somewhat of a surprise in that they didn’t have any cocktails. Unsurprisingly, they had a wide variety of wine and some beer, but I had expected some creative cocktails given the food menu but I guess I didn’t see a bar there. If you happen to be on the south side and want to have a unique French-Vietnamese meal, I recommend Elements.