The food looks good (and pretty), indoor dining in tempting, and 100 customers (regardless of the size of the restaurant) sounds unsafe. Wouldn't 100 customers be a large gathering?

Suuuuper excited about this!!

Extremely excited! An awesome experience in SF and now here!! This is too much. Looking forward to some great take out for the time being.

Jennifer, it's 25% capacity or 100 customers , whichever is fewer. Web Link

This sounds like great fun. Unfortunately, it is in perhaps the WORST location in Menlo Park (proven by past restaurant failures). There is little to no parking and it is "off the path" for most residents and for anyone not willing to put up with the inconvenience of this "destination location".

I'm well aware its 25% capacity or 100 customers, whichever is fewer. Once again, 100 customers sounds unsafe. 25% capacity (in any setting) is safer, because 75% of the building is empty. 100 customers shouldn't be allowed because it's a large gathering.

> "Once again, 100 customers sounds unsafe. 25% capacity (in any setting) is safer, because 75% of the building is empty. 100 customers shouldn't be allowed because it's a large gathering."

^ Wouldn't the 100 diner (or 25% capacity limit) depend on the square footage of the restaurant's interior along with the fire code maximum occupancy mandate?

If a restaurant was as large as the Moffett Field blimp hangar, it could accommodate hundreds of diners.

On the other hand, there are some smaller diner/cafes that can barely seat 5-10 diners and that size limitation in itself would easily negate both the 25% & 100 diner maximum guidelines.

My family of five ate here Saturday evening and really enjoyed Farmhouse Kitchen's take on Thai country cooking. Highlights: a couple unique cocktails (purple pea-flower gin anyone?) and a fried calamari appetizer with Thai curry in the breading, which made it delectable by itself and even more wonderful when dipped in the accompanying cilantro-lime sauce. My main course was southern fried chicken in a half pineapple, which was good but the chicken could have been a bit crispier.
We were seated on the very spacious porch at a corner table that gave great separation from other diners. It looked to me like maximum seating inside was around 75 with another 24 or so on the porch. Staff was good about wearing masks and reminding us to put ours on when we weren't eating.
Parking is a bit of a problem as they only have 8 or ten slots in front of the restaurant but the Caltrain lot is just across the street and was almost empty when we were seated at 5:30. Of course you'd have to pay a nominal parking fee to park there but it couldn't be more convenient. And if you're into public transportation, what could be better? Caltrain, SamTrans and Marguerite all stop just across from the restaurant.
As for other restaurants having failed in this location I can only think of Bradley's Fine Dining (BFD), which closed after a year or so. I have to say I wasn't that impressed with Bradley's menu. Before that was Gambardella's, a successful Italian place that only closed because the building was being razed. Before that it was Late For The Train, a Menlo Park institution that Jesse & Bob Cool ran back in the 1980's.
In closing, I can only report that there were many other tempting items on the menu will have us coming back soon, assuming that COVID stays under control in the county.

@Jennifer
Your post made me smile. Think about it for a minute: it's 25% capacity, or 100 people WHICHEVER IS FEWER. So, for example, if the capacity is 450, the restaurant would be limited to 100 people which is 22% capacity. In other words, any time the restaurant is large enough to be capped at 100 people that means the building would be MORE than 75% empty.

Now to do you get it?

Riley 2 - WHAT YOU DON'T GET IS 100 PEOPLE IS A LARGE GATHERING - REGARDLESS OF THE SIZE OF THE BUILDING. AND A LARGE GATHERING OF OVER 100 PEOPLE WILL EASILY SPREAD COVID - 19. IT DOESN'T MATTER IF IT'S OVER 75% EMPTY. WHAT PART OF LARGE GATHERING SPREADING COVID - 19 DON'T YOU GET? DO YOU GET IT NOW? LARGE GATHERINGS SHOULD BE AVOIDED - PERIOD.

And if someone does have Covid-19, spreading it to 5 other customers at 25% capacity isn't as dangerous as 100 customers - even if they're both under 25% capacity.

Gathering 100 people at a time during a pandemic is STUPID.

Riley2: No, she doesn't get it (writing in caps doesn't change that).

I couldn't find in this blog article the new restaurant's nominal (non-epidemic) seating capacity -- which would be useful information, by the way, and relevant in this particular context -- and Jennifer doesn't appear to know it either. But unless that number is over 400 (even 200 is a very large seating capacity for a Bay Area restaurant), the question of what anyone thinks about seating 100 is moot and off-topic -- the situation doesn't come up, under the 25% capacity rule.

Actually, per Lee Forest's comment, even 100, in a huge hypothetical enclosure like Hangar One, could be spaced so far apart as to be essentially isolated and safe -- it's not the total count, it's the density and air circulation. And by the same token, 5 or 10 (i.e. way fewer than 100) could be totally unsafe if crammed together indoors for extended periods. Bars have been especially problematic, with serious outbreaks traced to them in states where they were allowed to open. People sharing confined air, sometimes for hours, probably not even wearing masks -- a perfect recipe for airborne contagion.

Common Sense doesn't get it either. I'm referring to the number of people that can affect others (100) or the number of people that can be affected (100) instead of a gathering of 10 or less. In a pandemic, the larger the gathering, the less safe it is, regardless of capacity. If you don't understand this, you're really dense. As far as people coming down with Covid - it IS the total count. Do you really think affecting 2-3 people is as dangerous as affecting 100 or more? The level of ignorance.

Once again a large gathering (100 or more) is stupid regardless of capacity. At a restaurant, if there are 100 people, how many customers (especially women) will be using the restroom at the same time? How many people will be paying at the register at the same time? Do you really think any restaurant has room to practice 6 feet social distancing at the register or in the restroom?

Try thinking outside of the box. Restaurant customers don't stay glued to their seats. Unbelievable.

Jennifer, you seem to be stretching the definition of a gathering. My neighborhood also contains more than 100 people -- should I be concerned?

In any case, that location is definitely challenging, but happy to see something new and interesting move in!

I'm not stretching the definition of a gathering. 100 people in a restaurant - or any indoor or outdoor gathering during a pandemic isn't safe. Weddings, funerals, Trump at the Rose Garden, etc. -- all large gatherings where a lot of people are affected - Covid-19.

100 people in your neighborhood is an absurd comparison. Your neighbors all live in their own homes. Don't be foolish.