Pampanga’s Cuisine Filipino

This place is a family owned business and the Lola is adorable. She came from Pampanga to start this restaurant and its been around ever since. The food is absolutely amazing. I had the bistec which was the best I ever had.
Definitely coming back.

I can’t believe this restaurant still exists. If I could give a negative rating this would be the one. This has to be the single worst dining experience ever. They advertised a 2 dish special in the window for $ 5.99 so we bit and went in. What a joke the food was served in a styrofoam dish that was compartmentalized into 3 sections. (The kind you have at picnics) There were 2 small sections (as it turned out was for the 2 dishes). The food had been prepared probably the night before and was microwaved.
I mean come on in a sit down restaurant restaurant in a styrofoam plate? The food was terrible, the restaurant is old and out dated and the service sucked.
Never, never, never again!!!

Filipino food at this restaurant is beyond amazing. There aren’t that many Filipino restaurants around, but of the few places I’ve been able to find, this place tops all others.
The space is small but very homely. It definitely reminds me of my grandma’s house. I’m pretty sure the cook is the elderly woman who own’s the place. Regardless, the food is amazing. Filipino food is more on the heavy side, but the food here isn’t overwhelming; it’s perfect.
The only con I can really come up with is that it takes a while for the food to come out. The place wasn’t busy at all (as in I was the only one there) and it took about 40min. If you can deal with the wait, I’d say go for it.

I hate the fact that I have to leave a negative review of this place, primarily because I’m Filipino, but fair is fair. I’ve been going to Pampanga, on and off, for the past 10+ years. The running joke between my mom and me is that half the stuff on the menu isn’t available (bc of little turnaround), and that it’ll take an hour for the food to get to the table. Nonetheless, the food is usually pretty good, since Pampanguenos typically cook very well. My mom is from Malabon, so she understands this.
We were looking to have lunch somewhere, when my mom mentions that this place had $ 7 lunch specials. Wanting to get a quick Filipino food fix, we opted to try it out. Bad idea. My mom ordered the Pansit Guisado, and I had the Beef Kaldereta. Both were okay, at best. It was very obvious that my dish was a left-​over batch, since the vegetables were pretty much mush, by the time my fork touched them. The beef, while tasty, was obviously dated, as well.
I think that if I ordered something newly cooked on the menu, that our experience would have been better. Getting served what was probably last week’s dinner isn’t what I came for.
Lola was in the kitchen, cooking for her granddaughter, who came by, and I wish I ordered some of that, since I’m sure that it was good.

Decent inside but the service sucks, it says open through the main glass but the doors leading to the restaurant are locked, good thing that granny was there staring at me, took her while to figure out i was there starving waiting to be accommodated, the pork adobo is a so-​so, my father and i can cook even better than that. Pricey in a sense that everything comes in mediocre… never wanting to come back, not in a million years!!! The waitress is rude, like she can’t wait to push me out the door, background music sucks. Very disappointing…

wow I can’t believe the reviews for this place I almost didn’t go here and so glad that I ignored all the premadonna’s that have written reviews
so the service is a little slow no big deal, they are Filipinos and nothing happens fast has been my experiences with Filipino family’s and this is not a 5 star restaurant it is a family run business with good quality homemade food
First we got some Small Lumpia very tasty and the dipping sauce was good too, then i git some Beef Empanadas the dough was perfect and flakey meet filling was good and 4 were just right for two people to split
I got the Chicken Adobo and it was very good made a little different from some others I have tried but all Filipino food varies from Island to Island it was like chicken in a gravy
we also got the Pansit with Meat it was some of the best I have eaten and I have consumed a lot for a white man nice and flavorful and the noddle were cooked just right and veggies were still crisp
then we got some Filipino cheesecake to go as we were full from all the food but I’m digging into some cheesecake right now and this stuff is worth going for if nothing else she says she has been making these for over 30 years here in Chicago I have never seen cake cooked in Banana Leaves before

Well, I cannot tell you how disgusted I am w/​this place! If it wasn’t for the excellent Filipino food I had in the keys, I wouldn’t have stalked this place. But I crave to have that food again. Anyway, each and every time we pass by this place, they are always closed. So I hurry and jot down the phone number while passing and call from my cell and NOTHING! The phone just rings, no answering machine. So I tell my husband, well maybe we should look for another Filiino restaurant.
One day, my husband hands me a menu and says he happened to pass by the place and they were opened, so he grabbed a menu. He called them the other night wanting to verify their hours, the lady says they close at 7 p.m., my husband then replies, «but your menu states you close at 8:30 p.m.?» She didn’t reply. None the less we get ready we drive from Schaumburg, get there at 6:00 and the Flipping place is CLOSED! Talk about being on fire! I called the place (and someone did answer this time) and reamed her a new one! What kind of business are you running here? No one can get in? And ya know what she said? She said b/​c there were no customers, her waitress wanted to go home. Well FIRE HER I said! Just b/​c there are no ppl at the moment, doesn’t mean ppl won’t still come in AND BTW… WE JUST CALLED YOU AND TOLD YOU WE WERE ON OUR WAY!!! Ugh! I told my husband never to speak of this place again to me. So if any of you know of great OPEN Filipino restuaruant, let me know. But in the mean time, do NOT make reservation’s w/​this restuarant, especially if you have a big group! They will not be open!

Okay. So we decide to check out this place we have been wanting to try out. We park and people are inside eating, staring at us trying to open their doors. Locked. Literally staring at us. So upset, I’m Unilocaling right outside their doors! Store hours are posted and states they close at 830pm today. It’s 720pm! Ridiculous! Extremely poor business sense and I would definitely not even want to look at their awful awning next time we drive by this dump!

If you’re not in a rush, the food is worth the wait. I love lola’s cart. It’s like going to grandma’s house for lunch.

Great homecooked meals from the province of Pampanga, Philippines. Pampanga is known for their best Food and cooking category. And wow, the owner/​Chef of this place was awesome. Food was fabulous!!!

So we walk in… it’s dark, no customers, no waitstaff, or hostess. We waited for a minute or two. Still no one. So I decided to walk to the back of the restaurant to get someone to seat us. The entire family was back there: Mom, the kids, Grandma, Grandpa etc. Eating and laughing. But I figured, that’s fine, no one is here, they probably didn’t hear us come in. So Grandma seats us. Super cute and super nice lady. She takes our drink order, «Two diet cokes, please.» She walks away and we study the menu. 5 minutes later… no diet coke. 10 minutes later… still no diet coke. At this point, we’re thirsty, hungry = very, very grumpy. So I walk to the back to tell someone we’re ready to order.
They send a grouchy old woman to take our order. Not a word, just gives us our drinks, comes up with a pen and pad and gives us a dirty look. «Garlic rice, chicken adobo, and bistec please.» She writes it down, takes, our menus, walks away.
15 minutes later…
Grandpa comes out, turns on the lights in the dining room, draws the shades, smiles and walks away. Our glasses are almost empty.
30 minutes later…
Our glasses are empty, the kids are in the dining area playing hide and go seek and still no food.
40 minutes later…
The food comes out. We are STARVING. I have to say, the food was WONDERFUL. The garlic fried rice and bistec were the items I ate — my boyfriend ordered the adobo and I didn’t even try it but, he said it was good as well. However, while we were eating, Grandpa comes out (in a wife beater) and starts sweeping the floor… seriously?!
We were almost done eating when Grandma came out to check on us. She saw that we had eaten all the garlic fried rice and asked, «Would you like some more rice?» We said, «Yes! May we have more garlic fried rice?» She quickly said, «WHITE RICE. It will take 30 minutes if you want garlic rice». My boyfriend and I just looked at each other and said, «Ooooookaaayyy, just the check please.»
10 minutes pass — grouchy lady comes out — TALKING ON HER CELL PHONE. While she’s on the phone (talking in some Philippine dialect), she places the check on the table and just stands there talking. She waited until we pulled out our credit card then walked away.
ANOTHER 10 minutes pass — where’s my receipt?! Grandpa had already locked the front the door as it was closing time. At this point, I’ve had it. I get up, and as I’m getting up a lady at the window is knocking and signaling for me to meet her at the door. I look around, and… SURPRISE! No one that works there is around. So I open the front door and the woman asks me for a take-​out menu. Is this really happening?! So I figured, «Fine, I’ll go tell Grandma to give her a menu while I pick up my credit card and my receipt». So I tell Grandma about the woman at the door and she gives ME the menu to give to her potential customer… REALLY?!
The only reason I actually gave this place two stars is because the food was actually that good. But I don’t think it was enough for me to ever come back here.
This place is a circus.

So I’ve been passing by this place for about 20 years now and finally went in one day because I figured it’s gotta be decent considering it’s still running all these years. I’m no expert or even close to one on Filipino food so…
The food was pretty interesting and real good. Nice portions and real nice people who own the place. We got into a nice conversation about the food they have and how I’ve passed this place for so many years and now finally came in. There were quite a few tables full on this weekday evening and they were all Filipino so I assume the place serves fairly authentic Filipino fare. All in all this place was pretty good and interesting especially for someone like me who really doesn’t know much about this type of cuisine. So if you wanna ever try Filipino food like I did – might as well go here.

Well, this is the only filipino restaurant we go to regularly. but I think it’s pretty good. I’ve had better home-​cooked meals. Everything I’ve had has been tasty, from the lumpia to bittermelon and shrimp stew, to pancit, etc.
I think I’d normally give them three stars based on food/​prices, but the SERVICE there is excellent. You have the owners (family business) coming to check on you ALL the time. They are sooo nice, and funny too.
I’m surprised no one has reviewed this place yet, it’s been in existance for awhile!

The «hearty» Asian foods (Filipino, Thai, Malay, Indo, etc.) ALWAYS taste better from the home.
But if you’re an independent professional like myself (i.e. doesn’t live with the parents), then getting that home style taste is very difficult.
Of all the chicagoland filipino restaurants I’ve tried, this one is the closest to home.
The food isn’t too salty or over-​oiled (a prevalent fault in filipino restaurants). In general, it tastes «just right».
Recommended:
— Daing Bangus (marinated, then fried fish)
— Pancit Palabok (a medium thick noodle with a mildly creamy, but not overbearing sauce)
— Lechon Kawali (fried pork shank; it’s ok, just go to the gym tomorrow)
— Kaldareta (basically its a stew that has been reduced, very hearty)
Not recommended:
— Bifsteak (a thin sliced steak dish, slighty of vinegar, and topped with marinated onions. Their sauce isn’t potent enough to penetrate enough flavor through out the meat.)
**** Review incomplete. I have to get ready to go to the club… *****