Ihawan2

Came here to have a celebratory dinner with friends a couple of years ago and loved my experience there. The restaurant had a lively atmosphere and the interior is contemporary. I had one of their seafood platter, tusino with garlic rice and avocado shake (with chunks of avocado still floating around which is the best way to have it). I loved everything and thought that the food was very tasty and flavorful– definitely up to par with my family’s cooking.

I had to puke my guts out after the meal. Sorry.
I went with friends for dinner one Friday. Since we don’t have Filipino food often, we went crazy and ordered lechon paksiw, lechon kawali, daeng, chicken BBQ, pork BBQ and started with chicharon bulaklak and chicken skins. As if that wasn’t enough, all of us also got garlic rice and avocado con hielo for dessert. We ODed.
The food: everything was not seasoned right. Thankfully, suka can fix everything so it went from horribly bland to meh. The garlic rice was also a pile of mush. It did not taste like garlic at all. Even the garlic bits on top didn’t taste like garlic; it was pretty mushy and kind of gross.
Since our little party of 4 ordered almost everything fried, maybe I should comment about that too. I definitely should because it was what made me sick. They fried everything at the wrong temperature which leads the meat absorbing more oil. The dishes were served swimming in a puddle of oil. That should have been enough to turn me away, but hey I haven’t had chicharon bulaklak and chicken skin for years!!! Ugh. I can’t even imagine how greasy their lumpia shanghai would be. Anyway, I drowned everything in suka and ate. I can be gross like that. But in the end my body turned against me and I vomited in their restroom. Again, sorry I missed– a little.
Maybe, I ate too much. Maybe, I ate more than too much. But maybe if the food wasn’t too greasy… Maybe if it was seasoned right. it would have been worth it.
Skip this place and head to Woodside. The resto is «new» but the food is not worth the calories. I’m terribly disappointed.

If you’re looking for great Flip food Ihawan2 is a great place to start with. So just to start with Philippine cuisine has a lot of meat. If you’re looking to «calorie count» flip food might not be for you.
Although Ihawan2 does have a few choice low caloric foods, flip cuisine in general isn’t a cuisine to be calorie counting. Count yourself out if you’re trying to be healthy, the meat here is too irresistible to be healthy.
For the price it was like going to churrascaria flip style.

Ihawan2 in LIC is certainly the better dressed one of the two. The ambience is lovely, much better for a date than the one in woodside. I took my family here for mother’s day and made reservations for 1 pm. It was not crowded at all and a table was ready for us. We were seated despite not having all of our party, which I very much appreciated.
I do feel, however, that there were a few things that could be polished up here. We had informed them that we would be sharing plates, but our server failed to deliver us some extra plates for eating despite the long wait for food and the place being fairly empty. Our food came after a fair amount of time and we ended up having to wait a bit before we could eat to serve up all the food to everyone.
Kare Kare — Filipinio Oxtail is truly my favorite dish in the world. Ihawan2 does it with a thick tasty peanut butter sauce. I only wish they’d serve a larger portion of it, as it’s just a few pieces on the plate.
Chicken Adobo — This is the worst I’ve had. The presentation was ugly, just 3 or 4 pieces of tiny, shriveled chicken thrown onto a plate with broth. And nothing else! No vegetable! No egg. Nothing. The flavor lacked anything interesting, it was truly a bland, boring concoction. Plenty of filipino mothers make adobo waaayyy better than this. I won’t ever be ordering this from them ever again. Such a huge disappointment. AND it is listed as the ‘Chef’s Specialty.’ Honestly, this staple, Filipinio dish needs some SERIOUS work here.
Crispy Pata — This was actually pretty good! The meat was very tender, moist and flavorful. Pretty happy with it.
Lechon Kawali — A bit dry and on the hard side. The skin was crispy and looked very attractive. Not bad, but also a little disappointing.
Kare Kare Seafood — Also good, b tu very sparse on the seafood, and filled with difficult to eat bits. I probably will not be ordering this again.
Pork BBQ — This has always been good here, and still happily remains so!
The prices here are good, however, I think I may be in search of a better all around place. Generosity in portion size here is a bit lacking.

Newer location in Long Island City with a nice décor, the restaurant is pretty clean compared to some other Filipino restaurants in Queens. Right around the corner from the Vernon-​Jackson station, so it’s very accessible to get to.
Prices are very affordable, a little more expansive than other filipino restaurant but it’s well worth the extra dollar! Everything I have tried has been well seasoned, flavorful and traditionally Filipino. This is not a Fusion restaurant, thank god!
The service staff are a little younger, than your typical Filipino restaurants, no noisy auntie! ;) All the of the servers are very helpful in making dish decisions, don’t be afraid to ask questions.
Suggestions if you’re new to Filipino food try the BBQ Combo with Chicken and Pork, Lumpiang Shanghai (Filipino Eggrolls) and Pancit Sotanghon (kind of like lo mien with thin noodles).
If you want to be more adventurous spring for the Dinguan! If you’re gonna ask what’s in it, I suggest you not get it and if you don’t like vinegar or different textures don’t get it. But I LOVE IT and get it every time I go, it has a little bit of a spicy kick from the pepper.
And everyone needs to get some Lechon Kawali! Who doesn’t like deep fried crispy pork! The skin is crispy and then a layer of moist pork!
And of course you have to get dessert! The Halo Halo is great during the summer time or Turo which is one of my personal favorite cause my mom use to make this all the time before she got healthy! Turon is a banana and jackfruit sweet like eggroll, best served with ice cream!
WARNING: As you can see, Filipinos are pork lovers, most of the better dishes are pork related. But there are still really great dishes such as Chicken Adobo, Sinigang and any of the Fish Dishes. I mean the Philippines is made up of 7,107 islands, so there’s water all around us, we know fish! Another WARNING, don’t freak if you see a fish head show up on your table. Eat the eye ball it’s good luck! :)

WOW! They should go all out and call this place Ihawan 2.0. The food was delicious, extremely moist and definitely flavorful. The restaurant décor was pretty awesome — someone was definitely like… lets step this one up!
I have no issues with Ihawan (1) and I love that place a whole lot, but Ihawan 2 is closer to me (manhattan) and for some reason (maybe because I was super hungry?) it was tastier!
We had a few of things when we visted:
Kare-​Kare
Pork BBQ
Chicken BBQ
Beef Tapa
A whole lot of white rice
Lumpiang Sariwa
And everything tasted as if they were cooked at home, comforting and delicious.
Would I find myself here more than I would the one in woodside? Without a doubt.

Went here for dinner this weekend with my non-​Filipino husband [I’m Filipino], he tried out the beef Kaldereta and loved it! I had the kare-​kare and for the price you pay, the portions are good and the taste almost brings me back home. Decent price, nice quaint setting.
Only down side to this establishment was the rudeness of the hostess and the servers.
Can definitely see myself coming back here though! Want to try out the Appetizers next time and the lechon!

My best friend is a Filipino fellow with about two dozen Titas (aunties), and I’ve eaten food prepared by most of them, over noisy Tagalog chatter, with karaōke singing in the background, while the kids play guitars downstairs, and a few women clutch their rosary beads, while the dinuguan smell fills the kitchen, and the rest of the langonisa and oxtail stew and kare kare and spaghetti with chopped hot dogs sit in mountain-​sized piles in aluminum tins.
Ihawan2 has all those dishes on its menu, and just a few more, and the adobo is always the same, which is to say it’s pretty good, perhaps a bit sweet, and maybe the sauce is thin, but the chicken meat is tender, and there’s plenty of fat on it, and it goes nicely with pancit, and it usually arrives to my apartment in about 35 minutes, and I would probably eat it if I had some right now, but I haven’t had dinner, and it’s getting late.

Having a friend that never had filipino food and needing somewhere close to the comedy club, Ihawan2 was a perfect choice for a casual but tasty dinner. The restaurant is conveniently located steps from the Vernon Blvd station on the 7 so very easy to get to and find.
The space is sort of big and on a Wednesday night, it was relatively busy with groups of all sizes. The staff is friendly, quick and let’s you do your own thing til you’re ready to order.
I went with the Lechon Kawali with Garlic rice ($ 1 more to substitute) and my friend ordered the Chop Suey because she felt like going vegetarian for the night. I felt like she missed out on having something possibly tastier but each to their own! My dish was tasty — how can you not love crispy fried pork?!
The bill for 2 non-​alcoholic drinks and 2 main courses came to like $ 25 without tip! I love cheap, tasty food and will gladly return, should I find myself in Long Island City again.

Interestingly enough, this place doesn’t serve sushi anymore (they did when they first opened). Came here a few days ago with my family (who in true filipino fashion left me waiting for 45 minutes). Not the quickest service but our waitress was very nice. She seemed to be the only one working the phones and the floor and by how long it took us to get our food, I’m assuming there was one cook back there as well.
Definitely get the pork bbq, pancit palabok, chicken adobo, lumpia shanghai. It wasn’t Thursday when we went but they have a Thursday special in which you need to make a reservation for. You can get lots of different filipino specialities for $ 22 or $ 45 (2people versus 4 people) for the special which includes bbq and such. Though the service isn’t the greatest it’s the best filipino food you’ll find in NYC and the east coast. seriously…

Awful awful service. It may have been just our waitress bc the other tables seemed ok but let me list some of the things that went wrong:
1) we ordered 4 entrees and an appetizer. Not a difficult order. One entrée came out along with the appetizer. And that was it. We sat there for 30 minutes wondering where the rest of the food was. also the appetizer was missing the sauce it’s suppose to come with and we had to ask for it 3 times before someone brought it over, twice with our waitress and once with another one.
2) we asked for a wine menu but our waitress never came by to take our order for wine. She’d walk by our table several times looking busy (but we never saw her actually do anything) but never checked in with us or even noticed that 3 out of 4 people were not eating.
3) after about 45 minutes she came by and seemed very confused and asked us «am I missing anything?». We were like,“yea. Um. Our food”. She looked really confused again and asked what we ordered. Then she went back to her station, pulled out our order ticket and then brought it down to the kitchen. Turns out she never submitted them so the kitchen didn’t cook it.
3) 20 minutes later 1 more entrée came out. (brings the count up to 2 entrees out of 4) and again she asked «am I missing anything?». We look at her again and reminded her that 2 people are still missing food.
4) 10 minutes later the 3^rd dish comes out. Again, asked «am I missing something?» We were bewildered at this point. Why did she keep asking customers this? AGAIN we reminded her that we’re still waiting for a dish.
That was the end of the food. The 4^th dish never came. By then, we had sat in the restaurant for about 1hr 25 mins and by then we were fed up so asked for our check and take off the entrée that never came. We also asked for boxes. She didn’t bring either of them. After waiting for 5 more minutes we asked someone else for the check and boxes.
Also throughout the entire time, we asked a few times if our food is being prepared and each time she said its being cooked. However, it was clear she had no idea what we ordered bc she kept asking us if she was missing something. Basically she lied to us about our food being cooked.
Good food. But I’ve never receive such bad service in my life. Ridiculous. Food not worth the agitation.

Oh gosh I expected so much more from this place. I thought it would be a nicer more modern version of the Woodside location. But I guess they forgot the food part.
We got the Lechon Kawali, Ginataang Gulay, Sisig, Bistek, Lumpia and Calamari. Avocado Ice and Kalamansi Ice.
Lechon Kawali and Ginitaang Gulay was good and standard. The rest not so much.
Bistek was fine. Lumpia was stale tasting. Calamari was not good. But the worse was the Sisig. I’ve been known to clean my plate no matter what. I’ll usually say «that’s interesting» and still eat the whole plate. I hate wasting food. But the sisig was practically inedible. I’ve had it at many places including the Philippines. And it was just not palatable at all here. I had maybe like 4 bites. I couldn’t do it. And I love pork and pork parts. Just couldn’t do it man. The cartilage was just too tough. The parts didn’t crisp up enough against the cast iron plate. It was so disappointing. Its one of my favorite dishes when done right. So sad.
Another very disappointing thing was the garlic fried rice. It was a poor excuse for such a great reliable side dish.
Kalamansi juice was also very watered down, it almost tasted like lime juice.
I took a non-​filipino here and was kinda embarrassed that I took her here even though she’s been to other filipino places. Next time I’ll stick to the Woodside location.
BTW, They dropped the sushi from the menu. I wonder why.

The best Filipino restaurant I have ever had.
The food is awesome, and the atmosphere of this restaurant is very decent. Not like the original Ihawan. :P
The waitress was very attentive and nice.
I had a Groupon deal (or probably Living Social. I forgot) for this place, and ended up paying $ 30 for the dinner for 4 people. How awesome!
Even my Filipino friend gave 5 stars! ;)

We arrived during the heatwave on a Saturday afternoon for lunch and were promptly seated in the upstairs area as we had a party of 6. (*The food we ordered was just perfect for 6). The portions were decent except for the Palabok which was really tiny.
The only problem we had was the service. Our waiter was very nice BUT he was no where to be found. We were just forgotten up there. It took us about 40 min for him to come get our orders. We were left without water for 30 min at a time. And it’s not like we did not go looking for him. We, yes we took turns, searched the tiny restaurant, they (not only the waiter but the hostess as well) were just hiding in the back! The only thing that was quick was the check, that came in under a minutes time. Hmm.
So onto the good stuff —
Ihawan Sampler
— Lechon Kawai
Mmm! Friend Just right and the liver sauce, Yum!
— Calamares
Little soggy. Not much taste
— Lumpiang Shanghai
You can’t go wrong with these, I can eat 10 of these!
Barbeque Platter
— Grilled Pork
Sweet and delicious! Perfect!
— Grilled Chicken
Hmm… didn’t see this…
— Grilled Shrimp
Yum! Juicy and fat! Full of flavor
— Grilled Mussels
Didn’t try but heard they were not that great
Crispy Pata
Pork Knuckle! Thick deep fried skin, tasty pork and sticky tendons. YUM!
Kare Kare
Ooh One of my favorites! Oxtail in peanut sauce, I put this
sauce all over my rice.
Steamed Tilapia
This dish really impressed everyone at the table. It was cooked
surprisingly well and sauced just right.
Chicken Adobo
This was subpar for Adobo. It was ok
Pancit Palabok
Great! BUT the dish looked like it was portioned for a kiddy meal
Garlic Fried Rice
Yum Yum Yum!
Halo Halo
Half melted when we got it but it was a small tall glass instead
of like at Ihawan where you get a large bowl. Tasted good and
filled with a ton of stuff but it was really small for $ 5
Iced Buko
Coconut Water, What’s to say?
Iced Lime Juice
VERY Tart and Sweet
So overall the food quality was great but don’t expect doting staff, once you get your food you may never see them again.

Ok, so the Filipino side of the family would NOT approve…
1^st, we walk into the restaurant and realize there’s a private party going on. We’re about to turn around and leave when the hostess says, «It’s ok, we have a table for you.» She leads us to the back, up a few stairs and to a table next to 10 children. This was apparently the «kiddie-​section» of the party and we had the pleasure of dining with unattended minors.
So after dodging some flying silverware and having a few kids running laps around the dining area, we order Kare-​kare, tilapia and BBQ chicken skewers. In reality, I would’ve given this place another star if I had just ordered the skewers. But the fish was watery (for fish) and the kare-​kare was undercooked and watery. So not the savory meals I grew up with! Not even close.
I’m not saying avoid it, but be careful what you order… and where you’re seated.

Not that I’m a complainer but somehow my husband always manages to find the cool places to visit and eat! Not surprising, he had already marked this place on his list. The interior of place is simplistic and modern with seating arranged into two separate sides upon entrance. The host and server were both friendly and hospitable. Be prepared to feast your eyes! Menu lists the appetizers first and grilled dishes on one column. The main/​specialty are on another column followed by sides and drinks on the back. So our party of two had the following:
–Fresh Lumpia: fresh sauteed vegetables and shrimp wrapped in thin pancake w/​peanut sauce. It reminds me of a summer roll except the skin was thicker. Portions were pretty good for an appetizer.
–Lechon Kawali: chopped, fried crispy pork served with liver sauce. Hub requested for garlic rice. Excellent choice as this dish was meant for it. The sauce was tangy but gave the pork that extra flavor. Delicious skin but definitely bad for the health conscious.
–Torta– ground beef, shrimp, and vegetable omelet served with rice. This dish was light and perfect for those who are not anxiously looking forward to stuff themselves full. The meats were simmered with potatoes and a rich gravy sauce. It was too simple for hub.
–Mango juice– fresh pulp but a strong aroma to it. You can definitely taste the difference between a can and fresh mango juice.
–Halo Halo– mixed tropical fruits, white & read beans, crushed ice, milk, and custard. I def liked Tito Rad’s version but this was more traditional and nice way to conclude our meal.
I will def be back again to try the other dishes!

What does a Chinese wife and a Spanish husband make? A Filipino baby! At least that’s what I’ve discovered with Filipino food. Ihawan2 was my very first experience dining at a Filipino restaurant. Previously, my knowledge of Filipino food was limited to lumpia and adobo. I know, shame on me. Thankfully I was eating with reliable Unilocalers who are well-​versed in Filipino food. And as it turns out, I recognized many of the ingredients and flavors used in Filipino dishes.
Our group of 5 shared the…
IHAWAN SAMPLER (lechon kawali, calamares, lumpiang shanghai) —
Yum, yum, and yum. I especially liked the lechon kawali — so fatty and good. And though they were all fried, nothing was greasy.
BARBEQUE PLATTER (pork, chicken, shrimp, mussels) —
My favorite was the BBQ pork and chicken; the meat was perfectly marinated and grilled.
FRESH LUMPIA —
Not memorable.
FRIED WHOLE TILAPIA —
What’s an Asian family-​style meal without a whole fish? Ihawan’s tilapia is lightly seasoned and perfectly fried.
PANCIT PALABOK (rice noodles topped with shrimp, eggs, and shrimp sauce) —
This was a nice surprise. I love thick rice noodles but I rarely see them in restaurants. I’ve only ever had thick rice noodles in soup, but after trying the pancit palabok, I’m a fan!
SISIG (grilled pork ears and snout with chili peppers, onions, and lemon) —
I typically like pork ears, but I guess I’m not a huge fan of them ground up. I also found this dish to be too greasy for my tastes.
SINIGANG NA BABOY (pork & vegetables in tamarind soup) —
This soup was interesting to me because sour soup and winter melon are familiar flavors to me, and yet combined together they created a whole new dish that I’ve never had before. I like.
KARE-​KARE (oxtail with mixed vegetables in peanut butter sauce) —
The oxtail was good but I thought that the dish was a touch heavy on the peanut flavor. The shrimp sauce that comes on the side helped to balance that out a bit.
BEEF LENGUA —
The lengua was tender but the sauce was a little too salty. This dish needs to be paired with rice… speaking of which, replace the white rice with GARLIC FRIED RICE.
It’s good on it’s own as well as paired with the meat dishes.
Ihawan2 also has a sushi bar in the back, but seeing as how the sushi bar got no action the entire time we were there, the freshness quality is questionable. Best stick to the Filipino food. If you love fried foods and meat, you will love Filipino food. And, conveniently located right around the corner from the Vernon-​Jackson stop off of the 7 train, Ihawan2 is really easy to get to. I know I’ll definitely be back. More baboy please!

What I prefer about Ihawan2 is their extended menu. It’s easily twice as long as what you find at Ihawan in Woodside, their original location. The Lumpia Sariwa is served every day instead of just on the weekends. They have a far more extensive list of seafood dishes and from what I’ve tried, everything is great. Except for the sushi … I have no idea why they serve it and I strongly advocate them taking it off the menu and staying true to their roots.
BBQ will always be king at Ihawan. It’s what they do best. But, they’ve added BBQ shrimp to the menu at their second location and while it’s certainly tasty, it’s a rip off. Avoid it in favor of their other BBQ offerings that are far more satisfying and easier on the wallet.
Another reason I prefer Ihawan2 to their original location is that I can order a salad here in place of rice. I realize that rice is a Filipino staple but sometimes it’s just nice to be given an option. They also serve alcohol here which is a welcome change from their dry counterpart. Lastly, the décor is very different. I can’t say it’s better — I like the Mom and Pop feel of the one in Woodside but if you’re going out for a night with friends who are trying Filipino food for the first time, this would probably be the better bet.

My friends love filipino food. So we trekked up to Queens and walked 2 avenues to reach the restaurant. They jumped for joy when we finally arrived.
We ordered: Sinigang na Isda, Kare Kare, Sisig, Ginataang Gulay.
I never had any of these items before. The tamarind soup was tart and I am not usually fond of sour soups so this was not a fav. I love oxtail so the kare kare was yummy to me. We had kare kare leftovers and I mixed all the leftover gravy with rice. Sooo good.
Sisig was advertised as pig ears and snout, now I do not mind eating those parts of the pig, but the sisig smelled and tasted like there was some pig intestine in there as well. Not appetizing.
The Ginataang Gulay was the best part of the meal. It was creamy coconut with spinach and salt. I don’t know what else they add, but do they need anything else? It was delighful. Sweet and rich but not too fatty. Mmmm.
I might go back more often if it wasn’t so far.

Pretty good Filipino food @ Ihawan2 in Long Island City. Woot! After having the privilege of meeting the new Queens Community Manager, a few of us hungry Unilocalers and potential Unilocalers headed over to Ihawan2.
Below is what the bf ordered for the entire group:
1) Pork BBQ — Ihawan’s special marinated pork BBQ on skewer
MUST HAVE at Ihawan. BBQ is their specialty. We had also ordered Chicken BBQ that night as well.
2) Sinigang na Baboy — pork & vegetables in tamarind soup
I’m a big fan of sour soups.
3) Lechon Kawali — chopped fried crispy pork with liver sauce on the side
Pretty good.
4) Kare — Kare — oxtail with mixed vegetables in peanut butter sauce
Awesome. Peanut butter wasn’t too overpowering. Don’t forget the shrimp paste on the side!
5) Pancit Palabok — rice noodles topped with shrimps, eggs, shrimp sauce
6) Binagoongan — pork sauteed in shrimp fry meat
First time trying this dish. Too salty for my tastes by itself. Good when balanced with other dishes that are not as salty.
7) Grilled marinated Pork Belly
Good. I personally wasn’t too big of a fan… since I don’t particularly enjoy eating pork belly fat. The rest of the group enjoyed it.
Overall, the food was good. Definitely worth a stop by if you’re looking for pretty good Filipino food in a modern atmosphere.
In comparison to the original Ihawan in Woodside, the place is cleaner and has a more modern atmosphere. I feel much more comfortable here than at the original Ihawan.
Ihawan2 is conveniently located right at the Vernon-​Jackson Aves train stop on the 7 train. If you can drive, I personally still prefer Mama Meena’s.