Pinoy Place

Pinoy’s Place is tucked away behind the Union 76 Gas Station & Kwik Milady Cleaners, near the corner of Hesperian Blvd & Bockman Road. The small restaurant sits in a non-​descript plaza. If you didn’t know it was there, more than likely wouldn’t know it was «there.» The interior is simple, basic, no frills, very utilitarian, with a personal touch. Don’t expect red carpet, velvet ropes, and fu-​fu, shi-​shi. (It’s not that kinda place.)
Photo —
Also, video rental & Western Union available —
The breakdown:
First off — AYCE Filipino food
Secondly — ONLY $ 9.50 (Lunch buffet)
Third — Homestyle cooking, informal, and low-​key (Perfect)
‘And fourth — Cooked w/​plenty of ALOHA!
Store front —
I cannot take credit for discovering this diamond in the rough, that credit goes to my Aunt Ann & mom. Aunty Ann comes here on a regular basis and thanks to her, I was introduced to a couple of dishes that I otherwise may not have ever tried. (Don’t ask me what they were, I just pointed to the food filled, chaffing dishes & my aunt called out their names.) All I know is, «They were delicious!» I could actually feel my arteries narrowing with each high cholesterol, unhealthy, decadent bite. — «Hey, after all it’s Filipino food!»
AYCE ($ 9.50) —
I’ve never realized there was such a thing as «Balakbayan Buffet!» (Well, there’s good reason too, one word — «Heartdisease.») I’m just kidding, as if that ever stopped anyone and if it did it was only because they dropped dead from cardiac arrest with a mouthful of oxtail kare kare… Quitter. — «Psst, manong, another serving of sisig and lichon kawali.»
I grew up in a relatively Americanized, Hawaiian/​Filipino household. The extent of most Filipino dishes were the basics — adobo, pancit, lumpia, & dinuguan. It wasn’t until I stepped into my first Filipino grocery mart/​food counter in the OC that I realized, I’m a coconut… ‘Brown on the outside, white on the in. I remembering standing @ the counter with my friend, Erlinda, looking @ quite a few dishes that I’ve never even heard of before.
Erlinda: Eh, what kinda Filipino are you?
Me: One that’s made in America by way of Hawai’i… Do they have McNuggets?
Erlinda: Ay’sos!
Me: Ok, I think I’ll go wait in the car now.
Pinoy’s Place — If you want a taste of homemade Filipino food with all the artery clogging goodness, «You have arrived.» Much like Indian food, I’m a novice but if you want to try a little bit of this & that without buying everything a la carte, AYCE is THE way to go. (True story)
Some of the buffet items:
Adobo — Meat, seafood, or vegetables marinated in vinegar, soy sauce, and garlic, which is browned in oil, and simmered in the marinade
Pancit — Filipino noodle dish; comes in different varieties
Beef steak (aka Bistek) — Thinly sliced beef cooked in soy sauce & lemon juice, garnished with onion rings; meat is first marinated w/​kalamansi juice, soy sauce, & black pepper
Sinigang — Filipino soup/​stew characterized by its sour and savoury taste most often associated w/​tamarind
Sisig — Method of preparing fish/​meat, especially pork, marinated in a sour liquid such as lemon juice or vinegar; seasoned with salt, pepper and other spices
Longganisa — Closely related to linguica/​Portuguese sausage (Breakfast item)
Monggo Beans (aka Mung Bean Soup)
Fried fish
Tapioca
Halo-​halo (aka Haluhalo) — Popular Filipino dessert with mixed w/​shaved ice & evaporated milk to which are added various boiled sweet beans, jello and fruits; served in a tall glass or bowl
Cassava cake — Classic Filipino dessert made from grated cassava (manioc)
«Plate lunch» (AYCE) —
The husband & wife team take pride in their restaurant and it shows. Most everything I tried was very good & there was a lot of it. I was somewhat surprised @ how much food was laid out for the lunch buffet. (Tip: Arrive early) My guess is that their $ 9.50, AYCE lunch is popular with the locals. The husband had just finished cooking a dessert cake, it was awesome… ‘Right from the kitchen and onto to the table. I wanted to sample another piece but sadly, there was no vacancy.
Dessert —
If you happen to be in San Lorenzo, just around the corner from Kennedy Park and down Bockman, left hand side, give Pinoy’s Place a try… ‘And only for $ 9.50, you can’t beat the price! After all, what do you have to lose… That’s cheaper than two grande mocha’s from Starbucks AND much more filling.
— Big Aloha!
Food: 4
Ambiance: 4
Service: 5+
Value: 5

It’s a little hole in the wall place in San Lorenzo and its pretty okay. I live in Union City where all the mecca of filipino food lies however, not many has a buffet like this one. Let me start by saying the food is ok. Beef steak and chicken adobo were delicious as well as the sinigang. However the ones we were excited for was the pinapaitan, giniling and the munggo and they were bland I’d have to say. They have the basic stuff like longganisa and bbq on a stick which were really good. The thing that kills me though is the food WAS COLD. And thats how you get stomach flu! The place is outdated. The seats were not comfortable at all. I really want to like this place because it did fulfill our craving for a filipino buffet however there’s so much room for improvement. Will probably try other buffets.

Yummm!!! This place Is GOOD! Everything she cooks is Delicious!!!

Went here for the second time yesterday for the lunch buffet. Food was good, as it was the first time, but this time both my friend and I have been up all night sick from this place. Never again

One of a few places I can find bopis. I asked the lady to put it aside and my hubby will pick it up later. Been going here for years. Reasonably priced, too.

Stopped in for the lunch buffet. Great variety of classic filipino dishes. Everything hot and fresh. I tried the tapioca which I have never seen before, (white boy here ;) but it was really tasty and I couldn’t help but have a second bowl. I really like this cozy and quiet restaurant. I’ll definitely be back!

I ordered the palabok. I gave it 4 stars because it was lacking Shrimp, chicharons, fried garlic. Overall it was really good. And the lady was nice enough to wait for me especially they closed at 8. I will definetly go back and try there other items or buffet.

Lumpias were bomb! I would definitely buy them again! They were so nice I was having a party for my daughter on a Sunday and I ordered 200 lumpias and even though they were closed they still came in to do my order!

Did like the food in the buffet, great variation, very cheap and friendly service. Love the jackfruit dish and the desserts.

A typical filipino food spot to pick up some quick food. They have that banana heart dish here. A small size ginataan is $ 3.50. Ordered a silog plate and a 2 item. One or the other is $ 6.95 & $ 6.99.

I found this through Unilocal,and I was pleasantly surprised with the food. I didn’t know this place even existed. It’s tucked in a little strip mall behind the Kwik Milady Cleaners, on Bockman. The pork adobo, bistek, mongo, pork sinigang were all good. The sour dishes just had the right amount of sour to them. I also had the ginataan for dessert. They had ginataang mais, too, but I was too full to try that. They have more regional Filipino dishes, too, but I eat more middle of the road food, so I didn’t try them. I was very pleased. Buffet for lunch was $ 7.95. By the way, you can order silogs all the time, and lumpia. The décor is cluttered, with the odd Philippine souvenir strewn in, here and there, but come for the food. By the way, this is a minor thing to some, but I think it’s important: I liked the quality of the steamed rice; it was very white and fluffy.
One reviewer complained that the woman who was working there just sat and watched Filipino soap operas. So what? She’s the owner, and she also cooked every single dish there. And if she wants to take a load off, who cares? She’ll still wait on you. And by the way, I paid with a card, and there was no line for tips, although they had a tip jar. I am tired of places where you serve yourself, and the check has a space for a tip. If it’s a place where there is table service, sure, but self-​serve? I don’t think so, but a tip jar is ok, so I appreciate it that they don’t have a space for tips on their check.

Decent food with a very charming, family vibe inside. Very nice lady works there too…

Ok so my husband is Filipino and we like to support the local Filipino businesses. I found this place in Unilocal.And thought 7.95 for lunch buffet let’s go check it out. When we walked thru the door automatically we looked at each other as if this was a mistake. But we decided to stay and try it. They have a poor selection of food. And the dishes they serve were made of cheap cuts of meat. For example the beef steak was all fat no meat. The dinuguan was all ear no meat. Kare kare wasnt made with ox tail but just chunks of beef. They didn’t serve the popular types of Filipino food. The whole time we were eating we kept looking up at each other with that omg this place sucks look. The lady working there didn’t even pay any attention to us the whole time she was watching Filipino soup operas. People would walk in and we thought oh people really eat here? But they didn’t they walked straight to the back to rent Filipino videos. I would never come back to this place even if it was a free buffet.

The owners seemed really nice, but the food was just okay.
We went on a weekday about ½ hour before closing, and the buffet food was cold! I understand that they are a small family restaurant, and they probably don’t get much business during the weeknights, but turning off the buffet heaters before closing doesn’t really make for good eats and definitely doesn’t invite people to come back. Or bring their friends.
The place is a little hard to find too, being hidden inside a parking lot with a narrow entrance and blocked from street view. I wonder if they’ll survive. If they do, I hope they keep their food warm!

Walked in around 1:30pm. *cricket, cricket*. no one was there.
We were browsing the buffet selection for a couple of minutes before someone came out from the kitchen and greeted us. I asked how come there wasn’t any pancit selection for the buffet. The lady said she’ll make us some palabok and to enjoy the rest of the buffet.
Ok, sure.
— The rice wasn’t warm anymore and kinda old. NO BUENO.
— The sinigang was pretty good except there were barely anything but meat. I wanted more veggies.
— The chicken adobo was cooked perfectly, like fall off the bone type of deal.
— The beef tripe (I think it’s called callos) was OK.
— The pancit palabok was. eh. I have a buddy who makes it from scratch and it’s delicious! I expected more from this place. It came with only 2 shrimps that looked a little gray. yeah… I wasn’t having it.
While the co-​worker and I ate, it was as if we were all by ourselves the whole time. We saw the waitress 4 times. Once when she greeted us, second when she brought us the palabok, third when she went to use the microwave and fourth when we paid for our meal.
We didn’t have any dessert but I did see flan.
The cantaloupe juice was good.
There’s a video rental selection at the back of the store.

Cheap buffet. Friendly service. Okay food.
I came in here starving, and when I saw that a 3 item combo was $ 5.95 but a buffet was $ 7.95, I knew what I had to do. I made sure to try every dish they had available (all except for the one with bittermelon).
Most of the entrees were just okay. I felt like I had gotten to someones family party late (later than everybody else cuz you had work or something, not just late like everybody else) and all the food had been sitting out for a while already. The lechon kawali was hard, and most things didn’t taste very fresh. The sinigang wasn’t very flavorful and didnt have very many vegetables. The diniguan wasn’t the way I like it (thick, garlicky and vinegary), it was the other style (more watered down, slightly sweet).
The positives were the beef steak, chicken and pork adobos, longanisa, and turon. The beef steak was well marinated and tender. The chicken adobo was fall off the bone tender. The pork adobo had plenty of flavor, and wasn’t nearly as salty as I have usually had it before (I prefer it less salty). The longanisa was very mild and didnt have much spice or flavor to it, but when do you ever see it offered as part of a buffet? Ive never seen it. The turon was the best, about a foot long, with banana and jackfruit. It was different than Ive ever had it before, very flaky and crisp. Good stuff.
Overall, just okay. But at under ten bucks with tax and a coke? You can’t beat that. Great friendly service too. For some reason there wasn’t any pancit, neither canton or palabok, which was a little strange to me, but maybe things change periodically. Now that I’ve tried most everything though, I may just go with the three item next time. Or just dessert. I remember coming here for a bomb ass halo halo a couple years ago.

This is a family-​owned restaurant that used to be just a video rental store (Filipino videos only) and grocery store. I have been coming here for years and it has some of the best homemade Filipino food around!
I actually just got back from a vacation to the Philippines so I was able to compare. The restaurant is a little hard to find. You have to turn onto Bockman Road and then turn into a parking lot next to the dry cleaners behind the 76 gas station. It’s situated in the parking lot, out of view from the street.
If you go here, they have the best beef-​steak anywhere. Even the beef-​steak in the Philippines did not compare. It’s well done beef strips marinated in a rich, dark soy-​sauce based broth with onions. You drench this bad-​boy over white rice & it’s over! On the side, you order the sinigang, which is a sour & tangy (vinegar-​based) vegetable soup. This also goes really well with the rice.
The longgonisa is really good too. This is a filipino pork sausage that has a hint of sweetness to it. I thought this was the best I’ve tasted, but the one I had in the Philippines was a bit more flavorful.
For dessert, you will LOVE the cassava cake. I had cassava cake in the Philippines & this one will blow all the rest away. I ordered some for a get-​together at our house & everyone absolutely loved it.
You can also order a halo halo, which is a drink with tons of stuff in it: flan, icecream, all kinds of beans, shaved ice, & condensed milk. All this ingredients blend together wonderfully. Soooo good.
The owners are very friendly and they even show some Manny Pacqiuao fights here!
Summary: Great family-​owned, hole-​in-​the-​wall, homemade filipino food in town. And for the record, I’m not filipino.

Okay… I’ve been here a few more times and I take back any negativity on the service. They are awesome. They are a husband and wife combo… I think. Anyway, the nicest people ever. They now know me as CALBO. So far, everything I ordered from here has been great. the pancit canton is the best from any restaurant. It would be much better if they added the Chinese sausage to it, but it’s still great. The palabok is consistently good. The lumpia is very tasty and the pearl drinks are like no other. Instead of the black pearls, they have the white ones which are softer and taste better. Also, they do have party platters!!! What can i say… I’m a fan!