Max’s of Manila

I give 5 stars only because finally they shut their doors for good. Hope those so called servers never find another job in the food industry. i only went there for the breakfast buffet cause i dont need to wait for those crappy servers to finally take my order and wait for over an hour just so i can get a cup of water.

Came here today and its CLOSED for business! The Max sign is still on the shopping center sign but place no longer exists!

Well, they closed down, packed up and left. If they’re opening a new one somewhere else, please hire new staffs. All these reviews about customer service is true. HORRIBLE!!!

WoW… the reviews are right! Amongst the worse service I’ve EVER received! Took a long time to be seated, forever to get our food, and when we asked for a to go container it was used. It wasn’t even busy as the place was maybe half full. We asked to speak to a manager and they said he was in a meeting… are you kidding me? I guess he didnt want to hear ANOTHER Complaint! How is this place still in business?!? Needless to say we won’t be back!

I agree with all the 1 and 2 star reviews. I hope they close down the place because they’re ruining the reputation of Max’s. I think the management has a problem because the waiters are acting all the same, they don’t care.

The famous chicken place back in the islands where I belong. This place is small but busy. Fridays and Saturday nights, they have Karaōke. You can sing your heart out all night long. Well, not really all night but almost. It’s not a fancy restaurant. Food is okay. It depends on what you’re ordering. They’re over priced but people still keeps coming.

My family and I came here for their breakfast buffet before heading out to Point Reyes for the day. My folks and a few friends went here for a bite a few weeks ago, and enjoyed it-that’s why they took us here. I’ve been to Max’s and done their regular restaurant style back in Sac before they closed, and I enjoyed their food. However, I didn’t feel the same way with the breakfast buffet.
The price for the buffet is like $ 8.99 or something. Less than $ 10. For that price, and knowing how expensive Filipino food is, that’s pretty good. Their options are very small-​2 kinds of rice (garlic fried rice or white rice), sunny side up egg, longanisa, tocino, chicken adobo, 2 things of fish (not sure what they are called), pan de sal, and arroz caldo (rice porridge). I got the garlic rice, egg, longanisa, and tocino with black coffee. The rice was so good! My scoop was loaded with garlic, so I liked that! The egg wasn’t as all that great. Most of the yolk had solidified. If I’m getting sunny side up, I like my yolk to my runny! My sister’s yolk was fully solidified, at least mine had some yolky goodness. The longanisa was too sweet for my taste. I usually get the spicy longanisa, so that may be why this sweet one wasn’t as appetizing. The tocino was kinda flavorless and oily. Wasn’t a big fan of it. The coffee tasted weird. I’ve had black coffee elsewhere, and this coffee tasted super off, as if it’s been soaking in metal for weeks! I’m not sure how the water is in Vallejo, but the coffee was weird tasting.
Overall, I wouldn’t come back for their breakfast buffet. Very limited selection and food was below average. But I guess for the low price, that’s what you get. The garlic fried rice, on the other hand, was good. If I could take the rice cooker full of that, I would!

I support our Filipino community but believe it this place need to be shut down. The reason why we came here from across the bridge is to support the Filipino cuisine not to mention its Max’s restaurant, the name recognition itself is enough to support this place. But come on people, the service is Palpak. This is a restaurant not a Palengke. How can you not acknowledge your customer even if its not busy?
This is business not personal. We end up spending our money in Jollibee, which is also a palpak service but its fast food meaning chances are you will get a bad service.
I am so disgusted until now. Listen we are not in the Philippines, so don’t embarrass yourself. It’s NoT funny. Keep smiling like nothing happen.
But I will not support Max’s of Manila. Next time, if we end up visiting Six Flag we will go to Denny’s rather spend my money on these poor as service, run down community. Efing unbelievable people. Not funny.

OK — — Max’s on Rojas Boulevard in Manila was the first restaurant that I ate at my very 1^st time in the Philippines way back in 1985. My Dad, my Cousin, and I went there and had some wonderful food; in fact, between Max’s, Gerry’s Grill, and the Aristocrat I would say that most of my lunches or dinners are there. Back to Max’s — — I know the Max’s in the PI is salty, but the taste is still good. This is not as good — — still good, but we’re not in Manila anymore. We had Lumpiang Shanghai, fried calamari, mikki bihon pancit, chicken adobo, shrimp sinigang, crispy pata (pork), and Max’s Famous Fried Chicken. All was good. But it was the 1^st time we had mikki bihon and it was very good — — maybe a bit wet for my preference — — but very good.
Not as good as in Manila — — but it will satisfy you fix. By the way it is in the Seafood City Shopping Complex. There’s Jollibee, Chow King, Red Ribbon, and a «turo-​turo» inside by the Seafood City Market. A lot of other stuff there as well, Barong store, Filipino goods store, a BDO Bank, and Mango Tours.
Plenty of parking — — but on Sundays it is a little crowded. Enjoy.
This is a follow up to my last review of Max’s. Before we headed out to catch our airplane in Oakland, stopped off to get some food to take back east with us: lumpiang shanghai, crab fried rice, pancit bihon, and of course Max’s Famous Fried Chicken. Our only concern is that the crab in the crab fried rice was imitation — — why? To us, it is unacceptable to use imitation crab — — unacceptable. Everything else was good — — even though we ate it cold on the plane and in the airport. Great service by Max’s as they wrapped everything real well — — not so much to keep it warm, but to keep it from spilling.
Enjoy.

Terrible service!!! After we came in and sat down in the waiting area, they didn’t even acknowledge us. Even when they asked if we were with another party and we said no. They still didn’t acknowledge us. Finally I got up and said «may I seat myself in the dining area» that was the only time they acknowledge us. My wife said if you want to find a Max of Manila with delicious food and great service you might as well go back to Manila. Other than that the food was OK but I feel like I’m going to get diarrhea later on.

WE WALKED OUT!!!
Going into 30 mins of no food yet, even appetizers, plus no refill of hot water/​coffee — no updates or assurances the food is coming — waitstaff hardly paid attention to us — didn’t seem interested in servicing us at all — we were baffled by lack/​un-​attention of service since the place was not even packed. It did seem there were enough staff but utterly lackluster on service.
Don’t get me wrong… I really like Max’s Chicken and I try to patronize fellow «kababayans» but this was just absolutely ridiculous! My father in law who is the most patient man on earth, started to complain… yikes! Our orders were super simple, nothing over the top, mostly breakfast items…(…smh…)
We ate at this particular spot a few years ago and it was perfectly fine despite dinner rush, they came through. When we walked in today cuz I was craving for «–silog» stuff, my husband and I had a bad feeling — looked like it was under new management too — we should’ve trusted our gut instinct. The place looked a bit run-​down as well compared to before. Too bad. A Filipino staple restaurant and it was quite a big disappointment.
Will not return unless it improves/​renovates. I try to give this place the benefit of the doubt, but lately seems to always end up a big HUGE mistake.
At least… when we decided to walk out, I asked to speak to the manager, ready to pay even for the drinks we somewhat consumed, she waived it and apologized for the disappointing customer service.

First thing first, I love Max’s chicken. It’s purely delicious! But this is the first time when I came here and it’s busy. Does the staff know how to handle more then a few table? I say hell no.
We came in on a Sunday afternoon and the place was pretty full. We were certainly seated very quickly, I think basically cause we were in the hostess’ area and she wanted us to move. But after that it was downhill, wait about 15 mins to get noticed for someone to talk our order, made eye contact with several waiters and they immediately turned the other way. When our waiter finally did take our orders, we waited another 20 mins to get our drinks, and so far we’ve been waiting for our food and it’s been about another 20 mins since then… As I’m writing this we are still waiting… Max’s Chicken! We love your food but please take the time to train your staff or hire more experienced ones!

I remember this place so much better than it is now… service was not bad but it was also not great. After delivering us our food, no one checked on us again. Also, the food, though not horrible, was also not very great.
We ordered pork sisig, pinakbet, inihaw na bangus, original whole chicken, kare-​kare, and daing na bangus. Other than the original chicken, the dishes that I enjoyed the most were the pork sisig and the pinakbet. However, I was still a bit disappointed even with those dishes. For the pork sisig, I feel like there was too much ginger. And for the pinakbet, I really liked the fact that it came with shrimp, bangus, and lechon kawali but it didn’t come with enough vegetables. On top of that, there wasn’t much bagoong to make it taste like legit pinakbet.
For dessert, we ordered buko pandan and halo-​halo. The desserts, at least, were actually pretty good.

Save your money! This Max’s of Manila is not worth dining in. Your better off going to Jollibee or Chowking located in the same area. They will overcharge you for some bland and unappealing food. This was by far the worst Max’s restaurant that I ever encountered. Additionally, the staff were snobs, and obviously does not care about the customers. We ordered the pinakbet, and we didn’t even touch it, we ended up giving the dish back because it was horrible. None of the dish we ordered was worth $ 75 we had; pinakbet, Bicol express, pancit bihon, kids meal spaghetti, and sinigang. Absolutely horrible, they’re better off closing this Max, they’re just ruining the chains reputation.

Came in today since we were all off and the place was fairly busy for a Monday, considering it is a holiday.
Waited about 10 – 15 minutes before getting seated because they were still in the process of cleaning tables. No worries. So we were seated and not acknowledged again for another 15 – 20 minutes. So I am getting irritated now. But I take into account that there were only 3 waiters doing everything in the whole place.
I finally am able to flag someone down to take our order only to be told Combo Meals are not available because it is a holiday??? What the f$&k are they smoking? How can you limit your menu just because it is a holiday. No choice, So we ordered a la carte and the waiter walks away before I could even order our drinks.
Very poor management presence and poor service. Very disorganized.
I always give this place the benefit of a doubt but supporting this business is always ending up as a BIG mistake!!! FML!

This resto seems hopeless. I’ve been coming here thru my friends /​relatives’ invites and nothing has changed. In fact my experience last night was even worse than the last time I came here. FOOD and SERVICE are the major disasters in this place. Frustrating indeed to Filipino taste and hospitality.
The meat in the beef sinigang was way too tough. Obviously, it was pre-​cooked then frozen meat that was added in simmering broth. Unfortunately, the technique and timing of the reheating /​simmering were a mishap. The chopsuey was almost bland with overcooked vegetables. Pancit bihon was already a turn-​off by its appearance alone. It was like blanched rice noodles drizzled with soy sauce – the taste, very flat. Pancit canton was a blahhh and was lacking in so many ways. The lechon kawali was not that crispy and maybe was prepared /​fried hours before we came. Nothing special to it including the atchara and the sauce which was obviously just a Mang Tomas. The halo-​halo for $ 6 was boring. In fact, jollibee and chowking’s versions a few feet away are way better.
The service –the WORST. Servers were hostile and not engaging .Not even once that server came back to refill water until we asked.
For the mediocre quality of food and service; the place is pricy.

I’m giving this location of Max Manila a 2 star due to their service. We probably come here 2 – 3 times a year. We’ve dined-​in here before and service is slow. We usually order the Crispy Pata and their Chicken meal. I must say, they are good. One time, it took 5min before someone came to our table after being seated and the weren’t busy so we walked out.
Today, we decided to order 2 Chicken meals to-​go. We ordered the Max’s Platter ($ 8.99) and Max’s Basic ($ 5.99). The order took 25min.
We come back hoping the service have improved. Up to this day, it has not changed. I guess it’s the chicken.
As long as you have patience and don’t mind waiting, you can try their food. For me, it might be while before I come back.

My experienced at this Max’s of Manila location in Vallejo have always been good. My recent visit here, I took advantaged of their «Breakfast Buffett» that is served until 11:30 AM Saturday & Sunday. My screaming «guyal-​friends» opted out for the more, elaborate dishes on the menu. Maybe because I was paying. «fml» :p
Here were the selections at their breakfast buffet:
–for under $ 9, it includes everything including their cantaloupe drink, coffee or tea.
–Adobo (chicken and pork)
–Deep fried Milk Fish (head or body)
–Viena Sausages
–Eggs
–Rice soup
–Steamed rice
–Fried rice
–Lonsilog
–Bonsilog
–Tocilog
–Fresh fruit
–Includes coffee, hot tea, and fruit drink of the day (usually cantaloupe or punch drink)
Service for me every time I came here, have always been great. I have dined in during breakfast, lunch and dinner, and overall, good. Dishes however, can be a hit or miss, but for this area, it’s not bad. If anything, there are other plenty of options inside the Seafood City Mall.
Until then, Cheers! ~ :p

So don’t go here if you’re not Filipino, not with a Filipino, or do not know what a Filipino is. I’m Filipino and I come here for their fried chicken and garlic fried rice, which I grew up with and can’t replicate at home.
I do not come here for the slow service, the crime ridden area, the crazy parking situation. Just the chicken, folks.

After an all night fishing at the pier, we decided to get our grub on. For $ 8.68, you get an all you can eat breakfast. My friend highly recommend we hit this joint and it really sounded great at the time when we were freezing our asses on the pier.
Before hitting the buffet, you must prepay. Funny thing was the cashier assumed we were paying a single bill for a party of three. If you plan on paying separate, give them the heads up to avoid problems.
Once I hit the buffet table I grabbed myself some garlic rice, longaniza, tocino, chicken adobo, and sunny side eggs with a glass of orange juice. I did notice other dishes like mongo guisado, tuyo, and bungus. Also, they serve coffee as well.
I must mention that I was really tired and my body was in shock being out all night in very cold temperatures. I was literally defrosting. With that said, I had little to no appetite. However, my fishing team killed it by going back four times where as I only had one plate. Regardless, the food was great. It felt like going to aunt’s house for breakfast with the best hospitality. If you really want a Filipino breakfast experience, hit this place up.