Category: Restaurants

Shakey’s – Good Food, Bad Service?

Posted by Rochelle Sy Chua On April 7, 2010

Shakey’s
89 Neptune St., Makati Ave., Makati City, Metro Manila
(02) 890-0903
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Newport City, Unit R11, Newport office Bldg., 1 Andrews Ave., Pasay City
(02) 836-3680

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In a span of 1 week, we visited Shakey’s twice. Mainly because the food is just too good but unfortunately both visits were really a horrible service experience. On our 1st visit, which was at the Makati avenue branch, the ff. mishaps happened:

we were given the wrong variant of pizza
we were given the wrong chicken parts TWICE
didn’t refill promptly our bottomless drinks

On our 2nd visit, which was at the Newport branch, it was even worse. When we entered the place, we asked for a booth, but unfortunately it was still not cleaned and full of dirty dishes. We waited for the table to get cleared for 10 minutes, and I had to ask them three times before they actually started clearing the table itself.

During that time, we weren’t asked for any of our orders or even what we wanted to drink, nor did anyone even bother to look our way. When they finally saw that we were waiting for so long, they finally cleared the table, but not before some new customers came, and they offered the table to them knowing that we’ve been waiting for more than 10 minutes already. I called them out on that, telling them that it was our table they were offering to the other customers. To make things worse, when we got to the table, they didn’t even bother to clean it! They just cleared the plates & stuff. So, the booths were still dirty, the table was still dirty, and a used newspaper was still left on the seat.

When we sat, again nobody bothered to get our orders. We had to call out the server again to take our order.

Another thing, was that I asked for the wifi password but they gave us the wrong password TWICE! Then when I tried to ask another server, she just said she didn’t know what it was and then left. I had to call her out and ask her to ask from her colleagues. Geez! What is Shakey’s doing? No training for their staff?!?!?!

The customer that entered the restaurant 15 minutes after us were seated promptly, their orders taken before ours & order was provided earlier too!

They also delivered the food first without drinks. And when they delivered the drinks, there were about 2 pieces of ice!!! I had to request for more ice. It was just obnoxious! It’s supposed to be iced tea! We were trying to be cool but deep inside, I was already composing this blog article in my mind.

Okay, enough of the rant. Yes, the service was really bad but the food was too good. How ironic is that? With that kind of service, we should already boycott the establishment. The food is just too good that we can’t give it up.. So I’m almost positive, I’ll still go back to eat Shakey’s delicious food. But boy, I’ll be expecting another round of bad service so I have to psyche myself up so it doesnt affect my mood when I dine in at Shakey’s.

On our 1st visit we ordered the ff.:

Basket of Mojos (Php 202)

Shakey’s is nothing without Mojos. Mojos are fried potatoes cooked Shakey’s style. It’s just the best potato snack ever! Can’t get enough of it!

Large Thin-Crust Pizza (Php 298)

Brick-oven backed pizza… we ordered the large one and glad that we can choose 2 flavors in 1 order. We chose the pepperoni crunch & ultimate cheese n garlic (if you noticed, they forgot to put the crunch in the pepperoni crunch).

Buddy Pack Chick ‘n’ Chips (Php 359)

Flavorful chicken by Shakey’s served with a couple of Mojos. Too bad, we can’t choose just the thigh part of the chicken. Seems like they’re following KFC’s lead that we can’t order all thigh parts.

Lemonade (Php 471)/ House Blend Iced Tea (Php 76)

We can order the drinks by glass (lemonade- Php 47, iced tea- Php 60), bottomless or pitcher (lemonade- Php 126, iced tea- Php 136). We opted for the bottomless one.

On our 2nd visit we ordered the Family Meal Deal 1 (Php 549). The meal is good for 3-4 persons but we ordered it anyway even though it was just the 2 of us. Guess what? We were still able to finish everything. That is how much we love Shakey’s food. I really really hope they work on their customer service though, because the dining experience is as important as the food.

The meal includes the ff.:

Solo Pack Chick ‘n’ Chips

Large Thin Crust Manager’s Choice

11-inches pizza that is good for 3-4 persons. Shakey’s thin-crusted pizza is really the best out there. I’m not fond of pizza but I’m willing to eat Shakey’s pizza anytime.

1 Pitcher of House-Blend Iced Tea

See the volume of ice in the cups? We had to request for more ice. Their house-blended iced tea was good.

Shakey’s food & marketing are already perfect. I hope they do something about their service. I’m still craving for Shakey’s food, must resist!

Official Website of Rochelle Sy Chua on media, events, travel, food and restaurant experiences in Taipei, Taiwan, Manila, Philippines and Asia.

Cantonese Soup Kitchen

Posted by Rochelle Sy Chua On March 30, 2010

Cantonese Soup Kitchen
Unit-C 847 Banawe corner Linao Street, Quezon City
(02) 743-5249

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I remembered how satisfied I was with the food when I first visited Cantonese Soup Kitchen last year. At the back of my mind, I knew that I would go back eventually. When I got the invite to participate in a bloggers event for Cantonese Soup Kitchen, I couldn’t say no. I was even walking like a handicap coz my right foot was still recently fractured. Can’t say no to delicious food, that’s just me :D:D

We ordered almost everything on the menu that I ended up so full. I just tried each dish but wasn’t able to eat a lot. Just seeing all the food on the table can already satisfy not just your eyes but also your stomach.

Here is what we sampled (it was too many!):

Sibot with Duck Soup (Php 195)

My mom has been cooking this soup when I was a kid. Though most kids dislike this dish, I, on the other hand, love it!! As in love it! 😀 So when I saw this in the menu of Cantonese Soup Kitchen, I had to order. This very healthy soup is good for energy & strengthening the immune system. Delicious!! I want more soup!

Chicken with Wintermelon & Ham Soup (Php 165)

Beautifully served soup in a coconut shell. There was no buko inside though 😛

Special Cantonese Soup Kitchen Soup (Php 220)

Fried Spring Rolls

Hot Shrimp Salad (Php 250)

Not to confuse you but hot shrimp salad serves as appetizer. Yummy yummy!

Sliced Beef Kenchi (Php 240)

The Beef Kenchi was just soo tasty! I wish I could have eaten more but there were about 10 of us sharing the dish so I just took 1. 😛

Yang Chow Fried Rice (Php 170)

Seafood Fried Rice (Php 190)

I liked this better than the Yang Chow 🙂

Spinach with 2 Kinds of Egg in Hotpot (Php 200)

Steamed Fish Fillet with Japanese Tofu (Php 230)

Another favorite dish in Cantonese Soup Kitchen. Perfectly seasoned fish with Japanese tofu. A must-order when you visit the restaurant.

Garlic Burst Spareribs (Php 190)

This has always been my favorite dish to order whenever I visit chinese restaurants. Perfect when dipped in vinegar.

Satay Seafood Sotanghon in Hotpot (Php 250)

I overheard Ro commenting that this is like the crab with sotanghon but instead of crabs, they served it with assorted seafood. This actually tasted good especially when newly served.

Beef Broccoli w/ Oyster Sauce (Php 240)

Almond Fish Gelatin (Php 80)

This beautifully designed dish is actually gelatin. It wasn’t that tasty. You would actually feel bad getting a portion of it coz of the poor fish :P:P

Black & White Gulaman (Php 60)

Mango Sago (Php 55)

Love how they presented this dish. Too bad I wasn’t able to taste it as I had to rush off for an office late night call 🙁

Buchi

Pear w/ Apple Shake (Php 65) & Yoghurt w/ Mango Shake (Php 85)

Milk Aroma Oolong (Php 59)

This is like the usual milk tea but this time it’s served hot. You could taste that it’s natural coz they used fresh tea leaves.

Floral Bloom Tea (Php 59)

This is like the star of the night. We were all in awe as we watched the seed bloom as water was poured. Amazing! We were staring at the glass for good 5 minutes just to see how it transformed. I took a video. Enjoy the scene!

If you happen to drop by Quezon City, I would suggest you go give Cantonese Soup Kitchen a try. Their food is delicious, very nicely plated & healthy too! I posted the rest of the pictures in my Flickr account, please do check it out.

Official Website of Rochelle Sy Chua on media, events, travel, food and restaurant experiences in Taipei, Taiwan, Manila, Philippines and Asia.

Uno Pizzeria Restaubar

Posted by Rochelle Sy Chua On March 26, 2010

Uno Pizzeria Restaubar
Bay Strip, SM Mall of Asia, SM Central Business Park, Bay Center, Pasay City, Metro Manila
(02) 401-6879

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Last weekend, we were invited to sample the dishes in Uno Pizzeria Restaubar. When I entered Uno Pizzeria, I immediately concluded that it was more of a bar than a restaurant. I almost wanted to change venues as I’m not the drinking type & it was still early (7pm).

Good thing, my friend Tisha was there & together w/ the manager, they graciously accomodated us. Tisha then shared with me the history of Uno Pizzeria Restaubar. While Uno Pizzeria is already a successful bar, they wanted to market the place as a good dining place too.

Uno Pizzeria dishes are made with all natural, organic & local ingredients which is good as more and more people are becoming health-conscious. So you won’t feel guilty when you eat their food, healthy & delicious.

While we waited for our order, we were served garlic bread. I also started to observe the place. It has the playing card theme with red, white & black as primary colors of the restaubar. They have an in-house DJ playing pop music with monitors showing the music video of the song being played. They were playing Madonna songs while we were there hehehe (80s music!).

onion bread uno pizzeria

We had the ff. dishes:

Four Season all in one Pizza (Php 494)

What’s the point of going to a pizzeria if you’re not going to try their pizza? We tried their signature pizza, four seasons. It is an all-in-one pizza with 4 flavors namely Ruby Ribs, Baja’s Finest, Seafood Pizza & Tandori Chicken & Mango. I like the Tandori chicken the best 🙂

Ruby Ribs (Php 398)

I super loved this dish. I finished the ribs even though there was way too much food to eat. It is rare that I get to bite into ribs that are tender, I appreciate this much! Ruby Ribs as Uno Pizzeria calls it is baby back ribs slowly roasted & served with honey bourbon sauce. You must order this when you visit Uno Pizzeria.

Buffalo Wings (Php 212)

I’m not fond of buffalo wings but admittedly, I liked Uno Pizzeria’s version. According to Nick, this is like the filipino version of buffalo wings coz it’s sweet. Very tasty dish, I liked it!

Uno’s Shrimp Scampi (Php 292)

I love shrimps! Any dishes with shrimps, it’ll definitely get my attention. This dish is pasta with shrimps cooked with wine. It was yummy but I wish it wasn’t that dry though but still a decent dish.

Halo Halo Special (Php 100)

We stayed inside the restaurant but Uno Pizzeria also has area outside. There are bands playing everyday from 8pm to 2:30am. During weekends, they extend to 4am sometimes. Aside from being able to listen to live music, customers can also enjoy the natural breeze & view of the manila bay.

live band uno pizzeria

I took several pictures of Uno Pizzeria Restaubar & it can be found on my flickr account. Check it out 🙂

Official Website of Rochelle Sy Chua on media, events, travel, food and restaurant experiences in Taipei, Taiwan, Manila, Philippines and Asia.

Sumo Sam

Posted by Rochelle Sy Chua On February 24, 2010

Sumo Sam
2/F Rockwell Drive cor. Estrella St., Makati City, Metro Manila
(02) 729-6292

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It was my 1st time to try out Sumo Sam. I thought I was about to try something new but was surprised when I actually saw the menu. I asked the server “Do you have the same menu as John & Yoko?”. She answered, “Yes”. I wonder why the owners did this, having the same menu with just a different name & different restaurant interiors. They can just make this another John & Yoko branch right? Weird.

Their signature short dresses for the girls are still there. I feel bad coz it seems like they have to make their female servers wear that kind of dress which I think is soo wrong. Sumo Sam is a restaurant not a girly bar.

Anyway, this time we ordered a lot of dishes hahaha! Actually more than what we can take into our stomach 😛 We could have just ordered 1 fried rice but the other dishes were all okay. So pretty satisfied still. The food was just alright, not spectacular but still okay.

Here are what we ordered:

Crunchy Squid Teriyaki (Php 158)

If you go to traditional Japanese restaurants, you’d see that they serve crunchy dilis. Sumo Sam’s Crunchy Squid Teriyaki actually tasted the same. The main ingredient though is squid. Very unique, we all loved the dish!

Japanese Fried Rice (Php 178)

Just the typical Japanese fried rice. I wouldn’t recommend you to order this one. Their other fried rice are better (my recommendation? See my review on John & Yoko Wagyu rice).

Meat Fried Rice (Php 178)

This meat fried rice, I really love. It was very tasty & I think it was just enough for us 5 friends. The waitress told us that their fried rice is good for 2-3. So we also ordered the Japanese fried rice. But honestly, I think this is good for 4 people.

Chicken Teriyaki (Php 228)

This was also another good dish from Sumo Sam. I loved how they presented it. Loved how the sauce was perfect for the chicken. Loved how the chicken was cooked. If you’re a fan of Chicken Teriyaki then you should order this when you go to either Sumo Sam or John & Yoko.

Lychee & Rose (Php 148)

Don’t be fooled. This is just lychee shake with cream & red syrup. There’s no rose perse.

Gyoza Soup (Php 128)

My least favorite. Didn’t even eat the gyoza. Just tasted the soup that’s it. I felt this is just way overpriced.

Tofu Miso Soup (Php 98)

Mt. Fuji Steak (Php 368)

Sumo Sam’s Mt. Fuji Steak was a disappointment. I was actually raving about it to my friends coz I was able to try the same dish over at John & Yoko. This one that we tried last sunday? Meat was not tender, it wasn’t delicious at all.

Ika Fry (Php 208)

Great presentation! The squid ring was just okay but I think I was the one who finished this dish. The dish was placed in front of me. Can’t help but just eat that one hahaha!

California Maki Salad (Php 208)

Japanese style salad indeed. Pretty decent.

Assorted Sushi (Php 388)

Ebi Teppan (Php 368)

We got 1 piece each. It was just your normal teppan shrimps w/ Japanese sauce.

It is nice that we have so many different restaurants to choose from when we plan to eat out. I do feel though that the food is getting more expensive. I feel that Sumo Sam’s prices are a bit on the high side. Bringing down their prices like Php50 per dish is more reasonable considering the quality of their dishes.

More pictures from our lunch here.

Official Website of Rochelle Sy Chua on media, events, travel, food and restaurant experiences in Taipei, Taiwan, Manila, Philippines and Asia.

The Aristocrat

Posted by Rochelle Sy Chua On February 16, 2010

The Aristocrat
432 San Andres Street, Malate, Manila
(02) 524-7671

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Last Sunday morning, I had a girls only breakfast with my old college friends. I haven’t seen them for such a long time and it was great to have breakfast!! So nice to spend 1st part of your day with your closest friends. Anyway, since we all live all over the place, we decided to just meet halfway and this is in Manila. Aristocrat being very popular among Filipino-Chinese was our chosen venue.

I arrived at 8AM and oh boy, the place was packed! Good thing there was still 1 table available for us! So I sat and ordered soup while I waited for my other friends to arrive. After 30 minutes, we were complete and by that time, everyone was starved. Now, I had to control myself from ordering too much as I have this tendency to do so when I’m really hungry.

Here are what we ordered:

Melon Shake (Php 74)

I was about to order buko juice but then, the server mentioned that their melon juice was better. So I took his advice. I felt though that too much water was put in it and I really thought that it didn’t feel fresh though it was freshly made.

Sotanghon Soup (Php 53)

This is just my favorite soup of all time. I don’t know how they made this but I’ve always loved the taste of sotanghon soup. I know it has sotanghon, meat, onions but there’s just something that made me not forget to order this dish whenever I visit Aristocrat. IMHO, this is the best soup the restaurant offers.

Cream of Mushroom Soup (Php 58)

My friend said the soup was a bit salty.

Native Chocolate (Php 51)

If you’re fond of chocolate, then this is for you. I wondered why I ordered this considering I’m not a chocolate person. I ended up just taking a sip and just left it at the table. Though don’t get me wrong, it was good. I’m just not a chocolate person. I bet all chocolate lovers would appreciate this drink..

Brewed Coffee (Php 51)

Pork Spareribs Barbeque (Php 172)

Boneless Chicken Barbeque (Php 149)

Since the meal was for breakfast, I opted to order their breakfast meal. But if ever I’m there for lunch or dinner, this is surely something I will order. It was nice that you don’t need to exert some effort taking the meat out of the bones as this has already been prepared beautifully by Aristocrat.

Cheese Omelette (Php 120)

One of my friends is a vegetarian so this was the dish that she decided to order. Cheese omelette, I wonder how this taste like.

Combination of Longaniza & Adobo Filipino Breakfast (Php 239)

This was my order. Honestly, their presentation sucked! Geez just look at this dish! It looked weird. It wasn’t even sumptuous at all! I ordered the combination meal which included pork & chicken adobo, longaniza, 2 pieces eggs, garlic rice & 1 drink (either coffee, chocolate, tea, iced tea). The food was just normal. I appreciate the home-cooked one better though.

Sinigang na Baboy (Php 281)

Customer Service is of utmost importance for any company. One thing that was very much noticeable in Aristocrat was their lack of servers. It was really hard to find any waiters available for orders/requests. Plus, the servers looked sooo stressed that we rarely even get any smile from them. Our water didn’t get refilled. Something that really disappointed me. It was too bad that the food was good. Owners of Aristocrat have to learn to hire more servers. Because look at what happened? Their customer service was failing due to their employees being burned out or stressed.

Still, I would personally go back to Aristocrat along Roxas Boulevard when I have craving for filipino food. I really just hope the restaurant would improve their customer service. Still one of the best filipino restaurants in Manila.

More pictures from the breakfast here.

Official Website of Rochelle Sy Chua on media, events, travel, food and restaurant experiences in Taipei, Taiwan, Manila, Philippines and Asia.