We waited for the hype to go down a bit before attempting to go to this location. Both my husband and I grew up eating Jollibee from back home and so, we wanted to share this experience with our kids.
Surprisingly, there was no lineup outside the restaurant, on a Tuesday late afternoon. Just the regular queue once you're inside the doors. As previous reviewers already mentioned, staff were on hand , from the door to the queue to keep things moving and organized. To the point of overzealousness.
The woman who handed us the menu, immediately wanted us to give her our orders. I politely told her to give us a minute as we barely got there, haven't even read the menu yet and that I was still fishing for my reading glasses as my husband forgot his. Soon as I put on my glasses, she repeated the request once more to get our orders. I didn't appreciate being rushed so we just focused on poring over the menu and hope she gets the point that we're taking our time. But no. She kept pointing out on the deals package, somewhat pressuring us to make our minds that instant. My husband mumbled something about maybe getting 6 peach mango pies but I said the package already included 4. And so forth, menu discussion ensued while the woman kept the pressure. Till we gave our final orders. Once we approached the counter, I was surprised that our order amounted to 10 peach mango pies, along with the 2 chicken joy buckets plus Palabok noodles and had to pay separate for them. Perplexed, I tried to explain the confusion but woman at the counter already rang them up in the register and everything was so rushed, my husband and I didn't even realized what hit us. It was like dealing with robots.
Still dazed, we headed over to side to wait for our orders with our 2 buzzers and looked around. The place is quite jam packed, with nowhere to sit and you have to talk louder to be able to be heard above the din. Literally, quite a bee buzz there and my kids found the noise level very unusual for a fast food place. Soon as we picked up our orders, we hurried out to the doors to escape the palpable din.
For the food, it was disappointing for the following reasons:
- Chicken was bland. Not at all the Chickenjoy we grew up with as far as flavor is concerned. Our kids thought Mary Brown's chicken and also Church fared better. Never mind Popeye's. Reheated the next day, it remained as bland as before.
- The gravy that came with it was soupy and quite as bland as well. It did nothing to enhance the flavor of the chicken when poured over it.
- They were stingy with the Palabok's sauce. Taste was so-so. As one reviewer mentioned, you'll get more bang for your buck if you get your palabok elsewhere in the adjacent Seafood City Supermarket. And probably taste better.
- The peach mango pie is good, though its hard to determine how much mango was there as it tasted just the same as the peach. Crust is delicious. A bit of crunch and not too flaky. But price is quite steep if you compare it to McDonald's. Size is also just about the same but came in a bigger package so you would think it's larger.
- As we opted for mashed potato in lieu of rice, portion-wise, its smallish.
- Overall, given the diminished quality, food is overpriced, taste and flavor, undelivered, with poor portions. Note that they offer only 6 pieces of chicken a big bucket. Practically, just filling half of it.
As any typical Filipino food places abroad, they often only bank on nostalgia but skimp on quality and quantity. Sad and disappointing given that Filipino food have so much to offer as far as taste, flavor and variety is concerned. So next time we find ourselves in Seafood City, we'll be sure to take a pass on sentimentality. read more