I attended a party on 5/28/22 that was supposed to feature a whole roasted pig (Filipinos call it Lechon). Big college graduation party. Leo's(see other yelp negative review) party. We aren't related, I was just a guest. The Lechon was disgusting and it looked terrible. It was not cooked correctly. I helped the host unload the Lechon. The pig looked terrible and it tasted even worse. It was dry, bland, and the skin was not crispy at all. The parts that were crispy were burnt. Worst part: Restaurant knew something was wrong with the food, but did not reach out to the customer until Leo was actually there to pick up his order. THEN they stated a "take it or leave it" mentality. This $420 (without tax) whole pig was the centerpiece of the entire event. Pick up was literally 1hr before the college grad party started. Lechon takes a day to cook. We had no choice but to accept this horrible final product. We were also denied a discount when asking for one. I highly do not recommend ordering lechon from this place. Fyi, you are not going to stay in business long term if you have this type of business mentality. You can't cheat your customers when you screw up. read more

We don't usually frequent Filipino restaurants since we find that it's not worth spending money on food you can make at home or eat for free at family parties...but yesterday, we had a craving for some and since we couldn't decide on what to cook, we trekked up to Milpitas to try out Kalesa. The food was pretty decent! The waiter was very attentive and helpful as to how much food we should order. For the price of each dish, we weren't quite sure how much of a serving it would be, so it was nice that he recommended how much might be too little or too much. We ordered kare-kare, pork adobo, lumpia shanghai and pancit. All the dishes were good, but I wasn't lovin' the pancit too much. It looked a little too pale to me and wasn't meaty enough for my liking! Overall, however, we liked the place and will most likely return should we have another craving for some Filipino food! Next time though, I think we'll try their "signature dish"...sizzling spicy sisig! read more

One of the best Filipino restaurant in the Bay Area. Good food. Lots of choices. Authentic recipe. Good ambience.

Food is yummy servers are nice & management is great best Pinoy place to eat at Milpitas. Good for parties or to go foods

Hella good food. No wonder why I have GOUT and high blood pressure. Seriously, can't miss here!

Kalesa is one of our family's favorite restaurants and pre-Covid, we would celebrate birthdays and anniversaries here. I'm happy that they have remained operating even during this pandemic when so many other businesses have had to close. What saddens me is that the quality, unfortunately, has not stayed the same. We ordered Crispy Pata, Mechado and Bangus. The Crispy Pata was not as tender as I remember, like it needed to be boiled a bit longer. The same can be said about the Mechado since the beef was tough. The potatoes are no longer fried and are now sliced in bigger chunks. The Bangus was delicious but the vinegar was the star of the meal, for sure!! I understand that with minimal crew and the pandemic not allowing people to go out and buy food, business is slow, perhaps affecting the quality of their food. Hopefully, this pandemic ease up soon, allowing people to be out and enjoy indoor dining again, and the same attention to detail for their food returns. read more

One of the few sit down places that serves Filipino food versus "turo turo style" or Panda Express style where food is displayed and you pick your items. I have been here on several occasions for a few years now and all have been family parties or gatherings. We always call to make a reservation since we have a large party. We personally come from Tracy (1 hour away) so we want to ensure we get seated. Food is always served hot, delicious, and family style. Some of our favorites are pancit, fish sisig, crispy pata, pinakbet (veggies), Kare Kare, Sinigang and most recently crispy fried chicken. Everything is catered to the Filipino palate and very authentic home style cooking. The desserts are always my favorite. We usually get the halo halo or buko pandan. They also have young coconut juice served in an actual coconut! We have yet to come here just for a regular meal since we always come during parties. If you haven't tried this place it's worth a try. The parking is not amazing since it is in a large plaza with other restaurants and stores next to each other. The bathrooms are much cleaner than other places and I appreciate they keep it clean and fully stocked. read more

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Quality have not been consistent although they increased their pricing way above what's expected (even if you factored in inflation). 2 stars out of 5 due to the old Filipino lady who wears eyeglasses -- she has no customer service skills. read more

Whoa!! Very impressed with the food and service at Kalesa Milpitas... napaka-masarap!! Called in guinataang langka (young jackfruit, shrimp &pork in coconut milk...heaven), chicken inasal (grilled lemongrass), pork sisig (grilled pork, onions & jalapeños...so satisfying), lumpiang Shanghai (crispy egg rolls...for $11 was very small order, didn't get very many, good tho), and pinakbet (pumpkin, green beans, shrimp & pork in shrimp paste)...topped it off with ube halo halo and mango halo halo...$86 later...worth every penny!!! Will definitely become a regular here...come one, come all, u gotta taste this for yourself... read more

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Decent. It's the only Filipino spot we usually go to for special occasions because my family enjoys it. Sometimes you'll see a group of workers hanging out in the front behind the little desk or in the back, so you'll have to go to those areas to call them if you need more water or napkins. I had to do that one too many times, so just a tip if you wonder where they all went. read more

I've been here multiple times in the past but never wrote a review. I came here last week for take out and they are clean and food is great as usual. Pretty much most of the items are still available for take out and they limit one customer per entry, face mask required, and sanitizer available. Got the crispy pata, pork sisig, bangus sisig, and chicken adobo which of course were mad wonderfully. Also came here back in January, pre-COVID and reserved the restaurant for a party. They were very accommodating and had buffet-style food. They also let you customize your table cloth, decor, food choices, etc. Of course this isn't going to happen again anytime soon but when they're able to reopen this, this is the venue to be at! read more

M y oh my! this place is beautiful A place where it's big portions for families/friends S isig was exceptional, but the crispy diniguan was perf A lso the chicharong bulaklak and bulalo was very good R ed horse beer tasted nicely with the food A ll of the items on the menu weren't overpriced P eople here provided great customer service! read more

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This will be short and sweet! I was in Milpitas for a Dentist appointment and I had to grab something quick before heading back to Pleasanton (yes, I hate how I have to travel for my Filipino Fix and now my Dentist too). Luckily, Milpitas is like a mecca for Asian/Filipino good eats! In my book that makes it a destination. It was still early and I needed breakfast so I ordered the Tocino to go. $9 was a little more than I would've liked for breakfast but it was worth it. I was not disappointed when I got home. There was plenty of Tocino which came with rice and pickled stuff and 2 fried eggs. The staples. The difference in this Tocino though was that it wasn't super pink from food coloring and fatty like some places. I don't like super pink, fatty meat. UGH. WIth that said, Kalesa passes in the breakfast category. Next time, main dishes. I can't wait for my next Dentist Appointment. I really can't though its in 6 months...Oh what? Did someone say they have a buffet? read more

Kalesa - My Sunday buffet plate. - Filipino Near Me - Milpitas, California

Food's okay. It's more quantity than quality of taste. Never really had sisig that's not really dish but instead is inihaw chipped into sisig sized pieces. Also never had kaldereta with pickles and olives (kinda weird IMO). Next time I'll just return to my filipino restaurant of choice where the prices are better and the food tastes better. read more

Kalesa - Front - Filipino Near Me - Milpitas, California

We ordered catering for school. Foods are great n plenty in a tray. Staffs are polite and made sure our ordered on time. We will come back for next events read more

The service here is amazing, call me "ina" lady is very nice, polite and willing to teach you Tagalog. Love her service and she is very welcoming. Kalesa is great to have her because she would bring back customer due to her kindness and friendliness. We order four plate with few bowl of white rice and one garlic rice. All the dishes is great, except the jack fruit plate. The jack fruit plate doesn't taste fresh, but thanks to ina I believe she took it off the bill? But wasn't sure because we didn't check. Would come back due to her service or come back just to visit her. Because she is a great server and a great person in general. read more

Kalesa - Filipino Near Me - Milpitas, California

Staff were very friendly and accommodating .They served fast and food were so yummy . Feels like home country .

I would love to give them a great review, I really do as I like to support local businesses during these trying times...but jeez, whenever we order kare-kare for take out...meat's been tough as heck! As in rubber tough!!! SMH... I'll be ashamed to serve this to guests. This has not happened once, but several times...so don't think we didn't give them a chance. There used to be a time when we ordered it and it was so good...meat was just the right consistency with lots of veggies. Lately, meat has been consistently so tough that I had to re-cook/boil the meat so we could consume it without breaking a tooth. Isn't the reason why we buy take out food at a restaurant is save time and so that we won't have to cook at home? Hello Kalesa...there's a kitchen appliance called a pressure cooker just in case, you need a hint. My goodness, I don't mind the food being pricey as heck, but please bring quality back. Their kare-kare used to include tripe as well as lots of veggies... now there's no tripe at all and barely any veggies...just mere tough neck bone meats, a few slices of eggplant, and some long beans/green beans. I always recommend them to family and friends but I guess I won't be doing it anymore as quality has declined a lot. I give them 2 stars for the nice lady who answers the phone and takes our orders plus their lechon kawali is surprisingly still good though the quantity they give has decreased a bit. Rant over... read more

This place is everything a restaurant should be. Huge portions, great flavors, and a really fun, relaxed atmosphere. There is typically a short wait here, but it's for good reason. I came here with a friend on a Saturday night, and we ordered the sisig for roughly $13. The sisig was piled high in a gigantic mound topped with jalapenos and onions on a sizzling plate. And wow, this is really good sisig. It is a little drier than other sisig's I've had, but the meat has a pretty intense char and is packed with flavor. The raw veggies cook with the steam of the sisig and on the plate as well, and complement the meal perfectly. And the caramelized onions at the bottom of the plate are to die for. It's a lot of food, and could serve as a meal by itself for 2 people, but could be shared by probably up to 6. We also ordered the Halo Halo for $5.50, which is a must-order here. It looks good and tastes even better. The ratio of all the toppings is perfect; there wasn't a single bite of ice without flavor, but it's not overly sweet. The flan is particularly rich and incredible, but they have all of the good stuff in here that you'd want, including my favorites: lychee jelly and those clear bean-looking things. But best of all is the atmosphere. It's obviously a favorite of Filipino families celebrating birthdays, and they blared the birthday music over the speakers on 3 separate occasions during my one meal there. Everybody's having fun here and it feels like you're at a Filipino party. And you know they know how to party. This place is literally as good as it gets. Obviously it's not a good business or romantic date spot, but if you want to go out and enjoy yourself with a huge amount of delicious food, this is the place to go! read more

Kalesa - Halo halo - Filipino Near Me - Milpitas, California

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This restaurant has been our all time favorite Filipino restaurant. We come here on a regular and even order party trays here when we have get togethers. Flavors and quality of their food are consistent. read more

It's very pricey but what Filipino foods aren't. I am glad I know how to cook all of these dishes with true Tagalog authenticity because of my beloved Lola Pacita! read more

Me and my family came here upon finding out they had an AYCE breakfast on Sunday mornings! We were seated right away. From the reviews, we were expecting A LOT of food but there wasn't that many options. During our visit, they had the chocolate rice, arroz caldo, longanisa, tocino, lumpia, ukoy, egg, pancit, and kare-kare. While that may sound like a lot, it was just food that wasn't anything special that you can't get somewhere else. The kare-kare was very hard and the quality of the food was not that great. The halo-halo barn was okay too. I wouldn't come back here again, since there's a lot of other options with better tasting food for nearly the same price, if not less. read more

Was craving Filipino food and this place did NOT disappoint. Great service, friendly staff and amazing food. Kare-Kare was delicious.

Authentic Filipino dishes ie; Lechon kawale with atsara, pork belly sinigang sa tamarind, end it a special halo halo. Superbly cooked and delicious read more

It is good... this is actually one of moms favorite filipino restaurant. The food is pretty good and it is fresh. I love the kare kare. Parking is very convenient and plenty. The waiters here are great. They make you feel at home. I can actually tell that most of the people that come here are regulars because the waiters greet the guests by name. They kindda all know each other. So that just tells me that they keep coming back here. This place gets a little busy on the weekends so you might wanna come an early bird to catch the worm without the waiting. They have a great menu and lots to choose from. Hey try the fish ! Soooo good daing! read more

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Came here after some non-Filipino friends wanted to try some Filipino food. They already had Barrio Fiesta so I thought I'd take them here to try something different. Meeeh. Wish I didn't. I normally come here when my Chinese friend wants palabok. Barrio doesn't serve palabok so lucky her, by default, we come here. Our dishes for the night: Shanghai Lumpia: Hot out of the fryer. You can't mess these up. Ever. If you do, we have problems and theirs was good. Sinigang: First off, why are the vegetable portions cut so big? Either the portions are cut big or they need to get bigger soup bowls. My soup bowl fit one small piece of pork and ONE slice of Japanese eggplant, which I had to cut into four. That's all that could fit! Cut the portions smaller! The consistency was great but.. it was mad salty! I always eat rice with my sinigang, but man, it was SUPER SALTY! I couldn't go back for seconds, what more, ruin the rest of the other dishes by putting the sabaw on my rice. Boo. Broasted Chicken: This used to be my favorite dish but.. although the chicken was fried perfectly, the chicken lacked flavor. Maybe they forgot to season the chicken before frying? I've had better chicken at KFC. The only thing that helped was the sweet-n-sour sauce they served for dipping. Beef Bistec: Your normal beef steak fried up with fresh onions. But why so SWEET?!?!?! I don't get it? I didn't like this at all. Palabok: This too was lacking flavor? Everyone 'tried' the dish but no one went back for seconds. Enough said. Crispy Pata: The one dish that everyone loved! Perfectly crispy but a bit fatty under the skin, more fatty then I remembered from last time. Halo halo: We ordered one big one with ube ice cream for the five of us to share. We asked them to put another scoop of avocado ice cream since we were sharing. She not only forgot, but then came back with a scoop of langka. Go figure. Two stars for the food. One star added 'cuz the Crispy Pata saved you, the Halo Halo was good irregardless of the wrong ice cream flavor, and we walked out with two sticks of the karioka (the fried mocha balls glazed in sugar) the made us forget the the other dishes weren't that great. read more

As a Filipino who grew up and lived in Manila for 25 years, this is the best pinoy restaurant I've been to in California. You're transported back to the Philippines once you enter. Food is served in generous portions too. If someone has a birthday, they'll do it pinoy style and blast HBD music on the speakers lol. Overall a good time. Consider me a regular! read more

First timer. Had brunch on a Friday morning. We ordered Bangsilog and Sisigsilog, calamansi juice (tasted more lemony) Sago Gulaman. Overall, the food was really good! The bangus was meaty and crispy, the Sisig was delicious!!! Although I didn't enjoy the calamansi juice, the gulaman made up for it gulaman was yummmm!!! This is now hands down one of my favorite spots for Filipino food. They are a bit pricier than other places but worth the money!!! We will come back for sure!!! read more

Horrible experience!!! Don't go, there are a lot more better Filipino restaurants that appreciate your business. Food is not authentic tasting food read more

Wow! This is my favorite restaurant in Milpitas now. Portion is huge ! Hearty food. Highly recommend

To Kalesa's business partner, Marcello or to the one it may concern. Just so you'd know, don't you think now is the time to stop ordering lechons from your source. Based from the past reviews and pics posted, it looks like the lechon's meat inside had been scraped off and that's why they look shrunk. I could be wrong, but the lechons I know and done right never looked what your customers got. TIA for your response to resolve this occurring problem. read more

I've been here twice and I really want to like the place. I had a really good experience the first time with co-workers and all the food was really good. Kare-kare, crispy pata and palabok were all on point. Came back again on a Friday during Lent, so I ordered seafood and veggie dishes only. The bangus sisig looked, smelled and tasted great. They did a great job of deboning the fish. The only thing that bothered me was there were still many scales left on the skin. If you were at a 4 star restaurant, you wouldn't want scales on your salmon right? So that was the only drawback for me. The halo halo was great but would recommend they shave their ice more finely. read more

FREE Surprise FOOD!!! The cool guy named REY assist us on our table, we ask for a soup and we are willing to pay that, but he insist that it is free. He also gave us free halo halo, before we leave he also gave us free iced tea ! Thank you so much Kalesa for wonderful experience. Food is super tasty! Ambiance is great. Will surely come back. read more

Extremely difficult to get through the phone lines, but they always come through with my catering needs, and the food never disappoints read more

Kalesa - Holiday hours so you can plan ahead for your catering needs! - Filipino Near Me - Milpitas, California

Great portions! I recommend ordering the pork belly. That was my favorite thing on the menu

We went for Sunday lunch when it was super crowded. They seem to pack the tables in like sardines. The food was ok 3/5. Good portions. The service is lacking and we waited at Least 30 extra minutes before our food came while 8-10 tables that arrived after us were served !!! I think they forgot us or the food was sitting there for 30 minutes waiting for a waiter to pickup and deliver to our table. read more

I always really enjoy coming here! They are always good. I really enjoy the kare kare- it's my favorite. But the other dishes like the sinigang and dinuguan were also just as good. It can get pricey but def worth it in my opinion. Also recently they started featuring ilacano dishes! For dessert also try the buko pandan- so so good! read more

Bought the Cebu style lechon supposably to weigh 60 pounds for almost $400 and got this instead, a deflated lechon. Not worth the money! read more

Kalesa - Cebu style lechon - Filipino Near Me - Milpitas, California

They had this day: Lugo w/your choice of toppings, champorado, lumpia, Filipino seafood pancakes (forgot the name) garlic and regular rice, Tocino, longanisa, scrambled egg, dried fish, kare kare, and three other dishes I don't remember. AND A HALO HALO STATION!! With 3 different drinks other than water such as sago. Ive never been to a Filipino breakky buffet and this satisfied my apprehension. Woot!! read more

Kalesa - The breakfast buffet is legit! Go go go!!! - Filipino Near Me - Milpitas, California

The food at Kalesa is good and good portion. The Crispy Pata was appetizing, satisfying and yummy! Their Kare-Kare and Pancit were okay. I will surely try other dishes on their menu. read more

Kalesa - Crispy pata, Kare kare and Pancit - Filipino Near Me - Milpitas, California