lord Jesus I've been looking all over the place that serves crispy pata since Sandok closed down! Crispy pata is basically a whole pig leg deep-fried until it crunches louder than your uncle opening a bag of chips during prayer! You want to order this when you come here. Also their chicken is pretty massive for the price. The Laing was delicious. I like the decor and they had plenty of seating Service is friendly, and Filipino IYKYK. Ended the meal with your classic halo halo hit the spot! We'll be back for some of that pata player! read more

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Food excellent Service awesome Ambiance good I will recommend to people to try and check this place read more

I brought my non Filipino friend to have an early dinner. Of course I ordered pancit, chicken and Kare-kare. He loved them and he had kalamansi and I had sago and gulaman. At the end I boasted of the leche plan so I ordered one but to my dismay- I think the kitchen forgot to add sugar in it and we hardly touched it. I brought it to the attention of the server and she said she will inform the cook. My mistake was I paid for it. I should've asked the server to take it out from the check! read more

Came here with my family on a Sunday afternoon for their Presidents' Day special which included maxs fried chicken, pancit bihon, kare kare, and a crispy pata for $88. We also ordered some garlic fried rice to go with it. All the food was very fresh and tasted great. Service was okay. It's nice to see the food has gotten better since my last visit. Love their occasional deals! read more

Max's Restaurant - Chula Vista - Max's Fried Chicken - Filipino Near Me - Chula Vista, California

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Awesome dine-in Filipino eats with great fried chicken. Went on a weekend for dinner with the fam. Had a few dishes - eggplant, fried chicken, pancit, sisig, and some stir fried veggies. Everything was on point and just how I remembered it the last time I had it years ago. Would def come back! read more

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I don't know how to start this review :( ... I think bullet points is the way to go. * first time customer. * based on my order: fish and pork sisig ; not recommended unless you like soggy style sisig . Description of this dish being soggy would help customers not order if for those who expect crispy sisig ! * food is getting re cooked by me as I write this review . Hoping it will crisp up. * save your time and money * I couldn't even finish cooking because the smell that came from the pork sisig as it was cooking was incredibly unpleasant . * bangus sisig : see my video - I placed this one in the air fryer so both my meals could finish cooking at the same time. However , I threw the pork sisig away without even tasting due to smell and threw out the fish sisig as well due to its oiliness . White Rice : seemed old cooked rice and is extra. 7dlls for 3 scoops. They also sell 5 scoops . plate merits a side of rice included in the price IMHO. Sadly this was my first and last time at this place. read more

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Ordered the pancit for delivery and was disappointed. The flavor was average at best, and the sahog was severely lacking--mostly noodles with very few pieces of shrimp or meat. For the price, this felt more like plain noodles than a complete dish. It was filling, but not satisfying, and doesn't reflect the quality I expect from Max's. Unlikely to reorder unless portions and balance improve. read more

Max's Restaurant - Chula Vista - Mostly noodles with very little sahog--flavor's okay, but portions don't justify the price. Pancit Bihon (Rice Noodle) - Filipino Near Me - Chula Vista, California

Loved the good!!! The workers was so nice he was doing it all. Sat us down, took our order, brought it out and checked on me frequently. First time having Filipino food and it did not disappoint. I probably ordered too much food either way. It's a shopping plaza so plenty of parking. Plenty of tables to sit and good for big groups. Will be back! read more

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Friendly staff Great food - my favorite is the crispy pata, & chicharon bulaklak Decor is also nice, it reminded me of the Max's Restaurant in Baclaran when I was a kid read more

Review #37 of 2024 October 13th visit. Thanks to our amazing server Trixie for the warm and accommodating experience. We arrived right as they were opening and she let us in. She was extremely cordial and accommodating. Definitely recommend asking for her if she's available. Met with some relatives that flew in from overseas. karekare, fried chicken, bulalo, pancit, so much great food and not enough time to eat it all. As always Maxs always hits the spot whether you're overseas, Hawaii, vegas, and in this case Chula Vista. Drop on by if you're in the area. Service and food are on point! read more

Max's Restaurant - Chula Vista - Crispy Pata, Fried Chicken, Pansit - Filipino Near Me - Chula Vista, California

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We love Max's. Great food and great service. The restaurant is family friendly . Great for family gatherings. read more

The portions are so small. For the price of one dish you can get a 3 item combo and a drink at other restaurants. Rice also isn't included when you purchase a dish. You get more food at a French restaurant. Tita will still be asking 'Did you eat?' after eating here. read more

Big thanks to the whole team at Max Fried Chicken Chula Vista side for making my children grad party so special. The space was perfect for a celebration for the family. They helped us set up a little area for cake and photos, which was such a nice touch. The staff were super friendly and made sure everything ran smoothly from start to finish. Kuddos to Trixie! Always checking in, making sure we had what we needed, and keeping the good vibes going. The food! So good. My favorite dish is the kare kare- meat is tender and the sauce is rich,creamy, slightly sweet and savory peanut flavor. Highly recommend for any kind of celebration. read more

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Ordered food this past thanksgiving on their website. Gave me a time to pick up. Got there at said time. Was told it's gonna be another 30 minutes. Fine. Should've known, happened last time I ordered here before but I forgot. Waited about 35 minutes got my food and drove home. Family ate, forgot to mention I got the pancit canton, lumpia, whole fried chicken, lechon kawali and crab fried rice. A few hours later, whole family taking turns on the porcelain throne. Worst part is at least for me, diarrhea lasted til this morning. I loved max's in the Philippines. Good memories, here however I wish I can forget it exists read more

The good - I ordered a package for thanksgiving dinner. Price was right. I didn't mind the wait when we picked up. Kudos to the employees who worked during thanksgiving. The bad - I added the buko pandan on the side. Container was about 1/3 full for $18. It was also runny. I think they defrosted it and not placed it in the reefer. I'll keep coming back though for their crispy pata! read more

Decided to eat lunch in the Eastlake area after our Saturday errand vice driving to National City. Pansit Canton (Egg Noodles) - right balance of seasonings and amount of toppings. Noodles were perfectly cooked on my liking. Pork Sinigang ( Pork Tamarind Soup) - disappointed, it lacks the sourness that the dish was known for. The more sour the better especially during cold weather. Fried Chicken - still "Sarap-to-the-Bones" The best spot if you're looking for that Filipino style fried chicken. Crispy skin, tender and tasty chicken! Greeted by staff upon entering. There were three groups, 15 total customers at the time; quick service, had our dishes ready in 15 mins. No issues with parking. read more

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Each serving is in small portion & pricey. It's quite overrated. Overall rating is 5 out of 10 as the highest. Total of 5 of us ate their on May 20, 2025 read more

The food can improve. They have the worst Chop Suey I ever tasted. First of all the sauce was like water. The vegetables they used were all the bad part of the cabbage. The veggies were hard. And the main thing, the meat that they used was a mixture of chicken and pork, according to them. It's dark meat. Pork meat is white not dark. Lastly, the lady that answered my call to let them know about their product. She didn't really care. I was still talking, she asked me, if that was it. If I was done. Rude BITCH!!! I would not buy anything from Max Restaurant from this day forward. Ambience, is not pleasant. Besides, I took the food home. I didn't eat it there. It's always dark in that restaurant. NEVER AGAIN!!! For me, they don't even deserve a star. Not a single star. Actually, I'm giving Max Restaurant a zero star rating. No star!!! read more

A friend and his wife met me here for dinner. They wanted to try a Filipino cuisine so I chose this place. Very nice service and good food. Their fried chicken was my favorite. We also ordered pancit, chop suey, and lumpia. The lumpia was okay. (I prefer lumpia's not be cut into 1/2 or 1/3s and just make them normal size, 6" or so). read more

Max's Restaurant - Chula Vista - Pancit, lumpia, fried chicken and chop suey for dinner with friends :-) - Filipino Near Me - Chula Vista, California

Ordered the Kare-Kare and asked the waitress type of meat they use and it's the Ox Tail she said. To my surprised it is a Beef Neck Bone, NOT OX TAIL. And May need a bit more of Peanut Butter. The White Rice you have to PAY for. It is not FREE. Paid $7.00 for like 5 scope of steam rice. Other than that the place is clean. Service was good. read more

We ordered and ate max's fried chicken and nilagang baka and garlic fried rice. When I ate the fried chicken it tasted like it was old for days and as if it was freeze burn and then fried. The nilagang baka didn't have potato and corn as seen on their menu. I was so disappointed. We didn't finish the chicken, we just ate the leg cuz it didn't taste good. It tasted old so we put the leftover fried chicken in the to go boxes for my cat to bring home for my cat to it. After 15 min in car while I was waiting for my daughter to come back from walmart cuz I felt my stomach was aching after we ate at max's I was smelling something bad like spoiled rotten food. I looked and found out that it was the max's fried chicken that smelled rotten so we threw it away. That was a very sad experience. Sorry to say but that is the truth. read more

12-22-22 - Late post. Came here for lunch to take a break from last minute Christmas shopping. Me and my friend ordered kare-kare, bicol express, embutido and lumpiang shanghai. All the dishes were yummy. I was surprised with how their bicol express was. It was a deconstructed version of the original. So instead of the meat and coconut sauce mixed up, this was a piece of fried pork belly with the coconut sauce served on top of it. Still pretty good but I have never seen it served that way. It was 2017 when I first came here but this time around I think the food was way better. They are popular here for the chicken, so I recommend trying that. Will have to try it again next time I go. Staff is very nice and the ambiance is too. Highly recommend. read more

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Slowest service i've ever experienced in my entire life, please just get more employees to work or something, I waited here for 4 hours, ordered at 3 left at 7, and were missing food?!? How do you take 4+hours and still forget items. read more

They should put a sign that closed for private party even though the sign was says open but the door is locked saw lots of people inside. I drove far just to go to this place but disappointed that I can't able to go inside because of the private party. read more

First time to dine in here, we ordered fried chicken there's no extra ordinary about the food, it's fried and a bit dry, sweet potato, enseladang talong were fine, garlic fried rice is my favorite, halo halo was our dessert, I like it because it's not too sweet. Our server was nice and making sure our needs met. Place is clean . read more

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The food is good, but the portion size is way too small and expensive. The high price combined with the minimal portion creates a poor dining value. read more

What an amazing experience at Max's in Chula Vista! The service, food, and vibe were totally all on point! All their food is made to order - fresh - which I wasn't aware of, which made the food that much better. I got seated promptly, my server was very nice and super helpful with picking out what to eat (since I'm a newbie there). Their atmosphere / vibe is super chic, modern, and trendy! Overall, Max's blew me away with their high quality service and food. I will certainly be returning!! read more

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I am here today February 14, 2025 and only one person working as a waiter and a cashier i felt bad for him but the management should have done something read more

We always dine here and for good reason! The food is consistently great,l. A special shoutout to our server, Trixie, who is incredibly friendly and efficient. Her warm demeanor and attention to detail truly elevate the dining experience. Top-notch customer service all around! read more

Best place for pancit palabok. Look forward to trying their other dishes. Customer service is excellent. Always checks on their customers and very pleasant. read more

It's been a while since we ate at Max's. We decided to check it this past weekend. We ordered bulalo, daing na bangus, Laing, max chicken and calamansi juice. The bulalo was delicious. Flavor was great. Meat was tender. My husband and son loved the bangus. It was crispy. The Max's chicken was also very crispy which we loved. The chicken was not dry. The Laing was a little spicy for me. Our server was very polite and on top of things. Location was very clean. Definitely will be back read more

So we felt like Filipino food. Today we ordered a fried chicken pansit Sigsig and lumpia. What a total disappointment. The chicken was 1 lb. 11 oz. They should have waited for the chicken to grow up before they fried it. The three sides pancit baby lumpia and Sigsig. The worst Filipino food I've ever eaten. This is a disgrace to Filipino food. I wouldn't waste my money ever again here. It was so bad my dog didn't even want to eat the leftovers and I was not much because it wasn't much here to begin with. I learned my lessons stick with Tiats kitchen. read more

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Order #72921668 I picked up an order today because I was craving for it. But when I went home and opened the food, they gave me the wrong order. I called the store and a female employee verified that I was given the wrong order. She passed the phone to a male employee and told me to RETURN the "wrong order" so I can get the "right order". He said that that is their POLICY. With just 15 minutes before closing time, they want me to come back and waste gas because "IT HAS TO BE TODAY." I said I don't have the time to return the food but they said "IT HAS TO BE TODAY" with just 15 minutes to close. Is this your customer service, Max's? I wouldn't be returning on this location. read more

The service is poor. The portions are small. The food is overpriced Will not be dining here again. read more

"The House that Fried Chicken Built" Max's Restaurant is a Filipino institution. While originally a cafe that American occupation troops would frequent, the fried chicken created by the owner's niece and the word-of-mouth that followed spearheaded the restaurant into a conglomerate spanning all over the Philippines as well as various cities in the US and Canada with huge expat populations. With the Otay area having a significant Filipino community it was fitting to open up a branch of this chain here and convenient for me as it's literally a 5 minute drive. This is a summation review of all my experiences here. I've eaten in here once while all other times were orders fulfilled by DoorDash. The most consistent part about all my experiences is their signature fried chicken. I'll steal their famous description: "sarap to the bones". What does it for me is that their skin is super crispy and even if I get it DoorDashed, I can always rely on the skin being crispy. If anything I can just rely on having some chicken over a bed of garlic fried rice and having a side salad somewhere else. Everything else here is hit-or-miss, with a bit more misses than hits. - Kare-kare is my most favorite Filipino dish and even they know how to make it bland. The secret a good sauce is the meat and on a few occasions they are stingy with the meat that the sauce is rubbery and bland - Crispy pata is good, but I can get one with crispier skins at a lot of other Filipino places - I love non-fish Filipino soups (ie pork sinigang, beef niliagang baka, beef bulalo). Meat portions are decent but the soup broth is unremarkable - Calamari is rubbery - Sisigs are bland Many people have also mentioned that dining in has its own set of problems and the root cause of this is not having enough staff. Post-COVID lockdown it seems like the place is staffed by only two people. When my coworker and I went it took us almost an hour to be seated - and the place was mostly empty save for a big party that was all outside. Despite the staffing issue at least the staff is friendly. This is primarily why I just stick to to-go orders. read more

I had been to the Max's restaurant in Las Vegas and thought they were all alike but this one in Chula Vista is smaller and a bit more casual inside. Same food though and of course we had to order their specialty fried chicken. It was deliciously crunchy but a little bit on the dry side. We also had the pinakbet and the ensaladang talong. Healthy and good. The restaurant was clean. They were playing Christmas songs SO loud at first but turned it down later to a normal sound level. Servers were nice and polite. A bit pricey for filipino foods and small portions but overall the food was tasty. read more

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So tonight we decided to take my In laws to there favorite place to get their Crispy fried Chicken . Once we get here we was seated really quick . The waiter was very friendly and came to ask our order in a very timely manner . When it came to order the food of course the only item I ever eat here besides garlic was was not available, ( Filipino Bistek) . This was the second time coming here in the hopes of getting it . The sisig was vey mushy with no crunch. The crispy chicken was crispy but becomes very dry once it cools . The Crispy pata was just okay to my Filipino husband that eats it regularly when we dine out . The restaurant is very clean and inviting on the inside . Plenty of light coming in through the windows making it to eat and see the menu . They only had one server and he was pretty active trying to serve all the people in the restaurant. My personal opinion I don't think I would eat here again if my choose . read more

Max's Restaurant - Chula Vista - Garlic fried Rice - Filipino Near Me - Chula Vista, California

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Very Good menu tasteful, very attentive, nice seating area, a little pricey, I would come back.

Food quality went down for me. The kare Kare didn't have enough vegetables and was too soupy. Its supposed to be thick and I didn't taste the peanut at all read more

I have always loved Maxs but damn is inflation that bad! The fried chicken I ordered was so tiny like smaller than a Cornish hen and for a high price. Come on Maxs this is not a good sign and I predict Chula Vista location will not make another 12 months open! read more