DailyServings

November 15, 2014: Mom’s 5th death anniversary. Aunt’s Birthday celebration.

Early part of the morning was a breeze: mass, light breakfast, some cleaning chores, shower, then we went to MOA for my aunt’s birthday treat which was supposedly at Yakimix. Good thing they didn’t give us table for 16, we were able to try out La Fiesta at SM by the Bay.

So okay, let me start with the location. It has its advantages and disadvantages. For the advantages, its outside the mall so it has its own parking; it has its own building so their seating capacity is bigger than that of the ones within the mall. For the disadvantages, if you’re coming in from the mall, you have to walk to the walkway, go down from it and endure the heat (if you’re eating lunch there) because you’ll be walking under the heat of the sun, and yes, there’s no shade available.

The food

I started my meal with Japanese food. Tuna and salmon sashimi: my favorite, Chicken Karrage, sushi rolls and (they call it) special tofu. It was good, I must say plus they have a wide selection of Japanese food.

Plate #1

Next to the Jap plate, I had some Seafood and Corn Soup, sorry no photo available. It was so-so, I wasn’t able to taste the Seafood-ness of it. Maybe a little more of the seafood, then it would have been great.

After the soup, I had Arroz Caldo, Chicharon Bulaklak, Chicken Skin and Potato Strips. I have to recommend the Arroz Caldo, it was awesome! They’ll give it to you in a small pot complete with everything, you might want to add a little more of the toasted garlic to have a right amount of crunchiness in it. Nothing fancy in the Chicharon Bulaklak, you can just buy it outside because it tastes the same – this goes as well for the chicken skin. For the potato strips, it was a little hard and dry – yeah, its overcooked.

Plate #2

After, I had some Native Chicken Tinola, Buttered Chicken, Fried Chicken and Spicy Salmon, and some Adobo Fried Rice. And yes, I don’t eat much pork and beef so I had to get chicken and fish. Good thing, they have a wide array of chicken and fish dishes. In this batch, I’d recommend the Buttered Chicken. It was something new, for me at least, although it was too buttery, good thing there’s the Adobo Fried Rice to contrast the buttery-ness of the Chicken. The Spicy Salmon was too spicy, I was thinking that it would just have a kick of spicyness in it. The Fried Chicken is just the normal chicken. I was a bit disappointed in the Native Chicken Tinola. I was expecting more of the native-ness of it but I didn’t it was just the same tinola my dad cooks back home.

Plate #3

Then, I ordered Chicken Steak, and I had 2 of it. The first one I ordered was slow so I had to re-order, when I came back the first order I had was there in our table then after 3 minutes, the second order is coming. It was good, actually. The thing that turned my off was my second steak, it was RAW. So I didn’t eat it.

Plate #4

Then I had my dessert, ice cream and crepe. For the ice cream, they are serving Nestle, so nothing fancy. The crepe was OK, just the plain crepe.

Plate #5

The experience

Food service was slow. I ordered for the chicken steak, I had to re-order because it was slow, then I all know, I have to steaks seating in our table. I also order Chicken Sisig, but it never reached our table.

The ambiance was commendable. When we arrived there’s a live band performing and they are accepting requests. After the band, dancers graced the stage and danced native dance routines from Luzon, Visayas and Mindanao.

The price

For the price of PHP839 for adults during Sundays, it was reasonable enough for one to try this place out; and just like any other buffet restaurants in the metro, the price will depend on the time and date you’ll dine in. One thing that I loved about this place is that if its your birthday, you get to eat for free for the next 7 days! One thing that I won’t expect from a buffet restaurant.

One set back of La Fiesta, for me, is its name, its name is La Fiesta Filipino cuisine, so one will expect that the cuisine is all-filipino, but it also, offered other cuisine. I just hoped that they omit the Filipino cuisine part.

Overall, I’d rate La Fiesta 4 out of 5.