SM Megamall Food Court: the good and the bad
My daughter, Sam, takes figure skating lessons at SM Megamall on Sunday mornings. We would get at table at the adjacent Food Court where we could watch her skate and order food. If we’re planning on going shopping or seeing a movie afterwards, we’d wait for her before ordering anything and have quick lunch at the Food Court after her lessons. It isn’t that crowded at 11 a.m.
We have tried the food at a number of Food Court outlets during the past so many Sundays. There were joys and there were total waste of money. Here are some of them.
Despite being in a fast food center, Razon’s, for the most part, consistently serves good dinuguan (above, left). The fried vegetable lumpia wasn’t up to par, however. Too oily that it gave the impression of having been reheated.
Stay away from Tender Roast and Korean BBQ Express. They’re a total waste of money. My daughters each ordered a chicken and spaghetti platter from Tender Roast and they ended up begging us to eat their darn food. We hate being wasteful but my husband and I couldn’t eat the chicken either. It looked good, alright, but it was so tasteless that I wondered if the cook ever heard of the word marinating. The chicken meat was so dry it made me wonder what they understood by the word “roasted.”
The spaghetti sauce… ahh, let me describe it. If you’ve ever tasted commercial spaghetti sauce — the kind that comes in pouches and which you just pour over cooked pasta, well, imagine diluting that with water and that was what the spaghetti sauce tasted like.
Above, Korean BBQ Express’ grilled chicken. Gosh, it looked so good and huge I was raring to attack it. Well, let not appearances fool you. It’s just the meat from a single chicken thigh plus three thigh bones.
The Korean beef stew (above, left) that my husband ordered was even worse. The meat was so tough I thought the spoon and fork would bend from the effort to pry it off the bones. And, get this. On the counter of Korean BBQ Express is a framed copy of a magazine article raving about its food. Unbelievable.
Anyway, not everything is BAD at the SM Food Court. Lydia’s Lechon is still okay. And, if you want dessert or a quick snack, Sally’s kakanin is more than okay. Tha cassava bibingka (above, left) was very reasonably priced at 15 pesos. Pair it with Louie’s buko juice and you get a much better deal than a free meal from Tender Roast and Korean BBQ Express.
Too bad the Lety’s Buko Pie stall is no longer there.
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11 Responses to “SM Megamall Food Court: the good and the bad”
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Maybe the news clipping was dated? Perhaps the quality has gone way way down since then.
Didn’t notice the date. I just felt so, so cheated.
Thanks for the heads up Connie. The beef stew looks so good, too bad that’s all it was. Well, at least Kimchi is a bit more consistent. (Depends on the branch though). Razon’s is good though i haven’t tried ther lumpia, i always order their bulalo steak.
peterb, re Kimchi: Inis nga walang Kimchi sa Megamall. Otherwise, we would never have considered Korean BBQ Express.
My husband and I tried the Mongolian Quick Stop stall at the Food Court, and thought we got pretty good value for the money - even though, when my husband asked for “hot and spicy” sauce, he got the “sweet and spicy” sauce instead of plain “spicy” sauce. Which sounds like splitting hairs until you know that my husband is a diabetic, so when we saw that tablespoon of brown sugar go into the mix…!
I think the server should have pointed out that there were two kinds of spicy sauces. Still, we just bought a new bowl with the proper sauce, and had them put the “mistake” in a take-out container. Thankfully, no harm done.
One of my pet peeves - coming in hungry, ready to eat, spending hard earned money and the food is horrible. What’s going on with these food court operators - test taste your foods before offering it to the public???? They should be consistent with their food offerings. If their former chef/cook took off - their techniques should stay with them.
i had the roast pork of tender roast last week, not bad, the skin was very crispy. i was lucky not to choose the spaghetti, i had plain rice to go with it.
Galing naman ng mga luto ninyo. Thanks for sharing it to all. I m looking for Bistek recipe.
Starshadow Rivaulx, oh talk about the clueless fast food attendants. Ask what a dish contains and, most times, they can’t even explain properly. If there are health considerations, like in your husband’s case, it can spell disaster.
Ube, makes one wonder if mall owners care at all besides the ability of the fast food operators to pay rent.
lucky you, dalandan soda.
Ladyseashells, if you will look at the sidebar, there is a link to the bistek recipe which is the most viewed recipe in this blog.
wala na bang kimchi sa megamall foodcentre?
alam ko meron dati, dyan kasi ako kumakain.
huling kain ko nga lang dun, ang sama ng dating.
usual order ko kasi beef stew. gutom na gutom pa naman ako dun kaya nilantakan ko agad.
ubos ang kanin at toge at nililinis ko na lang ang bowl ng stew kaya inuubos ko ang sabaw.
hulaan nyo kung anong nasa ilalim na natatakpan ng buto? isang bangaw, hindi langaw ha, BANGAW. yung merong bulgy eyes!
di ko alam gagawin ko reaction nun.
di naman ako sumuka sa nakita ko.
tumayo na lang ako at umalis.
ano pa bang magagawa ko? demanda ko kimchi?
this was years ago. kaya mga sumunod kong kain, binubulatlat ko na muna bago ako bumanat ng kain.
haha
andito pa rin comment ko about kimchi
i miss eating at mega mall
meron pa kayang Cindy’s dun?