We were in the area of Roxas Boulevard, Manila and my grandmother was craving for Kare-Kare, so the first place she thought of where to have such dish was in Manila Hotel. After my grandmother finished doing her errand, she, my sister (Thalia) and I headed straight to Manila Hotel for dinner. The name of the restaurant was Cafe Ilang-Ilang, at first I thought, we would be seated somewhere close to the window since the receptionist lead us there, but she ended up bringing us to a table near the entrance of the restaurant. So why did she have to bring us to the other side of the restaurant, if we were just going to end up back from where we were? I mean, there were a lot of vacant tables that was good for 3 persons! Not just that, the table we were seated at, was STILL DIRTY. Crumbs left on the tabletop, shouldn't the waiters have cleaned that up right after the guest leaves the table so that it's ready for the next guest? Improve the clearing out please!
Ordering was okay, however, the waiter seemed like the typical "get the orders and done" type. No food suggestions or so. I ordered Linguine Malunggay Pesto, while my grandmother ordered the Kare-Kare she wanted, and my sister decided to share with our grandmother's order (so she just added extra rice) and my other order, which was "Captain Barbell" -- hot dog and marshmallows (got it for the kid's menu).
We waited for our food for about 30-45 minutes? Doesn't that seem slow for food service? If it was a dry-run, I would understand, but it wasn't. So why the slow service? Not only that, the waiter placed the covers (place mat, silverware and napkin) only for my grandmother and me, the cover for my sister didn't come until 10-15 minutes after. When our orders arrived, there was one important item missing for my sister -- the extra rice. It took 20 minutes or more until the waiter brought it, why didn't he bring the extra rice when he served the Kare-Kare and the rice with it?
We've been here for more than an hour and none of the waiters even bothered to clean the table next to us. SHAME.
The Chinese guest next to our table noticed that we and the other guest ,on her left side, were complaining about how slow the service was. She then joined in because she noticed that the waiters were just walking pass by our tables, not even one ever bothered to ask if we needed anything, as if we were just bystanders in the restaurant. "You have poor service!" the guest, next to our table, kept saying to the manager and I agree with her, the waiters weren't even friendly to any of us.
I must say, for a "5-star" hotel, I can't believe that Manila Hotel has a restaurant that gives poor service! Heck, their wi-fi didn't want to connect to my phone! The guest, who was next to the Chinese guest's table, is checked-in the hotel and she said that the wi-fi hasn't been working for days. Like wow, I would probably go crazy knowing that I'm checked-in a 5-star hotel with busted wi-fi... Anyways, If I were to rate this restaurant, it would be a 2-star. I don't know about the hotel itself, but I hope their service isn't terrible like this restaurant they have.
☆ Meiji ☆
