Fika

Carissa Amadea Puteri

3.0

So I went to this restaurant all the way from Mandaluyong just to try it out. I was with some of my website friends and we all dined in together.I like the fact that the operations is being done by students. It's a very good exposure for them to be able to run a restaurant. However, service still affects. I am a hospitality trainer, so I am very particular on service. I feel like we needed to ask for so many basic things from time to time. Things were not anticipated. Servers barely smile. While the chef was very friendly, it would be nice if the servers would do the same especially that they are the front liners.Their food is Filipino food. Not a super wow to me, but what I really enjoyed was their laing and sisig! It was good! The rest was just normal for me.I like their al fresco dining area. It has a very nice view. perfect for drinks with good conversations with friends :DOverall, since it's far from my place, it's not something that I will travel so far just to dine again.

Phillip

3.0

My family had high expectations of Fika from the high rating here at website. However, many are from the sponsored reviews. Don't get me wrong, our visit was not bad at all. It's just a different ball game when you go to a sponsored soiree. We were a group of 20 pax who dined here last Sunday at lunchtime. We occupied most of the space actually. This place doesn't have a formal function room, but they do accept reservation for big groups. No minimum order necessary, which is great. We pre-ordered a lot of the food about two days in advance... When we got their, the tables were already set up and the pork cracklings were served almost immediately. Unfortunately, the cracklings felt undercooked with the wrong, chewy texture. We asked them to fry them again, which made it too oily & a touch overdone afterwards. The peanuts served were okay; take it from me, wait for them to cool down. For the food, we had like everything on the menu (lol, not too exag)... Lol, 4-5 orders for some of the viands. This clan has a tendency to overorder, to say the least...We started with the fresh lumpia-- the wrapper tasted okay. It had a lot of sauce though, which I felt made up for it. There was also dinuguan (blood stew), but I just don't eat this. The gising-gising had a lot of meat with it, so it was pretty filling. We had several orders of the sinigang na baboy. I liked it a lot, but it didn't pair well with the bagoong rice we ordered. Much better paired with plain rice! The bagoong rice was a little spicy, but I loved it. Their sisig was great! My cousin and I thought it tasted similar to Sisig Hooray's version. Nothing too spicy, needs help from hot sauce. For the meats, we ordered the paksiw na isda. I only had a bite, but my uncles loved it. The liempo was typical, generous serving size. But we all commented that it tasted strongly like the chicken inasal. They might have cooked them on the same grill. Sadly, that altered the taste. Well, we all liked the inasal!We had so much food leftover that there was no room for dessert. The problem was that they weren't equipped to handle a big group, I think. Despite being the only customers there for a good hour, the food slowly trickled out. Some were underseasoned or undercooked, while some tasted like another dish (liempo to inasal). The staff were so hard to call, spending most of their time in the kitchen. Drinks like sodas and juices, needed multiple follow-ups before they were served. The bowls for the sinigang took so long to be passed around. Additional orders for plain rice took awhile to be brought out again... They were able to refill water more efficiently after all the dishes went out. Not that they weren't nice, I think they might have been too busy. A group of three guys came in after we started eating, a good hour after. Plus, someone looked like she ordered food for takeaway. I think they have had as much as they could handle. If I lived pretty near, I would totally come back. The food was alright and the serving sizes were reasonable for the price. Nothing too big though; each serving for the viands was good for 2-3 pax. Great for small families too tired to cook. Not to mention the sprawling, free parking and the golf course in the vicinity.

Marshall Gilberto

5.0

Love Fika! Quiet place perfect for afternoon coffee/tea while reading a good book. Yummy food and courteous staff also. Our favorites: Chicken inasal, tortang talong, Fika rice - comfort food! Great coffee also, best paired with their desserts esp their revel bars.