Descanso — Restaurant in Sydney

Update made on 3 April 2022 around 7.30pm in response to owner’s review on 3 April 2022 around 6pm

Dear Descanso team

I must say I am not surprised by your passive aggressive response to my review. For the sake of future customers I think I need to correct a few misleading statements in your response:

You did not inform me there was a long waiting time when we came in and ordered our food. If I knew there was going to be 1 hour wait then I definitely would have looked elsewhere. There were two other tables seated by the time we got there and I did not see a single delivery driver coming in to pick up orders. I would gladly revise my rating and apologise if you can send me proof of “tons of” delivery orders placed and served on this date during 12pm and 12.45pm. I believe you when you say that staff member is hard-working but I am not so sure about being the nicest, as when he delivered the food, he simply placed them on the table without offering any apology for the lengthy delay and walked away. I distinctly remember that when he served the food to the lovely family of four sitting next to us (which got served before us), he at least named the food that was being served and apologised for the delay. Can you explain why the difference in treatment? Is it because I simply asked for when my food would be ready after waiting almost 1 hour? I am a little confused about being called “difficult to serve” and “impatient”. We spent 5 mins to decide which food to order, went up to the counter and paid for the food, sat down for 45mins waiting for the food without saying anything to the staff, got up to the counter to ask for an update on the food and was told that it would take another 5mins, then I went back to my table and waited. Are customers not allowed to ask for an update on their food? I guess it would make sense if you had told me that there was going to be close to one hour wait at the beginning but that didn’t happen as I have said in the first point above.

I kindly ask you to read your response again and reflect on your language and tone. If you still feel that you stand by your statements, then I guess there is not much left to be said. Otherwise, I am more than happy to adjust the rating if you can provide the evidence requested above.

Lastly, maybe I did pick the worst time to visit your cafe for the first time. After all, it was the rating and location that attracted me there in the first place.

I wish you all the best.

Regards Jay

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Below is the original unedited review left on 3 April 2022 around 2pm

Don’t believe the good reviews. Very bad service and average food. Took almost one hour for them to prepare the food when the place wasn’t even busy. And the staff was rude when severing the food without even acknowledging the lengthy delay. Avoid this...

As someone who has been to many Filipino restaurants — and being Filipino myself who can cook these dishes at home — I’m always on the lookout for a good Filipino restaurant for those days when I’m feeling lazy to cook but still craving comfort food.

This place came highly recommended by a friend, so we were excited to give it a try. The restaurant itself looks nice, and the food presentation was on point. However, sadly, the experience was quite underwhelming, especially for the price point.

We ordered the Barkada Share Board ($52), which was advertised as good for 2–3 people. Realistically, it barely served even two. At that price, I was expecting a hearty Filipino feast with perhaps even leftovers to take home — but that wasn’t the case at all. The longganisa was disappointingly tiny (about the size of my thumb), the garlic rice lacked any real garlic flavour (which defeats the purpose of calling it garlic rice), and the portions across the board felt stingy.

We also tried the Turon for dessert. For $8, we received just two small pieces cut in half to make it look like four. Honestly, this felt like a total rip-off.

After dining, I decided to check the reviews online and noticed a concerning pattern. While the owners do respond to feedback, the tone comes across as defensive and passive-aggressive. Instead of taking on board constructive criticism, they seem to blame or argue with the customers who leave honest reviews. This kind of attitude is disappointing and shows a lack of willingness to improve the dining experience.

I wanted to love this place. The vibe and presentation had potential, but sadly, the food quality, portion size, and pricing left me feeling very dissatisfied. There are so many other Filipino restaurants in Sydney offering more authentic flavours, better portions, and respectful customer engagement.

Would I return? Probably not. Filipino food is meant to be hearty, generous, and comforting — unfortunately, this was...

Ok so I feel bad posting such a bad review but we went here for brunch and it was probably the worse decision I’ve made recently.

We are here about a month ago and despite waiting 45 minutes for food in a nearly empty cafe the food was surprisingly good.

We have this place another chance today and five of us dined for brunch. Very much looking forward to garlic fried rice and longanisa.

First of all when we ordered they said food will be about 20-25 minutes, that ok? We agreed and took a seat. After an hour had passed and no sign of food and or service we asked when we might be getting our food as we had already paid. The man who took my order approached the table just as one serve of Sisig and braised beef was showing up. He asked what else we ordered. I asked “isn’t it being prepared already?” His reply was “oh no, it’s so we don’t give it to someone else”.

We asked to cancel the three remaining dishes for a refund. The Sisig was heavily salted and the two dishes just cane with steamed rice. We only got a refund for the three.

I honestly don’t know what they can possibly be doing back there as the two dishes that were presented were obviously not made from scratch in the last hour. We were not given an apology just indifference.

If you have all day and don’t care if you may or may not get your food then this is the place to hit up.

Walked away...