Cebuchon & BBQ — Restaurant in Edmonton

I haven’t had much Filipino cuisine in my life, so there maybe a bias towards unfamiliarity within this review.

Went to Cebuchon with my family on a Saturday. We had party of 8 people. We had made a reservation a few days prior, but when we arrived it took them some time to figure out which table was ours under the reservation. They don’t seem to have a list of daily reservations, rather just sticky notes on the tables for those that are reserved. On top of the time it took to figure out our table, the table that was for us wasn’t yet cleaned up from the party before us. The restaurant wasn’t particularly busy at this time (maybe 2-3 other small parties seated), so I’m not sure why the table wasn’t cleared and cleaned before us if they knew about a reservation coming.

All that aside, let’s get to the food. As I mentioned my knowledge and experience of Filipino cuisine is limited, but I found everything really “sweet”.

We ordered a bunch (some items not pictured): Pork Lumpia Shanghai Veggie spring rolls Pancit Bihon Chopsuey Surf and turf platter Lechon BBQ Side rack ribs (Very very tough meat) Plate of Garlic Rice

Total about $200 (outside tax/tips)

The highlight was the Lechon and I would probably only come back for this, unless there’s something else amazing on the menu I missed.

It had the most unique flavour from the rest of the dishes, which all seemed to use the same sauce/marinade? Just sweet savoury but overly sweet in my opinion.

As for service and atmosphere. The place feels set up like a cafeteria hall. They have a large counter with screens that makes it look like a fast food place or a cafeteria where you bring your tray up to order. A bit confusing for me, since the seating also followed this style with how tables and seats were arranged.

The servers did bring food to your table despite the appearances of the restaurant, however they only ever placed food down from one end of the table(???) Bringing 2-3 dishes at a time and just stacking them at the head of the table when there was already no room, and when we asked to clear some plates, I was ignored. I noticed a trend that when customers left, their tables were not cleared right away. Makes me think they only clear the tables when they’re needed…? (Like when we arrived and our table wasn’t cleaned).

Service and atmosphere items don’t bug me as much as the quality of food, but overall everything felt very mediocre? Prices seem reasonable for what you get, but flavours are the same with nothing really special about any...

Restaurant looks and feel great, we are hoping to get a good filipino food after going around edmonton city and end up here. Unfortunately the food did not came out as we expected, again not everyone has the same way of making food. Being in a food business industry and making filipino food specially pinoy BBQ and Cebu Lechon Belly it was even close to a cebu lechon. The way the belly was made I did not taste the lemongrass garlic bayleaves or onion not even salt. And our grilled belly and pork bbq all we can taste is sweet. Our pancit bihon with pork, pork was so dry that you can't even chew on it. Our bulalo soup was not even par. As the server assure us that it's very popular dish. No flavor at all I'm sorry but we are not happy as the server can see that we didn't finish any of our food. Once again I am not trying to discourage anyone from going to this place. As a chef by trade I can tell a good and bad food. I do make a lechon belly from ottawa and people from Toronto and Montreal orders from me even if the they have their own filipino restaurant in the area. I just wish you could have the chef pay more attention on the cooks working and keep an eye on what they are serving, toake sure all the food are up to par on the chefs standard. And when making bulalo may e try using a bone marrow or ossobuco cut of beef and I promise you you'll have a very nice looking bulalo soup not like bits and pieces of beef. And also the rice it's such an easy thing to make please make sure all the cooks make the rice properly as a filipino having a nice cooked rice also makes a bog difference on our food. And try using our own soy sauce instead of kikoman. And for the bbq sauce please make sure the salt and sugar is balance not just all sweets. Halo halo is bum it's soo good. Until next time hope to taste a real cebu lechon belly. Cheers and good luck to all of...

We went to visit Edmonton for the first time and upon checking we found out there is a Filipino near where we are and decided to dine there.

An honest review on their food, service and ambiance.

Service : we gave 5 🌟 for Mezil and Marichu's excellent service, they are both friendly , the time of serving is not too long even thou we had a generous amount of orders and they check back on us when they have time.

Food: 4 🌟 Lechon belly " it was really yummy , crunchy skin and tasty meat. Cons is the dip not so to our liking but you can opt with the spicy vinegar mix they have thats to die for.

Pancit Bihon " this is one of the tasty ones they have in store, it's saucy and take note it has crispy lechon kawali on top 🤤🤤"

Chicken Inasal " I don't recommend you this if you are expecting Bacolod Inasal or Mang Inasal type of cooking. It taste like sweet chicken BBQ, I wasn't expecting this thou 🫣

Lechon Sisig " it taste surprisingly good but it would be better with the traditional egg on top with soy sauce and calamansi/lemon as dip"

Ambiance : 4 🌟 It kinda remind me of a real Filipino vibe and that makes it homey.

All in all it was a good experience and a must try when you...