Narra Restaurant & Lounge — Restaurant in Surrey

We should have read the "real" reviews before coming here. The real reviews meaning the bad ones. A side note, some other customers had mentioned that they offer 10% off if you give them a good review so I would take their "good" reviews with a grain of salt.

My grandfather was craving Filipino food and we had heard about this place so our family of 8 decided to go here for dinner. Upon arrival, the sign on the door directed us to the dining area. We situated ourselves in the waiting area as there was no staff in plain view. Afterwards, a man named Kyle spoke to my wife and asked if we had made reservations. Reservations? Their website or restaurant doesn't state anything about having to make reservations. The last place I recall having to make a reservation at was a 5-star restaurant in DT Vancouver but sure Kyle, whatever you say. Was there a line up, no. Were they super busy, no. Instead of saying welcome or greeting us appropriately as it was our first time visiting, Kyle decides to lecture my wife instead about this "policy".

Group of 8? Kyle then says automatic 20% gratuity. Yeah ok Kyle. This isn't our family's first time dining out. We dine out regularly and other establishments don't have this policy. Kyle tells my wife that next time we should make a reservation. How does he know there will even be a next time? Anyways my family was hungry so we proceeded to dine in anyway which was a big mistake.

Kyle then directs us to our table. He then tells me to thank another group as he says that they had to move in order for him to accommodate us. Uh what lol? That's not our problem. We never said we weren't fine with waiting for a table. If we needed to wait for a table we could have waited. We shouldnt have to thank another customer because you have OCD issues with how you want to run your restaurant.

So it only gets worse from here. He sits us in an area that has no a/c. It was hot that day so just imagine it being even hotter inside the restaurant considering there is a kitchen with food being cooked. The owner still has the audacity to charge us 20% gratuity though.

Kyle then tells us that it will be awhile before we get our food as everything is "made-to-order". I wish I was kidding about all this stuff but I'm not. As we wait for our food, Kyle decides to give us his unsolicited banter about how good their food is and that we will be left smiling. Good food usually speaks for itself.

So finally the food. The family's consensus was that it was just okay. We ordered palabok, pancit, spaghetti, two baon boxes, and dinakdakan. My wife is not Filipino and she mentioned that the Tapa and Longanisa that my mom makes at home tastes better.

So when we finally asked for our bill, a female waitress decides to come with a machine while also holding the bill. She proceeds to tell us the total and how we would like to pay without handing the bill to us first so that we can review it. I told her we needed the bill first so that we can look it over. We paid in cash and the total was a bit over $180 for 6 adults and two kids. We could've taken our hard earned money to our usual favorite Filipino restaurants like Kumare or PinPin. For $180 we could have also gone to Cactus Club or a similar tiered restaurant.

Kyle, I'm sure your ego will be hurt and before you reply and tell me to remove this review, you should really learn to humble yourself. Don't bother telling me you run a small business and that your bills are high because everyone else is struggling in this economy too. The only way I see this restaurant surviving is without you. Here, now take a slice of this...

Prepare for an essay:

I first tried the Filipino Noodle Joint at their original location in Vancouver. It was a fast food/food court type of joint, so it was nice and quick, food was delicious! I was obviously so excited to hear that the Surrey location was opening. Although we didn’t try the Surrey location until maybe 2-3 months of them being open.

A couple of weeks ago we finally decided to go to the Filipino Joint in Surrey since we were in the area and who would say no to Filipino food?? We went on a Saturday afternoon, BLINDLY, around maybe 1:30-2pm. ( I say blindly because I didn’t know there was reservation required until after the fact.. anyways) we enter and I see an almost empty dining area , with one big table in the middle for a party of maybe 10 that was settling up and packing their food, and another table of 3 waiting for their food. There was another group of 6 in the waiting area, obviously waiting to be seated (the server talked to them already) Mind you, the front of the house, did see us and yet did not make any eye contact, no acknowledgement or any greeting at all. All good I get it, so I think to myself okay he’ll come back… 10-15 mins later, I see the big table still trying to settle up, still no acknowledgement that I was there waiting to be spoken to.. not even seated but to be spoken to. There was 2 staff in the dining area, but still no acknowledgement for anyone waiting. During this time, another group of 2 was waiting before us , and then another 2 after us until there was maybe 3 groups behind us. (Also the group of 3 in the dining room, still have not got their food)

No one has come up to any of us, no greeting, acknowledgement whatsoever. The group ahead of us decided to leave.. mind you it’s now about 30-45 minutes waiting to be spoken to, also the group of 3 in the dining table still have not gotten their food… so unfortunately, we decided to leave too.. I wanted to wait but it was just not a pleasant experience. ALL GOOD it was the first time we visited , I’ll consider it a one off !

A week later, I just decided to do a pick up order in the evening around 6pm. Order online was easy to navigate and I like the pictures and description of the food, which made it easy to select. Once we got there, I believe I spoke to the owner and he went to the back to see if my order was ready. And another lady came out with my order, she just asked to see the receipt and gave me my order. She asked for utensils which was nice. But that only took less than 10 mins. Which was nice and smooth. Food was great when I got home to eat it.

I will maybe try to go the restaurant again one day… for now I will do online orders if I ever...

This is a review of my take-out experience. A nice friendly getting upon entry from the staff. I did notice other patrons getting confused about the signage as you enter regarding dine-in or take-out directions. The menu has a classic selection of Filipino dishes. I went with the Famous Breakfast and a Spicy Chicken Adobo. There was no kids menu or kids portions. Also, this might be the first blasphemy of a Filipino restaurant, but NO Garlic Fried Rice! My other complaint would be no Pinakurat vinegar with the breakfast. The order took about 20 minutes from ordering which would be expected around noon, and the restaurant looked to be busy. After receiving my order, the staff thanked me for my business and I was on my way home to eat. The Famous Breakfast was delicious and had a nice assortment of meats. I prefer a sweet longganisa and this was more like a salty vigan style and could have benefited from some pinakurat. The Spicy Chicken Adobo was flavorful but not spicy. My wife was craving spicy, and this didn't hit the spot, however, she did say it tasted great and shouldn't have been called "spicy". I bought a side bowl of rice for my kiddo, got home, fried some diced garlic until brown, added the rice and some fried garlic flakes to convert the plain rice to Garlic Fried Rice and shared some of my meats with him. He enjoyed the tocino out of all the meats. Not going to lie, I enjoyed the tocino as well, but I knew my kiddo was going to eat it all. Overall, I think the Filipino Noodle Joint did a great job. I often go to Epic Grill, but since they've cut back their hours, and the quality doesn't seem to be the same, I am in need of a good Filipino restaurant nearby. I'm sure I'll be back, and I hope to see something for the kids. If my review helped, please leave me a 👍...