Casa Manila Danforth — Restaurant in Toronto

I came with several people and it was our first time at this restaurant. We were excited to try this place out but after this experience this will probably be our last visit to this restaurant.

The service was extremely disappointing. My standards for service is not that high. Just basic stuff will get you in my good books but even then the service here did not meet that lowered expectation. A big part of the problem seems to be that there was only one person doing all the work at the front and based on how the dishes were coming out it also felt like there was only one person in the back cooking. The waitress was seating people, clearing tables, taking orders and bringing out food all by herself so I am not blaming her for the service issues. The food also took very long to get to our table with my partner's food not getting to the table until well after myself and our friend had finished our food. Like I mentioned earlier there must only be one chef in the back as the food was coming one by one with long intervals between dishes. We were close to cancelling the last order so you can imagine how long the wait was.

In terms of the food itself we tried the lechon kiwali and the big Manila breakfast with tocino. As soon as the lechon arrived I knew it was going to be a let down and boy was I right. The presentation was just... horrible. Just a few pork pieces lying completely flat on a white plate. I am not a stickler with presentation but this just rubbed me the wrong way. No effort and absolutely lazy. I can let it go if the food was good but the pork belly was a huge disappointment. It specifically says CRISPY on the menu but the skin was absolutely not crispy in any way. The lechon sauce that came with it was ok in terms of taste as it was a bit sour. They also brought us only one dish of the sauces/vinegar because my friend and I ordered the same dish which gave us problems trying to split the sauces. Just overall very disappointed with this dish and with how little the portion was for this absolutely was not worth the 23 or so dollars I spent on this. Definitely would rather spend the money at a Chinese BBQ place to get a box of roast pork over this any day. The breakfast was better than the lechon with some buttery tasting rice and I found the tocino to be not bad. My partner however felt that most of the pieces were just fat and did not enjoy her meal at all. Just disappointment all around and we were looking for other restaurants to eat at after this experience.

All in all, a huge disappointment with this experience. Any desire to want to try the other dishes has dissipated as well. For what you pay absolutely recommend looking elsewhere for better food and value as there are a ton of options in Greek Town. I cannot...

Casa Manila Danforth is the second location of this Filipino restsurant. It's easy to see why they're expanding: the food is good, the owners Mila and Zaldy bring a flamboyant and friendly Filipino vibe, and the place, while smaller than the York Mills location, is maximized and tastefully decorated.

We dined here a few times and got items from both their breakfast and main menu: Sisig: The sisig was sizzling and super crispy (yum!) but some parts were a bit hard. Likely just opening month kinks given Casa Manila York Mills has a really awesome sisig, so not worried about Danforth having the same soon. Also, good for two people so it's a great value. Chicken BBQ Skewers: Good basting - has the traditional Filipino sweetness without overdoing it. Comes with a generous mound of garlic rice. Chicken Adobo: Meat was tender, and there was this great kick at the end. Mila said they use apple cider, and that really makes a difference. The adobe tasted classic while also having a nice twist. Beef Kare-Kare: The beef was lean (which is great, since it's sometimes fatty in other Filipino spots). Also, while I prefer my kare-kare sauce super thick and peanut-y, this was pretty good. Bangus Silog: Straightforward fry on the bangus, with a generous heaping of garlic rice and two sunny side eggs. Would have preferred the traditional achara, but they mixed other veggies in it for an Asian slaw (not bad, just personal taste). Laing: Good amount. I prefer my laing a bit spicier, but my wife loved it. You can customize the spice level. Halo-Halo: A bit pricey for the size. That said, this is a beautiful classic halo-halp with all the classic mix-ins. Bonus points for making their own icecream, which was really creamy. Ube Milkshake: I prefer my milkshakes super thick. This wasn't it. That said, it was creamy and the fact that it was on the thinner side made the ube taste pop more.

The owners also gave us some freebies to taste: Pandesal: One of the best in the city. Airy and chewy, perfect on it's own or as the "bub" to a slider. Ube Cake: Owners gave it to us for free. It was very chiffon-y.

Looking forward to seeing Casa Manila find its footing in the Danforth. Will stop by again to try their other dishes, and kamayan once...

My family and I went here last weekend, and I waited to make this review because I'm still in disbelief. We made our reservation 2-3 weeks in advance since we had a fairly large group. Keeping in mind, if a group is too large to handle, the restaurant would voice that they have a limit.

Anyways, around 7 of us arrived 20 minutes before our reservation and decided to order early since more people will arrive later and we wanted to give the kitchen enough time to cook everything. Everyone else in the group arrived 30 minutes later and also ordered. At this point, everything seemed fine besides the crazy amount of flies flying everywhere...

One of us ordered a simple vegetarian tofu dish that literally took an HOUR to arrive and the taste was just mediocre. I have never waited more than an hour at a restaurant before so we were already a bit confused. Eventually, our second table with the older adults received a bunch of food but none for our second table where I was seated. We kept asking about our food and were met with no answers and no reassurance.

Fast forward TWO HOURS and the last two people finally got their food but they were so hungry, they could barely eat much. BUT WHERE WAS MINE?! I ordered the chicken adobo with garlic rice 20 minutes before our reservation so what were they doing in the kitchen the whole time? Once we asked about it, the server said they don't have the chicken adobo and if I would like to order something else. They couldn't mention that 2 hours ago?! Mind you, no sympathy or apology happened and apparently, she only apologized to the one person who reserved. Then, she came back after 10 minutes and asked if we wanted dessert! HUH?! Some of us didn't even have lunch! Then she left without saying anything then came back and asked how the food was? WHAT FOOD?! I had to eat the scraps from my other relatives which was tragic.

This was our second time going here, and the food was much better and the portions were a lot larger before. So I don't know what happened here. I don't understand why it took them 2 hours to let me know they can't make my food. Or even offer a...