Marcelina's Filipino Cuisine and Karaoke Bar — Restaurant in Toronto

When it comes to Filipino food, nothing parallels Marcelina’s. Everything from the taste, authenticity and price point makes this restaurant infamous on Bathurst and Wilson making it no surprise that it has been operating for many years. This is my second review in just a few days, and the reason for that is because I support small businesses especially one that is run by a powerhouse matriarch. Not sure what the other recent unhappy customers’ issues were since they actually never explained what happened (isn’t that the point of the review?). One could only imagine that the unhappy reviewer clearly thought they had a good singing voice until testing out the karaoke waters here. The karaoke game is a Filipino Olympic sport. Seriously though … leave Frank Sinatra’s Filipino classic “my way” to the old Tito sitting in the corner…that’s his song he can claim. Back to my review at hand - come for the food, stay for the entertainment, tip your server and support this amazing restaurant. Any other reviews that do not explicitly say why they rated this restaurant one star is not genuine and clearly doing it for “tsimis”. ;) Need further proof? I’ll come down and have dinner with you just to prove how this hidden gem is 100% the bomb…shall I book us a table Claire R, Harley D, Jon Jon, Ace Sayer, Ermina, Alexandra, B Lanster, Lexa and Ev? They’re one of the few restaurants that carefully prepares their food with the utmost attention to allergy and dietary restrictions (restaurants never go out of their way to make their customers happy by making food modifications, but not here at Marcelina’s). Hope you’re okay with a vegan eating in your presence and if you’re an armchair food critic or keyboard warrior (like me lol) then we’re gonna all going to have a great time singing Kumbaya together on that karaoke stage whilst discussing how hideous the internet can be when it comes to cancel culture and online bullying. Marcelina’s - you’re my number one OG Filipino...

By far one of the WORST dining experiences I have ever had!!!

I drive by this strip of restaurants every day. Decided to invite some friends to come out and try a filipino dining experience... None of us had ever had.

The service was horrible... over 35 mins of sitting at a table with not even as much as a drink!

The waitress, apparently they only have one, took forever to take our order, however, if you're ethnic you get to yell out your order which gets to your table faster than any one else's.

Speaking of order... a table of 5, 2 appetizers ordered, both arrive separately, one at before dinner and one as a desert. 2 people unfed, while the others received their meals in uncoordinated timings.

I decided to cancel our orders, since our friends had finished their meals and instructed the waiter to bring us the bill, minus our meals and the appetizer that arrived at the end of dinner. This brought over the manager, who must be oblivious to the disaster that is her restaurant, as she smiled from ear to ear, whilst assuming I was paying for that which we had not eaten.

The conversation ended with her yelling to her staff to make sure they recognize our faces as we are never welcomed there again!

"Honey, you don't need to remember my face cuz the only thing you are going to be seeing is the back of my head walking to the restaurant next door".

An utter cluster of disaster, I don't know how some places are still in business.

Oh, and to add insult to injury, a table next to us was dining on a dish that had us all curious, when we asked the waitress what they were having..."oh that dish, they brought it over themselves". Seriously!!! LOL

This place is a joke and an insult to the 10% service fee they add to the...

went to Toronto for a vacation and ofc I craved for Filipino food. I searched and what I found first was Republika and we went there. Decided to go to Marcelina’s instead because there’s too many people in republika restaurant. I really regret going to Marcelina’s because the food was not good and the service was very bad. It’s also very pricey, and what’s more annoying is that they charged a service fee. They should give us the option to tip because for me that depends on the service provided to you. We had a lot of leftovers because we ordered a lot, we didn't know that the food was not good and the management was bad and that is why I asked for takeout boxes. They gave us 4 small takeout box and I asked for 6. Because we had 6 different dishes. I tried to make them fit but it didn’t work so I had to ask again for another 2. They gave us small size again, I asked the old lady and it seems like she’s the owner and very rude. I told her “Why did you guys give us small take out boxes, don’t you have the regular size of those?” and she said they don’t have bigger boxes. When she gave me the 2 takeout boxes that I asked for, she told me she’s going to charged me for them. WOWWWW RIGHT?! Since when did restaurants charged for takeout boxes? Unbelievable! I didn’t want that to ruin my day so I just came back to our table and continue what I was doing. But then, I saw the table in front of us that they asked for takeout box too but what was given to them was bigger size and the one that I asked to the lady. But she said she didn’t have any of those size. What a liar!! If I could rate no star at all, I will. DON’T GO TO THIS...