Max's Restaurant Vancouver, Cuisine of the Philippines — Restaurant in Vancouver

WORTH READING IF YOU PLAN ON EATING HERE: I don’t usually write reviews but I have never been this disappointed with a restaurant and this place deserves one. My boyfriend and I came here for the first time after hearing our other friends telling us about the restaurant so we decided to try their adobo and sisig, and to our surprise we were extremely disappointed with many things. First of all, we came to the restaurant knowing they charged 15% gratuity as we saw a couple of reviews beforehand. That is completely fine but if they are charging that much for a tip I expect 15% gratuity-worth service or even just basic average service, not unreasonable right?

Well firstly, I want to evaluate their servers. They did not deserve to be tipped for that much since literally all they did was hand our food and give us the receipt. When we entered the restaurant just as we took our seats our server immediately started taking our orders even though we stated that it was our first time eating there. He literally just stood there watching us 2-3 ft from the table as we were looking at the menu and did not give us enough time to order. (we literally didn’t even have 3 minutes to look at the menu mind you) Picture this, when you have a waiter standing that close to you wouldn’t you feel pressured to order? Although they close at 8, and we came at 7, if they felt the need to take our order asap they should’ve told us they were doing last calls or were closing and that alone would’ve been completely fine with us. Also while eating our food the only times Terrance came to our table was to take our plates away and that was only 2 times. The first time was to take our plates away and the second time was to give our receipt. Basically, since tip is based on how good the service is and seeing how we were treated that night, we saw on the bottom of the receipt that we could change the tip if we wanted to. So when we asked for the tip to be changed the server’s perception and how he treated us altered completely; from welcoming to inhospitable. The server that night did not deserve to be tipped that much since all they did was watch us eat and only talked to us to take the empty plates. I don’t understand why they feel so entitled for the expected 15% gratuity for giving us less than average customer service. To be honest, I don’t know why they automatically apply the 15% gratuity before you are actually served and since they apply it automatically they don’t even come to your table. What kind of service are you giving when you don’t come to our table and treat your customers terribly when they don’t pay you the 15% that you apparently deserve? Also, either way I still ended up tipping 10% so it still doesn’t justify how much their attitude changed towards us as we left the restaurant.

Secondly, the prices for their food are beyond expensive for what you get. The sisig was $20 and the portion size was below mediocre. I can go to a random Filipino restaurant and buy sisig for less than that and would have much more flavour compared to Max’s sisig. The pork adobo was very very oily and salty and the portion size was so small that we were both still hungry afterwards and for approx $20 adobo, it is not worth it especially considering how much food was on the plate. (I should’ve taken a photo but didn’t think about it at the time).

And lastly the ambience was really awkward. Inside the restaurant it looked really fancy but when you are seated they give you paper cups for water along with a jug. When dessert was served, it was given in a paper cup with a wooden disposable spoon. It felt really cheap to eat there yet having the restaurant look somewhat high end.

TLDR: You’re much better off eating at Mcdonald's or any fast food restaurant, and they provide much much better food than this restaurant. Also never been to a restaurant with terrible customer service. Thanks for reading my review and don’t waste your time or money...

First time dining here yesterday and I'm fairly pleased with the dishes and dismayed at certain experiences.

I came in with my baby, hubby and a couple other friends. We ordered the bisteak, lechon sisig, kare kare, calamares, palabok, beef sinigang, garlic fried rice along with the sagot gulaman and Leche flan.

The bisteak, kare kare and calamares were pretty standard. Same with the garlic fried rice, sagot gulaman and Leche flan.

The palabok and the sinigang were so flavourful and we enjoyed it very much! The sinigang captured the type of sourness you'd only be able to taste at home in the Philippines and I was super pleased with how it came out. The palabok was perfect!

The lechon sisig was rather dry and was our least favourite.

In terms of service, the staff was friendly and super appreciated the server that handed me the menu opened to the dessert page towards the end of our dinner as I had my baby in hand. We were however disappointed that the garlic fried rice came very delayed after the first dish, sinigang, was served. We ended up just staring at the sinigang for a notably long duration which was extremely surprising for a filipino cuisine. Everyone knows we will eat the ulam with the rice, no? So we patiently waited for the rice as the sinigang sadly cooled in front of us.

Lastly and what rather tainted my personal experience was the family restroom with the baby changing table. I'm surprised to find the hooks for, let's say, a diaper bag, was placed a considerable distance away from the changing table forcing you to step away from your infant to grab any materials you need during your diaper changing process. Parents know how finicky infants can be and it's not always the best to place your wipes/diaper and any change of clothes on the changing table as you risk your handsy infant grabbing/throwing/kicking it off in the process. While there is a safety belt attached, it is never advised to step away from an infant like that. It is unsafe and really not thought out. In addition, I'm super disappointed that considering the size of the common restroom/hand washing area, no one thought of putting a couch/comfortable seating area for nursing mothers forcing me to breastfeed my infant standing up and awkwardly in the small family restroom. Not the best experience for a nursing mother who's taking consideration for the experience of other guests in the restaurant.

Would maybe come back for the sinigang but would be hesitant while my infant is still nursing. Would recommend for those not concerned with nursing openly at the table and anyone outside of that. But maybe request to bring out the rice first -...

I tried Max again after not eating there for many years because I really wasn't impressed by the food and the price the first few times I went when they first opened.

The Max that I remember in the Philippines was really good. Tonight, upon the insistence of a family member for their special occasion, we went there for dinner. We ordered quite a few things and nothing really blew us away. The dishes were mostly disappointing.

The Sago Gulam was overly sweet. It was like sipping on straight up syrup. We ordered 3 sizzling dishes (Dencio sisig, tofu sisig and Beef Steak) and none of them came out sizzling at all. The flavours were decent.

The BBQ Skewers for $30 for 6 pieces were actually flavourful and tender BUT were served warm and not hot.

The fresh lumpia was good, though it needed more substance in the filling. I think I saw 2 tiny shrimp in there and a few shreds of carrots. The sauce was almost too sweet.

The original fried chicken was fine but a little on the dry side. The Daing na Bangus was a bit chewy in some parts. The Nilagang Baka was very tender but was a bit on the salty side. Kare-Kare was okay but lacked peanut flavour. The halo-halo was bland and mostly consisted of gulaman.

The only thing that arrived piping hot were the sweet potato fries. They charge $10 for it, and yet serve the dip in a disposable plastic to go container. Same thing for the bagoong and vinegar. They all came in disposable plastic to go containers. Imagine paying $25 to $30+ for an entree and the dips are served that way. I'd expect that from a fast food joint or a hole in the wall mom and pop shop, not a sit down restaurant where you pay at least $30 for an entree.

Our bill came up to $431 with tax and tip for 8 people. I think that's a lot to pay for mediocre food that wasn't even served at the proper temperature.

Service was prompt and polite and the restaurant is clean and spacious. The food is definitely a 1 star. There are other places in Vancouver that serve better food and don't have to rely...