Marcia Adams' Restaurant — Restaurant in Alfonso

The Lavender Creme Brûlée was bad. It was “malansa” kind of eggy. Imagine eating what’s supposed to be like smooth and firm custard but tastes like soft-boiled egg or like straight up an egg white and yolk mixed with a bit of milk and then baked. The texture and the top part were okay, though. Overall, this was disappointing. We were really looking forward to this dessert for my birthday and this was the worst. Thinking that the one we got came from a bad batch, we just asked for a new one. I asked the waiter, “Ganito po ba talaga ‘to? Eggy?” He confidently said “Yes po.” To which I replied, “Malansa??” Creme brûlée is never supposed to be THAT eggy. It’s supposed to take like freshly made custard and not a soft-boiled egg. We just asked for a new one. The server just said “Sige po. Kung yun po ang gusto niyo.” He could’ve ended it with sige po. Saying “Kung yun po ang gusto niyo.” Gave us the vibe “Kayo bahala. May magagawa pa ba ako?” lol

They also took way too long to give us our bill. Their excuse was that their machine (?) was broken. I could let go of if it weren't for the fact that we had to wait 20+ mins. We all need places to be.

Their takeout packaging is also disappointing. We were only able to eat 1/4 of the salad so we had to do takeout. (See photos) What was packed for takeout seemed way less? Do they reuse barely touched food??? Not to mention it’s my first time taking out salad that’s packaged in a Ziplock bag? This is not never how salads are supposed to be packed for consumption. Salads are supposed to have ventilation. It came home all “lanta” and gross. I mean for their pricing, they could’ve at least bought the right type of packaging for their food. This is disappointing.

What we ordered:

Appetizers:

Hummus with Tortilla Chips - Would come back for the dip. It was flavorful and had umami. The tortilla was kind of stale and smaller than what we were expecting. These are the smallest tortillas we’ve tried.

Amalfi Prawns - Tender, flavorful, and juicy BUT only one piece was a prawn! Lol. This order comes with 4 prawns. The other three were too small to be prawns. Shrimp, sure. Pricey considering 1 out of 4 pcs could only be considered as prawn.

Mains:

Melon, Prosciutto, and Arugula Salad - an okay dish. No complaints other than the takeout packaging. The dressing was simple but pulled the salad together.

Italian Pork Chop - I’ve read some reviews saying this was too salty but it suits our liking! This is the star of the show. Taste, texture, food combo on one plate are all good! We didn’t regret ordering this one for sure.

Sides: Marble Potatoes- good but serving size is small.

Desserts:

Lavander Creme Brûlée - need I say more? I couldn’t try the second one kasi nawalan na ako ng gana talaga after the first egg brûlée. jk. Kidding aside, according to my companion, the second one they gave us wasn’t as bad as the first but there was still some lansa. The ideal texture is there. I just wish they’d improve this one because it’s not supposed to taste like this. This was our first time eating bad creme brûlée.

Lemon Panna Cotta - simple and balanced. Flavor, texture, and everything else in between were light, sweet, tangy.

We’re unsure of whether this is worth another visit, but if ever, go on a weekday and go find the server named Mr. Kim. He was supposed to be our server for our visit. Unfortunately he wasn’t able to go to work that day so we were assigned different servers. Had he been our server, I feel like things would’ve panned out different. The server who dealt with our egg brûlée/creme brûlsh*t, I mean, creme brûlée issue wasn’t...

PROS: Rustic garden feel, ok planning phase, food was good, sound quality of their speaker was good

CONS: No signboard, patio chairs were rusty, limited parking, walkway is quite steep,, VERY poor customer service, no covered waiting area, blamed us REPEATEDLY for arriving early to our event, did not follow many of our agreed arrangements, staff were not briefed on details like drinks and table setting arrangements so staff were dazed and confused, poor table arrangements, use of other areas for just an hour can set you back PhP7k, not having a coordinator even for a small party of 28 may throw them off, wanted to serve welcome drinks at 4pm - time of ceremony.

At the end, we just tried to make light of the situation just to get through the event.

Marcia Adams insisted that part of the wedding family and some of the guests arrived early. We were a party of 28. Not a HUGE crowd. A very few arrived early but most did not arrive until close to the start of the event. Reason for that was because we encouraged our guests to make an allowance for the the massive traffic that Marcia Adams is aware of due to the ongoing roadworks on Emilio Aguinaldo Road and our event being in the busy month of December. We stressed the importance for our guests to be on time as we did not want to go over the time limit allotted to us. (Anything over the 30-minute grace period we were given, even by just a minute, will be an extra PhP15,000).

Granted that we were early, it was a blessing that we were. Otherwise, we would not have caught everything that were not followed and would not have had the time to correct them. I was told that they typically do not let any party members enter the area prior to the time of the event. It was raining that day and Marcia Adams DOES NOT HAVE A COVERED WAITING AREA. Because of that, is it surprising if the guests naturally proceeded to the event area?

They can insist all they want that we were early and caught them in their setting up phase. But, truth be told, whatever was already set up, were NOT according to what we had agreed upon and their staff did not have a clue on the details we agreed on and there is no excuse for that.

I did speak to the point person at Marcia Adams directly after the event to give them a feedback. They did take some responsibility for their shortcomings but I don't appreciate being repeatedly blamed for arriving too early given the conditions mentioned here. We may have different point of views but this is MY customer experience which i am sharing with other potential patrons who are considering them. If they can't handle a small party, what more an even bigger one?

Instead of Marcia Adams, I would recommend Sonya's Garden instead. The difference in the quality of their service is like...

This was for my sisteraka's bday celeb and for 5 pax.

Food - The servers will give you a menu and explain the 3 course meal that they offer. Can share naman with everyone disclaimer lang. For our mains, we had italian porkchop (Superb, savory, Ate's order generous portion size, the porkchop can feed two pax), Blue Marlin Kebab (I guess? Sis BF's order, Well-marinated, so far, my favorite out of all the mains we ordered, no pic), Bacon and beef kebab (I guess, My lil sisterakas order, medium cooked, it was tender and awesome as well comes with rice and yogurt sauce?), Carbonara with baked mussels (My order, we had to have pasta sa order, so I did, it was creamy, superb taste too!), lastly, Aromatic Pork (My lil bro's order, hint of sweetness is there, comes with pickled pineapples and onions I think, smokey and flavorful, loved it too!) Their main course orders come with rice. For our appetizers, we had the dips, baba ganoush for me and my ate's BF, Hummus for my Lil bro (both comes with semi toasted pita), tzatzika for my lil sis (comes green nacho chips?), and tomato salsa for my ate (comes with focaccia bread that's also their complimentary bread). On the table they have the olive oil and balsamic so you can create your own dip for the complimentary bread. For the desserts, my ate, lil sis and ate's BF ordered panna cotta with lime sauce. Panna cotta was not overly sweet which is good, the lime sauce was also good, the sourness and hint of sweetness compliments the panna cotta. I ordered lavender creme brulee, it was not overly sweet, the creme brulee was good as well. My lil bro order fried bananas with chocolate dip. It was normal, the chocolate dip was good and a lil bit on the sweet side. It's 5 out of 5 for all our orders, (cannot find any flaws). Btw, salads and soups can replace the dip appetizers, however, there's an additional charge. The price of the 3 course meal will depend on the mains you will choose. (Sadly, I forgot to take a pic of the menu and the blue marlin kebab. Lol always hungry.)

Service - the servers were attentive and proactive with our needs, they interact as well.

Atmosphere - we went there at 10am, so opening talaga, ate said that a lot of peepz go there from merienda to dinner cause of the sunset and the chandeliers and stuff. If you're fond of nature, the atmosphere is for you. Since summer ito, may pagkamainit lg but they have fans to compensate the...