Cafe Josefina — Restaurant in Capas

I’ve been seeing friends and relatives posting photos about this place. I was intrigued then but didn’t actually think of going to the place to experience this relatively new coffee place myself coz I thought it’s quite far, it’s in the province next to ours, though where I live is the border to this province. Fate have intervened and friends invited me to join them to come and dine in this café. It’s located along the way and it’s not too far from where I live, around 30-45 minutes travel time. The coffee shop is inside a recreational compound. It’s very packed but the surrounding area is calm and super relaxing. There’s I believe is a man-made mini lake with ducks swimming freely around and there’s a pair of canoes that you can use to go around it. They have a diverse menu from pasta to rice meals and some cakes too. I forgot to actually try one of their cakes that I found interesting. Anyway, we ordered Fries, Cesar Salad, Pasta Emerenciana (chicken pesto), Pasta Gambas (spicy shrimp pasta), Beef Stroganoff rice meal, Iced Spanish Latte and Iced Caramel Macchiato. Mine is Iced Spanish Latte and I’m not really an Iced Coffee person, I like my coffee hot regardless of weather but this time though, I didn’t feel like drinking hot coffee so I went for Iced Spanish Latte, a new addition to their coffee series. I highly recommend it! It’s so good! Their foods tastes good too! Also, I thought I need to mention it, except from the plastic straw, their utensils are actually disposable wood, so they’re somehow environment friendly. The only downside is, when I asked for a service water, we were told that they don’t have a service water, rather, a bottled water which comes with a price tag of course. But later, I saw a waiter carrying a pitcher of ice cold water being served on the other table. Say, given the benefit of the doubt, that maybe priced as well? I didn’t bother to ask. Anyway, the prices are reasonable. Their drink menu is priced at 139 and 149 depending on the size. Their food menu’s prize ranges from 128 - 998. Overall, this is a very good place to hang out with. Very relaxing and quite peaceful at least during the weekdays. I heard that when you go there on the weekends, it gets really packed and the waiting time for your orders is...

I had the worst experience with this restaurant. We went in and paid our orders at 12:35 pm ( btw they don't accept cc, cash/gcash only) we ordered salad, 2 meals and 2 drinks. The drinks went in first and after like 5 to 10 mins the salad came.

20 mins have passed and the couple who ordered just before us received their meal. So we thought, ok our meals might be up next. But boy we are wrong. Another 15 mins have passed and we decided to follow up like 3 people. One waiter took our receipt and went to the kitchen. The water who took our order told as a lame lie about the order machine burned , idk something like that. And they are already prioritizing our order. But its impossible because part of our order was already served ( salad and drinks ). Are they saying that our order was printed in different papers?

Ok so we decided to wait. 15 mins have passed ( so now total of 1 hour ) . The couple who went in before us have finished their meals and are to take off and suprisingly the family who came in recently got their order first. So thats it we cancelled our order and demanded a refund instead. The cashier and waiters are underwealhmingly unapologetic. We lost out appetite

There are like 10 waiters just walking past through us the whole time and no one bothered to check on us. Note that there are not so many people during that time. The manager is also not friendly, usually they do check on customers.

About the food. So i can only review the salad and drinks

Salad: large lettuce leaves with 5 slices of dried cold chicken with literally a dash of cheese LOL. So i asked for extra cheese and they provided me ( promise this is true ) half teaspoon of parmesan LMAO

Drinks: lame excuse for a fruit juice. Divisoria flavoring juice concentrate that taste like medicine mixed with warm watter and some ice.

Ok they have a nice place but consider eating...

Went on a Sunday around 6pm. It truly is a beauty at night. Ambience is undoubtedly good and there's an ample parking.

Our waiting time prior to getting seated took around 15 mins. We also noticed their ordering system is a bit weird. Once seated, they'll get your order then ask for your payment right away (wc u then need to settle at their cashier section). Only after that you'll be given a number. Serving time takes around 45 mins due to # of guests.

They do provide service water but in small cups. They also serve the ordered drinks right away (we ordered mostly frappes) wc I think is not a good strategy because they'll make the customer feel full right after. Of all the frappes we tried, chocolate chip cream stood out the most. Butter beer just simply tasted caramel. Iced Spanish latte was quite good.

Good range of cakes are offered here as well. Their blueberry cheesecake is best seller for a reason. It's moist and sweetness is just right. They also offer pupuccino for the fur babies for P20.

As for the food, everything we ordered were good (beef stragonoff, beef salpicao, honey pork belly, salisbury steak, pasta Josefina, pasta Emerenciana, matimig clubhouse sandwich). They were tasty, creamy and meats are quite soft. Salpicao rice meal stood out the most to us. Price wise, those we ordered are within 159 to 279 range.

Apart from these, their attendants are mostly friendly and attentive. I believe this is a big improvement food- and customer svc-wise based on the past reviews.

We just wished that metal utensils and water pitcher are provided (not their usual disposable wooden ones and small cups of water). Also a few flies may spoil the al fresco dining so hoping this will be...