CUR8 — Restaurant in Cebu City

EXCELLENT SERVICE, DISAPPOINTING FOOD

I had weekend lunch with family here. The customer service and atmosphere was excellent (hence the two stars), however, all the food we ordered, while visually appetizing, fared poorly in terms of taste. All of the savory dishes we ordered were on the sweet side and seriously lacked the complex flavors one expects from an upscale casual dining restaurant.

Modern interpretations of traditional dishes are exciting but they should still exude the flavors of the original. The dragonfuit "kinilaw" tasted okay as a refreshing salad of some other kind but lacked the sourness you expect from a kinilaw. The Cambodian Yellow Curry and Beef Brisket Adobo had nice, very tender meat but both were too sweet. The curry was served with mushy pita bread, while the adobo was very watery.

As for the beef rendang bao, it had nice and soft buns, but the rendang filling was bland and lacked spiciness. It didn't taste like rendang at all! (Biggest disappointment since rendang is one of my favorite dishes to have when traveling in Singapore, Malaysia and Indonesia). I had the least complaints over the Som Tam Rice Paper Rolls which was decent but still forgettable.

Even dessert wasn't spared from disappointment. To finish off our meal, we had dragonfruit cheesecake, which was unevenly sour and lacked the richness of cream cheese. Probably better just to call it dragonfruit cake so customers won't have cheesecake expectations?

I might consider coming back here for drinks as they have an extensive bar list, but never again for their food (unless the flavors improve...

we just had our anniversary date at Cur8 and for us it was a 10/10. I dont know why they said Cur8 has small servings—they definitely not! We even had left overs because their serving is quite big for one person.

so we ordered the belly bowl, glazed beef belly bai buns, twice cooked pork belly, and mango shake.

I didn't expect the belly bowl was going to be a literal big bowl. I enjoyed it so much. It had soft boiled egg, big chunks of kimchi, and a lot of pork. For the twice cooked belly, it melts in your mouth! not chewy! big portions talaga! it was 8 big pieces and best paired with their vinegar.

the glazed beef belly bao buns are really nice too! i wish they wont remove it on their menu. Lastly the mango shake, they used real sweet mangoes, it was so refreshing and adequately sweet.

The staff were so accommodating, they replied instantly when we messaged for a reservation. They were all smiling, the service was fast, and no hassle at all. We really felt that we are valued customers earlier. We will be...

Good food, but the poor service took away from the experience. My order arrived significantly later than the rest of the table’s, and to make matters worse, they forgot the rice that was meant to go with it. It took a long time to get that sorted, which was incredibly frustrating — no one wants to sit and wait while everyone else is already eating.

Considering a service charge is included in the bill, I expected a smoother and more attentive experience. While the ambiance was pleasant, the table we were seated at was unstable, which made dining uncomfortable even after trying to level it with a piece of paper.

Overall, while the food was enjoyable, the service and small but annoying details really detracted from...