Tong Yang, SM Seaside Cebu — Restaurant in Cebu City

Last night we decided to spoil ourselves with what I thought was a premium Japanese/Chinese inspired hotpot/bbq. Considering what you can get locally, it was fairly pricey costing 688 pesos each. For this price I expected it to be a similar quality and service to what I have received in Japan. It definitely wasn't, I was extremely disappointed!

We started to eat at 7pm. I was disappointed with the meat options for the bbq. Most of the meat was very small offcuts that were majority fat. The buffet food wasn't very fresh and the dumplings we got were inedible. They must’ve been sitting there on the buffet table all day.

As we ate our food we were shocked to see a rat run down a pipe on the wall across from our table! When we informed the Store Manager he replied "Oh, you saw that. I know there's a rat....We will try to kill it tonight." He did not seem very apologetic about the situation and did not offer any compensation for this. It seems very unsanitary to have rats in your restaurant.

We continued to eat and try to make the most of the buffet. The restaurant was meant to close at 9pm and they mentioned last order was 9:45pm. To our surprised they started packing up everything at 8:30pm before we had a chance to get our dessert. We had to ask them kindly to get some ice cream for us.

To summarize our experience Definitely not japanese premium quality. Food isn't so fresh. Possible Rat Problem. Closed the buffet earlier than advertised.

After this tremendously disappointing experience we 1000% won't be eating here. I'd recommend you do the same especially if you have certain expectations on food quality...

Terrible Experience at Tong Yang in SM Seaside - NOT Worth It!

I had high expectations going into Tong Yang, especially with all their promotions about “Unli Grill, Unli Hotpot, Unli Drinks” and “over 100 meat, veggies, and more to choose from.” But honestly, this was the worst dining experience I’ve ever had.

When we arrived, the buffet stations were practically empty. No meat at all—just scraps of pork heart and chicken bones marinated in different sauces. That’s it! Even the fish section was just a pile of bones. We literally had to beg for small slices of meat fat just to get something to grill or add to our hotpot.

And this was at 7 PM! When we asked the staff if they could refill the meat section, they said that was all they had left for the night and there would be no more refills. In an “unli” restaurant, this is completely unacceptable.

Aside from the meat, there was nothing much to eat in the other sections either. The vegetable and side dish areas were almost completely bare. It felt like we walked into a restaurant that had already closed, yet it was only dinner time.

We left the restaurant extremely disappointed, yet still had to pay full price as if we’d enjoyed the full experience. If you’re considering eating here, don’t waste your time or money. Tong Yang is not living up to their promotions at all, and you’ll leave feeling ripped off.

0/10—Absolutely NOT...

TL;DR: The food is honestly mediocre for the price. Dining experience is unique, and has a nice view if you're seated in the windows. If you're looking for a unique buffet experience, this is the place.

[Sorry if the photo quality is bad]

Location - the location is quite good, the atmosphere of the place gives this authentic feel that you're eating in an Asian restaurant.

Service - The staff are helpful, and they give you a complimentary slice of cake on your birthday, so that's cool. The supply of food is also quite consistent, where the food is never gone for over 1-2 minutes and is always restocked quickly even if the venue is full

Food - There is a bountiful amount of variety in the food. There's soup where you can select every aspect of it, from the veggies and meat that go inside it, to the type of noodles that you want. There's salads, sushi, ice cream, and even meat and chicken strips that you can grill, with a sauce dip that you can fully customize, and a variety of drinks like infused water, fruit drinks, soft drinks, and even alcoholic drinks. However, even with the variety I think that the food tasted mediocre, especially the sushi. The Asian food and the soup ingredients were the only ones worth mentioning and the rest are...