Cusina Charitos — Restaurant in El Nido

Overrated, overpriced and disorganized When we were there today, we had ordered two portions of garlic rice and a portion of squid with ink intended for two people to share. Neither the waitress nor the two chefs knew if they still had squid and they had to search the fridge together, which didn't give us a good feeling. When they did find some, it took ages for us to get our food even though we were the only guests. The garlic rice didn't taste like garlic at all, it tasted like normal rice. As you pay extra to replace the normal rice with garlic rice, we thought it was worth mentioning. The squid, which was actually intended for two people, was okay in terms of taste, but it was only half a portion instead of a double portion. I asked and was reassured that this was supposed to be a portion for two people. All in all a disappointment, especially after we had seen the good rating, which the restaurant does not deserve at the moment. We went straight to the next restaurant after paying because we were both still quite hungry. A lot of room...

Lovely restaurant. So glad that we found this gem during our short stay in El Nido. Ate here two days in a row cos it is that good. Good place to try some authentic Philippine dishes that tasted amazing but still feel home cooked. The staff are very friendly and the restaurant setting is cosy and comfortable.

Our group have a mix of meat eater and vegetarian so we ordered crispy pork kare kare, vegetable kare kare and the stir-fried vegetable bowl (without rice and bigger portions) with some garlic rice and sweet potato fries. That fed four people.

The first night we were there we ordered the pork knuckles, vegetable kare kare and pandas dessert. That was quite a lot for two people but we managed to just finish. Maybe good for three people if you have a small appetite.

The host Gabriel was awesome company and also has a wealth of stories to share with the guests. Everyone in our group had so much fun dining at Cusina Charitos!

Highly recommended to add it to your...

We were really looking forward to this because of the positive reviews but we left feeling very disappointed with the food. Maybe it was just a bad day in the kitchen!

The positives are that the service was great and the setting was comfortable.

However the food wasn’t good. We ordered the pork chicken adobo, the sisig and the vegetable kare kare. The menu was limited because the specials weren’t available, which wasn’t a problem and is sometimes a good thing.

The adobo was very different to others we’ve had in the Philippines. It was quite oily and there were many fatty pieces some with no meat on it.

The vegetables in the kare kare seemed uncooked and the sauce lacked any flavour.

Lastly, the sisig didn’t taste good. It also looked different to other images I’ve seen of the sisig in these reviews, as we had no egg.

Overall a pretty...