Holy Smoke Mediterranean Food House — Restaurant in El Nido

Tasty by night, tasteless by day - a Mixed review of Holy Smoke 🌯 that unfortunately comes in at a 2 ⭐️ (although my bf said it should be a 1). 😞

Let me say, we came here twice!! First time I would have happily given it a 4 ⭐️! The food and it’s sauce were ok/good. We got a beef Turkish kabab with a side of falafel for takeaway. The service was fast. It was a Saturday night around 10pm.

The next time I returned it was a weekday at 12 noon. Most of the staff was sitting around tucked back eating while only one man was at the grill. Only after paying did they tell me it would take 15 minutes to prepare. (Double the time as last!) And I was trying to catch a ferry.. Kinda stressful but more disappointing was getting on the ferry and biting into a tasteless shawarma. My boyfriend said the same of his - it was a completely different from the other night - and not good.

My chicken shawarma had a chewy weird texture and only after taking a few bites did I start to believe it may be undercooked. (Maybe cause they knew I was trying to catch my ferry?) Needless to say, I have bad stomach pain and issues now 🤢

I did read some of the other reviews and the owners response just now and can only say, the food quality and service is inconsistent. I live in the Philippines and understand bad water, as well as coming back as a business after Covid so I’m not trying to be hurtful. But I do wonder if maybe the grills are always on at night and the food is already heated and seasoned making it tasty. Vs just out of the refrigerator on a cold grill by day? Because something was very different and not for the better. Hope this helps. 🙏🏼

1 beef Turkish kabab 1 chicken shawarma drinks = 810₱ for 2 person...

The food was good, a little pricey but tasted delicious. The main problem was the waitress. She was not only super slow and ignorant, she was also neither polite nor service-oriented at all. We ordered two loaded fries, and while my partner had his plate already finished, I was still waiting for my food. All people around us were served already and I waited a total of 45 minutes for my food. I had to ask three times, then got the wrong food, had to tell her again what I ordered and waited - again. When my food arrived, she didn’t even say anything to acknowledge the situation. We asked for the check, she nodded, and went standing behind the counter, playing with her hair and looking around. After waiting another 10 minutes, we asked another waiter for the check who told us we can only pay downstairs. All in all: bad experience, bad customer service,...

We weren’t supposed to eat here after we came from another restaurant requiring a reservation, looked for another place to eat and just found Holy Smoke —- basing it from the Google Maps reviews. If you just want a good place to satisfy your Mediterranean cravings, this a go to place. Big servings literally, my son who is a picky eater in restaurants liked their Beef Kebab rice bowl, ordered a Chicken shawarma- 👌, pizza was good. Ambiance was great, if you prefer eating al fresco — no airconditioning but with big windows, hands down good service from the staff. I just hope they have a bigger place where there is another room that has airconditioning as not everyone will like Al Fresco style dining and also the beany bags are quite old and they tend to deflate when used for seating so someone taller will not be comfortable...