Big Bad Bowls — Restaurant in Iloilo City

I had high hopes for this spot based on past visits, but my recent experience left a lot to be desired. The ramen? Mehhhh—it's just not up to par with the richer, umami-packed bowls from other ramen joints around Iloilo. It felt flat and uninspired, like it was missing that soulful depth. Even more frustrating, they've apparently axed their Mexican dishes from the menu, which used to be a standout highlight for me.

The real low point, though, was the service—absolutely atrocious. Right as I sat down, I overheard a heated argument between a delivery rider and the staff, which I brushed off at first. I placed my order without issue, but one item, the gyoza, never made it to my table. No biggie, I thought, as long as it wasn't tacked onto the bill. Spoiler: It was. When I went to settle up, I politely flagged it to the counter staff, who then had to call the kitchen for confirmation. She got no straight answer and ended up personally checking my table to verify. Meanwhile, I could hear the kitchen crew cackling loudly inside, like it was all a big joke and none of it mattered.

At that moment, it clicked why the delivery rider was so furious earlier. The kitchen team seemed more focused on gossiping and horsing around than delivering decent service—or caring about customers at all. It was painfully obvious the counter staff wasn't at fault; she was the one stuck front and center, apologizing profusely for the mess. I felt bad for her and even told her so: "Indi man ini imo sala, pero galinangka gid ang mga upod mo kag wala gid sila gacare sa ila obra o sa mga bisita."

Overall, this place has potential, but until they sort out the back-of-house chaos, I'll be sticking to the competition. Two stars at best—mostly for the counter...

Changed my review to 2-star. (UPDATE: Changed my review to 1-star in all aspects, details st the lower part)

Services and Food Taste are inconsistent and unsafe in our case. 1st time we went there was fine, we were given chili sauce that goes with our ramen. Chashu Ramen tasted good. But 2nd time we went there, no chili sauce for our ramen (they said we have to pay extra for it), the mung bean sprouts smelled funny, and there was a thin metal wire in one of our friend's ramen (we brought it up to their attention so it doesn't happen to others).

Staff are lifeless. 2nd time we went there, nobody even welcomed us despite the place being empty of customers. One of the staff was playing mobile games in front of customers and ignored us when we tried to call him to ask for the bill. We had to raise our voice to get his attention.

1-star review: The meat inside the gyoza smelled really bad. The room inside is hot despite their “aircondition unit”. Also the worst part of our experience is despite us getting separate order slip because we wanted to separate our bills to be paid separately, the lady staff keep insisting that we pay the summed total bill by one gcash. We pointed out that we ordered on separate order sheet for the very reason that we want to pay separately but the staff kept on insisting that we just pay the whole bill. We paid in gcash and we have to collect our payments in one gcash account first before sending it to their gcash number. Not so nice, it’s a restaurant where you have to make it figure things out so that it will be convenient for...

We were in Iloilo on a rainy night and couldn’t head out for dinner, so we looked for late-night food options—and I’m so glad we found this place!

They were one of the few restaurants still open around 9 PM and available for delivery. We ordered their bibimbowl, spicy tonkotsu ramen, and gyoza—and everything was so good! The standout for me was the spicy tonkotsu ramen—the broth was rich, flavorful, and perfect for the cold weather. It really hit the spot on a rainy night.

For something that was delivered late, the food still came fresh and flavorful. Definitely a lifesaver that night—and now one of the places we’ll look forward to visiting again when we come back to Iloilo.

Highly recommended, especially if you’re craving comforting, warm dishes on...