Mama's Table Private Dining — Restaurant in La Trinidad

I don't always get the opportunity to experience fine dining but this is a long review coming from a local who has a minimal grasp of general fine dining, so please take it with a grain of salt!

This is a very leisurely-paced dining experience, I'm talking about 11am to 3pm! Eating here is not for the quick-hearted consumers, this is for the unhurried conversational food lovers. So make sure to manage your expectations and reserve almost the entire afternoon for the full experience. Best go with great company, preferably a nature-loving group you can converse with in-between!

The glass house is spacious and peaceful inside-out. You are greeted with a full display of various orchids and live indoor plants, and a clear view of a pine-filled backyard (with occasional visits of the free-roaming hen and her cute chicks) overlooking a splendid view of the neighboring mountains.

This is the time to brush up on table étiquette and get familiar with the formal dinnerware placements because there will be more than a set of spoon, fork, and knife in front of you! We were served a full course meal of 7 delicious dishes, the French way-- slowly. If I'm not mistaken, they served: l'apéritif, hors d'œuvre, amuse-bouche, main course, cheese, palate cleanser salad, mignardise/dessert.

Food serving size is mindfully portioned to accommodate the entire 7-course meal! It's actually excellent if you see it in full picture, because the next dish won't be served until you finish the first, so please do not expect servings larger than a handful!

Taste-wise I'd rate this a 9/10! Almost perfect! The dishes are exquisitely delicious, looks elegant, and are comfortably sophisticated but never intimidating! I particularly loved majority of the dishes (5/7). To give you an idea of what kind of dishes are served, here are my top 5 dishes that stood out for me the most (in the order of serving): 🍇 l'apéritif: camembert and brie honey cheese dip in bread bowl ☕ hors d'œuvre: the mushroom cappuccino soup with ginger foam 🐟 fish/amuse-bouche: deconstructed baked salmon with an assortment of confits and roasted veggies 🍝 pasta/cheese dish: the milanese white sauce mushroom and asparagus pasta 🥗 salad/palate cleanser: the lettuce mint and sprouts salad with dates, oranges, and candied almonds.

The only fallback for me is the main dish. I was the only pescatarian so my main dish felt simple compared to the rest. It could be more complex or creative but still tasted good because it was crispy cornflake sugpo with pomelo salad, which I liked! Additionally, the chocolate ganash beignet with vanilla ice cream dessert would've been perfect! I just found the sugar overcoat a tad of an overkill so it ranked 6th out of the 7 dishes.

Tbh, I'm very privileged to have been invited to a wonderful fine dining experience. For that I am beyond grateful to know there is a place like Mama's Table to gather with good friends. I'm also very happy with the availability of alternatives/options here especially for those with food restrictions/allergies/preferences. (I really love the range of food options. We need more of these bespoke and inclusive experiences in the city.) Just make sure to inform Chef ahead of time for them to prepare the ingredients!

Though serving time is spaciously paced, I actually like this setup because the food is served FRESH where each dish is prepared long enough for you to talk about what's been served infront of you (also, because Chef Vicky doesn't like to be hurried so be patient and the food will come hot and delicious)!

My overall dining experience here is definitely one for the books! I loved it so much that I'm still not over it-- the memories at Mama's Table stay with you for a few days. The aftertaste feels vibrant and sobering that I was empowered to share this magnificent experience as a way to let it all sink in and a way to truly express my appreciation for the craft and the people who made it all possible. Will recommend this place to my family, working friends, and to my relatives...

This place was recommended by a friend. So we tried the restaurant with the expectation that it is a hidden gem in Baguio.

Location:

The location is far from downtown. It gives you a feeling of excitement. Quite different from the normal easy to find resto in Baguio.

Place:

It has a big place with high ceiling and grand panorama of Baguio.

Food:

Serving was small. For you to pay 1,000php per plate for a buffet, it is too expensive and not worth the money you will pay for. There is nothing special in the food. I was expectig for more since the chef has credentials. But i think the credentials was more of the selling point that the food itself. Not the other way around.

Service:

This is the game changer of all. We were requesting for refill the food since it is not enough for the guests. But the chef insisted on her computations per grams instead of listening. She was more of on a defensive stance instead of adddressing the customers need. Customers don't care about grams. It is a restaurant thing. it is imperative that customers feel what he/she paid for was worth it.

At the end of the day, if your name is "Mama's Table", the very basic instinct of a Mom is to ensure that you feed well your children or in respect your "customers". But it did not follow.

Overall, i will not recommend the place. It is too far from downtown, food is normal, and the service was horrible.

I agree with the reviews of some customers here. The chef or owner was not pleasant...

Great ambiance which warrants the 4 Stars, that said, the place could use some serious sprucing up already. It looks tired, very twee and stuck in the 90's. There's appetizers for starters then the 8 food courses after is hit or miss. This I’d give 3 Stars as there still is a lot of effort put into it. Though personally it’s mostly a miss and it also takes too long to serve in between. But she does state the dining style is meant to be stretched out, you're to talk, savor the company, and takes about 3 hours from appetizer till you’re seated for the dinner itself, so be aware of this. My first time companions were already getting bored by the 3rd course, and were doing a countdown till the last one.

Since this is a tasting type of menu each of the 8 courses are also small. This was my second time to dine here in 4 years and there doesn't seem to be much difference from what was served before, the food cooked and served was almost the same. So in 4 years I didn't see much innovation in cooking or flavors, they were good but not impressive. Some were ok, mostly so-so, only one was what I would call great. Considering what you pay per head and how small the portions are already, my foodie cousin was also quick to point out cost cutting in portion sizes or ingredients used from last time. So if you want to have the experience and bragging rights to having eaten here it's worth going to, but that's it until it gets a, for me, much needed overhaul and blows you...