The Lark — Restaurant in La Union

Updated review: For some reason the owner changed the menu in August to local dishes. Most of all the special middle eastern delicacies are gone. Unfortunately the new concept is not working for us. Local food we can eat at home. We tried some of the new dishes, but it was tasteless and blend. I ordered additionally Spaghetti Bolognese, coz I am starving and I thought you can’t do anything wrong on this simple dish, but my disappointment was huge. Very tiny portion, the minced meat you can count, absolutely tasteless. Unfortunately we didn’t make any images due to our disappointment, but we talked to the management that we dislike the new concept and prefer not coming back. Sorry, but maybe the concept is more working for local customers. Our updated rating is down to 🌟🌟.

1st review with Middle Eastern dishes: Hidden behind the People’s Park in San Juan you find a gem, the LARK. The team welcomes you already on your way up the stairs and the second you enter the restaurant you will be flashed by the big selection of excellent spirits in the bar. A cozy atmosphere welcomes you. The very attentive service team accompany you to your table were you immediately receive some ice water. The menu is mostly based on Middle Eastern Cuicine, you will not find the traditional local food. We decided to go for a soup and salad for starter, Falafel and the Baby Back Ribs as main course complemented with a Thai Style Ice Tea. The Tahini Rainbow Salad with the sesame dressing was excellent, so was the Lentil soup. The Baby Back Ribs were succulent, juicy and fell off the bone. Instead of the boring rice LARK is serving adlai, a kind of barley on the side👍 The Falafel came with pan fried veggies, a flat bread and dippings. In addition you should order the Hummus to complete your dish. As courtesy of the house every female guest received a slice of chocolate cake as dessert🍰. The coffee at the end of the meal was perfectly brewed with a nice crema on top. A perfect Sunday brunch which ask for more visits to try the...

So, I have been craving for a good steak for the past 2 weeks and heard from a friend that their steak was really good. Finally had the time to go there last night (13th of May) and ordered their steak, medium rare. Even repeated to the wait staff a few times that I wanted it MEDIUM RARE. I finally received the order, first slice, I thought it was just because it's from the side that's why it may appear as over done. 2nd slice, still the same. So I decided to slice in the middle and saw that it's over done, Medium Well, if not, well done. Called the staff, had it replaced, only to find out that I was, again, served with a medium well done steak. Asked for the chef and told her about it and had it again replaced. Sadly, the 3rd time was still over done. The staff came to ask how was the taste and I just said that the taste is okay but they still served me an over done steak. I already gave up at this point and just ate it anyway. They offered me a complimentary dessert (a tiramisu), which was a nice gesture but it had this "defrosted" kind of taste. Was quite disappointed with my experience. Especially that I have looked forward to having a nice steak here in San Juan. First photo was the first steak they served. I didn't get to take a photo of the 2nd serving. Second photo was the one I ended up eating and the third one was the complimentary dessert...

Ambiance is great, far from the crowd of San Juan. Food is surprisingly ok for its price. The cocktails were a bit high in price.

Ordered the ff:

Liempo - it’s ok, a solid 3. Not the oily kind. Could be juicier.

Salted Egg ensalada - Good, hope they can add eggplant next time for more ensalada feels

Kansi - THE BEST! 5/5. Flavors were bursting! Got the sourness right with the malinamnam feels. Beef portions was good for 3 pax. This is better than Manam.

(not in photo)

Lemon Yoghurt Cheesecake w/ Raspberry something on the side - 5/5 I fell in love

Tapsilog - 3.5/5 - was a bit hard to chew. Their rice cups are also a bit smaller than what we usually are used to in Manila.

Gave the service a 3 because one server when we dined last June 8 around 8:30M kept getting our orders wrong. He also didn’t write out orders initially hence getting our orders incorrectly. Hopefully he improves.

Overall it’s a food restaurant in La Union!! Love love the lark! Hope they have bigger portions of rice next time + more options...