Kuya J - SM City Lucena — Restaurant in Lucena

I don't know where to start but I'm definitely NOT having food there again. If I do go back, only for the Macapuno halo halo... That's it. Please don't waste your time especially your money for the food. They serve small portions considering the price you pay. The garlic rice platter, it wasn't a platter at all. One person can eat that. The lumpia was burnt. Wow, the pansit for a plate to share... That was disappointing! Kuya J should be ashamed. It's a total ripped off! My mum cooks better than that. I actually brought my foreign partner and he's been here in the Philippines 5 times and he's already familiar with Filipino dishes, he was not happy at all. The food was fairly ok wasn't really rubbish but come on.. we paid that much and got a 'karinderya' portion. We might as well went to a karinderya, they probably serve better food. So dearly customers, don't bother going to...

When asked, they said 20 to 30 mins waiting time, but they BARELY finished serving the dishes two and a half hours later, with disappointingly cold meals. You would've thought they were spending all that time cooking, but no, whatever is happening in that kitchen, it's neither to keep your food warm or your halo-halo cold. It's very discouraging to order more for the table during those long waiting moments. It was not a very good dining experience, we had to leave before they even find the time to finish serving the desserts — desserts that had to be switched with an alternative because 3 hrs ago, what was available is not available anymore. Ruined what was supposed to be a perfectly good time with my family. You'd be better off somewhere else. Neither the service nor the food is warm enough to be worth your penny...

Food was so-so. We ordered the tofu, fish, and dinakdakan. Desserts were coffee jelly and pandan. All were mid at best. The fish was not fresh and definitely had an aftertaste. The dinakdakan had more onions than the meat while the desserts were too sweet and felt old by the texture of them. I'd say the tofu was the best dish but it's still a few paces behind Max's sizzling tofu.

To top it all off, the service was pretty bad. The male waiter we had were pretty rude. Didn't really talk or even smile, just handed the menu, food, and receipts. Did not feel welcome to the place even though it was almost empty when we came (shocker).

The other Kuya J branch we ate at was much better than here. Definitely would not...