SPECTRUM — Restaurant in Makati

Update: We went back to celebrate our friends birthday yesterday evening. Unfortunately in this follow-up visit we experienced an extremely strange incident. Upon entering for the Sunday dinner buffet, we noticed that there was another customer holding a plate of grilled, giant prawns. We asked the waiter where to get those giant prawns and he told us by the hot seafood area. We went there and again asked about the giant prawns and they said no, we needed to go to the cold seafood area. We went there and we still didn't see any giant prawns so we asked the chef there, and they said we could just request them, and they would cook and bring the prawns to our table. Well we waited and waited and after 20 minutes we went back to the grilling area, and they said our prawns were still grilling and to not worry, just go back to our table. After another 15 minutes a waiter finally brought us a plate, but it was only just small shrimps! We were really shocked so we went back to the seafood area and asked to speak to the head chef. We again explained that we saw GIANT grilled prawns were available, and he apologized and said he would personally look after our order. Well, after 20 minutes nothing came so we went back and the chef there said our order was almost ready. So we just waited there, and waited there, and waited there. Finally he was bringing us something, but he was intercepted by the head chef, and he looked at the tray, then told the other chef to go back,,! Then the head chef came over to us and apologized again, and says the prawns were not prepared correctly and he would again oversee their preparation. Well after 30 minutes we were presented with a plate of small shrimps, but this time with a creamy spinach sauce smothered over and hiding the small shrimps! So again we took the plate back and complained to the head chef. This time he sheepishly explained that they had run out of those giant prawns! We admonished him for lying to us and told him it would have been better if he had just been honest with us from the beginning instead of trying to get us to accept the small shrimps. He agreed and apologized again. Then as we were going back to our table we saw someone else who had a plate of large grilled prawns! We found out where they came from but unfortunately there's only 2 left. We again spoke to the head chef and he again apologized but he could find any more of those large grilled prawns. Well we went back to our table. Later after finishing our desserts, and paying for our meal... Can you believe this? A plate of large grilled prawns was finally delivered to our table! This was 3 hours after we first requested these prawns. And by then we were so full we couldn't enjoy the prawns anymore. This part of the kitchen and the head chef are really not up to International standards! Just hoping that they can fool their customers! Really unprofessional behaviour! Also disappointed that the mocktails and fruit juices are not made from real juice! Just fake juices with no taste of calamansi and ginger. Very disappointing dining experience. Can't believe this happened in a Fairmont restaurant. They should be ashamed of themselves.

Pro tip: there's no horseradish for their beef, but you can request it. You might wait 15 minutes.

Dec 2024: We really enjoyed our Christmas buffet dinner at the Spectrum. The Hotel and Christmas decorations were gorgeous and IG worthy. Extra points to the attentive service staff and for including one (1) round of drinks from fruit juices, mocktails, house wines, or local beers. They even have imported Bavarian alcohol free beer and decaf coffee drinks! Not easy to find in the Philippines! Highlights of their buffet include their unique Teppan Ice Cream dessert, excellent rare roast beef (which they are happy to sear on the grill for you), seafood paella (but the plump shrimps disappeared too quickly), fresh seafood station ( which you can have grilled or prepared butter garlic style), polenta (again, not easy to find in Manila)...A perfect place to celebrate with family...

2024 Lunch buffet on a Saturday is worth php2900 per pax less 50% from ALLACOR PLUS membership with a total php1450 per pax for food only.

Food choices are good. Service is much better than last time. Staff are more accommodating and attentive.

Interior was good specially the sunlight entering the dining hall.

Reservation fee is needed for 8pax and above.

It would be good to allocate a parking space for customers. Valet parking was too pricey--php100 for valet only plus when u exceeded 3hrs an additional payment must be done. Too hassle. Also, the valet car was parked outdoor and the car was 100% wet due to heavy rain that day.

Toilet fronting Spectrum is a bit small. But the toilet few walk-away from Spectrum (near the elevator) was superb!

Overall, twas good to celebrate birthday on Spectrum. Still pricey 😅

2023 Good dinning interior design with huge tables.

Well ventilated air-conditioning and lights everywhere.

But the buffet food assignment location is not consistent; salads from one station to another station, noddles from one station to another station. This can improved for a better flow and selection from customers.

Staff are not accommodating. One apple juice will take you 1hr waiting time.

There's entertainment show on a Saturday night--female singer w/live acoustics. It would be better if Spectrum replaced it with something better or someone better who can produce a better sound and not just noise.

Dress code is STRICTLY smart casual as they imposed but I've seen not just one who's wearing a rubber slippers on a basketball shorts. What?!? 😅

Dinner buffet on a Saturday is worth php3600 per pax less 50% from ALLACOR PLUS membership with a total php1800 per pax for food and drinks buffet.

Reservation required 50% down-payment for 6pax and above.

Valet parking is php400 with receipt + php100 without receipt. Less php300 voucher from Spectrum. Plus the hassle of paying... from the Spectrum receptionist which didn't gave a clear instruction to valet post to parking pay machine to valet post. Twas stressful!

Over all... it's a good #tryingsomethingnew but it's NOT worth for its price, quality of foods, and...

Ate there last night with friends. Last time we ate there was 1 year ago during the same friend's birthday celebration. It's hard to believe how far they've fallen. We arrived there at 630pm and they were already out of certain seafood. Considering their weekend buffet is the most expensive for the whole week and the buffet basically just opened, this is totally unacceptable. The food variety is so poor they'd certainly lose out to vikings and buffet 101 that cost less than half of what they're charging and definitely have better food quality compared to this. I basically just tasted 1 pc of everything that seemed interesting which wasn't much at all and stopped eating. The thought of going back for seconds didn't even appeal to me. The crispy crablets were cold already and not crispy at all. The roast beef was the most disappointing. When i first ate here many years ago when they first opened, the roast beef was the one food I remembered so fondly because it was so good. This time it was so dry, tough, and the texture felt weird. It was only upon getting home that it suddenly dawned on me that it's exactly like what you'd taste when beef is reheated. It didn't occur to me at the time because i would never have thought that a hotel brand like Fairmont would actually be recycling food. If they didn't want to throw it out, the least they could have done was cook it into some other dish so it wouldn't be so obvious. Either that or they overcooked it so much it turned into meatloaf.

Maybe it also explains why the place was almost empty on a friday night with almost all credit cards offering 50% discounts for up to a party of 15 pax. Total waste of money even at 50% off. I would've been happier eating at McDonald's. At least the food is freshly cooked every time.

Service was mediocre considering the place was almost empty. We even had to remind the server twice to bring sugar for the coffee before we got it. Aren't they supposed to always be served together. We shouldn't have had to ask for it.

The experience was so disappointing I didn't even think of taking any pictures of the food which i love to do every...