Tender Bob's - Shangri-La Plaza — Restaurant in Mandaluyong

It's been a while since we have eaten at Tender Bob's. Must have been about a decade ago at their Greenhills branch. Funny, because when Bambi Meer and his family were starting out Meat Plus at Subic in the late 90's I was always there whenever there was a circuit race. Bambi loved cars and so did I. We would see each other at my car shop in ATC and on race weekends in Subic.

Then, they brought Tender Bob's to Manila in 2000. Starting with their Libis branch, they now have 6. They also have Kettle and Fireside. On his own, Bambi has Koku, a Japanese restaurant in Makati.

Food - 5*, their experience and expertise shines through with our orders of Ribeye Steak (₱675) and the phenomenal Braised Shortribs (₱725). And just because I needed a drink, I ordered a Coke (₱105). My wife stuck to her homemade Kombucha. With our senior discounts, from an original amount of ₱1,505 we paid ₱1,182.50. The privilege of being old haha.

Simple is always great and Ribeye cooked with salt and pepper on medium doneness is hard to beat if you have fine meat. To vary the taste experience, my wife first ate the Ribeye on its own without condiments then added gravy, then gravy mixed in with the Tender Bob's Steak Sauce which she immensely enjoyed. I, on the other hand did not dare mess with the brilliance of their Shortribs because it was tender, succulent, meaty with the glorious mix of collagen rich tendon that practically melted in my mouth.

Another plus factor was the homestyle mashed potatoes done from scratch. Other restaurants would resort to premixed ones or those that come in a box, not Tender Bob's and you would immediately notice and thank them for that.

One thing I missed though was their superb Apple Pie Ala Mode. It wasn't available when we dined.

It is interesting to note that the Meers have their own meat supplier from the US and before I remember them bringing in choice and quality meat through Subic Freeport. Now, I am no longer aware if it's still their practice.

Service -5*, all their servers were attentive and willing to please. Special mention to their Store Manager, Gio, who has been with TB for 20 years and rose from the ranks. Speaks well of how they care for their people. He and I had a good chat.

Atmosphere - 5*, clean, functional and homey with a diner vibe

Parking - 4*, though there are many parking slots, I still am critical of the sharp turns, narrow ingress/egress of their ramps and the overall traffic along EDSA.

Since I live in Makati, my solution is to park at One Ayala and take the MRT to Shaw and go down at the EDSA...

Ordered the skillet steak. Flavor is beat by cheaper steaks. Medium-rare tenderness was lacking. Steak sauce and bbq sauce don't help the lack of flavor. Onion rings and potato bomb weren't good. Mango shake was too sweet. Server knocked the hand of the other server when serving rice, and a fly was on the utensils that the seater tried giving me upon entry. It's still here. Service is good but this place ranks very low in terms of flavor of any of the dishes I tried today. I'm leaving a fifth of the 2,500 steak I ordered behind. I was starving and now I'm still a bit hungry. So much for my treat day. Suggestions: get a real steak chef, serve soda water, make sure your signature dish is freaking awesome and fix the sauce. Get rid of the butter. Serve bread to...

We were all happy with our orders. All the beef meals were really tender and juicy unlike other restaurants who serves dry beef.

Potato skins were on point as well. I like that the dips are generous enough to have two flavors, cheese and sour cream.

The only item that fell short was the clam chowder (was not able to take a picture of it). Something was off, not sure if had overcooked green peppers or bell peppers, or might old ones. But I like how it was served in a bread bowl.

We were seated on the mall hallway, not sure if the mall AC was scars on that side or it was the pin light, either-way felt warmer while I was seated versus when we were walking around the mall.

Overall they served good food with fast service, definitely a place that...