Davids Tea House - Hotpot Restaurant (Tomas Mapua, Manila) — Restaurant in Manila

Went there for a date with my mom and while I dined with their other branches I figured dining in one of the "oldest Chinatown in the world" would make it more authentic.

Well, it kinda was. Never a fan of eating rice so I just went with the Dimsum sampler, their David Noodle set and Cold cuts. All of them taste great, just like what you would expect in any decently run Chinese resto. This particular branch has a hotpot menu if you fancy going for that. I didn't choose that route since I'm not feeling hotpot at that time.

While I did mention that the food taste like what you would expect for any Chinese resto, that is basically saying that there is nothing remarkable enough to write it. If you have dined in other Chinese restos like Hap Chan, or North Park expect the same level of quality on par for those. Certainly you won't get short changed like Chowking. But if you aren't adventurous enough to eat at those dirty looking restos in Binondo (that's often where the best foods are) that you'll find Chinese or Chinoy people eat, then this is the safest Choice.

The service at the resto is impeccable. I don't leave tip, but given their attentiveness and politeness I just have to leave one at least. Though there's a service charge included in the menu, I might have made a mistake on that one. 😁😂🤣

I won't be eating there again. Not because it's bad. But there are a lot of restos in the area that I would like to try. I breathe Chinese food so I kinda want to eat there...

I give this rate because of so much disappointment with your system. At first, we understand that you’re still trying to create a system on buying wholesale dimsum products for a lot of buyers. But we learned that some of your employees abused their privileged. They bought a lot and sell it outside in a higher price. That’s why most of your customer has nothing to buy due to this scheme. Especially if they are in a last number. Only a few packs left for them or worst, only selected items has left. Then, you already put a number coding system based on QP in buying the products. It is good. But why only the first 10 have the privileged to buy a much of the product? And the rest is not? All your customers are following your system. Why not give them a fair treatment? Why not divide fairly the available stock to all since you put a limit of 50pax/day? For example 100packs/50pax. So that everybody can enjoy it. Why not apply this in your system as well. We woke up early just to follow your system. Some of your customers came from a far distance just to buy your product. Why not consider it? I hope you will act on this...

So after a few years, I decide to update my review in David’s Tea House in Binondo. We went to lunch on Chinese New Year and this place was just jampacked! We had to wait in line for our turn and we were number 29.

And so my family and I ordered the usual - Polonchay seafood soup, yangchow, pata tim, salted spicy spareribs and squid calamares. You could actually spot the difference of the photo of polonchay soup in (old collaged photo) and the new photo of polonchay soup - see the texture and color? It tastes soooo different from before. You could no longer taste the authentic Chinese feels from this resto.

Pati Tim was so bland. You could hardly chew the pork spareribs. The only thing I liked was the calamares.

We ordered suahe and eggplant with minced pork but they never arrived because the kitchen missed to prepare it even if those were listed in our orders.

We were so disappointed. We could have gone to a different resto.

We normally visit this restaurant whenever we're in Binondo area. Food is...