Fino Deli — Restaurant in Marikina

BAD and NOT GOOD this Valentines day experience unlike before with my wife birthday w family. When my wife arrived guard is courteous and encourage not go far and they will accomodate us. Waiter welcome my wife and mentioned we are 1st in waiting list and shown already full course meal per person. Ok said wife, but when waiting it was not.mentioned there were allot of reserved in their list. So waiting is long, the waiter still telling us that we shall be seated already. Pero tagal pa. But 1hr to 1.5hr until we were seated at long-last. Sana sinabi agad na mahaba list nag pareserve at they still accomodating mga reserved maski di dumating in time tapos haba na pila sa line ng walkin. Long wait has come but Allot of table are vacant, but they seated us in the corner in back room. They said waiter Greg to serve us in our table and accomodate us but he is always not in our table, in our corner and worst not in the room. Even other waiters...dami nila pero they are more focus sa main room. So imagine you have to call and wave far and to another room. Tapos they insist only set meal is available pero not mentioning only 2 main dishrs are available no more yun fillet mignon. That's OK pero marami not good happened. Wala sila room at once they walk toward the kitchen door they are not looking at customers area tables , we might calling them for something. Wave hard enough to be noticed. Another bad, you need to ask pa to serve every course with asking when it will be serve but others tables were served especially at main area sa front even not asking. Sila waiters pa.mismo mag serve. 😢😢 1more, nung 1 ask more refill bread while waiting at ok lang daw...no more bread came...not.mentioning what status. Talaga every serving you have to wave them to ffup. Grabe...hirap tawagin kasi layo nila marami naman sila. Bad trip!!! Bad experience!!! I posted this kasi I kept texting 0906 number sa Google map phone details walang response! Also I post this to improve especially those waiters who told us we are 1st in waiting list at next kami...marami para list ng reserve at di.niya binibigay vacant table sa main room maski 1 1/2 na kami hintay...kanto at Dulo ng room...OKs lang sana yun pero service pa ng waiter namin na si Greg name. Di mahagilap sa area.namin at sa within the room. Sana meron pagination ganun sya...sya ang nakatutok sa area namin. Maski.maraming table sa room namin sana nandun lang sya serving mga table sa room na yun..eh wala lagi...maski ibang waiter wla. This is for owner input to correct this manners and way handling customers...

It was our second time here sa Fino Deli, this time only by ourselves on a date for Valentine's. They had a set 4-course menu with complimentary wine. The experience itself was a breeze; madali mag pa-reserve ng table (in advance a month before), relatively easy to navigate, and of course, table service was great.

The food was refreshing - nothing was over- or under-seasoned and everything felt fresh and not thawed. The appetizers we got were croquette which was delicious especially yung truffle sauce! Unfortunately, there was a mixup with the order I initially placed which was for the ensalada but was mistakenly served the bone marrow. No worries parin though kasi it was surprisingly light and vibrant.

The soups were surprising! My partner ordered yung mushroom soup, and mine was the shrimp soup, and let's just say we definitely got what we ordered. The mushroom soup was earthy, with deep, savory flavor coming from the mushrooms. Unfortunately, hindi ko natanong sa waiter namin what type of mushroom/s were used pero it was a very familiar flavor! As for the shrimp soup naman, it hits you in the face with a loud taste of umami. It was shrimp soup alright, but was really well balanced with the sweetness of cream (?) and some carrots. Oh, and I think it used hibe. The soups were definitely one of our favorites from the night!

For the mains, we ordered the filet mignon and the salmon wellington. The fillet mignon was reasonably seasoned, paired with grilled veggies, sitting on top of a bed of mashed potato. Veggies? Buttered, seasoned, and grilled to perfection. Ang sarap, lalo na yung beans! The steak? Great seasoning, believably tender, but could use more crust. The mashed potato? A bit on bland compared to everything else, even when paired with the steak, sauce, and the veggies. Maybe the chef meant for it to just carry everything else? As for my order, the salmon wellington, I think, yung best thing on the menu na pinili namin. Flaky puff pastry covering a really amazing salmon steak, topped with a white sauce I hadn't forgotten about. Ang sarap nito sobra. And again, no miss parin sa veggies nila with beans and this time, roasted potatoes!

Lastly, the desert. It was pavlova but with blueberries and vanilla ice cream. You cannot go wrong with meringue, a berry of some sort, and vanilla ice cream.

We also really enjoyed the wine pairing. The waiter recommended the moscato for the wellington, and the sangria for the steak. Both perfect...

The restaurant looked great, inside and outside. Upon entering, we were greeted by a very courteous and accommodating host. You see my reservation was at 7:30 but I was early, coming in at 7pm. They still accommodated me with no issues at all. It's to be noted that they are almost full with one table left. We ordered the French onion soup, roasted pumpkin soup, the seafood pasta (forgot the exact name) and the chicken Kiev. We paired it with their chardonnay and cabernet sauvignon. Food came on time, not much of a wait. I liked how the soups were presented. The roasted pumpkin soup was perfect, but I would have preferred a different cheese used in the French onion soup. The pasta and chicken were served next. I liked the pasta, I didn't like the chicken, (I've made Kiev better tbh) it was dry and though it was saved partly by their mashed potatoes. I noticed how the pasta grew old on me so fast but since the chardonnay was good, it made me re-enjoy the pasta then and again. I made a remark to my companion at the time that it's noisy for a fine dining restaurant but it immediately quieted down when a big group of people left. To summarize, I'll come back because it felt like I could have a good time especially with their wine selection. The service was great. For accuracy I rate Fino Deli 3.5 out of 5. They don't deserve a 3 and I was let down by the main dish for a 4. What I know for sure is they could be easily a 5 with some minor tweaks. Looking forward to a weekend for wine night on this...