Calle Arco Restaurant — Restaurant in Pagsanjan

Quite a find! The service is quite good and the food... the food... ah. One has to taste the unique andyet somehow familiar Sinigang na Baka with Langka. It's excellent! Along with their fresh Paco Salad (blanched young fern fronds) garnished with kesong Puti (native cottage cheese).

They had an ampalaya (bittermelon) dish which I wanted but unfortunately they sauteed it with pork. Seeing my disappointment (since I don't eat pork) the waiter volunteered to have their cook whip up one order of the ampalaya using chicken!! When it was served, it was simply awesome! I rarely gush over food and this is one instance where I hardly restrained my gusto with expressions like "Wow!, mmmmmmm!, yum!"

I saw they had crepes in their Menu. That is one thing I want to try next time I'm in Pagsanjan. Of course another serving of the paco salad and sinigang na baka. ;)

So why not EXCELLENT? Well the four mosquitoes (yes, I counted) and one or two flies hovering, kinda knocked off a teensy weensy bit off the joy in an otherwise pleasurable...

We had lunch on Maundy Thursday. A parking attendant assisted us. Good thing as traffic was bad and side street parking was the only option. We had prior reservation so when we arrived, table was already set-up with our ordered dishes. Grilled pla-pila with coconut cream and paco, bangus belly with mango sauce, pinakbet, sinigang na hipon and green mango salad. Surprisingly, the green mango salad was served without bagoong but with a liquid mixture of I do not know. But it was good. My youngest enjoyed the sinigay as she loves shrimp and pla-pla. Fish was cooked to its bones as meat separates well from it. The sauce was flavorful. The bangus dish was a new find. Good flavor. Every vegetable in the pinakbet was consumed, meaning the flavor blended well. We took home a couple of their bagoong in jars (haven't tried yet but the aroma is inviting) and some chips. The place boasts a century old piano and vibe is an old house, typical of those in Pagsanjan, Laguna. The place was packed but service crew were very attentive....

I've been wanting to try this restaurant but today was a bit of disappointment. We were welcomed by their server and led us to a seat at the corner. The ambience was soothing and calm. There were only 3 tables by that time and all the tables have been served already. We ordered liempo and ampalaya con carne. The food was normal, nothing extravagant, not so tasty and ampalaya wasn't appealing. The worst part was our table was full of flies and the servers didn't even bother to offer a candle or a fan. There were 5-6 servers in the house but only 2 were active serving those tables. I don't know their standards but I feel like they were not bothered at all if the guest is satisfied or not. Upon billing out, the server who served us was also the cashier who handled our payment. I'm writing this review because your food is not cheap and I hope you can improve your service. Guest satisfaction is very important and I'm sorry that I didn't get that so I will not come back anymore, nor recommend it...