La Vara Restaurant — Restaurant in Panglao

There was no wait when we came in around 6pm, so we got seated right away.

There were at least 2 occupied tables when we sat.

Ordered only 2 food and a beer: Calamari Fritti battered Fried Squid with smoked Paprika butter sauce with Black Garlic Aioli (not crispy at all, and batter tasted “grainy”. As if it wasn’t mixed well) Grilled Garlic -Basil Chicken with Mango Quinoa marinated Chicken fillet in garlic & basil, with Mango quinoa and Mango Basil Sauce (without the Mango, I wouldn’t have been able to finish this at all). The sauce tasted weird, and the whole bowl tasted very, very bland (not considering the Quinoa) Food took too long to be cooked/served (about 30mins). Same with bill payment (when asking for the bill, it took at least 15mins for the server to take our payment). Place is open, no A/C, plenty of mosquitoes

Food: 1 star Service: 2 star (only because our server smiled a lot, very polite & respectful) Ambiance: 3 star Nice looking tents and huts, but since it’s open, it was very warm, humid and plenty of mosquitoes Cleanliness: 3 star

When in Bohol, I don’t believe we’ll eat here again, nor will I recommend this to a friend or somebody I know. The place looks nice for “Instagram” though. But my praise ends there.

Compared to other places that I’ve been, 2 stars for this restaurant is already generous. Of course, reviews are subjective and it usually depends on comparison...



zandroalbertg (16 reviews)

Adventurous spins on resto favorites. Interesting variations on seafood plus pasta themes, or beef or surf and turf themes.

We tried the Camaronara. It came as a solo portion at Php 350.00. Nothing fancy. You can approximate the dish at home.

Ordered Seafood Gochujang. Staff forgot to place the order. Changed it to Frankfurt cheese burger. It was tasty, tangy, spicy. Home made skinless Hungarian Spicy sausage, on chili con carne and coleslaw. Again a solo size offering at Php 280.00. The chips on the side were storebought, chewy, uncrisp.

The taro milkshake was good, the strawberry milkshake, made from purely storebought ingredients.

The place has a nice ambiance, with option to dine in glamping style tents. Staff are new, very green. Misses on common courtesies, but that's probably just due to inexperience.

The rest of the menu seems interesting. But if you're looking for portion:value for money, you may be daunted with it's upscale Makati/BGC pricing.

Then again you're far away from home, and...

My partner and I are both foodies, having lived in the Mediterranean and read the reviews, checked the pictures, we were expecting a lot more but we were thoroughly disappointed! I've lived in the Philippines long enough knowing not to expect great cuisine but honestly this was abismal.

We ordered the "Chorizo and Shrimp Skillet" and the "Fireside Fiesta Paella"

Firstly the skillet was not served on a skillet (not the end of the world) the Chorizo was so bland (again, not expecting Spanish Chorizo but still flavourless and oily) even the shrimp had little to no flavour.

I honestly don't think the "Paella" had been seasoned, like literally no salt or pepper, the only flavour it had, which, albeit was good was a nice smokey essence. No citrus, no salt, no pepper, no stock, nadda, nothing. I had to ask for salt, pepper, chilli flakes and extra lemon to try and give it something, to no avail.

Even the stray cats didn't want to eat the rice?!

The venue itself is nice and quaint the staff...