Food Club Manila, Ayala Malls Manila Bay — Restaurant in Parañaque

July 14th Monday Dinner time! They expanded the place for outside seaters, Its kinda good idea for those whose bringing pets. However, they shouldn't allowed pet owners to carry their pets while getting food or looking around to check the food area. I heard some clients complaining and talking in their perspective table about the dogs. They are cute yes, but its an open food galley. We must consider the food hygiene. Anyway, regarding the food choices,its my first time to dined at dinner. If given a choice , I'd still wanted to dine for lunch coz it's cheaper and the food are all freshly arranged that you would enjoyed looking and taking a good shots.Tonight, from 6:30pm,many customers where in the queue for the buffet. The refilling of food is something like your seeing to those glorified eat all you can establishment,they just rushing to place the food in an untidy way...Might be bcoz it'a night already and they wanted to just served and finished fast.Btw,one of I like here is their Chinese Dumpling station, The hakaw become so dry, chicken feet are too salty now,the siomai still fine and ribs stilk ok. Over all food,I prefer the lunch food.

For the service, actually the singing staff asaigned for Birthday presentation are way better than last time. They are funny and entertainer in their asaigned tasked. Those 2 gay staff were amicable,talking even to kids.approachable even the ither lady with them. Other staff assigned in our area were all helpful. Except for those ladies in the paying stations,i find them rude. We were given a promo raffle ticket to fill up while we were eating and while paying,I borrowed a ballpen to the lady who has 3 different ballpen showing on her waist front pocket,while she's using a red pen for marking the payment.She told me to go outside and fill out forms to the entrance with guards. I just look on her and patiently waited to the other customer(she heard and look on my reaction) besides me who borrowed a pen to t-bird staff at the side. Still I'm giving a 4 star becoz of the other waitstaff but not for the front staff whose wearing a nice pair of uniform yet so rude. Oh btw,i just pass the ballpen to the next...

The whole place was like a wet market and I do not recommend eating here for a number of reasons.

First is the service. In my opinion it was understaffed at the moment I came. Usually at large buffets like Food Club Manila you would expect a lot of servers, bussers, etc all around you. All I saw was two to three of each moving around. There was no coordination between employees.

Second reason will be the food. It was all too common. It is the same food you would see at other restaurants only served to you in a mediocre way. Personally I would rather go to a casual restaurant to eat the same thing except for the food being better.

Third was the cleanliness of the place. I understand that it is a buffet restaurant intended for the masses like middle income families however there must be a standard that needs to be followed. Some tables were left dirty. The people who ate left and as I observe it has been 30 minutes until a busser was able to clean it. Which points out to my first reason. Even fast food restaurants have standards like Jollibee and McDonalds.

Final reason would be the location. I'm not talking about what mall it is in. I am talking about where is it "inside" the mall. The location was in the 4th floor at the end of all the shops that sell phones, accessories, chargers etc. I thought that it was weird for the location to be so secluded. I understand that Ayala Malls Manila Bay is relatively new and still building up shops inside and out however why did the management of the mall and restaurant agree to such a location. There are many other empty spaces located in there "garden restaurants" area. Is it because of how the mall was built because it accomodate a big buffets restaurant?

Overall the experience was bad. So me and my family found another restaurant to eat at that saved the day.

P.S

If you don't have a reservation please expect to wait between 1 hour to almost 2 hours based on the people whom I asked that...

First time hearing about this place. Family decided to have lunch here "maiba naman" on a Sun. We were told that if we're not there by 11am the reserved slot will be given to others. Left early from CaMaNaVa area to reach Ayala Malls Manila Bay before 11.

Not a lot of people waiting yet when we got there at 10:25am. The lady at the receiving area said they will call the names of people w/ reservation by 10:30am. So ok 5mins wait not so bad right? By 10:49am there was already a huge crowd in front of the resto and they were not calling anyone yet. There were senior citizens standing in line since they only had a less than 15chairs. I asked another lady in the receiving area and she was surprised that it was already 11am. She then said that the others were still in a "mini meeting". Finally they started letting people in a little after 11am. But by then the damage was done. Everyone was lining up for food inside at the same time. I have never seen such lines in a buffet. It only let up past 130pm.

Kudos to the cooking and serving staff. The refill of food and cleanup of used dishes was very fast. I was surprised though by the plastic plates and cups. Considering the price is around 1k+ the dining ware felt and looked cheap. The food was pretty good. I enjoyed the chinese food corner - chix feet, beef balls, sotanghon, pampano. Pizza was pretty good too. The halo halo, crepe and ice cream area was pretty cramped. The lady serving ice cream had to serve the customer getting the crepe and halo halo. If she only had 4 arms 😅

Will I go back? A big Maybe. They should work on getting better organized. Reception 4/10, Food 8/10, Speed of Refill 9/10 (better than other well known buffets), Dessert 6/10. If you're thinking of trying this place out, probably better to go around 1pm when the crowd has...