Medley Buffet — Restaurant in Parañaque

Medley Buffet was one of our family's favorite restaurants to visit inside Okada over the years. It seems that they have moved from its original location in the Pearl Wing to the 3rd floor if the Coral Wing. But the marketing posters proudly boasting "Unlimited Lobsters" gave us more incentive to take the walk.

The atmosphere, the hostess, and the folks helping us make the reservation were all great as usual. However, once we entered our smiles quickly became frowns. The lobsters were not only very small, but the lobster meat was dry and stubbornly attached to the lobster shell that we had to scrape the dry meat with our teeth.

The waiters/waitresses were very skilled at avoiding eye contact with us and very slow to collect used dishes from our table as my son and I even tried to guess how many used dishes would be stacked before being collected by the waiting staff (the record set was 2 piles of 3 and 4 dishes; we were tempted to make a single pile of 7 dishes but the parent inside me rejected the idea). The folks who worked at Medley in the Pearl Wing pre-Covid days were friendlier, and more courteous whereas Coral Wing staff were acting busy (some staff would walk to enter the bar while avoiding eye contact, circle around the bar, the exit the bar to go to another area of the restaurant). Just to get a straw for my son's Coke, i had to go to the bar, wait for 2 other gusts to be helped, then when it was my turn, the waiter pointed to the jar of straws with his chin for me to take them myself. We left the restaurant when my son, who only after tasting 4 different food but many more dessert, started falling asleep. As we were exiting, the hostess noticed my son walking in a zombie-like state, offered to call a golf cart to take us back to the Pearl Wing, which was much appreciated.

Anyhow, overall, some gave us great service (hostess, reservation staff and some cooks) but others did not. The quality of food seemed to have worsened perhaps due to the quality of ingredients. And even the variety of food seemed narrower than before. We stayed for about 1 hour not because we were enjoying our dining experience but because of slow service and our conversations of what has not improved...

Well I read the reviews and based on that I ate at the Medley. I'm from the US and from Seattle. We get lots of good seafood there snd I'm gonna compare it to my experience there. Service...excellent!! Atmosphere...very good! Our wait person was on top of everything! Can't complain at all!! So if your going for the service, atmosphere and things looking impressive you will be happy and probably rate this place high!

They had a decent cheese selection amd salad selection. Those are pretty easy to offer and keep people happy. The selections there looked very good and there were quite a few. Same with deserts lots of choices. Hard to mess up chocolate, candies and ice cream. Which is what most people seem to be eating.

Main Buffet....seemed small and not as many choices as other buffets I have eaten at in the US and Manila.

Food....some items were very good but many were just middle of the road at best. The highlight for us was supposed to be the lobster! But it was dry and the flavor was well not so great. This was one of the big reasons we ate there and paid the high price There was also a Chinese spiced lobster they just randomly bought out from the kitchen and gave to us without asking. That was better but still not great. I also noticed lots of lobsters not being eaten at many tables and just taken to be dumped in the trash...sad. My verdict on the lobster...disappointing. The Roast beef was tastey and they had a mushroom gravy that was very good to go with. Lamb was good too. Sushi and Tempura was ok..similar to other buffets. The prawns were good too but again you can get all those at the other buffets in town.

Oh my desert....I love cheese cake so i chose to try that...not impressed....it didn't have the texture of cheese cake nor the taste. It wasn't awful but I cook cheese cake and know what goes in a good cheese cake. What I had there was definitely not that! I'm just saying for the price it should be outstanding!

Overall I would say spend your hard earned money at one of the other buffets around Manila. They cost less and have more choices with similar quality too. WHY PAY MORE...OVER COOKED LOBSTERS?...

Food Selection there is enough variety to cater to most individuals they have a large dessert station the chefs give generous servings of the best cuts enough variety of appetizers and soups unlimited drinks, both non-alcoholic and alcoholic beverages the in house ice cream is great! We particularly love the vanilla, black forest, and strawberry flavors. "Thank you Chef Kiko!" the stations are replenished promptly and generously the dishes we had were flavorful enough that we hardly need to add seasoning or sauce (where the seasoning the chef used, brought out the flavor of the main ingredient, not cover it up or kill the flavor) the cooked vegetables were prepared just right

Service reservation was quick and easy reception was courteous servers were polite and prompt, very attentive to our needs and requests (we hardly had to ask for anything as they usually offer first, like offering drinks and refills of our drinks, offering to clear the table); the servers were not overbearing

Ambience more relaxing than buffet restaurants in other hotels, even other similar hotels there are enough partitions and space that afford guests more privacy; does not feel crowded even at full capacity room temperature is just about right; background music allows guests to have decent conversations without having to raise their voices; lighting is just about right, not too bright, not too dark there is enough ventilation to "filter" the smell of the variety of dishes

Wish List we wish that dish labels indicate the ingredients that some people may be avoiding due to allergies (allergic to seafood, milk) and/or due to religious beliefs (cannot eat pork, cannot eat meat)

Pricing even without the discount/promo, we find the price reasonable enough as of our last visit, parking at Okada is free; not sure until when

Date of Visit: September 6, 2019, Dinner; Non-smoking area (with a view of La Piazza across...