Shi Lin I Ayala Malls Manila Bay — Restaurant in Parañaque

Queueing Time (4/5) Good note: Seated in less than 10 minutes; 2nd in line. Needs improvement: Restaurant has 2 entry points but only one accepts and notes guests to seat. Staff in charge of the queue is also attending to other service-related tasks (i.e., serving food, cleaning tables, etc.)

Serving Time (2/5) Needs improvement: Took too long to serve food. Initial serving time upon placing of order is 30 mins. However, it actually took almost an hour to serve all orders (take note that food has been served intermittently, with awkward waiting times in between).

Quality of Service (2/5) Good note: Despite the busyness of the resto, one of crew member kind-heartedly granted our request to take a photo of us. Needs improvement: Understaffed. Was only able to see 4 service staff, working on queueing management, taking and serving orders, completing bills & payments, handling take out orders, and cleaning tables. Needs improvement: One of the crew members accidentally dipped one of his fingers on our soup while serving our order. We awkwardly let it slide as we are also not sure how to handle the situation. The crew member did not mention anything as well (though I know he may have hurt his finger since the soup is boiling hot — hope he’s okay) but this is a big red flag when it comes to sanitation.

Food (3/5) Good note: XLB is superb! Needs improvement: All food we’ve ordered taste good, though the Shiitake Mushroom with Chives & Minced Pork may have been a little too salty.

Price (3/5) Good note: Price is not bad for for the food. A bit pricey as compared to fast-food restos but at par with other casual restaurants.

Convenience (2/5) Needs improvement: Card payment is not available when we dined as there may have been some issues on the payment terminal. We were asked to pay cash (good thing we do have extra on hand). We were short changed by PHP 0.87, though not a material amount but looks like they assumed that it is okay to not give exact amount as change (for cents). Poor to no cell service (at least for Globe users) on our area (seats near the al fresco entrance).

Location (3/5) Entrance of the resto is not in a strategic location if you are coming indoors as you still need to take a little turn from the main hallway of the mall to find it. Actual resto looks fine though there is at least 1 table that is currently unutilized.

Overall Rating (2.71/5) Needs improvement. If given other choices, resto may not be on the...

Went to Shi Lin on a Saturday noon to have a family lunch. Fortunately, the place was still uncrowded when we arrived. Service crew was very attentive and approachable right from the get-go.

Here’s a rundown of what we have ordered. We had the Braised Beef Noodle for out soup which tastes very rich and has a powerful kick in it. For the dumplings, we tried their original Xiao Long Bao which I find very appetizing. Might say that I find their XLBs way better than those of other Chinese restaurants so far. Spicy Shrimp and Pork Wonton live up to its name with right amount of spice. We also tried their Char Siu Pork Bao which I personally like since the meat melts in my mouth and has this very sweet and savory taste that comes with it.

For the mains, we got the Spicy Spare Ribs and the Cantonese Style Fish Fillet. Both dishes were very delicious. The dishes were seasoned and were really tasty. Of course we had one of their rice to sum it up.

Milk Tea tasted authentic and really up to our liking since it not sweet. Green Mango Shake was decent. I was curious about the Crimson Berry and gave it a try. It was basically a raspberry drink kind of thing which was sweet, cool and refreshing.

Shi Lin is a must for Chinese cuisine lovers. The best Chinese resto I...

Food ordered:

Fried Rice with Porkchop - Wok hei. Thats it, the rice has this distinct wok hei aroma and flavor which is what you really want in a fried rice. Xiao Long Bao - Better than one of the famous XLB place, for me. I hope there would be more soup inside, but its more of a personal preference. Fried Prawn Cake - One of the best food we've tasted. A crispy thin crepe like batter which sandwich a thin layer of shrimp/prawn. Not really a mouthful but packs a punch. Sesame Peanut Noodle (Spicy) - it does't look spicy but once you eat it, it's spicy but not the kind in which you can't taste anything after. There's a distinct nutty-earthy yet creamy texture and taste to their sauce. The noodles are firm and bouncy, even if it's soaking in the peanut-sesame sauce for a long time.

We ate here after lunch time, there were just a couple of customer and I can say that their...