Pares Retiro Bagong Ilog — Restaurant in Pasig

Oct 2024 Manila Pares chain with a number of locations across the metropolis.

The bestsellers are the original Pares and another is the lechonsilog and bone marrow. The garlic rice is well made with crunchy bits. Pares broth was aromatic and flavourful. Very small serving but price point was fastfood standard. Some of the Pares meat was a bit tough though as they should have been slow cooked. The lechon pieces were a bit under fried so wasnt crisp and also a bit tough. But flavors were there.

A self serve are for condiments & utensils, service water and free soup was also available.

Service is limited to counter ordering and delivery of your order to your table.

Place was relatively new but layout is spacious and very clean. No CR though.

Best for quick eats and meriendas.

Area is in a busy underpass section btw...

Pares was really underwhelming. I ordered the premium pares but received a sad-looking dish that tasted almost nothing like real pares. I also ordered lechon kawali—more like pork chops that tasted like cardboard, deep-fried in used oil. The pancit smelled good until I tried it; it tasted like nothing, almost like eating warm air. The fishballs were worse than what street vendors sell.

Their free unlimited soup? More like warm tap water with a hint of garlic and onion. The place had lots of flies and even a few mosquitoes. Their split AC couldn’t keep the place cool, and it wasn’t even that busy when I visited.

Service was so slow I had to keep going to the counter to follow up on my order. They even forgot to serve the iced tea I ordered, tasted like watered-down...

Cheap and you really get what you pay for. Ordered for lunch: classic pares, garlic butter chix, siomai mami. Only the classic pares sauce had some flavor but the rest were bland. Even the free soup had no flavor. The mami was too oily and bland, had to mix some of the pares sauce to get some flavor but still couldn’t finish the bowl. Staff seemed like they didn’t want to be bothered to take your order and the cashier didn’t issue a receipt and our change. Their POS was down at the time but that is hardly an excuse for the poor service on that visit. The tables weren’t even wiped down when we seated ourselves. Not...