Artisans F&B Corp — Restaurant in Puerto Princesa

FOOD DOES NOT GET ANY BETTER

Hi there! CDO's top foodie on vacation in Puerto Princesa.

THE SPACE: Artisans is in a rowhouse building on a busy street. There is some parking, outdoor seating, plus downstairs and upstairs dining rooms. The lighting is comfortably dimmed. There was live music provided by a singer with a guitar. The seating was wooden chairs with wooden tables to match. Cutlery and plates were high quality. The vibe was informally formal. THE SPACE: 4 out of 5 stars.

THE SERVICE: The wait staff are friendly, attentive, and competent. Table maintenance was very good. There was no upselling or offer to refill empty drinks. Everything ordered (except the Wagyu steak) was available. The only problems were that no appetizer plates were provided for shared dishes (we had to ask), and two of our nine entrees arrived 12-15 minutes after the others. Other than that, the service was great. THE SERVICE: 4 out of 5 stars.

THE FOOD: Everything was fantastic. The sauces served with the flatbread appetizer were fun. The cherry reduction ladled over the melted Camembert was decadent. The truffle pasta was mild and creamy. The seared halibut was perfectly cooked. The burger was thick and juicy. The chicken fajitas were tender. And special kudos to Artisans for their amazing steak supplier. The menu is extremely broad and deep, and one evening could not scratch the surface of offerings, but based on the sampling, I cannot imagine anything Artisans serves would be disappointing. They had a nice cocktail list and their espresso martini was well crafted. THE FOOD: 5 out of 5 stars.

THE PRICE: Prices for entrees generally range in the P350 to P600 range for the more casual entrees, and P500 to P800 for the higher end meat dishes. Juices, shakes, and soft drinks range from 100 to 200 while beers are roughly the same. Mixed drinks range from 200 to 400. Credit cards are accepted. Overall, I wouldn’t call Artisans a bargain (although I have seen restaurants with more expensive steaks that were not as good as Artisans; their steaks are definitely a bargain), but nothing was overpriced, and the prices were fair. Also, with dining out prices rising everywhere, current prices at Artisans don't seem quite so high. THE PRICE: 4 out of 5 stars.

SUMMARY: I do not live in Puerto Princesa, so I cannot speak to the food scene there, but I am comfortable in concluding that Artisans occupies the top shelf -- if not the top spot -- of restaurants in this popular tourist destination. Again, if the effort, imagination, and care that went into the dozen-or-so dishes my party sampled holds true across Artisans's vast menu, I cannot see anything being disappointing. Highly recommended.

TOTAL: ...

This restaurant is situated right across the Best Western Hotel. If you are not deliberately looking for it, you would miss it since the sign needs refreshing and lighting. You have three dining "area" options. First would be outside, right beside the parking. Second is the ground floor dining area which is airconditioned. Last is the open-air bar on top.

For this visit, I chose the 12oz Rib Eye Steak. I was asked what doneness it would be and I reluctantly said Medium Rare. I fear that they would not cook it correctly, and my fear was justified. The steak was almost well-done (err... Medium Well - could be the source of the confusion). As I was expecting this already, I was not disappointed. The steak is still okay. The food came with a plate-full of salad which is nice. The drawback is that the mashed potato the dish came with was very limited and the steak is huge. So I had to order an extra mashed potato, which is rather big is serving size. Though I think the mash that came with the steak tasted better.

Aside from the steak doneness, I was a bit surprised that they do not offer free gravy refill. A new refill costs Php 75. For me who is used to getting unlimited gravy refill in Metro Manila, would probably need 3 gravy bowl for a 12oz steak but I only got an extra gravy. Gravy was just okay.

Last would be cashless payment concerns. Though they accept credit cards, they will charge you extra 3% for using your card. You have an option to use GCash, and this is advertised with a lighted sign by the entrance. Oddly enough, it was not a GCash payment that they presented me but Gcash to Bank transfer which seems to be more common in Palawan. But this type of Gcash transaction will cost you an extra for Service Fee. So if you want to escape paying extra, you must...

I went back here because of the salmon steak. It tasted really good the first time we went here. All other food we ordered were delicious. The 3star review is for the service: One, when me and my friends were waiting for our other friends to arrive, naturally, we were just chatting and basically hangingout, 30 minutes or so on, we were asked to make our orders already. We were basically force to give orders because they say that it might get crowded soon. (And they don't want to be harrased i guess with having too many orders.) Two, the second time we were there, when we were served our salad, we waited thinking utensils will be added shortly, then when it took too long we try to catch any servers attention (for reference, there were only 4 tables inside and they were passing us all the time), then we had to wait again till finally the simplest of dining requirements could be served. Three, the condescending server. You know that kind of service when you mention that you don't enjoy how the food was cooked and the server with a brilliant smile promptly offers to have it remade? (The price range of this place made me dream of that at least.) Sadly, that kind of good service isn't what i experienced here. What i got is a patronizing server who tells me that that is how it's usually cooked. (Because she is used to foreigners having it done that way and a lowly local like me knows nothing?) It was only when i pushed that she took it to hand over to the cook and loudly stated how...