Dampa Seafood Grill - Tomas Morato — Restaurant in Quezon City

I highly recommend eating here for an affordable yet super tasty meal. We dined around 6 PM, and surprisingly, there were available tables when we arrived. We ordered crispy pata, crab, shrimp, prawn crackers, and grilled panga. The food took about 30 minutes to be served.

The crab wasn’t the meatiest or fattiest, but for less than P600 (I think it was around P580, if I’m not mistaken), it’s a good deal! The shrimp were also just the right size. The crispy pata and grilled panga were a pleasant surprise! They were huge for their price and both were juicy and flavorful.

Overall, it was a great meal. The food was delicious and served hot, which we really appreciated. We had no complaints about any of our orders. We were more than happy to wait, as long as the restaurant sets that expectation early on (which they did), and the food came out just as we hoped. The food was also more affordable than I expected. We only paid around 3k for drinks, food, and two servings of rice, and we even had some leftovers to take home.

One minor letdown was that their Cajun flavor wasn’t available that day; I think only the salted egg and buttered garlic options were offered.

Oh, and the parking space is quite large, but if there are too many guests, it can fill up quickly. We had to wait for a few minutes to find a spot, as there was a private event happening at the time.

HIGHLY RECOMMENDED! 😊

*Apologies for the blurry photos – I took screenshots from a video. My hands were itching to eat, so I didn’t manage to take...

So first things first parking is a bit of a chore and very confusing, esp on busy friday night, but the attendants do a pretty good job of getting you parked.

Got the dump seafood platter, garlic parm wings and mojos, and an extra rice bowl that wasn't optional because we were more than 3 people and the feast supposedly came with unli rice rather than a fixed bowl. Didn't matter that we weren't exactly very big rice eaters.

The seafood itself wasn't fresh, more like frozen fare, the mojos had too much onions, and the wings were standard fare. The seafood being of the frozen variety really irks me, i mean you have dampa in your name, where's the dampa experience? Grainy crabs, mushy shrimp, rubbery mussels, at a premium price, what gives? I could easily get the same takeout platter for half the price at any number of instagram sellers. At least the Cajun sauce was nice.

The staff did their best all things considering. But since there's no rhyme or reason to the dress code of the wait staff, it's hard to tell if you're calling for staff or some civilian...

I wasn’t able to take photos as I was soo hungry, but we ordered, crab, shrimps, and squid. And they are actually good. Server knows what he’s talking about as at that time cajun wasn’t available and so he suggested the salted egg sauce and for sure twas the best decision over the buttered garlic. Def don’t order buttered garlic!😂 the squid was perfectly cooked, the ensalata was best paired with all the seafood, and twas a fun way to eat with hands in the place. The best part?? It’s not expensive, wayyy cheaper than the “dampa.” For sure not comparable but if you’re craving for seafood, this restaurant should be your go-to.

PS. Only bad thing about it is it’s parking, most especially for dinner. Although the restaurant isn’t full, the parking is “full.” So, if maikli pasensya mo sa parking, baka ma-off ka kasi valet isn’t helpful as well unfortunately. I hope they can improve on this, instead of prioritizing cars doon sa bar beside it. Sayang naman the food is great, di lang maayos...