Finestra | Solaire Resort North — Restaurant in Quezon City

We celebrated our grandma's 90th here this Jan 2025. Unfortunately, we did not have a very good experience. We were booked for the two function rooms for a party of 25, but it was a painstaking process to get there. They don't have a direct number you can call. You would need to go through Solaire and their demands for a dinner party on a weekday is laughable, considering the service we got.

The coordinator assigned to us was Bernadette, who wasn't unprofessional, but it was obvious she just did the bare minimum to accommodate us (always replying DAYS late, always with just generic responses, barely any solutions to our concerns). We never felt that we were taken care of here which is so disappointing considering this is supposed to be a fine dining restaurant. We talk to all kinds of these hotels and restaurants for our events and Finestra is placed well in the bottom in terms of planning for an event.

As for the service from the staff during the night itself, we have no complaints and everyone was very attentive and nice to us so at least there's that.

The ambiance of the place is also worth 5 stars. Love the interiors of the restaurant and the function rooms which is why we chose this venue in the first place.

For the food, it was a mixed bag of a couple of great courses (the Angus steak and mushroom soup were so good), a lot of "so-so"s (ceasar salad, pecorino pasta, tiramisu), and a really terrible one in the Amberjack fish. Literally everyone who opted for the fish instead of the steak was extremely disappointed. It was not fresh at all, we don't know how it came upon to be a good idea to poach this fish as it turned out barely edible. None of the ones who ordered fish finished even half of it. I myself couldn't bring myself to try a taste because of the bad smell. We complained, and they gave us free ice cream, but honestly even if they offered to scrap the entire bill, we would still be disappointed because this was a supposed to be a night to celebrate our grandma but instead it turned out to be the night where we had the...

The ambiance is so far one of the best if not the best I've ever experienced in my lifetime. There were some romantic couples in the restaurant. There were families and children too.

I'm not an expert, but I believe the seats we were seating on were very expensive furnitures. I can also tell that the plates and utensils we were using were very expensive.

The view of the city was spectacular. There was also a lovely lounge singer.

There was also a dedicated restroom for guests which was cleaned after every use. The restroom provided hand/face towels instead of standard tissue.

I would say that the service was a 4/5 as I had to wait for more than a few minutes for a couple times for the waiters to address my concerns.

The place actually smelled paint, but I believe this is only temporary since the place is very new.

Unfortunately, we were disappointed with the tomahawk steak that we ate as we felt that it was burnt. It was literally like eating charcoal. I'm not an expert at eating steak, but eating charcoal is never a good experience, right? I guess we were unlucky that day. The soup too was a bit too salty. This is why I give a 3/5 only for the food.

My honest opinion is that if you're not ultra rich but have some money to spend, you would be better off at the Fresh buffet. In the latter, if one of your dishes is a total failure, then it's all right because you have a lot of other dishes to try. In the case of Finestra, if the dish that you ordered is a total failure (like I think it was in our case), then you would probably hesitate to order another dish to compensate because of the high cost, unless of course, if you are ultra rich.

However, if what you're after is mainly the ambiance, then this is definitely one of the best...

I visited this restaurant for a Christmas lunch with friends, and unfortunately, it was not worth the expense. We each opted for the four-course menu, which was on the pricier side, but the quality of the food did not justify the cost. The service was inconsistent: while some staff members were polite, others came across as condescending and ill-informed about the dishes. One server, in particular, attempted to explain why the sea bass was dry, even though sea bass is meant to be silky and tender. I ended up only taking two bites, and despite offering to replace it, we declined. Rather than packing it up for us to take home, they simply discarded the dish.

The pasta was also disappointing—overcooked, with the lasagna edges dry and unappetizing. The only redeeming parts of the meal were the starter and dessert, which were acceptable. The ambiance was elegant and sophisticated, but the service failed to match the setting. On a positive note, the manager was considerate enough to allow us to bring in a meal from the food court for our nanny.

In the end, they charged us for a three-course meal instead of the four-course option we had ordered, but the deduction was only ₱200 ($4) per person, which hardly seemed fair given the overall experience. I do not recommend this place. The lackluster food, poor service, and dismissive staff made for a thoroughly disappointing experience, and I regret the money spent here. I certainly won't...