Ombu Kusina — Restaurant in Quezon City

Second time to eat here today, July 30, 2023, and the service was unbelievably awful. I made a reservation one week earlier. We were a party of 8 and ordered fiesta package among many other dishes. I told waitress upon ordering the fiesta that since we will dine in, to serve the dishes in the fiesta bilao in plates instead. Despite that, it was still served in ONE BIG bilao. I asked another waitress to have the dishes transferred on plates, I was surprised when she flat out said it's not allowed. When I explained to her that it's hard to pass around a big bilao when we are all in a long table, she said she'll ask first and when she came back she said it's not allowed!?! I asked for the manager and explained the situation and only then did they get the bilao to be transferred in plates as I ORIGINALLY requested upon ordering.

Before we finished our desserts, we already asked for the bill and requested to pack our remaining food in take home bags. 30 mins later, no bill and no packed food has arrived. Customers at tables near us already left even though we were sure we asked for the bill earlier than them. We ff up multiple times to waiters and manager but we still waited long. A new group of customers already arrived and occupied another table near us and they had already finished their food and we were still waiting for our bill. After ff up for AT LEAST TEN TIMES, the takehome bag finally arrived but the bill is still not ready. Despite ff up with the manager himself, he was completely incompetent and useless in expediting our bill-out. By this time, there were only a few customers left and mostly new arrivals. And the cashier, passed by another table to hand over their bill before coming to us with our bill. The other table only arrived when we are already waiting for our bill. That's how long they had us wait. Obviously, someone in their staff made a mistake. Either the cashier did not follow first-in-first-out or the manager forgot to tell the cashier when I first asked for our bill. And the worse thing is we still were forced to pay over 500 service charge despite suffering the the worse treatment from the manager and staff. Awful experience and really spoiled what would have been a chill lunch out...

I’m visiting to the States, and I was excited to try this place out, given its many reviews. I’m also practicing intermittent fasting, so I was excited to order quite a bit to break my fast when I got to this place.

I waited for the waiter to place my order, but after seating me and bringing me water, he never once approached me. I was surprised, given the fact that they were only four other customers in the restaurant.

After sometime, two other customers entered. Shortly after they entered, they were waited on. That angered me. At this point 15 minutes had passed with no one approaching my table, so I decided to say something to the manager.

I was very emotional when I let her know. As a dark person of color in the States, I have had the experience of white people being served before me. So this brought up some stuff because the customers he helped were much lighter than me. After telling the manager, what happened, I walked outside to wait for a Grab to another place.

What surprised me, was that while I was waiting outside for at least five minutes, no one from the restaurant followed me out and tried to enticed me to come back. I was so hungry at that point, I would’ve gladly done so.

I have worked in restaurants myself, so I know how important customer service is. It doesn’t matter how good the food is. It’s hard to enjoy if you feel like you’re being ignored.

Perhaps it’s a cultural thing here to expect your waiter to come to the table and wait on you. But I have traveled around the world and I have worked as a waitress. It’s pretty common practice for the person waiting on you to approach the table at some point and ask you if you’re ready to order.

With so many good reviews, no doubt the restaurant will have foreigners wanting to dine there. Hopefully the owners take this review into account and encourage their waiters to check in with...

At first glance it may look like your typical Filipino cuisine restaurant but after taking a look at their menu you'll see that the dishes have a little twist. We first ordered the Nachos which was a bit dry. The cheese that they used looks like it straight up came from a Cheez-Whiz tetra pack. Would be nice if they also added some ground pork or beef to their nachos. The Taro and Kamote chips we're a good touch though, really brings out the pinoy fusion cooking aspect of the dish. The Calamansi juice that we ordered was too sour for my taste but after diluting it with a bit of water it tasted just fine. I appreciate that they use fresh Cherries for the garnish for the drink. For the main course we ordered a variety of dishes but the only ones that I tasted was the Bagnet Dinuguan and Beef KareKare. Both are extraordinarily delicious. Although the Karekare could use a bit more meat but nevertheless, I think it's one of their best dishes. Their desserts are also top tier. I tried their Banana Flambe and it was absolutely delightful. A perfect dish to end out dining experience. I think the only downside to this place is that it is more on the expensive side. Also the dishes take a bit too long to prepare. And also, I noticed that they use the same herb as garnish for every dish that they served us.

The place is spacious and they have very accommodating staff who will gladly ask you if there is anything you want. They have limited parking space so be prepared to have a plan B in case you visit the resto and there are no available...