Cafe Mabini — Restaurant in San Juan

VENUE The cafe has a distinct feel of modern classy filipino breakfast. Quite unassuming from the outside, the character of the place quickly pleases the eye as one walks closer. soon as you enter the door a tree stands firm and greets the early morning sun that shines through the windows. The cafe built around the tree and is enclosed in full length glass walls where you can appreciate and wonder how much time must have passed for each vein to have crawled up the tree trunk. the layered window shades provides a great accent and as well as practical protection from too much sun light.

The sun may at times get the best of the AC, so the restaurant initiates and provides individual fans to help make the dining experience more pleasant. A thoughtful service.

FOOD The menu is clear and descriptive to assist the diners in making up their minds about how to satisfy their eager appetites. Mostly filipino classic breakfast, there are also choices for pizzas, sandwhich, and miryenda or filipino snacks with their own twist. Ordering from the server was polite and professional.

The food was visually enticing. The reuben sandwhich had a good amount of meat and flavor in it. but it was the sourdough bread that got the better of the bite, perhaps too much. The bread slice was about an inch thick of crusty and crispy bread all throughout. While it does make all the crunch in a bite, it does take some effort in handling all that bread crunch (2 inches of it) plus the meat. For Those with a modest bite, perhaps taking out the top bread for an open face sandwich is better than being caught with a face full of crunch.

Along with it are the fries which finally had the perfect balance of crispy outer, crunchy inner, and soft core. They were delicious!

The ube mochi bilobilo sounded intruiging. It was soft and pleasant and while it was the better looking cousin of the bilobilo , it also did not make you wish to have it over the original. This is a full single serve that will satisfy miryenda cravings, this dish was accompanied by some ingredients that you would find in other dishes. The coconut meat and coconut milk/(gata) took centerstage and were adorned with scattered latik (coconut sugar paste) as garnish. The dish allowed each bite to be as sweet as one craves depending on the amount of latik included in each spoon.

Finally the chicken tocino plate was generous. The meat came in daring skewers and runny sunny side up eggs as requested. The pickled veggies / atchara may have benefited the dish if it had more sour kick to it. The vinegar also could have brought more flavor profile to the dish to help elevate each bite.

Overall the experience was pleasant and the venue provided an intimate and stimulating nook that is easily accessible. There is also generous parking space and the lavatories were...

Just had a bad experience this morning in this restaurant. My boyfriend's order had hair on the eggs (as seen in the photo). We took photos and were about to eat when we saw it. We didn't really get angry and informed the staff immediately. They nicely took our order back and replaced the eggs (although I don't recall them being apologetic about it, but no worries it happens).

What made me personally irritated with our experience is our order of truffle fries not being served. After waiting for our order, when our rice meals were given to us, I informed the server "bali yung fries na lang po kulang". He acknowledged and said "yes ma'am". We waited and eventually finished our food (apprx 20 mins) still no fries. We still waited patiently as we drank our coffee, but after some time our patience didn't last. I informed the server to hand us our bill and to cancel the fries.

He went to the kitchen and it took him some time to come back, again we waited haha, then he told us that they were already plating the order. I got a bit annoyed and told him, "sir pano yan tapos na po kami kumain tapos kanina ko pa finollow up yan?". He went back and gave us our bill, without charging us the unserved fries.

Don't get me wrong, I know it's not the server's fault. He was friendly and I knew he was in a difficult position. Maybe it being a Sunday also played a factor. However, our experience in the restaurant was not great. The fries were supposed to be served as an appetizer, before our meal. And as a recap, we were initially served food with hair.

We waited for our order to be served, waited for it to be replaced, and waited for the fries to come to no avail.

Cafe Mabini didn't have that much customers but their other restaurant beside it was packed. It appeared that they prioritize Francesco's more than where we ate.

Also it's worth noting that upon arrival in our motorcycle, when we were turning up the road, the security guard/parking attendant told us "Sir one way lang po 'to". We then told him we were going to eat in the restaurant and were in fact customers. When we parked in the motorcycle area, he asked us to move, saying "baka magasgas niyo kasi yung mga kotsye". It seemed as if he was insinuating that we will be reckless. Which we found odd since there was still A LOT of space and other motorcycles were parked already. It is also perceived that he treats guests with cars differently and gave us attitude from the start.

I'll be hesitant to come back...

This was the first time I experienced being rushed and kicked out of a restaurant, and I found it so rude!

I understand the LAST CALL policy, but there are so many better ways to approach the situation.

I came in at 9pm, and the restaurant closes at 10pm. I was waiting for a friend who came all the way from Cebu so I could catch up with her.

Trigger #1: The moment I came in, I was greeted with "Sir, maglalast order na po kami ha?"

Trigger #2: After ordering immediately, the server said "Sir, pag 9:30 po at wala pa yung kasama niyo (she was nearby at that time), hindi na po namin siya tatanggapin.

Trigger #3: My friend told me that when she arrived, she took videos of the facade of the restaurant, then the server said "Ma'am pasok ka ma'am!" She was being rushed. That was 9:30pm. She ended up buying just a glass of wine because of that rush.

Trigger #4: The cashier dropped our bill at 9:35pm even if we did not ask for it. I hate force billing!

I felt so angry because I knew that this was not the best way to handle this kind of situation. It's very rude!

Here are better ways to go about this situation: Greet the guests warmly regardless if it's almost cut-off time. First impression is very important. Execute the usual service standards, and inform politely about the last call after taking the orders. Be polite and professional whenever you inform about the last call. Never do forced billing. If 10pm is your closing time, then drop it by 10pm, not 9:35pm. Be polite as you do this.

At the end of the day, 9pm-10pm is till operating hours, so you need to serve your guests the same way you served the rest when it was still 10am-8:59pm.

I rarely write such reviews, but what happened to us was SO FRUSTRATING considering the price point that did not meet the food quality, and the service charge that they did not deserve at that time.

Oh well....