Mer-Ben Tapsilogan — Restaurant in Tagaytay

Head-shaking, infuriating experience with this Mer-Ben restaurant. We were supposed to eat at "BULALO POINT", unfortunately, the place is full so we had to find another place to eat dinner. This is the nearest one with available seats. We took the menu and made our orders. We ordered BULALO, FISH FILLET, SISIG and CHOPSEUY. We had problems with the BULALO and RICE. We ordered 1 large bulalo (650 pesos) but the "scam lady staff" came back and said that they cannot serve the LARGE (650 pesos)bulalo but only MEDIUM (550 pesos). So she asked if we want 1 or 2 Medium, and we answered 1 medium only and she confirmed. How come they can serve 2 medium quantity but not 1 large quantity BULALO? . Orders came and TADA, 2 medium Bulalo were served, we didn't want to cause any commotion so I told my wife to just accept the extra medium bulalo. Now came the best part with our orders. We ordered 1/2 platter regular rice and 1/2 platter garlic rice and she confirmed. We didn't know until we were paying the bill that she served us 2 full platters of rice. We even thought they're serving of rice was that many. So basically we were fooled into ordering/paying/eating the food we didn't really plan to order. We payed 3,300 pesos instead of just 2400 pesos. Extra Bulalo (550 pesos) and another 350 pesos of rice we didn't order. BEWARE of the staffs who might fool you, MAKE SURE you double check your orders with them because you might get suprised with your BILL!

Overall: Food is overpriced. Sisig was priced at 600 pesos! :)

Dirty place (KUBO style), had waste plastics on the seats we were placed. Cats everywhere, leftover plates being cleaned by the cats themselves already.

Order scam, like I said, BEWARE and make SURE to DOUBLE CHECK your...

Good, affordable food but most times, slow service- an old review

2/24/2019: We had a rare family gathering to celebrate my hubby's birthday last Sunday night at Mer-Ben's Tapsilogan. We chose this restaurant over Balinsasayaw as we frequent the place during the weekdays. We understand it's a busy time (Weekend plus holiday the following Monday) but after we got seated (we waited for 15 minutes), the lady who seated us informed us that orders will take an hour to arrive. It's understandable. We ordered bulalo for our meat-eating relatives (which came in about 30 mins with rice). Note-worthy comment: my father-in-law asked about our kinilaw na tanigue order and he was answered rather rudely by the waiter stating as-matter-of-factly "we don't serve kinilaw anymore" after they took that kinilaw order. We were also not informed that crispy kangkong isn't available. We only learned about it after we followed up in an hour. My husband asked for extra bulalo soup. The waiter was about to pour the soup in the bowl when my hubby also requested soup for everyone. The waiter stopped and unceremoniously put the pitcher of soup in our midst and told my hubby to just pour among ourselves. Good thing our relatives are easy people so we ended up laughing the night out. Lesson learned and thank you for making restaurant-choosing easier for us next time we are...

Honest review: 3.7/5

Food 3.8

Steamed Pampano: 4/5 Taste is normal, a bit sweet for my palate, my wife likes it but it's just I had better Pampano in roxas blvd

Tapsilog: 3.6/5 Once the best tapsilog in Tagaytay (or maybe in the PH), now just average. It's dry and a bit hard to chew now. The only saving grace is it's Tagaytay beef, which is known more flavorful than normal beef locally. Price also increased a lot, we've been here since the price is P75 around 2017/2018, now it's P160 but the flavor isn't worth it.

Service: 4/5 The servers are attentive (since there are only few customers at that time) but what I didn't like is the server handing anything, from menu, condiments, extra rice, to the bill, at the back head of my wife. I mean, they are lazy to walk a little more to the side of the table for etiquette. We're only 2 at the table for 4.

Ambience: 4/5 The view of Laurel, Batangas and Taal lake still provides a good ambience. Aside from that, the washroom is not well maintained. Table and chairs are clean and arranged. The best part is the singing acoustic band that roam for better dining experience.

Overall: Reviews might still be subjective due to our memories for this place, but it is now becoming a shadow of their previous self. Been here since PopTalk featured it, but now, we might consider the restaurant in front...