Adela’s Carinderia London — Restaurant in London

Very Disappointing Father’s Day Buffet Experience

My family and I were excited to celebrate Father’s Day with a buffet at this restaurant, but unfortunately, it was a letdown. We arrived just one hour after service started, only to find that two of the dishes advertised on the website weren’t part of the buffet. One of them could have been made, as they had all the ingredients available, but it wasn’t included—seems like the website just hadn’t been updated.

To make matters worse, one of the buffet dishes had already run out by the time we paid. We weren’t informed about this before paying upfront, and when we asked, we were told it was because the kitchen didn’t notify the front of house. Frankly, that’s just not an acceptable excuse, especially when we had already paid. What was left was essentially scraps. Shortly after, the Shanghai rolls ran out too, and it took 40 minutes to replace them. When they finally arrived, it was in very small portions.

When we asked about the delays, we were told they were “making more,” but it’s hard to understand how a buffet can run out of so many dishes just an hour after opening—especially on Father’s Day. We expected much better planning and communication, especially considering it was a prepaid event. Overall, it was a frustrating experience.

The quality of the food was underwhelming, tasting watered down, as if they were trying to stretch the ingredients to accommodate the crowd. Even the Shanghai rolls, before they ran out, were overcooked and dark. After the new batch came out (much lighter in color), they were honestly the best part of the buffet—but that’s not saying much when several dishes either ran out or weren’t even on the menu.

I really wanted to give this place more stars. I love supporting small independent businesses, and I would love to see more Filipino restaurants around. I’d be willing to come back on a non-buffet day to see if the food quality is better when the kitchen isn’t under so much pressure. But, having been at this location for a couple of years now, they should be better prepared. Communication between front-of-house and back-of-house needs improvement, and someone should be overseeing service. When food comes out and everyone rushes at it, only for it to disappear in a matter of seconds, that’s poor service. Also, if a dish at the buffet is empty for a while, someone needs to check on it. The management here seems inexperienced, which is surprising given their years...

Went in June 2025. After hearing so much hype about this place and wanting to try Filipino food and seeing videos of the place when it was in Shepherds Bush Market, went down on a Sunday for the lunch buffet and was severely disappointed. There's only about 6 dishes to choose from, of which the pork was very tough and there were always 2 empty trays that took upto 30mins to be filled up. The dessert was mediocre at best. Worst was the price, for basically 6 dishes and 1 dessert as a buffet, was charged £24 (with a Lychee drink) even though the buffet had a completely different price. Was going to take my Filipino friends here but not going to bother.

UPDATE: The drink was a Lychee Mogu Mogu, so yes a Lychee drink. Even online photos showing your drinks fridge shows this drink so not sure why you are dishonest here. Your menu states the drink should be £2.50 yet I've just checked my bank account and you overcharged me by £2.05. I had no other drinks and this value doesn't represent any VAT or service amount and just appears to be sneakily trying to get some extra money in the account. Disappointing response from an owner. For other people thinking of visiting this restaurant, they may do decent a la carte, but the buffet is a big no no. Look at their historic pictures, they've been shrinking the buffet down in terms of choices and also from the other recent reviews, be prepared to wait 20-30mins for dishes to be replenished. Also, your buffet in June was £17.99, not £18.99...maybe look at your own Instagram. You increased your price in August - hence why I pointed out the overcharging. I love visiting local restaurants so it's a shame you didn't address any of the points such as the limited dishes, the pork being tough, the empty trays constantly. Quite a few other customers were complaining. You should take the criticisms and try to learn from them rather than attack customers' who review and inform you of issues. Perhaps it wasn't your business' best day, accept...

i came here a few weeks ago with my friend all the way from Dartford for the sunday buffet and we both loved it so much! it was her first time having pinoy food and she absolutely adored it, and although it wasn't my first time i absolutely adored it! such a cute, cozy, small restaurant, all the workers are so lovely and friendly and damn good cooks! we also loved the free turon for eating 3 things of balut, as two obviously non-pinay girls probably aren't expected to love it haha. good selection of food that changes every week, will definitely be coming back soon! the buko-pandan palamig was so good too, and the fruits with were great! honestly beat my boyfriend's lola's haha. i also had sapin-sapin and halo-halo to take away as my stomach was full and so happy, both were delicious! the halo-halo didn't come with ube icecream which makes sense as it was to take away (we ended up getting a scoop at mamason's nearby) but was still super yummy! unfortunately i didnt take any photos as we were too busy enjoying the food but hope the wordy review is helpful to others :)

good prices, lovely staff, lovely interior and vibes. thankyou!

update: managed to go to the restaurant on a friday, was so lovely and quiet and food was amazing as was the service!! will definitely be returning for many times to come. maraming...