Estrellita — Restaurant in Atlanta

Take out order.

When I looked up my menu on their website, I didn’t pay attention to the ingredients and that’s beacause I’m familiar with Filipino food. ——I am Filipino! My family and I had a long day at the Botanical Garden. The closest Filipino restaurant around the area was Estrellita. For $75.69 we were hopefull that it’ll be worth it. But NO.

The side of rice was put in an 8oz translucent to go container. We opened it and surprised with the portion size. Very small. Just halfway thru the container. The rice was very mushy. It had like the texture of a glutinuos rice used in some filipino rice cake such as biko or suman etc.. just without the sugar. My Dad and I liked the Pork sinigang but way too SALTY. The turon does not have any langka or plantain. Just cinnamon and sugar only. I could have cooked it myself then, instead if paying $… The lechon kawali was more like adobo. My husband (non-filipino) complained that it’s vinegary. He knows his favorite food. He totally lost his appetite and was not happy at all. The sauce is not the usual filipino mang tomas. It tasted like a salad dressing. The fried fish was ok. There’s nothing spectacular about it. The soy sauce and a sliced of lemon tasted sour. More of 70 percent lemon tasting than soy sauce.

We are not returning then……

09/14/2024 in response to your response

Hi Chef,

Thanks for reaching out but we’re not from Atlanta. What I wrote from my initial review was we actually like the Pork Sinigang but just too salty. We would give it 6-6.5 out of 10. And for the parking, thanks for correcting me. It’s street parking. My bad!

Anyway,

It is disappointing that there inconsistency with the taste and serving of the food. The Chef making a mistake in buying the rice or not knowing the difference between jasmine vs glutinious rice is unbelievable. It could have just happened once, but that determines a poor quality control with the dishes being served. When you buy a sack or wholesale of rice, the LABEL comes with it.

The side rice that came with our dishes(pork sinigang and fried fish) was 2 of 8oz to go containers and another side of rice for the lechon kawali in compartment food comtainer. I wouldn’t consider them as 32oz all together. Maybe 16oz all together. Like 4oz per dish. Justfilled half way thru the 8 oz container.

The turon that we ordered didn’t come with plaintain. My Dad and I ate each one and opened the wrapper and there was nothing in it. Unless, the plaintain was mashed mix with cinnamon and sugar…????

The fish was fried fish. That’s it. Just ok. The dipping became too sour. Just overwhelming taste of sourness.

It’s not just about the $. I have lived in big cities like NYC, DC and have visited CALIFORNIA, LAS VEGAS and you name it. It can be pricy. But I spent some amount of $ when dining out with family which there were some cases that it’s a let down and majority was good. Nobody is perfect. I believe it is in the consistent flavor of the food that customers keep coming back and the overall service too.

Good luck to you Chef...

Once again, my mind is blown by what Atlanta considers to be high quality or good experiences!

I went in at 5 o’clock to eat dinner, I was never greeted . I walk in and they ask if I’m picking up or place in an order. There was never a hello never a welcome in. So I said I need to place an order. I placed my order she tells me 10 to 15 minutes and so I sit down . I wait a couple minutes and I’m like hey can I get a water which she gets me.

After 28 minutes of nobody saying anything to me nobody updating me. Nobody checking in nothing I asked the guy like hey where’s my food at? He says oh let me check. I said what he told me 10 to 15 minutes. It’s been 30.

He comes back telling me it’s gonna be at least another seven minutes. So basically would’ve been a 40 minute wait after being told it was a 10 to 15 minute wait. So I tell him just refund me my money back because I don’t have time to continue to wait. Then after he refunds, he said oh well it’s almost ready now. So I said we back up what you have so I can go. He bags up half the order and I’m like well. Where’s the rest of it? Oh well, you can’t have the rest of it. So the main entrée that I actually ordered I did not even receive.

So I take what partial food they give me which apparently just came up but as soon as I walk outside, I opened the container and none of the food is even hot. So it’s clearly just been sitting back there getting cold while they did whatever they did.

As I’m walking out the door, one of the owners starts badmouth of me before the door even closes. So I turned around and tell him not to talk about me as I’m walking out the door as if I’m in the wrong for being upset that it took almost 3 times longer than I was told. It was never updated until I confronted them about it.

So overall, absolutely horrible customer experience, horrible dining experience, and I haven’t even tasted the food. Again, the food was not hot or fresh at all. The ribs were extremely dry, the pork belly had no seasoning without dipping it into the sauce that comes with it, and with not being hot, it leaves a nasty mouth feel because all the fat and grease on it. The best thing might’ve been the chicken and even that was below average.

Oh and let’s not forget get the coconut rice that was so over cooked it was mush. I took one bite and it was like a mushed glob of starch. I couldn’t even manage it enough to chew/swallow the one bite.

They definitely leave a lot to be desired not only in customer service but in Food as well. Honestly, as far as customer service, that’s probably the worst I experience and the eight years I’ve...

We were so excited to try a local restaurant in the Grant Park area that specialized in Filipino food. Normally one must travel outside of the city to find a restaurant whose speciality is Filipino cuisine.

Estrellita while aesthetically pleasing was more of a disappointment than anything else. Like most restaurants during the time of Covid-19 their menu is rather limited. This is not a strike against them as there are so many things you can do to prepare your kitchen (as theirs is a small one) with a limited menu. There can be meal planning in place allowing the Chef to do things to perfection.

This was not the case with Estrellita. We arrived 30 minutes after opening on a Saturday evening and one of the dishes we were keen on trying was already out. They talked us into a cabbage dish & we literally sat and waited while our wait person was sent to a local grocery store for the ingredients.

After being sat we were virtually ignored by the wait staff as they were very busy prepping online & take-away orders and could not be bothered with us after we received our drinks.

It would have been a good gesture to serve us our appetizer but that did not happen until 2 minutes before our dinner was served. Unfortunately we remained ignored.

Luckily we were not in a rush for our dinner and desired to take our time in discovering what we hoped would be some delicious Filipino food. Again, a disappointment. The meat filled dough wrapped egg rolls we ordered as an appetizer were dry and nearly tasteless. They came with a traditional sweet & sour gelee dip that should have been a sweet compliment to the salty egg roll but it was so bland it added no benefit.

We tried the beef stir fry concocted of marinated beef, onions, and served on a generous bed of rice. This dish was marinated far too long. It was extremely salty and dry and while served warm it cooled quickly as the rice beneath it was clearly cold when the beef mixture was placed on top.

Getting back to the cabbage and rice dish; while this dish was freshly made it was rather bland. We had to reach over our table to the counter to collect soy sauce because again, we were completely ignored by the waitstaff and owner (who did not acknowledge us until our check arrived).

Since restaurants come and go with the preferences & desires of diners, as well as, service during the time of Coronavirus must be on point and safe, I sincerely hope this restaurant and it's ownership take a moment to consider their service issues or merely stay open as an on-line or take-away restaurant ONLY and not as a dine-in...