Maharlika Karaoke Bar & Grill — Restaurant in Jacksonville

It breaks my heart to describe my most recent experience so harshly because I really want Maharlika to succeed, but the current understaffing and inefficiency needs to be addressed. I've known of Maharlika for years, visiting sporadically for private parties where the food was already prepared and served on chafing dishes. But Maharlika isn't just a catering service; it must function as a restaurant that takes dine-in customers. This past Sunday, my Mom, boyfriend, and I visited after we gave up on Purple Roots, another odd experience where we waited since 5pm for them to open for dinner but no peep on social media, no sign of life inside for 30min. We were committed to enjoy Filipino food for dinner and were starving by the time we got to Maharlika. Getting seated was easy, and maybe 5min later someone took our orders. We ordered 2 cocktails, lumpia for appetizer, sisig, seafood sinigang, and ginataang tahong. It took 20min to get the lumpia, 45min to get the sisig, and around the 1hr 50min mark I had to go up to the bar and change our order to takeout for the remaining sinigang and tahong because we simply wanted to cut our losses for the night and get home. It was odd to wait so long for seafood since it cooks so quickly. We only stayed that long because no other Filipino places were open and we were trying to give the benefit of the doubt out of loyalty. During the 2hrs, I watched the floor fill up to half capacity, which normally wouldn't be a problem but there were only 2 men on the floor taking orders, and one of them was split with bar service and the other was split with the karaoke requests. So don't get me wrong they were hustling, and I don't know how many were in the kitchen. After all this, my receipt had a mandatory 20% Service Charge. I wasn't familiar with what that was and my understanding now is that it's an additional non-tip fee to cover the wages of the servers or admin costs. The owner needs to do away with the Service Charge by improving their recruitment process to attract more staff, or changing their marketing strategy to bring in more customers. Until then, I'm sad to say I can't...

This is the worst restaurant I've been in, Jacksonville, FL.

The following aspects of disappointment were as follows:

Service: Very poor quality. Our table was never waited, except only for us to order food and drinks. Food took approximately 45 mins to get, and a soft drink nearly took 30 mins. The place was not crowded. I needed to inform the waitress more than three times after 20 mins of waiting that we still wait for our drinks to be refilled and tables services needed to be cleaned. Highly recommend to have waitress walk the floor and cater to tables more often than hiding in the kitchen.

Bar: Bartender was very slow on getting drinks for everyone at the bar. I waited 15 mins to get 1 shot of choice, and again, the bar was not busy. Only about 6-8 people at the bar. Countertops remained dirty, and my overall impression for my first time being there was horrible. Highly recommend hiring another bartender or hiring someone who has experience in the profession.

Karoke: OMFG!!! Showing up 45 minutes late is very unprofessional! It was very difficult to understand what was being said. I am not sure what lineup she had people to sing, but I am positive she didn't know what she was doing to have a lineup for people to sing. Multiple people were singing many times before there was a chance to have others sing that were already in rotation. Highly recommend hiring another DJ who understands the job and someone who speaks clearly for people to understand.

Food Quality and Atmosphere: The food was great! People were friendly.

My overall impression for my first time being at this particular restaurant was horrible! I stand on business when it comes to having a great night, and this place didn't meet the expectations of a good night. I would NOT recommend this place to anyone! My main takeaway from this restaurant is to be better at EVERYTHING, except for the food, the...

I will share my experience and let you be the judge. We walked into the restaurant and nobody greeted us at the door. In fact it was completely empty, save what looked like a few musical instruments setup for a band. After approximately 10 minutes of standing around awkwardly a member of our party went searching for help. A few members of the kitchen staff stood around in back looking confused and we were finally shown a table. We sat down, and after another 10 minutes a server came by and asked us what we would like to drink. Water for the table seemed simple enough, but apparently this restaurant was fresh out. At the same time another party entered the restaurant, was promptly seated, and within 5 minutes their drink order was not only taken, but filled even before our own! Naturally we sent a member of our party out again for service after which we were provided water, sans apology of course. Our food arrived a day later, or what seemed like a day. We had 4 very small children in our party who we had to keep entertained during this extended waiting period. Naturally they brought the adult portions first and proceeded to place the hottest plates directly in front of the smallest children. Luckily no one was burned. Finally they bring out the scalding hot spaghetti on glass plates complete with a giant serving fork. As for the food, since the owners of the establishment don't seem to value their customers or their time, I will decline to comment. If you have half a day to spare, feel free to try...