Purple Roots — Restaurant in Jacksonville

We were very excited for this restaurant as we saw that it was having a "soft opening" and served authentic Filipino cuisine. On the first day of trying to eat at this restaurant we were informed by another customer that we should try and make a reservation because the staff wouldn't even acknowledge you if you didn't have one. That should've been a warning sign for us, but ignorantly we made reservations for the next day to try this restaurant. As we arrived the waitress ignored us for about five minutes and then asked us if we had a reservation and all of the follow up questions to follow. As we were seated we noticed how packed the restaurant was, thinking the food would be amazing seeing that there's so many people enjoying it. We had to flag down our waitress to order and discuss the menu, however she was very kind and knowledgeable about the food so I was hopeful. As we were waiting we noticed that we had a water bottle yet no cups for the water. Our waitress also said she would return with rice for both of us. She never did we had to flag down another employee for rice and they brought out only one when there's two people at the table, and when we politely asked for the rice she rolled her eyes and seemed annoyed by our request. Looking around the restaurant we could see how "certain" customers were treated with better service and how others were not. This should've been our signal to leave right then but we stayed as we were hopeful. We ordered the beef lumpia, the chicken adobe, and the beef bulalo. This is a break down of each dish; The Lumpia: the dish was cold and all wrapper. The menu said that there would be six rolls yet they cut two of them in half to fill the quota, overall very mediocre and a let down. The Chicken Adobo: the dish was lukewarm and brought out ten minutes after the other dishes. Very small portions and tasted sour almost rotten. The beef bulalo: the dish was Luke warm even though it was a soup. Portion size for the price is terrible. Little to no meat considering it was a meat dish. At this point I was very upset with the service and the food and refused to finish the food. When our tables waitress noticed this action she finally visited our table after not checking on us once throughout the meal. I then explained to her how the food was not very good and she compensated us by removing the 20% gratuity on the check. Overall, I do not recommend this restaurant. I don't even know how they are still running or using the excuse of a "soft opening" as they've been open since March 18 and there seems to not be much improvement by looking at the other yelp and google reviews. Save yourself the disappointment and prejudice and go somewhere...

Great food, great service, great atmosphere, beautiful decorations and the place is very clean. I would give them 4/5 because they did not have Sisig that night (2/13/23) but I gave them 5 stars anyways because every dish was a banger, except for one, keep reading. Now I don't know about you, but I have never been to a Filipino restaurant that doesn't serve Sisig, that dish should never run out in any Filipino restaurant, ever. We noticed that the drinks were really small, if we're paying 6-7 dollars for a juice drink, you'd think it would come in at least a medium sized cup, instead we got really small cups like the water cups they can give out for free in fast food restaurants. Don't even get me started with the bottle of Coke, I mean it's cute but come on, really? Good thing there was only one person who drinks soda in our party anyways but he's an avid soda drinker, my cousin's husband, he's 6′3 and we were laughing when the bottle arrived, like that size of Coke is only appropriate for some who's under 7 years old. Like I said, every food that came out was really, really good except the Laing. I've had many different Laings from different Filipino restaurants from Orlando to Jacksoville to Tampa, this is something that's very hard to mess up but this is the only bad Laing I've ever tasted, you can barely taste the coconut milk in it because there's barely any it, like it should be very creamy but here it is not, I love Laing so much you see I'm even writing a whole essay about this but this one is really bad, it just doesn't taste right. The only thing that saved it was was the Lechon Kawali on top but it didn't do much, if a Laing was good, even without toppings I'll inhale it in like 10 seconds legit. Ok, I'll admit it I finished it because I knew I was the only one in my family who's going to eat this dish anyways and I don't want to waste food but really didn't enjoy this dish at all. I'm not hating on whoever cooked this I appreciate the effort love but this really ain't it chief.

We had a great time, it was my aunt's birthday, and she really wanted the whole family to try this out too because she enjoyed her time here when she previously with her friends from work. The food came out quickly and the servers were kind. I just really love how you can just order through the kiosk machine and just leave whenever after eating, plus they got to go stuff neatly placed on the shelves for anyone to take.

We are definitely coming back, not for the Laing but we are definitely...

I dined at Purple Roots with my parents who are immigrants from the Philippines and we were absolutely blown away by the food. Authentic Filipino comfort food has finally arrived in Jacksonville!

Purple roots is a family owned/oriented restaurant that boasts a wide selection of iconic and traditional dishes Filipino dishes served tapas and/or family style.The menu also includes some fun and innovative dishes while maintaining the core flavors of the Filipino recipe, example dish: Sisig burritos (Big in California, brought to Duval by the fine folks at purple roots)! Pricing is very reasonable and perfect for a casual meal with family and friends or even a date with your loved one. For people that have never had Filipino food before, Purple Roots is the best restaurant to taste Filipino culture and its flavors. This place checks all of the boxes!

Everything on the menu is super good, honestly I don’t think they have a bad dish lol. But if you need some recommendations please try: sisig (Sizzling crispy and savory pork, served with a runny egg) kwek kwek (fried quail egg, Popular Filipino street food) taho (MUST ORDER THIS!!!! Popular Filipino sweet drink) halo halo cake (MUST ORDER!!! unique to purple roots: it incorporates the foundation of the famous halo halo drink into a layer cake. Move aside milk bar!!!) the whole menu is crazy good, you have to visit haha.

I know this place is booked out for the rest of the month, so if you’re thinking about experiencing Purple Roots please reserve ASAP! To to owner and staff at Purple Roots, thank you for opening up this restaurant in Jacksonville. It is a perfect representation of our culture and food. The food that the kitchen is putting out will not only put Filipino food on the map but it will put the duval culinary scene on the map. If that one Filipino restaurant in Chicago could get a Michelin star, I know purple patch is definitely in contention for a Michelin star. The city needed this restaurant and you guys delivered on everything plus some! I will be a regular here and bringing...