Kusina Restaurant & Market — Restaurant in McAllen

New place for me, came in out of town and was feigning some Philippine food and found this on the maps. Had one of the higher reviews. Ordered the two choice combo meal and a soda. I chose the chicken adobo, beaf caldereta with pancit and an order of lumpias. The food was good and it hit the spot for what it was. Be aware that it is a cafeteria style serving so food is already made and depending on what time you get there and how long the food has been in the serving tray will depend on the freshness and how dry or not the food will be. The flavor was on par and it all tasted good. I do wish it was made to order but I picked the place knowing what to expect. The service was really good and curious. Atmosphere was typical and Philippine music played on the TV. Over all a good experience and would come back just would try and figure out when more or less the food is at its freshest to give a better reading of the food. Again don’t get me wrong it still was all very good just would prefer made to order but that is all on me. Great little place a bit out the way from the main hustle...

Kusina is like an authentic Philippine karinderia, but with American standards of cleanliness. The serving-line offers a dozen or so dishes to choose from, and you can get two of these and some rice or pansit (rice noodles) for about 8 or 9 dollars. We enjoyed the bistek (beef in soy sauce), the shrimp in coconut sauce, the pansit, the bitter gourd with egg, the pork sinigang (a sour stew), and the garlic rice. We look forward to going again to try the other dishes. But be warned: because the food at Kusina is prepared in the traditional way, one should not be surprised to find it rather salty and greasy, with chunks of pure fat mixed with the meat. Philippine food makes no pretenses of being healthy. (In the Philippines, most people get little enough to eat to worry about such things.) We just wonder whether the TV could show more useful information about the Philippines, such as travel or culture, rather than the inane and violent spectacles that give so much modern mass...

Food is great but service can be frustrating. Stood in line to purchase a product from their grocery spot since they asked another customer to wait in line earlier. Then they proceeded to let two other customers cut the line to purchase baked goods. Which resulted in me waiting in line over 10 minutes just to find out they couldn't sell me the product since it didn't have a price. I understand the need to treat your more regular customers well, but sure made for an annoying time on my end. I will finally give Cabalen a try.

June 30 visit: food was very cold today. Pork adobo was also overcooked for the first time. They didn't have pork adobo the last time I visited so that's a bummer. Service continues to be an issue. Received part of my order after I was already done eating. On the bright side the pancit and garlic rice were better than theyve ever tasted, but they...