Tita's Kitchenette — Restaurant in National City

Tita's Filipino Food Restaurant - A Disappointing Decline ★☆☆☆☆ (1/5 stars - would give 0 if possible)

Date of Visit: Friday, July 25, 2025 Time of Visit: 6:30 PM Order: Combo Plate (Rice, Lumpia, which I later tried to replace with Pork Sisig)

I am writing this review with immense disappointment after being a loyal customer of Tita's Filipino Food Restaurant for over 25 years. My recent dining experience was so poor that I feel compelled to share it, and unfortunately, I will no longer be supporting this business.

Upon receiving my combo plate, I immediately noticed two major issues:

Mushy Rice: The rice was incredibly mushy and watery, resembling porridge rather than properly cooked rice.

Undercooked Lumpia: The lumpia was severely undercooked, with raw meat still visible inside the wrapper. This is a significant food safety concern.

I requested a refund for the lumpia. The cashier offered to replace it with a different item, and I chose the pork sisig. However, I was informed that I would have to pay an additional dollar for the replacement. I declined, reiterating my request for a refund on the lumpia. I did appreciate that they replaced the mushy rice with a fresh, better-cooked batch.

Over the past 25 years, I've witnessed the quality and service at Tita's steadily decline, while prices have concurrently risen. They used to offer beloved dishes like Beef Steak and onions, which have recently been rare to find on menu. The current buffet offerings, combined with the higher prices and significantly diminished quality of both food and service, are simply unacceptable.

Today's experience was the final straw. If I could give zero stars, I would. The restaurant has lost its quality and is now providing very low services at higher prices. I will never...

2022 update: This place looks like it has cleaned up quite a bit, the tables and chairs look newer and they have water and to-go containers set out for customers. I’ve eaten here a couple times in the past year and it was pretty satisfying. Their lumpia and bbq are both great, and their sisig is solid too. Would not fault anyone giving them a 3-star and above. I look forward to going again and would recommend.

Original:

I actually ate here a few months ago, but I'm not gonna lie, this place reminded me of a dirty gas station bathroom. The only thing that made me give this place A star was that their portions were decently sized. The place barely looked clean and needs to be renovated. If the place looks that dirty, how do you think they treat the food? I'm all for divey, but not dirty-looking. I brought a girl here based on the 4-star yelp reviews, but I may as well have taken her to eat in a subway station bathroom in New York. Taking someone to this place actually made me feel ashamed to be Filipino. I'd rather Google a recipe and BBQ some chicken skewers myself than coming back to this place, even for take-out. After looking at some other reviews that mentioned people getting food poisoning from this place, I think I lucked out just having to tolerate a dirty, shabby restaurant.

Eff this place, seriously, what are you 3-star reviewers and above thinking? Some of the high reviewers mention "duct-taped seats" and "workers could use some manners" but still giving the place 4-stars on their review? Some other people say "it replicates the Manila street food experience", but who immigrates to a first-world country and wants a third-world...

Terrible customer service today. I called in a pickup order at 0922, arrived at 0945 and waited close to 10 minutes before the cashier addressed the gentleman in front of me, and then finally myself. She wasn't aware of my order. After another 5 or 10 minutes a server came over to ask what I ordered. I showed her on my phone and as I was telling her verbally she walked away. I yelled that I hadn't finished talking and I believe that she yelled something back but I couldn't hear it. Told them to cancel the order. I've patronized this establishment for more than 20 years. The staff is usually rude but the portions are ample, the food is good and the location is near me so I will probably give them one more chance on a call-in pickup order in a few weeks or months. Hopefully I'll receive better service. If not you can read about it here.

Follow-up 5 months later; While the food is fine the service still lacks. Approximately 5 months ago I had a bad experience with my called-in order. I had to give the order to the server after I arrived which completely defeats the purpose of calling it in. Same thing today. I called at 8:30am with a small order and was assured that it would be ready at 9:30. I had to place the order again after arriving. The server said that they were short-handed as a way of explanation. My issue is that I'm sure they were short-handed at 0830 and could have given me a time that they could meet...