Zul Cafe and Grill — Restaurant in Norwalk

I visited this place a few years ago, and I felt like it was ok. The other day, my friend took me back, and I have to say I've changed my mind. I officially like it there now. We had the palabok, and it was good – they top with with crunchy chicharon bits, and boiled eggs. I almost wish they put more chicharon bits, but for the sake of calories, I'm ok with it.

We also ordered the crispy binagoongan – the sauce was a bit rich, and there was no way we could finish it in one sitting, but that's ok. We took it home, and when I had it that evening, it was still great. They use lechon kawali (fried pork belly) in it. We also had the tokwa't baboy (fried tofu and fried pork) – THIS was the most triumphant of all. I will come back many times and order this over and over again. They fry up the tofu perfectly, and toss it with lechon kawali (crispy pork belly), and mix it up with onions, shallots, and scallions all in a vinegar/soy sauce mixture. I'm used to tokwa't baboy having more of the sauce, but their style of less sauce works too. We didn't finish it, so I brought it home and added more vinegar with soy sauce, and (to me) it came out even better.

The place is nice. Don't wear your best clothes in there, because the ventilation doesn't seem the most efficient. You will come out smelling like food. Not necessarily a bad thing, but if you're on your way somewhere, you might want to send someone else it to grab the food. They do have an area to eat upstairs. They bring the food up to you, and give you plastic utensils, a plastic cup, and a paper plate -- and it works, but I'd rather bring it home next time.

They also have a little area where they sell Filipino chips, juices, and various things. I ended up taking hiome a big pack of hamonado longganisa ($9.99), and pitsi-pitsi ($7.99). They also have mango/calamansi juice, canned corned beef, bags of chicharon, bags of fried chicken skin, ph vinegar, patis, and a whole bunch of other things.

The front of house is really great. They're so kind, and warm, and happy, and that makes a big difference. I'm so glad there is a Filipino restaurant in the area.

I'll...

Terrible dining experience. Food isn’t bad but the dining experience was so bad I can’t even muster up 1 star but I’m forced to put 1 star. So here’s what happened: I was with another person, we came half an hour before closing time. No one was there, it was empty. No customers other than us. I asked the checkout lady if we can dine in because I know they’re closing in 30 minutes. I asked her this 3 times before I made my menu selection. All 3 times she said yes. So when we made our menu selections she said it’ll take 30 minutes to make one of our meals. I then told her again “ok we want to eat here so you don’t mind if we eat here past closing time?” She said “it’s ok.” Then we went to sit. 15 minutes passed no one came with water or anything. I had to walk to the front to ask a waiter to give us water. She gave me this look like she didn’t wanna do it. I would understand why later on when the food comes out. So near closing time the food came out - ready for this? The food came out in take out containers and plastic take out utensils, no knives. I was furious at this point. How can I eat a while fried fish with bones with weak plastic utensils? Hint: the eating didn’t go so well. So we tried to eat a few bites and just left. It’s obviously they were trying to usher us out the door but then why not just tell us you’re only available for takeouts now as it’s late? Just seems idiotic and super rude to try to usher us out with that rude move. I wouldn’t mind buying takeout but after waiting 30 minutes without telling me otherwise, you better believe I wanna eat in and not take it home now. Advice for the owners: Be straightforward, don’t beat around the bus. You created more problems and more discord by beating...

This was my second visit and for our first time here would have rated this place 5/5. Maybe we visited on an off day but I didn’t enjoy our experience as much the second time around. Came in with my kids, ordered three boba teas (one strawberry and one taro and passion fruit black tea)…my kid’s strawberry milk tea wasn’t sweet at all, my passion fruit tea was too sweet to the point that I couldn’t drink it). They do have a nice selection of Filipino snacks, tried the shrimp chips and the crispy fried chicken skins, both of which were delicious. Ordered the grilled shrimp with rice for my kids to share and the pancit Bihon for me. My order took 40 Minutes, by the time it was ready my kids had finished eating and were ready to go and I had already had some of my kids’ shrimp and rice (which was delicious and quick to arrive) so I ended up taking it to go/ not eating it. The restaurant is literally someone’s house that’s been converted into a restaurant, so you come in order downstairs and then head upstairs and your food is delivered to your table. It is delivered in takeout trays and they bring you foam plates and plastic utensils. We were the only people eating in on Friday around 12:30 but the restaurant seemed to be busy with takeout orders. I thought the food was good,but the service was just ok and the drinks were a miss. I wish someone communicated that it would take 40 minutes for my dish because I would just have ordered something else from the menu in that case. I feel like I wasted $70 on a lunch and ended up sharing a few pieces of shrimp with my kids, not ideal! I would visit again because I think the food is good but probably just...