Abacá — Restaurant in San Francisco

We've been to Abaca a few times before this Mother's Day Brunch (2023), and every time we've had such an overwhelmingly good experience. Our friends have not had similar experiences, which we thought it could have been an off day for the kitchen/front of house staff.

The Mother's Day Brunch was such as let down. We made the booking for six people, and only five could make it. The staff did not mention if that would be a problem or not, they seemed fine that everything was pre-paid for and that it was our problem.

Since we fell under a "large group" reservation - instead of seating us in the main dining area, they moved us to the back room where all the large groups would be sat. The seating room was so far removed from the main dining room area that at times it felt isolating and insincere; picture half a dozen large tables in various shapes and sizes in a separate section of the hotel with no diversity in group size. Not only did you have to walk back and forth between rooms through the main lobby, but the room itself felt like a last minute thought. It was almost embarrassing walking from the back room into a half filled main dining room for most of our reservation, as if we did not belong in the restaurant. The temperature in the back room was STIFLING. The skylight provided so much warmth and the humidity was thick. You can tell that the HVAC was off, because as soon as you walk out of the room into the lobby, its nice and refreshingly cool and not muggy at all. The main dining room felt identical to the lobby, so there shouldn't be an excuse that it was just due to the skylight. The tables and chairs felt like an afterthought - foldable chairs and tables that were uncovered and felt like they belonged at an outdoor picnic and not at $55/pp buffet.

Onto the food - The food and drink were so far away from we've experienced at Abaca in the past. There were no standout winners for the buffet, even the desserts and drinks were off the mark. The Abaca flat white mocha did not need the yuzu and the chunks of roasted white chocolate were unpleasant when the bottom of the drink was being drunk. The Ube Colada shouldn't be virgin, we've had this before multiple times from the bar and it does not work as well in non-alcohol drink. The prime rib was irony and metallic, the lechon pork tasted as if was marinated in sugar water, the apple ketchup was as if someone accidentally spilled sugar into their bowl of mang tomas. Also can we talk about giving the meat station chef a non-serrated knife? EVERY piece that was cut was absolutely wrecked, mashed, and sloppy. The quiche tortang was dry and did not work cold, there was so much fat in the tocino pork belly that you could not taste any other flavor. The curry chicken was the best tasting of the proteins, but even then the piece I ate was not fully cooked at the bone. Aside from the eggs, bacon, and sausage (fine and standard) the only dish that we would recommend would have been the garlic rice, but even then the use of short grain rice really felt unnecessary, and ended up being too gummy - not at all like a silog plate fried rice. The fruits were the only good desserts, the sapin-sapin was foamy (what?), the chocolate creme puff was fine, and the lychee panna cotta wasn't even set. Ok, the bibingka pancakes were good, but why were they served in the middle of the proteins? The to-go pastries missed too, the bibingka was too salty and adding brie on top took it over the edge. The ensyamadas were fine - pretty much a ensyamada shaped croissant ensyamada with Filipino filling.

To the management - I would rather you sell out your main dining room absurdly quick, than have to ever sit in the back room again. Please stop - it felt like the large groups were being isolated as a punishment in an uncomfortably warm and under served room.

For the last year we've 10/10 on all things Abaca, after today, I don't think I'll be recommending them to anyone unless we are...

This spot in the Kimpton Alton Hotel was a hopping stop on a Sunday morning. Reservations ns recommended! The Filipino fusion fare for brunch was more than just a food use of alliteration; it was delicious.

We started with the lumpia - excellent flavor with a sauce that had a nice sweetness (tamarind?). Grabbed a beer - minus a 1/2 point for the smallest $8 beer I've had in years. Nevertheless, tasty brews. The coffee was also good.

Next up - the Ube waffle and the beef hash, made with beef cheeks (cabeza). This was the highlight of the meal - a well poached egg oozing yolk-y goodness. Wrapped with a pastry. All good.

The service was okay, but note a 20% tip is automatic regardless of party size. Our waiter did fine, but homeboy was overwhelmed. It was busy, and staff are hard to find, but give that dude some relief! Not his fault, but kept them at 4 stars.

Go again?

See all photos from Jonathan M. for ABACÁ

Alix R. Cupertino, CA 7474121 11/16/2022 1 check-in When your friend tells you about a Filipino spot that she's been meaning to try out, you gotta go check it out. And for brunch? Even better.

I ordered the fried chicken and waffles and a tsokolate drink. I'm a HUGE fan of fried chicken and I was a huge fan of the seasonings and sauce. Who would've even thought of combining pinakurat with butter??? I was pleasantly shocked by how delicious it was (didn't have as big of a kick as straight up pinakurat, which I appreciated). And to top it all off, that adobo gastrique was heavenly. Only downside of the dish was that there wasn't more of it.

Only regret I have was not ordering some lumpia... I was also originally thinking about one of the silog breakfasts, but figured I'd get a better deal at a "turo turo" style restaurant or my tita's house.

I'll be sure to recommend this spot to my family when they visit.

Masha G.Elite 2022 Oakland, CA 109289237 11/12/2022 7 photos I've been wanting to try Abaca for a while, so I was really excited to finally come here with a friend! We made a 530pm Friday reservation, and when we arrived, we requested to sit at the bar, which feels like more fun!

We quickly ordered a couple of drinks and then chatted with the bartender about her favorite dishes. She asked about any allergies, and we noted scallops (mild) and walnuts (much more severe, if ingested). She made it a point to confirm the allergies, and once we placed our order, she came back and assured us that she let the kitchen know and scallops would be removed from the noodle dish we had ordered and that walnuts weren't in anything we had ordered.

So, we definitely started off on a really rocky note when our salad showed up... with all the walnuts! This was remedied, of course, and we moved on with our meal. Things happen, we get it, but maybe be extra careful!

Things we ordered: *Beef lengua - this was tender and delicious. I don't eat mushrooms, so we asked for the sauce on the side, but my friend assured me the sauce was bomb. *Seafood pancit - delicious, though richer than either of us expected *Pork steamed buns - really good! Huge fan of anything bao-like *Autumn chicory salad - while this was highly recommended, it wasn't really something that stuck out at me or would be something I'd recommend (with or without walnuts) *Pork lumpia - this was good and I liked the lettuce wrap version of this *Mango coffee cake to end was absolutely delicious and the perfect way to end a meal with something that's light...

My boyfriend recently learned about Abaca on the NY Times, so we spontaneously grabbed a a couple of friends to try it out altogether. We had a party of 9 so we called to make reservations before. We actually didn't plan to have a large group, so we kept calling multiple times to increase the party number and it was so easy. The interior was really pretty and the wait time to our table was about 10 minutes.

We ordered so many things, I would've taken pictures of everything but we were ready to dig in. After the server gave us a rundown of the menu, we ordered but was met with something along the lines of "For a table this size, it will not be enough food." She suggested that we order everything off the menu. We were taken back and just doubled the Seafood Pancit and Java Rice. At the end of the night, we had leftovers and that's when we regretted listening to her.

Honestly the food we ordered first starting from the appetizers to the main plates started off really well then it just went downhill. I don't eat pork or shellfish, so I only had the beef, chicken, and veggie options. The food I tasted was pretty delicious but as a filipino, I'm kind of disappointed that there weren't any bigger entrees with beef and chicken. I've never had a problem eating at other filipino restaurants, it was more of a struggle here. There was a smoked chicken palabok on the menu, but we didn't hear great things about it from others so we steered clear.

I tasted the beef lengua, chicken inasal, java rice, vegetable lumpia, squash okoy fritter, and gising gising. I genuinely liked everything I ate, I loved the chicken inasal and squash okoy fritter. The vegetable lumpia was delicious and the wrapping was really crispy. I wish I had more and that was my favorite of the night, with the squash okoy fritter as a close second. I wish the fritter had more sauce to eat it with though, I just dipped it in the pork lumpia's dipping sauce and it was good. Personally I feel like I would've liked the gising gising if it wasn't so spicy, because I couldn't taste anything else other than the chili oil. But maybe that's just my spice tolerance to this specific chili oil because I eat it with almost everything. Also we noted that one of the people in our party had a peanut allergy and our server said that they can put the peanuts on the side. When the gising gising came, peanuts were all over the entree.

The others in my group also ordered the sisig fried rice, pork lumpia, seafood pancit, and tinutungang kalabasa. I didn't eat these, but my friends thought that the seafood pancit and tinutungang kalabasa was underwhelming and disappointing. And the sisig fried rice missed the mark. Out of 8 people in the party, they didn't want to finish it and we were left with alot of leftovers that no one wanted.

After the whole experience, I'm giving 3 stars. Service was okay, it would've been best if we stuck to our intuition. And we could've even ordered more food later if we were hungry instead of feeling pressured to order more at that moment. Also, taste was okay but not outstanding and it didn't correlate with the price. I'd be open to try their brunch but I wouldn't come for...