Balangay — Restaurant in Washington

It's rare that the setting/ambiance of a restaurant leads me to discount stars, but I did not enjoy the feeling inside Balangay. Foremost, Balangay does not have its own space, and instead is like a pop-up within the Bullfrog Bagels space (yes a bagel shop), which, at dinnertime, is closed and thus half the space you are in is dark and empty. The remaining space allocated for Balangay primarily consists of a bar that looks so worn down that I would not visit it unless no other bars existed in a city. On top of this, there is absolutely no Filipino themed art or decor, mainly because there is no art or decor at all, nor a sign anywhere that says "Balangay." Even the cocktail menu is handwritten on a piece of paper and taped to the wall. My issue with all of this is that when looking at the website, Balangay feels in-authentically marketed as a "fine" restaurant experience. Trust me, there is nothing fine about this setting/setup. The space issues, that you only have a tiny appetizer plate to eat out of the whole meal (even for mains), the loud drunk people feet away from you at the bar... it all is pretty unpleasant. As for the food, thankfully it isn't bad. Course reviews below:

1. Kinilaw (4.5/5) - I enjoyed the sauce in the ceviche, and though not bursting with freshness, the salmon and mango were solid. The amount of ceviche you get though for $14 vs. the amount of wonton chips is really imbalanced, to the point you are just eating chips by themselves because there is no more ceviche.
2. Ensaladang Talong (3/5) - I liked everything that went on top of the eggplant, but it didn't go with the eggplant at all, which itself didn't taste very fresh and was overly mushy.
3. Pancit (2/5) - Probably the most disappointing dish because there was nothing unique about it. It was just glass noodles with some veggies for $14. No interesting ingredients, flavors, nothing, and anyone could probably cook this quickly at home for a few bucks.
4. Chicken Inasal (4.5/5) - As other reviews note, this is a highlight. It isn't really the chicken though, but the sauce on it and the garlic rice on the side that stand out. I would also prefer if they serve the chicken boneless as you essentially have a giant drumstick to share which isn't easy to divide.

Perhaps Balangay could be special with its own actual restaurant space and a few improvements. But I wouldn't believe the hype that is its...

DC's newest Filipino pop-up restaurant!!!  Came here last night for dinner—the pop-up venue is very small and luckily for a Thursday night, it was not packed. Had reservations for 2, but there was enough ample seating at the bar to dine and drink so we choose to sit there instead.

It’s a limited food menu so we ordered basically most of the dishes on the menu. The first to come out were the Ensaladang Talong (eggplant) and Pork Belly—amazing presentation on the talong, served with the apple wood smoke dome so you get that aroma filling your senses.  Both dishes were flavorful and well seasoned, could definitely have ordered a second helping of each. Food came out quick too! For our main, we were able to snag the final Chicken Inasal of the day!  So be warned, this dish does run out if you're not the early bird, so we got lucky—this dish was the highlight of the meal! The chicken itself had flavor throughout, up until the bone, and the sauce glazed on it was delicious, we even asked for extra sauce. Also tried the Lumpia and Fried Chicken Adobo.  They were okay since the best dishes came out first.  The rice that came with the adobo was really tasty though.

Service was awesome—we even got to converse with Chef Wing as he came by the bar to say hello.  Danny mans the bar and is a recent addition to the staff, which is great because he is super cool. If you're in the mood for Filipino food, this place is well...

I'm of Filipino descent, and It's truly difficult to find a Filipino restaurant that would appeal to Filipinos and Americans alike, and to that, I give Chef Wing a 10/5 with a standing ovation. Excellent food, genius spin on cocktails, but overall, a bad taste in customer service. Another two customers even made a scene and left due to the bartender's communication mishaps. We'll return and recommend our entire circle in the DMV to go when the bartender is let go or resigns.

I REALLY want to give a perfect score, but the bartender left a bad taste in our mouths. During a non-busy hour (4 customers), my fiancée and I verbalized we were ready to order. He immediately turned his back in front of us to slowly do menial unnecessary tasks (non-customer related) for 5-10 min., then took our drink orders and didn't care to ask if we wanted food. He remained aloof and repeated the offense when we ordered food, and also made no eye contact or positive social interactions at all throughout our experience. He seemed to be talkative and exuberantly social to non-Filipino-American guests. You'd think as a server, you'd be more socially adapted to customer service norms and limit forms of passive...