The Noypitz Bar and Grill — Restaurant in West Covina

Service rant:

You really have to be familiar with Filipinos in American hospitality to give a lot of buffering to the service quality.

Literally nobody in the restaurant at 8:30 pm on a Thursday night. Might be because of the location or maybe an indicator of neighborhood and things we weren't aware of. Even the local cafe 86 was already closed.

Only server on the floor was awkward, allowed us to mess with audio equipment and barely checked in on us to the point where we could've probably just walked out after our meal and he wouldn't bother getting off his chair because he was on a phone call the whole time.

Food review:

Portions for the price were passable but the flavor made up for it.

The fact that the food came out minutes behind each other was awkward but they all were well presented.

Bangus sisig was sizzling and piled high on top of the skin to give a good counter balance of crispy skin and flavor bombed meat. It didn't come with an egg but excusable since the flavor was good. Processed calamansi packet though was not. Give me a lime over a random packet please or at the very least have it in a container.

Bistek had a very acidic taste to it but while it was hot was tender and the contrasting color of the raw red onion was a good touch.

Chicken skewers for $20 seems egregious discussion when there are only 5 of them but again the sweet and salty flavor and very tender protein brought an arguable pass.

OVERALL COMMENTS

Being the only customers for the night and coming in hungry for Filipino food probably made the meal better than it's priced out to be. Over $80 for 3 dishes might not have been a big deal if the service was better but that wasn't the case this visit.

We'll be on the lookout for more Filipino food outside of Amar and Azusa but for a place that's open past 9pm on a weekday this is the price you pay for. Bad service but nostalgic food.

PSA don't expect a typical US dining experience and be vigilant about making sure your server knows you need refills on your sink water. If you expect slow/non-existent service but food that hits classic flavors this...

Firstly... As someone who has worked in the restauraunt industry, so I understand circumstances surrounding service may vary depending on the business of the establishment.

Woth that said, during my visit it was not my ANY means busy and yet:

The tables was not turned over properly: It was given a quick & careless wipe down with food remnants still stuck between the seat cushions of the booth we were seated in

Took our waiter all of 10 mins to get to our table to take our drink order & once the food landed we NEVER saw our waiter again.

We were checked on ONCE (literally, not figuratively) & i asked for some chile sauce, waited 15 minutes & then had to ask someone else...

Had to wave someone down to get the check & im NOT exaggerating.

NO ONE made eye contact when they passed the table, NO refilling waters, NO checking in... Just a quick stride past the table.

Lastly, my boyfriend spilled his water (while waving to get a waiter's attention) & no one came over with any kind of assistance even though a busser, waiter, & hostess was near by & even after that we STILL had to track someone down to take our form of payment.

Food portions were large, pricing was great, the food was pretty good but the customer service was ABSOLUTELY ATROCIOUS, felt like we were being ignored like the plague & made a very SIMPLE lunch an absolute stress fest.

Management is oblivious, spent more time taking pictures of table settings for the MANY empty tables in the establishment, than actually improving the dining experience for the...

Dining at this restaurant at lunchtime on a weekend was a pleasant experience. There were no crowds, service was fairly quick and efficient. Our waitress was very personable and helpful in describing the restaurant's most popular offerings. Our little family decided on fishballs for appetizers, the Noypitz platter as the main course, with beef sinigang to round things up. The fishballs were not the fishballs of my youth and they were served with sweet chili sauce which was a point against the dish. The platter items were ok too. The pancit was tasty, the lumpia tiny and slightly anemic in color, the calamari wasn't crunchy enough. I think the fried chicken quarter was supposed to be Max's inspired and it was decent. My hubby liked the crispy Pata which had crunchy-enough skin. For dessert we had the halohalo and a slice of sans rival. The cake was pretty to look at and hit the spot, but we've had better. The merengue layers were too dry and crumbly (I'm a decent cook and baker). Hubby liked the halohalo despite it having candied beans (he's used to Cebu style halohalo, which he says has no beans and has more fruits). There's a lot of other things on the menu that we would like to try on another visit. I will update my review at that time. But for the location, ambiance and service, Noypitz is a place you can proudly take non-Filipino friends to for an introduction to our cuisine. I hear the place pops at night when the band plays. Maybe do it then to showcase our food and our...