tired from shooting in up los banos for our project and also gearing up for a few hours of wakeboarding, we were in bad need of a nice late lunch. we saw the menu for morning after and quickly decided to dine here.
but maybe, just maybe, we should've just stuck to something familiar. 'cause, boy, we were disappointed. :(
for starters, we ordered 2 salads (greek salad and chinese chicken salad with red chili peanut dressing) for sharing. the flavors were good and all, but it was overpriced with the amount that was given (almost good enough for 1 person).
out of our 8 single served dishes, only 3 were satisfied (they had the homemade boneless bangus, beef salpicao, and tapa). but for the rest of us (myself included), damn.
let's start off with my "the club" sandwich. beautifully plated on a wooden chopping board. appreciate how filling it was, but the chicken alone? flat. like cardboard. sad really. same goes with my 3 guy friends who ordered the full english breakfast. equally wonderful plating like my club sandwich, but it was far from filling. those guys were still hungry :)) and to think that breakfast is the most important meal of the day. lastly, my friend ordered the sausage and mushroom risotto since she was craving for something creamy. and believe me, it was. it would have been the best dish there, except the rice was still chewy. like half cooked rice. immediately, she called the attention of the waitress to say it might be under-cooked. when the waitress came back, she was instructed to tell us by the chef that the rice they used was italian arborio and that it was the way it's suppose to taste. but they still promised they'd cook it more to her liking of softer rice. but i still couldn't believe what i heard, but since i wasn't very familiar with the type of rice, i didn't say anything. but we've (yes, the same group of people) had risotto before at mama lou's and it was nothing like the one we've had here.
in general, this place serves beautifully plated dishes with unmemorable flavors (with a mishap in one of our dishes) priced to the extreme. don't get us wrong, we're willing to shell out, but the food also has to be on par with it.