Considering how long I've been around the Diliman-Maginhawa area, there are still so many places I've long been hearing about and haven't been to, or even just places that I didn't know existed. Empire Steak is one of the latter, as we just happened to chance upon the place as my friend Rye, his friend, his then girlfriend, and I were cruising the area looking for dinner after watching the excellent "Barber's Tales" at TriNoma.
Empire Steak is tiny, first off. They entrance is literally just beside the sidewalk, and inside it seats at best about twelve people? It's a cramped, humble establishment with probably about two waiters who double as cooks, so you can't rush the service at all.
That aside, I set my expectations where they should be, at cheap steak, and they actually exceeded my expectations. My friends were in agreement as well, and they had the bigger steak & eggs. It wasn't mind-blowingly amazing, but it was a pretty dang decent slab of meat with rice and a slew of vegetables. Not bad for two hundred bucks! read more