The thing about having a girlfriend is that you have to think of new places all the time so she…read morewon't get used to "dates" in Jollibee (or Jollijeep, depending on the budget). We ran out of places a few months back while we were in Cubao, and ended up trying Burgoo just for the heck of it (the big poster of smoked ribs outside their door might have had something to do with it though). This turned out to be a great choice because they seated us at a booth facing the large window overlooking Araneta Center. Burgoo also has large, white, paper table covers, and they give you whole bunch of crayons so you can while away the time while the food is being prepared. We ordered a mix of seafood, pasta, and steak and - here's the kicker - while we were eating, a fireworks show started outside. Did we mention we were facing the large window overlooking Cubao? It went down as one of the best dates we've ever had.

I am fond of American-themed restaurants because of the casual, campy, vibrant environment that…read morecaters to families and friends as well as the wide selection of foods available for meat-lovers, vegetarians, and fans of desserts. As such, Burgoo is one of my favorite restaurants to go to for birthday celebrations and dates. I love its branch in Gateway Mall for so many reasons. The fun never stops as there is always something to occupy your time. This branch features a slick, modern, American-style interior. Sporting events, usually PBA/NBA games, are broadcasted on TV that will get the sports aficionados talking. While waiting for the ordered meals to arrive, crayons and paper serving as place mats will get the kids and the young at heart to exercise their creativity. Birthday celebrants are treated to a free cake and a warm greeting from the staff, which is something I experienced at their branch in SM Marikina. The tables, plates, and utensils are very clean. The staff members in this restaurant are properly dressed and very cordial to the customers. The ordered meals and the bill arrived quickly enough, and the waiters drop by from time to time to ask about how we enjoyed the food and the service. And of course, the food is incredibly delicious. I am not usually a fan of hamburgers, but the bacon cheeseburger was so good that it made me consider eating more often in future visits. Its Supreme Sampler is recommended for groups fond of cheese sticks, chicken wings, and even crunchy vegetables. As someone who likes cheesecakes, their version at Burgoo is delectable as well. While the prices for the meals looked expensive at first and are not really an option for the health-conscious, the servings of the food were large enough to compensate for the prices and healthier options such as salads can be ordered as well. To sum up, if you happen to be in the Cubao area with your friends or family looking to have dinner after attending to an event, I highly recommend the Gateway Mall branch of Burgoo. With a pleasant environment, good service, tasty meals, and great company, it's an experience you'll be sure to want to have again in the future.

BETTER TO HAVE BEEN SELF SERVED. Service was ghastly. The…read morewaiter stood too close and as he spoke taking our orders, he stood closer as we moved further away from him to avoid getting SPAT at. The ribs, HARD corn on the cob and toast were served on a small platter. It was difficult separating the corn kernels from the cob using the butter knife. The Fish and Chips with vinegar. The "London" style came with mayo. The chips were french fry sized. When we asked for the vinegar, the same male waiter said "in a moment". The rest had almost worked halfway their sausage plate and ribs and the moment took more than four minutes. We approached the waiter who was picking up the order of rice for another table and again he said nonchalantly, "in a moment", squeezed his way in front and bumping into me trying to go across the counter. I told him, "could you not walk behind me" as the manager was handing the apple cider vinegar container. The waiter said "pacencia na lang" - I responded, I have no patience if I have to wait for service when I was the first customer on the floor with everyone already served. I MUST SAY, STAY AWAY FROM RACK'S for your safety ane peace of mind. The manager just watched and said nothing. Check the pictures of flying hard corn kernels. NEVER AGAIN TO THIS UNHEALTHY UNCLEAN PLACE.

This is definitely one of the great places to get really great ribs! Racks is very known for it!…read moreThis is also one of the places that has withstood changing times. Until now, they are still very relevant and that's a good thing. Before I talk about anything else, I have to mention their most awesome Onion Brick! It's a brick of deep fried thinly sliced batter covered onions. It has two dips - remoulade and bbq sauce. This Onion Brick revolutionized the typical basket of onion rings. It's so crispy and well seasoned. It's so good that we would order at least two. The Racks Baby Ribs just falls of the bone naturally! The barbecue sauce smothered on the ribs is so good. The meat is very soft and easy to eat. They just make the ribs the right way! I love eating here with my family. We all enjoy the food!

Toast was a bit hard to find among all the on-going road construction inside San Juan. It took a…read morewhile for me to find it but the reward of eating breakfast food on a hot Thursday afternoon was all I could ever ask for. It was easy to pick out your desired breakfast dish among the menu. There's at least one from each country tagged as Flavors From Around The World. There's French, American, Norwegian and Swiss! And of course, how could we forget about our Filipino favourites? There's arroz caldo, tapa, longganisa and bangus among those that you could choose from. And don't forget to try out their champorado (P180)! I'm a sucker for champorado so it was a treat to have their own take with it adding kesong puti and gourmet tuyo in the mix! A lot of the food they serve are around the P180-P250 range. The only pricey dish on their menu was their Swiss breakfast dish at P410. It comes with Crispy Potato Rosti and Smoked Salmon. You can also enjoy your breakfast food at any time of the day with beer! I know. I know. A bit odd for some but those two B's sure know how to knock your socks off. I want to come back one of these days just to try out the other selections. I've only tried two so far! It's not that far from where I work so it's easier to pop in every now and then. The road constructions along Hoover and Argonne (and the ones near Guevarra's) might throw you off though. Waze wasn't a huge help either but if you see an auto-detailing shop at the corner of Hoover and Argonne, you're on the right track. It's right beside it and Toast's very New York loft exterior won't be hard to miss anymore!

Awesome place to have a breakfast date. They have unique stuff in their menu. Order the champorado…read moreits great. The ambiance is really good. Natural light just right for waking up

No words can adequately describe how happy I was when I took that first bite…read more You've probably already passed this place at one point or another but missed it, unfortunately. I know I have and I pass by that area a lot and wouldn't have thought that such a place stood there. One of the hidden gems in Cubao. Two of my foodie friends invited me to have lunch there and of course I wanted to try it out for myself and see if it'll live up to the hype. By hype I mean the stories of how much they love it. The meat falls off the bone, it melts in your mouth and you'd think you died and went to carnivore heaven. It's so good! AND it can do with or without the sauce which is great since it doesn't rely on it to be amazing. I loved it so much that I wanted the home buddies to try so I ordered a half rack to go thinking they'd just TRY and sure enough they finished it right away and were already asking when we're going there. You should visit them when you're in the area, hey, even if you're not anywhere near. It's worth braving the traffic of Metro Manila over.

We ordered different items in the menu so we can all have a chance to taste the food. I ordered…read morethe daing bangus and it was good. The silog plates were decent sizes and the tapa plate was good. the club sandwich is good, but I was expecting it to have turkey in it. Instead of turkey, chicken salad was in the sandwich. It was different. but good. We also ordered a stack of blueberry filled pancakes. The blueberry filling oozed out when you cut the pancake, making them extra good. The restaurant has family friendly vibe and has a comfort food feel. The service was slow and the staff aren't really that attentive. We asked for our check and togo boxes and it took at least another 15 minutes for us to get it.

It's about 240AM and it's during this time when I either choose to sleep or get something to eat…read more Well, food WON! My craving at the moment is MEAT! Thus, I ended up at the nearest Wendy's. Usually, I would have food delivered from a Jollibee or Mcdo. But, when I want a meaty burger or just good hot food, I want to eat it minutes, seconds after it's cooked. That's why I LOVE Wendy's! The food is made to order. That's a big plus for me: getting hot, fast, filling food late at night when you've had a long day. Also, Wendy's really stepped up their game in terms of food choices + prices (Wendy's burgers used to be Php300+; now, a Baconator is like Php200! BIG meal, super savings!). This location is my fave because there are no lines and I can have the whole restaurant to myself (other branches are near call centers, so they are a bit noisy). My order took about 15 minutes which is fairly good considering the amount of food I ordered (LOL!). So, I almost always get the same order: a Chili bowl (I crumble crackers into it so that all the "soup" is soaked up), a Bacon Mushroom Cheeseburger + extra bacon because BACON, a large order of the baked potato with bacon and cheese, a Frosty and a Biggie Iced Tea. Today, I also ordered Cheesy Fries! YUM! Overall, I'm really satisfied with the food and service especially since they have added more items and the servings are HUGE! Next time, I think I will try their hotdogs

I'm not sure what happened to Wendy's. I used to associate them with burgers that weren't…read moreparticularly special and way overpriced, and if ever I had to be in one I'd just get a frosty and fries, because those were at least fairly priced and their fries looked like they were made with real potatoes and were thick and had a bite to them, which I liked. Anyway, my LoveYourself friends were wanting to have a bite out and when they said "Wendy's," I was like, "Ehh okay whatevs," but when we ended up there I was surprised by the selection of food they had to offer and the burgers weren't even that expensive! And they brought back their salad bar! Sure, the variety of veg wasn't admirable, but P200 to stuff your plate full of greens and potato and macaroni salad is a pretty great deal. I didn't end up getting a salad though, since I wasn't too hungry--I just got a small frosty (like about 9 oz) and a small pocket of fries for P50, which is a great deal, if you ask me. And they were as great as I remember. Someone left an extra half of a mushroom cheeseburger, which I ended up eating, and it was pretty good in all fairness. Damn, Wendy's. You stepped up your game, and I am coming back.

One hot and crazy afternoon, I wasn in such a rush to head to a meetinng that I left my phone…read moreplugged onto my Dad's car. I went inside Megamall and my first instinct was to look for a restaurant that would probably have a landline. Of course, I may as well head to one that I haven't tried, right? Fireside had a very spacious layout, with neutral tones accented by red (the logo has red obviously) and has a homey but sophisticated vibe. The server took my order and assisted me to their landline so I can get in touch with my Dad and make arrangements for picking me up. The Grilled Chop House Salad was a generous serving of greens, slices of pork, crumbled cheese, broccoli and other veggies. For merienda, I'd say it was light enough that I was able to finish it but also heavy enough that it lasted me until dinner. Incredibly grateful for the courtesy and hospitality of the staff, plus glad to have peeked into the taste of Fireside.

My first trip to Fireside was during my birthday this year. They were still on soft opening back…read morethen but the interior of the relatively newly-opened restaurant in Megamall was enough to invite us in. Plus, finding out that Fireside is actually the sister restaurant of Kettle was what sealed the deal. The restaurant primarily had a chic urban setting. With unpainted cement partnered with couches and pillows, Fireside looked like an undone apartment. Yet it still had an upscale feel to it. The food that Fireside churned out was not at all bad either. I've gotten to try their Australian lamb chops and they were simply divine. Despite the fact that we were only two, we got to finish one whole plate of it. Hahaha. It was very savoury, definitely lived up to the level of deliciousness Kettle was known for. Alongside that, we tried out their infamous chicken tenders with cornbread biscuits. Now this was a home run! The buttermilk chicken fingers were reminiscent of Kettle's Buttermilk Chicken but in a form that was easier and less messy to eat. And their cornbread biscuits? They just basically rocked my world! They come in ball-like forms so it's easier to share. Some of my other recos would be their Mac n' Cheese, Ceasar Salad with Bacon, and Potato Chips with Sour Cream dressing. Haaaaay, just thinking about it makes my mouth water. ALSO! If you're a baconatic like me, order Fireside's Bacon (they come in as a side order). It's basically fried bacon steak. Yup, they're not strips. 'Nuff said, right? I have yet to go back to Fireside to check out their other dishes but for now it gets 5 stars from me. If you haven't visited Fireside, please do go. I'm sure you will not regret it!

For all the peeps in the Toy Collectors community, this is an 'institution'. I actually didn't know…read moreabout this place until I started dating Carlo. Basically, while he and his friends go around looking for toys, this is where I would sit and wait...and eat! It's actually a food stand mixed with a bit of a diner vibe. Food here is a mix of your usual Merienda classics like Nachos, Hotdogs and French Fries. But, they also serve breakfast food. They actually make their own smoked bacon and sausage! You can buy it frozen or they can cook it for you with a sunny side up egg + fried rice :) But, they also have a secret menu for the regulars. I used to see people in other toy stalls ordering instant pancit canton. I tried ordering it before but, they wouldn't let me order it. Fast forward to 5 years later and they know the way I like my pancit canton. I always order it spicy with a side of pan-fried Spam + a cold Coke! Best power snack to have for only Php154 ;)