Isla Pilipina

I wanted to like this place cuz of all the hype. But it was just "meh" to me.  The ginitaang vegetables was "meh". Not as flavorful as I'd have expected. The pancit was "meh". Just noodles with lots of pepper. The palabok was interesting. I don't think I've ever had it with calamari and tofu sauce. It was good. I was most disappointed in the Laing. Not enough leaves as I am used to. Mostly fatty pork belly that I ate around. Boo.

So the food was "meh". The service was blah. We were treated ok. Nice. But an elderly man came in. Maybe a bit "off". But harmless. He asked a lot of random questions. "Who is the manager?"  "What's his name?"  "Can i have a to-go menu?" (Which they ran out of). Some other random things. Can't remember. I just remember the girl who answered him.  She just kept dismissing him and referring him to the website. He didn't look like a man familiar with a computer let alone a website. She wasn't busy. The restaurant wasn't busy. Her tone with him was just impatient and rude. He's an old man. Appease him.

I may give it another try. Maybe other dishes. But any time soon.

I gotta say that this may be my new favorite filipino restaurant in Chicago. The waitstaff is super helpful and friendly. And the food was spectacular. Not only was the food delicious, it came it flilipino-sized-servings :)  

I'll definitely be going back (every weekend).

Nobody cooks filipino food better than my mom. My opinion is obviously biased. Since I can't (nor do I want) to go to the burbs all the time to get my fix, Isla Pilipina is the next best thing. Parking is quite sparse here so I usually take the risk of stashing my car at the nearby Burger King.  But once I'm in, I'm devouring Kare Kare like it was the last time I would ever have it.