I was so excited when I heard about this place I took  my family for lunch and we are all impressed with the amount of food they had on the buffet. Most of the food are very good and some are just okay. Unfortunately I got sick that night, I said to myself I just ate too much! I like it so much there so I went again and took the entire family. Same still good but again that night I got so sick...got the runs and keep throwing up. And that's not for eating too much that is food poisoning! I was so sick for 2 days. I called my parents and my brother 2 days after...and I learned that they got sick too, same symptoms. I SHOULD HAVE READ ALL THE REVIEWS FROM THIS SITE!!!! There are some had the same experience that we had. I wonder how many more???? I WOULDNT GO BACK TO THIS PLACE AND I WILL TELL EVERYONE THAT I KNOW ABOUT MY EXPERIENCE!!!!! SO GO THERE AT ARE YOUR OWN RISK!!!!!!
You might get Lucky if you don't get sick...BUT WHAT IF YOU DON'T GET LUCKY???????????
I really wanted to like this place but as a Filipino craving good ole Filipino cooking, this place failed miserably. Yes the space is a lot nicer than their previous location and the Jeepney buffet is cute but the food just isn't good. I had the lunch buffet here on a Monday afternoon and the food was not fresh. The Lechon was stale and not crispy, lumpia was flavorless, greasy and the oil that everything was fried in was tasted rancid. Hey LITTLE QUIAPO change the cooking oil regularly! In fact everything seemed to be overly greasy and tasted like it was prepared a week ago, refrigerated , and then reheated. This place needs a kitchen do over. Not good.
Review Source:this place was really gross. Â everything in the buffett looked all drippy and gross. Â I tried to eat one of the fried shrimp and it was inedible. Â I tried the soup with clams and it tasted with water. Â The egg rolls tasted like they came out of box in the frozen food section at Jewel. Â It's a really far drive from the city. Â The only thing I could eat were these noodles with vegetables that were kind of like Lo Mein but I could have made some microwave "Simply Thai" noodles and it would have been better. Â
Service was great.
I hate to update my review because I do enjoy the food.  However, my last experience made me change my mind to "A-OK".  I came in with my family and we were stared at the entire time! so uncomfortable & uncalled.  I have to assume it's  because we are not Filipino. I can't think of any other reason considering there were plenty of other people in the restaurant, but all eyes were on us. It seemed even more apparent when the table next to us were given little mints on a tray when their bill came, and we were just given the bill... it's the little things. I don't think I will be coming back here.
Review Source:There are a ton of choices to pick and I like the overall setup. I wish the bbq sticks they had tasted more like bbq. Instead they put some sauce on these chicken skewers and it doesn't taste like it was grilled. It'd be awesome if they had some without the sauce and actually GRILLED it over an open flame!
The lechon is good but I haven't seen any arroz caldo here either. Wish they had that too! The bathroom is pretty disgusting, since there was piss all over the floor last time I used it. (this is the dood's bathroom) Of course this isn't entirely the restaurant's fault, it's also the d-bag who decided it was awesome to piss all over the floor instead of the actual urinal. I mean seriously I have a penis too and it's not that hard to aim. You just point and shoot.
Anywho I recommend eating here and if you go here during the weekend Sundays and Saturdays are pretty packed especially if they have one of those festive filipino parties going on. It'll get pretty noisy in there with mang and ung so be prepared to talk loud.
Their catering and take out meals (large portion for parties) are pretty awesome. Their lumpia aka filipino eggrolls are awesome!
This is a great place to try assorted Filipino offerings. Â The lunch buffet on weekends is $12 pp, and a great deal. Â The selection is quite extensive, and dining area is roomy, casual, and comfortable. Â Service was good when we there, though we did oddly have to ask for two tables to be put together for 6 people (duh, not separate 4 and 2). I don't know all the names of the offerings (the photos capture a portion of the selections), but there were several offerings of pork - roast pork, crispy pata (fried pork leg), pork and veggies, etc. Â There's also shrimp, fried butterfish, calamari, assorted chicken, beef dishes, various fried starters, soups, and a variety of colorful desserts like taro tapioca and sticky rice. Â My favorite was the succulent and fresh roast pork. Â The crispy pata was good to, if you got the right piece. Â These folks have been around a while - 35 years total, the last 5 here, and the previous 30 at Montrose and Clark.
Review Source:Went here on a Sunday afternoon with my boyfriend's family who are Filipino. We all really enjoyed this place.
What I liked:
-Garlic fried rice
-Beef steak
-Crispy pata..and the soy sauce onion dipping sauce was delicious
-Lumpia
-Filipino spaghetti (although a bit too sweet for me)
-Fried fish
-Sago (it is a sweet drink) had it other places and never really liked it, but I did enjoy it here
-I loved the ginataan(warm soupy thing with the fruit). It was pretty funny seeing all the Filipinos flock over to the pot everytime the workers went to pour some more.
What I didn't like:
Kare kare - it was tripe and it just didn't taste the same without the ox tails
Lechon - I felt like it wasn't flavorful at all and I much preferred the crispy pata
Tenola - It was very bland
Pancit - Too soggy and not enough flavor
All in all, if you are looking for some fast Filipino food and are craving multiple things this is the place to go. However, if you are craving a specific dish it is best to go to a Filipino restaurant or have someone cook it for you. Although there were some dishes I didn't like I was still satisfied.
This is not exactly my bread and butter. Â I stick to Japanese or Thai when it comes to Asian foods. Â
That said, I've been through enough buffet style Asian joints that I know what is/isn't good. Â The food here is ok, that's about the best word I could use...though my Filipino friends seemed to thoroughly enjoy it. Â Hmm.. Â Lost in translation perhaps. Â
Not much in the way of service given the buffet style, but they did keep our drinks full and did an adequate job of keeping the food filled. Â
Favorite: pork yakitori. Â Had a bunch of those, very good.
This place has okay filipino food. I remember having some pretty good lechon here a few years ago but I think the quality of food is no longer there. I came here several times this year with some friends and family so they could have some lechon but it's not as good as they used to be.
Warning: Not good to buy a carry out / to go. They have their waiter get the food for you. It also tastes like the food is just being reheated over and over again.
I ate on a Friday night. I don't know the names of any dishes, so bear with me!
Most of the foods were not too interesting to me, and some items weren't so fresh. The garlic fried rice and chicken adobo were good but not my favorites (I've never had the adobo anywhere else). The filipino style spaghetti was good, but I can't handle sweet too much and only had a few bites.
The following dishes were my favorite.
1. Fried fish - salty, chewy, YUM.
2. Fried prawns. Delicious. I dipped this in the vinegar sauce and sweet n sour sauce. We filled up the steel bowl on the table with shrimp shells.
3. Mussels
4. Vegetable dish with eggplants and bitter melon. Â OMG bitter melon, paired with my other favorite veg. I felt like I won the lottery.
5. Rice balls were amazing. They're kind of fermented and sweet and similar to a Chinese dish I love.
The fried squid was good, too, but lately I've been kind of scared of squid and octopus in its entire form.
Many of the desserts were very purple and coconut or taro based.
The cassava cake was delicious. You'll love it if you like sweet condensed milk.
I enjoyed it, but at $13, I'd rather go to my favorite Chinese buffet.
Isla Pillipina is still my fave restaurant in the city. But, for buffet, I think Little Quiapo brings out all the classics... lechon, kare kare, lumpia, halo halo, pancit... for a decent price of $13 on weekends. I carried out in a take out box and charged me the same price, but I would go back to cram my face with the occasional breathing breaks. Maybe throw in a bathroom break as well to create some space.
I just hope they don't have bathrooms like I experienced at Manila airport 15 years ago. There were no toilet seats and had to buy my own tee-pee.
My family and I go to Little Quiapo once every few months or so. We were in the area recently so we decided to stop by for lunch. I really like the ambiance of the place. It feels like you're in the Philippines with a Jeepney right smack dab in the middle of the room.
I feel like I had to get the waiter's attention more than once to refill our water, even though there were very few customers at the time. The food itself was okay though. I have had better. They have one area for the fried foods (lumpia, lechon kewali, etc.). The Jeepney holds the main stuff (rice, pancit, adobo, dinaguan). The last time I went they had some longanisa and fried egg. Yum. There's a section for soups, desserts, and lechon (when they have it). We were there early in the morning, but it seemed like some of the food tasted like it was reheated from the day before.
Worth noting, I had the ginataan/bilo-bilo for dessert (glutinous rice balls, tapioca, and other dessert type food cooked in coconut milk). Really good stuff.
My friend said she had a taste for Filipino food and heard about this place. This place looks like it is stuck in the middle of a parking lot. Walked in and was seated right away and the waitress came over to take our drink orders. A few moments they arrived at our table along with the silverware. Two great cardinal sins were broken in my eyes, soda served in a can and no frigging knife. Like someone else wrote it is the buffet or nothing else, at no time was a menu spoken of.
Like most Chinese buffets have some sort of American food on the buffet table, this place does not. It is Filipino food or nothing else. I did spot a few things that I have tasted before, so I felt a little safe. BBQ pork on a stick, without a knife to cut it off the stick, it was a task to eat due to fact it was hard to bite into. They has some plain Beef strips, that were just shy of becoming beef jerky. There was some big pieces, had to use my fingers to eat, it reminded me one of those Medieval Knight places. The lechon (pig) was too fatty and without that magical knife, had to swallow whole.
Our server never visited the table after serving the drinks, we had to flag her down to get our check. Â Two dinners and two cans of soda, $30.
As I am writing this my insides are splitting in half after having suffering from an OD of pork poisoning (if there was such a thing). I'm not sick or anything, but I feel like whatever I ate there last night is not digesting and also not leaving my system - Hence it has destroyed my appetite to eat anything for the past 24 hours.
Well I suppose I could be kinder with the review, given that is is a buffet. However as a result of this joint, it will be my first and last time ever eating Filipino food. You know, sometimes you see in a movie, that a guy is so traumatized from a bad experience with a girl - he just gives up girls all together and decides to play for the other team? Well that is me right now - this food had destroyed my confidence in Filipino food and I'm now converting over to any cuisine EXCEPT Filipino food.
Now onto why I'm raging here. I don't remember exactly what it was called - but it was some orange/yellow goop with super fatty pork skin on there. One bite and I had to spit it out. Then I tried a little bit of the other items as well - some soy sauce beef (super greasy and fatty), some tamarind soup (super fatty/greasy pork), pulled pork (you guessed it, pork), pork skewers, and what have you. Basically it was just a mad pork house. No vegetables to be found in there except a batch of slop that looked like peapods. But everything was so greasy and the pork tasted/smelled like straight up swine, dirty swine. I'm a fan of dirty good food, but damn this was just dirty.
The staff was nice, but however inattentive. The whole evening I did not get my glass of water refilled once - but that's aside the point. The food - which is still in my system now post 24 hours. If I do not post another review on Yelp, then you guys would know what happened. The greasy swine has terminated me.
The buffet is not extraordinary, but most are not anyways. I like the atmosphere, friendly & inviting. I've gone there a number of times and the staff has always been courteous and accommodating. Haven't tried much from the regular menu yet but I plan too. When that happens I may update this review.
Two things I'd like to see: The washroom could be cleaner & maybe go for bottomless soda & juice? Just some thoughts.
I'm definitely going back there again. It's inexpensive, tasty, there's a huge selection of food, & there's a lot of space for bigger groups. I'm hungry now just thinking about it. ROAD TRIP!!
My rating 1-10 (10 being the best)
Atmosphere: 8
Food: 9
Cleanliness: 7
Noise: 6
Service: 7
Overall: 7
So I ordered out from Little Quiapo about 6 months ago, but was so disappointed with their kare kare that I didn't even bother writing a review. Â That's just how mad I was when I didn't get the oxtail that I was "oh so craving" as it is my ultimate favorite Filipino dish. Â I didn't wanna rehash the memories with a review...so I SKIPPED it. Â
First of all, what they gave me wasn't oxtail, it was some sort of tough meat, and I couldn't even tell what it was, but it sure was fatty. Â You know what I did? I threw away the meat, and just ate the peanuty sauce and veggies over rice. Â Yes, I still wanted my kare kare fix and dammit, I was gonna get it from whatever else that $15 dish cost me!!!
Fast forward to Friday, Oct 15th. Â Hungry Hound does a review on Little Quiapo, and I was curious to see what he would feature!!!! Aaahhhhh, they talk about the kare kare. Â Add insult to injury, the lady on there actually goes on record saying that in the Phillippines, they use the oxtail, but here in the US they use pork and tripe. Â Sorry, ain't that a trip and a lie!!! Â I've been to your Clark location before, and let me say, your kare kare was mighty tastier when you served it with the oxtail. Â Yes, oxtail is way more expensive than pork, but tradition speaks for itself. Â It tastes that much better!!!!! Â I can withstand the tripe, but cmon, oxtail is such a meatier, more succulent cut of beef that usually people from the islands (Jamaicans, belize and Filipinos) are privy to know and cook with. Â
By the way, Fish Pond, Filipiniana and Isla Pilipina all use oxtail in their kare kare recipes. Â They are all in the US, all in the Chicagoland area, with Isla Pilipina carrying the torch for best kare kare, hands down!!!
CHANGE BACK YOUR RECIPE!!!! Â When you skimp on quality, you skimp on customers...
Pretty decent food and an extremely family atmosphere. Â By family, I feel like I'm at a typical family gathering. Â The staff was extremely courteous and checked up on us even though it was a buffet. Â Overall, I enjoyed the typical dishes like Longganisa (sausage), Naliga (beef stew), Lumpia Shanghai and Chicken Adobo. Â
They did have fried squid, a roasted pig and pork kabobs that were good too. Â Overall, while they had a good selection of dishes, nothing really stood out. Â I've also not been a big fan of buffets lately...
Met up with my brother and his gf at Little Quiapo for a late lunch on Sunday. Â We met up at 2P and caught the tail end of the lunch rush. Â So it was nice to get a table only after a few minutes wait. Â
The restaurant is big and has lots of big tables for people to sit. Â The TV was blaring with some Filipino show featuring people dancing and singing. Â It ain't Filipino restaurant without the loud tv showing bad singing, dancing and stuff. Â This is exactly the way I like Filipino restaurants. Â
They have the boofay. Â I have a love/hate relationship with buffets just due to the sheer number dishes available. Â This one or that one? Â Pork or chicken? Â Shrimps or fish? Â Oh how I wish I have a huge stomache and have an overactive metabolism. Â Then I can gorge myself with the food. Â But alas, I've got to watch my weight to maintain my "svelte" figure (per my gf)... Â
Anyways, back to the food... Â of all the times I've eaten their cuisine, I still can't remember the names of the various dishes. Â I just know the Adobo chicken is good, as is the roast pork, the noodles, the fish, the salted shrimps, the sour soup. Â It's all you can eat, but do save room for the sweet sticky rice desert or the rice-thing-with-shredded-coconuts. Â Everything i had were delicious!!!
I think it's time for me to hit the treadmill to work off some calories... Â
Oh, and do not worry about parking since there's a HUGE lot behind the restaurant! Â Bonus!!!
OMG! I love their Jeepney Buffet!
To drink, I had the gulaman sago, which is a drink that has white tapioca balls and agar agar, which is gelatin-like substance made out of the agar agar seaweed.
I really liked the meat-on-a-stick, crispy pata(fried pork hocks), and dried fish the best! But you really can't screw those up! Ang sarap sarap!
The pancit is also pretty good. I was kinda disappointed in their lumpia because it is not as good as it used to be.
I had pichi pichi (purple glutinous rice cake coated with shredded coconut) and cantaloupe for dessert. I was sad that they didn't have any leche flan, because thats what I really wanted. Hopefully they have it next time! Â
Just stay away from the ginataan! It's good, but it will keep you in the comfort room (bathroom) for the rest of the day!!!
I can't eat someone else's Filipino food without comparing it to my mom's, and Little Quiapo was no exception. That said, I'm keeping this as free from bias as possible. Little Quiapo is an institution among Filipinos living in Chicago, known for the authentic Filipino food (I don't think Filipino fusion has been invented yet). It's like home away from home, except Mom isn't cooking the food!
I really liked the lechon and the crispy pata (fried pig feet is more delicious than it sounds), which was almost perfect. The skin wasn't tough, but it was crispy like pork rinds. The lumpia was good, but not the best. They were a little dry for my taste. The pancit seemed a bit overcooked, and the dinuguan lacked kick. I always make it a point to stick with my mom's dinuguan recipe. It's hard to trust someone else's cooking when it comes to pig blood and chitlins. The fried rice was good, but it's hard to screw that one up.
Now for the decor. It was almost like the place was decorated for those Karaoke and Mahjong parties Filipino family friends used to throw and we would sometimes get dragged to, decorated with bamboo and fish and pictures of beaches. It made me feel like climbing a mango tree with a machete or throwing coconuts into the salty waves. It made me want to go back to Guimaras and eat lobster. But alas, we're stuck in the 25 degree weather for now. At least we have authentic Filipino food to keep us thinking of sunshine.
I had never been to the buffet before, but I got to enjoy it today with the fam and some out of town guests. After 12 noon, the place filled up fast and soon there were several parties waiting for a table.
Wow! the decor is a fiesta in itself. Bamboo, sea shell wall hangings, pretty seaside murals and of course the over-sized spoon and forks on the wall. (I think the spoon and forks are supposed to symbolize prosperity? not sure, maybe my cousin was kidding around with me) The Filipino pop music playing lightly in the background made me feel like I WAS in the Philippines. "Otso Otso" anyone? If they played the "Papaya Song" I just might have gotten up and danced. (you can Google the songs and see what I'm talking about)
The buffet is pretty big and is good for anyone that wants to taste different typical Filipino dishes. Â There are many options including 3 different soups, many stews, white rice and fried garlic rice, lumpia shanghai, lechon and many more. The desserts were varied too but I don't know why they made so many of the pastries purple in color. The purple reminds me of Ube, of which I am not a fan. With a buffet, you're always going to get hits and misses. So really, I give a 3.5 for food, but atmosphere and friendly service bump it up to a 4.
My faves:
The Beefsteak--marinated beef sauteed with onions, very tender and so tasty.
The Kare-Kare--pork and veggies in a thick peanut broth, Very fresh and the peanut flavor was good and didn't overpower the dish.
The Garlic fried rice--not too greasy, good hint of garlic and had some bits of chinese sausage mixed in.
The BEST:
the lechon--roast whole pig. As mentioned in several reviews, there is a server cutting up the meat and serving right away. This was the BEST lechon I have ever had. The meat was so tender/juicy and the skin so crispy. The sauce they served with it cannot be the bottled Mang Tomas stuff that you can get in your Asian grocers, this was much much better!
The Misses:
The pancit--rice noodles and veggies--was so soggy, didn't have a good flavor at all.
The lumpia shanghai--small mini eggrolls--were overfried, almost burnt.
Mango shake--The Philippines has the best mangos around (ask any Filipino! no really, Guimaras mangos are so very tasty) but to me, this shake was not very good at all. Too much milk really drowned out any mango flavor.
This place has been around forever! Well, the restaurant has, but not at this location. Growing up, every Filipino I knew seemed to know about Little Quiapo. Probably because "back in the day", there weren't too many Filipino restaurants. It's so nice to see that LQ has lasted this long and has such loyal customers.
I had eaten the buffet here once before and decided to give it another try. To me one of the great pleasures of life is to learn about other cultures and especially to try unique cuisines. I must say Filipino food is among the most unique I have ever experienced.
It was lunchtime and I seemed to be the only non Filipino person in the place. Armed with enthusiasm, I was prepared for an "authentic" experience. I was not disappointed.
The restaurant is as cute as a button, very cheery and colorful. One thing that seemed to improve from my first visit was that the items on the buffet were more clearly labeled so I had a better understanding of what I was eating.
I am sure I will be dining solo on any return trip because I don't know anyone who would be quite this adventurous, unless they stick with the pancit, adobo chicken and egg rolls. I tried almost everything in small amounts so I could have a wider experience. This included items liked grilled pig ears and pork in blood sauce. The pig ears reminded me very much of pickled pig feet in flavor, just the distal ends of the same beast, I guess.
The dessert table seemed to have an assortment of items that were variations on two themes. Aside from the fried bananas, everything else was either rice or cassava based. I enjoyed the cassava based items the best.
The service was fair. I didn't exactly appreciate the server tapping her pen on my table as I gathered my money for the bill, but I don't think she spoke English either.
I will be back again, probably this summer to renew the adventure unless I can't resist the lure of loads of meaty items and sticky desserts.
If you want a unique dining experience, Little Quiapo is the place for you!!!!
If this is all the Philippines had to offer, I'd definitely not even consider trying its cuisine ever again.
The meat in every dish, the chicken adobo, the lumpia, you name it  - was dry, dry, DRY. So overcooked.
The only thing I enjoyed was sinigang soup and I'm obsessed with the sour taste. Â I just spent my lunch having bowl after bowl.
I KNOW I'll have a better Filipino experience elsewhere.
I have over 20 years of experience eating at Filipino restaurants, and it is my goal to eat at all of them in the Chicago area and tell you what I think about them.
Thus far, Little Quiapo continues to HANDS DOWN be my favorite restaurant! I've been eating here since my first birthday. No joke.
This is a great place to bring people who aren't familiar with Filipino food because it's a buffet, and the decor tells you something about Filipino culture. The price also isn't too bad (under $20 per person?)
For those of you not familiar with Filipino culture, let me explain the waiters' attire and the decor. The waitstaff wears barongs, the traditional collared and embroidered top made of banana leaves. The buffet is shaped to look like the Filipino taxi/bus hybrid known as a jeepney. The music in the background is either of the Filipino cultural dance music or famous Philippine pop artist variety. And the paintings are of the beautiful landscape of the Philippine islands.
Coming here to dine, you should be prepared for an oily, fried and meat-filled experience (with sweet tropical desserts). The best kind of experience! So sorry vegetarians. I don't even know if they have a regular menu anymore, but I'm sure they could probably whip something up for you.
I pretty much eat everything offered, including some lechon (giant roast pig that the owner's brother-in-law usually hacks up for you). The only item I wish they would bring back is the pork barbeque, which tastes oh so good with a side of garlic rice and vinegar.
Sometimes it takes awhile for the waiters to refill your water, but it won't deter me from coming back. Another issue is that sometimes this place gets pretty crowded, so don't mind waiting behind someone to get food. It's worth the wait.
In terms of other drinks, you should try to sago (brown sugar drink with tapioca pearls) or the ripe mango shake, which uses Philippine mangoes - the best mangoes out there.
For dessert, the buffet selection is excellent, but feel free to order a halo halo on the side (a hodge podge of sweet beans, crushed ice, tropical fruits, mixed in milk and topped with a piece of custard and/or a scoop of ice cream).
I also like how every table comes with a metal bowl to serve as your mini garbarge for leftover bones and mussel shells.
To conclude, YAY!
The filipino food is really great here. Here's the problema...it's buffet style. Filiipino is greasy food so greasy fingers will touch the serving spoons! BUT THEIR MANGO SHAKES ARE DO DIE FOR!
The mango shake is way better than any shake I had in the philippines...better than tapiocos! Just go a get a mango shake if you're not willing pay $10 for a meal. It's so hilarious how the buffet table is dressed as a jeepney. Yet, the lumpias are not the best. There are about 12 entrees, 4 fried stuff, 6 desserts, and some soups to choose from. Sorry, no karaoke here. hehe.
The atmosphere is very friendly and family-like. The buffet has a very large variety. I've been there twice and both outings was after church on Sunday. Once was around 10am. Not crowded at all. Part of their buffet is a roast pig. Young. Juicy. Oh so tasty. Btw, the whole pig is in the dining area. A carver carves it up for you. Neat. The other time we went was around 1pm. Crowded. Very crowded. And piglet was almost done.
Otherwise, buffet is awesome. Large variety. All very tasty. The dessert portion is a little lacking. Casava cake could have used more casava.
Definitely worth the $12!
It's pretty tough finding GOOD filipino cooking in chicago outside of the house of a filipino family. Â That being said, Little Quiapo's one of the oldest and longest running filipino restaurants in Chicago. Â If you grew up in Chicago and you're a filipino, chances are you've been to the old location on clark and as a kid looked in awe at all the miniature sword s of the weapons of moroland.
I really like their bistek and garlic fried rice. Â I mean, REALLY REALLY like. Â You don't get any closer to home-cooked filipino food than here, minus mom asking you if you finished your homework.
I feel like I'm at a family party whenever I come here. Â Everyone is yelling when talking, eating with their hands, fighting for the lechon....it's THAT homey. Â
The buffet is okay...you can't go wrong with the lumpia, pancit, dinuguan and chicken adobo. Â It's a little greasy than what I'd prefer, but whatever, it's still good. Â My favorite thing to do is grab a bowl of the sinigang (tamarind broth soup w/ shrimp and eggplant, cabbage, etc...), a plate of rice and some fried squid. Â Comfort food at its finest!
Buffet is 8.95 weeknights, 11.95 weekends. Â Parking might be a little tough in the lot, but always know that you can park on the Cardinal Fitness side as well.
I've been going to this restaurant since I was a kid, it's been around for a while. Â In reference to their new location, I'm glad they have a little bit more space. Â The food is not that bad, service is okay, and you can't go wrong with the prices. Â My only thing is that it doesn't feel that clean, bathroom needs a renovation.
Great place for partys.
Overall:
Cleanliness: Â B
Food: Â B
Prices: Â A
Service: Â B
---------------------
Grade: Â B
I finally went by Little Quiapo's new location and was very impressed. As others have noted, the new premises are a lot bigger than the previous digs down on Clark. It's also a lot more like an actual restaurant and less like a dungeon. Very nice. I did rather miss the old TV running Filipino soaps and variety shows, though!
The lunch buffet has expanded significantly. I'm not an expert on Filipino cuisine but recognised the more typical dishes like chicken adobo, pancit bihon, beef mechado, tocino, lechon and, of course, lumpia Shanghai. As is the case with most buffet setups, the food can be hit or miss. The adobo, pancit and mechado were very flavourful (perhaps a mite oversalted, as someone else noted), while the lumpia had gone soggy. A fresh batch of fried calamari issued from the kitchen just in time to avert calamity. FYI, the calamari here includes the squid 'innards', which is typical in a lot of Southeast Asian cooking. Yep, squids aren't hollow tubes. Surprise! Really, the stuff just tastes like more squid, that's all. It's just a concept to get used to.
There were far too many dishes for me to sample. There were fried prawns (in their shells, with their heads, no whingeing), curried crabs, steamed mussels, fried fish (with their heads, NO WHINGEING) and various other meat dishes. I only saw one vegetable dish, so vegetarians would probably have to order off the menu. There were also a couple of soups (including the mild, tamarind-infused sinigang), fried/steamed rice, as well as a number of desserts. As one might imagine, ordering off the menu pretty much guarantees fresher food. The buffet is wonderful for sampling but isn't a true measure of the cooks' abilities. One thing to keep in mind is that I was there for a really late lunch (about 300p).
The servers were attentive and friendly, and the overall ambience was very pleasant. All in all, I was happy to eat at Little Quiapo again. I will be back, for sure.
A friend of mine loves this places and always brings their wonderful lumpia to get-togethers. Â I was here for a party in her honor and got to taste a bit of everything. Â My favorite highlights included lumpia, of course, an incredibly flavorful chicken adobo, and a fabulous pancit (for good luck!). Â There was also a whole roasted pig, which was very juicy and tender. Â
Even though the party was huge, the staff was attentive and I don't recall seeing any of the trays of food empty, or empty for long. Â The atmosphere was very warm and welcoming, and I felt as if I was visiting someone's house. Â If you're looking for a decent location for a party, check this place out.
I'll be back again soon to experience it as a regular diner.
This past weekend was my best friend's daughter was christened. Â The baby is so freakin' adorable!!
The "after party" was at her house. Â She's a nice Irish girl, her husband is a nice Filipino boy. Â Little Quiapo catered the event. Â Â
All I can say is "YUM!" to the food!
The food was amazing - the grilled chicken, the rice, the spinach-like and coconut side dish, 2 types of rolls (one was fried, the other was fresh: Lumpia Sariwa). They were kinda cabbagey, which I loved....though I'm not sure if my colon did. Â I also ate something called sotanghon gisado (bean thread noodles with garnish). Â Oddly, for the most part I have no idea what I ate - all I know was that I didn't try the shrimp dish because: shrimp + kosher Jew don't mix.
The food was SOOO flavorful, that I actually asked to take some home with me - which is very unlike me. Â The chicken was soo good!
Not the being cheap part, the part about asking for left overs...just to be clear.
I ate that for lunch today, and now I have none left. Â Luckily, this place is on my way home from work. Â I can totally imagine grabbing something to go at least once a week.
Maybe I can get a trashy bumpersticker that says "I break for Filipino food"...oooh! or...
"I flip for Filipino food" But people would think that is mean and hateful, and some people might not know that I'm very culturally sensitive.
Or that I've slept with  6 Filipino guys.  Not at once...G-d! I'm not that slutty.
Anymore.
At anyrate, check it out if you are in the mood for super flavorful, savory, and inexpensive food. Â It was a brilliant idea for a party!
I've had tons of filipino food before, always usually homemade too.
Food: pretty good. The lumpia(eggrolls) are okay/good. Some days they taste a little overfried, some days they're good. They usually have a pretty good variety for the buffet (but it's all pretty fattening). They have fresh pig cooked every day that you can feast on. The halo halo was pretty good. The common food items like pansit and adobos are good here. But beware. This food is greasy. Homemade is much better but what isn't. It is probably one of the better filipino restaurants in CHicago(but then again.. there's not too many filipino restaurants anyways in Chicago..)
Service: Very good! They're usually very attentive. There's usually a lot of waitresses/waiters/host(esses) around to help out.
Average price: roughly $10 bucks total for just a dish. and 11-12 bucks roughly for buffet.
For all you young urban professionals, who happened to love filipino food, but just dont know how to cook it; this is th place for you!
You will find every traditional filipino dish available from lumpias (pork egroll) to sinigang (tamarind soup) to even kare-kare (peanut butter beef). Â The problem with filipino home cooking is that theyre usual cooked in family portions.
When youre a single guy like me, this is the perfect place to get your fix, if home cooking is nowhere near you!
Enjoy!
i like the buffet style when i need to eat to help swallow the stress and sadness of a day.
Home style cooking(if you grew up in an Asian home like me), tasty, simple food, not always the healthiest for your body, but soul satisfying and good to recharge your connection to the days of back then.
Come with a few friends, try out something new, karaoke takes place once in a while(check with them on schedule).
Not the same as traveling halfway around the world, but if you lost touch with your favorite filipino family and need some food to feed the soul, come here and remember what it once was like.
Three stars simply for the convenience this restaurant affords when jonesing for some Filipino fare. Â If I had my way, I would have mom cooking authentic Filipino grub 24/7, but I guess that would interfere with her having a life.
I would agree that the food is overly salted and greasy. Â Some of the dishes look like they should be referred to as the "coronary platter" or the "triple bypass sampler" but this is not always the case.
Really, the food is inconsistent. Â My mom usually suggests the place if she's craving a quick fix, but even she frowned upon the quality of the food today. Â The staff has always been really friendly though.
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