Merla's Kitchen

I'm so bummed to have to give this place a three star review.  We ate here last night and while none of the food was bad, none of it was amazing either.  The menu makes it all sound much more delicious than it really is.  I think the biggest disappointment was that some of the items were missing ingredients that are listed on the menu.  For instance, the beef empanadas didn't seem to have raisins in them and the Chicken Afritada only had one little strip of red bell pepper and no olives in the entire serving.  I'll probably give Merla's another shot some day but  for the time being, I have other restaurants to explore in the neighborhood.  On the upside, we got a ton of food and the bill was really cheap!

I don't have a Filipina granny, but after visiting Merla's place, I sure wish I did. We dropped in for lunch on a visit to Chicago, mostly because it's one of the few cuisines that Cleveland doesn't have. We both got the sampler platter, and everything was really tasty. Neither the food nor the setting is fancy, but we felt right at home (and well-fed) in Merla's place.

The service was good and the environment has a quaint, cozy feel to it.

However, I'm sad to say that I did NOT enjoy the food at all. I'm Filipino and my family is from a region that is well known for its cooking, and so I had higher expectations than most. My friend from Rome was with me and he said that the food tasted "okay."

I don't know if it was because I came an hour before closing time, but the food I ate did not live up to the hype displayed on Yelp. I grew up eating the types of dishes they serve here and there's something off with the flavor. It tasted like they just reheated food they cooked hours ago. I ordered the Shanghai Lumpia (weird, sour after taste) and Merla's Platter, which included some dry Chicken Adobo (flavor was good), flavorless Pancit Bihon (don't get me started) and a soggy pork Siopao. The serving size was generous. It cost me $15 including gratuity.