Smc Pampanga Express

I'm not going to lie. This place will turn off most people that wander in expecting a full service restaurant because that is NOT what this place is. The best I way to describe it is if someone mixed a cafeteria with a garage bandstand. First of all, this isn't Lake Forest. This is Waukegan. Check out Tacos El Norte in Gurnee versus their Waukegan shop and you will get my point. Still the staff is friendly. Service can be slow - they take time to talk to their customers. Don't be in a rush  - chill and chat with the folks there, they'll teach you some new Filipino words. Or request a song from one of the owners that is rocking the guitar.

I'm Chinese so the way I rank the cooking of other cuisines is how much it reminds me of my Grandma's homecooking - rich food, unusual ingredients (by western standards) with the perfect blend of spices. By this metric this place is a home run!

This is no-holds barred, authentic Asian style cooking. Some of the dishes served here will be intimidating to the average Gringo that grew up eating the dumbed down, overly salty or overly sweet Americanized food you will find at the run of the mill Thai or Chinese restaurant. They serve real food  here. I had juicy fatty pork belly served two ways - stewed adobo style (garlic, vinegar, soy sauce) and with eggplant and shrimp paste. I also had a dinuguan which is a stew made with vinegar, pork blood and offal (in this case stomach). When I write fatty, I mean rich, delicious gobs of it. You've been warned. If you order pork belly, you get awesome fatty pork belly. So stop complaining about how greasy it is! That's the way its supposed to be and if they change the way they cook it to serve you then it would be a disservice to all of us "natives" that know what real food is. And just an FYI - the lard won't make you fat or sick, the General Tso's you get at some other restaurant that is soaked in syrup and fried in chemically extracted industrial vegetable oil will.

For those less adventurous there are chicken options: stewed in coconut milk and chicken adobo, both of which are lean and delicious. The coconut chicken is very similar to a mild (not spicy at all) curry. Also available were Filipino style sausages which I did not try. They also have various seafood options on occasion: fish in a sweet and sour sauce to steamed blue crab. The food is served in a format similar to Panda Express - pre-prepared and you order anywhere from 1 to 3 entrees.

Stop by and support this local business. Its this exact type of business that helped my family get a foothold in the country. The little girl in the back doodling on the computer and helping clean up tables? She was me 10 years ago. This place has amazing food and is a great gathering place for the local Filipino community. If you are looking for good Filipino food or are looking to expand your palate, stop by here. For $7 you can try a combo with 3 different dishes. You can't go wrong.

Update - Excellent Service: stopped by this place and apparently I got there 30 minutes after they closed. They still had some people dining in who were finishing up so they were still around but had basically closed up and packed everything up for the night. One of the proprietors pulled everything out to show me what they had left and then heated up what I ordered for me. It was all delicious and I appreciate the extra effort they took!

I stopped here after a massage nearby hoping for some good filipino food, reminiscent of my cousins back in Pampanga in the Philippines.  I came in the evening and got food for take-out.  The guy behind the counter was very helpful and informed me of how I could order so I could get 3 different things in a combo.  I got the longanisa, smoked fish, and pancit.  It reminded me of the cookouts back in the philippines.  The place is small, but the food is legit even after a long drive back to Evanston.  I recommend this place for good filipino food if you find yourself in the area.

Ever since I moved here from California, I've been hoping to find good Filipino food. When I found out there was a restaurant near where I work, I was super excited. I gave this place exactly three chances to impress me. Sadly, they failed. The food isn't very good. Maybe it's because my mom's Filipino cooking is the best and I've been spoiled. I've tried different entrees each time I've come and all of them have been lacking in flavor but not lacking in greasiness. The portions are also smaller than what I expect from a Filipino restaurant. Next place to try? Grace of Manila..