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. Â I came in the evening and got food for take-out. Â 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. Â I got the longanisa, smoked fish, and pancit. Â It reminded me of the cookouts back in the philippines. Â The place is small, but the food is legit even after a long drive back to Evanston. Â I recommend this place for good filipino food if you find yourself in the area.
Review Source: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..
Review Source:Always in the mood to try something new, my husband and I ventured into SMC Pampanga Express on a weekday evening for dinner.
I refer to this eatery as something new because the family-owned establishment prides itself in serving homemade Filipino food - a cuisine that's new, but exciting territory for me. Before entering the restaurant, I noticed the wooded, fenced-in patio, which I imagine would make for a fun warm-weather dining experience.
While many restaurants pride themselves on making you feel like a guest in their home, the experience was more like we were intruding in this family's home.
I don't want to be rude and elaborate, but it seemed like we had just stumbled into a large family's living room - with dad or grandpa (the owner possibly?) playing the karaoke machine to a greatest hits album...awkward. Â
This restaurant serves its cuisine in "turo-turo" style, which means "daily dishes are served on a steam table and the customer chooses what food items they would like to eat," according to its website. When my husband and I entered, we were waved over by someone - we would later learn he worked there - to the buffet at the front of the room.
We are by no means restaurant snobs, but it would have been nice to have someone greet us and show us to our seats - or at least tell us to put our stuff down somewhere before getting our food. Maybe even a glass of water?
Although the website says the buffet features daily specials, I was surprised to see fewer than half of the more than 30 items listed on the website available at the buffet; those missing included the noodle and vegetarian options. I can understand, especially during the week, that it might be impractical to have the buffet fully stocked, but as the server was describing different dishes we frequently heard, "Oh, looks like we're out."
However, the person at the buffet stressed he would be happy to create an accommodating dish, and I accepted - it was okay, not very memorable.
Being unfamiliar with Filipino food, we were disappointed that there was no menu or descriptions of the food items on the buffet table. I did appreciate that the server seemed happy to answer our questions, but we both felt uncomfortable that there was no literature for us to work off of. Â He also described one dish as "garlicy and bloody-ey." Maybe that sounds appetizing for some palates, but at that point I felt auditorily traumatized.
Despite some of the server's descriptions of food causing us to lose our appetite, my husband ordered the three-entree combo, which included sweet sausage, fried pork and ground pork sides atop white rice.
After returning to our seat from the buffet, no beverages were offered. SMC Pampanga Express does not serve alcohol, but our server did not offer us any water or a general beverage menu either.
When my dish was ready, we ended up taking the food to go.
Some adjustments aimed toward those not familiar with the cultural experience they aim to deliver might help make this place better appeal to a larger variety of diners.
As my husband noted, it might be more of a destination spot for lunch diners, with the buffet and quick, serve-yourself approach. Those more familiar with Filipino cuisine and looking for a family-friendly atmosphere might enjoy dinner here as well.
Maybe we visited on an off night, but I don't think we'll be going back.
The food here is fantastic. It was a Filipino food lover's dream come true when I saw  all the options to choose from Lumpia, Pancit, Caldaretta, Longaneisa...Man! I was like what to choose? Where to start? If you are looking for islander flavors with a touch of Spanish and Asian...this is the place to go. The food is quite similar to Cuban and Puerto Rican food which make the flavors highly interesting.
Review Source:"This is your home." Ay nako tita, kung itong ang bahay ko, siempre ako mag ta-taba dito." With orange island-like walls and a karaoke stage inside, this turo-turo style Filipino restaurant is rather homey, just like tita said.
Okay, so she wasn't my blood related aunt, but as far as respect is concerned, tita and tito can cook. Turo-turo style translates to literally mean "point-point." Dishes here are precooked and and are given to you once you've turo-turo'd your ulam (dish/food). I came here with my mom, brother and boyfriend and we all opted for the kare kare as our main ulam. Dios ko, napaka sarap, just like how my dad cooks it, save for the generous slices of tripe.
We also had a serving of the lechon kawali, lumpia shanghai and loganisa. Let me take a moment to explain this as I'm sure I'll probably never go back to any other kind of longanisa. The owner's dad (who owns the Waukegan Oriental Mart next door) makes the longanisa with a special Pampangan family recipe. This longanisa is fresh and sweet with a hint of spice. I was told it was made with all lean meat so there's no need to slice the longanisa when cooking it - YUM.
Tita was very sweet and accommodating, I'd definitely go back. Just one suggestion: I believe the true Filipino dining experience should include Royal Tru Orange and Sarsi in glass bottles...unfortunately there were none stocked in the fridge.
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