It was a fairly big place, super busy and full, with the male servers all carrying really big trays. They kept going back to the kitchen to retrieve more food. Many of them were sweating from the workout they were getting.
Despite the hustle, the service was ok. Orders were taken, food came and overall the food was satisfying. This was my first time going to a Filipino restaurant and didn’t know what to order, so I just let my friend who was the expert do all the ordering. It was gal’s night and we were mostly busy with chatting, so the wait for the food didn’t seem to bother us. The manager looking lady was super friendly, making the baby (of my friend’s) who was getting bored smile and stop crying.
Lumpiyan Shanghai
Lumpiyan Shanghai was interesting and I liked it. They are bite sized spring rolls made-up of ground pork, vegetables, and and flavoring. It came in a deep fried dish from the same wrap material as the rolls which the kid seems to like crunching on. I guess it was like chips.
I really liked the garlic rice. It tastes really good on it’s own, but went well with the other dishes.
Sinigang na Baboy
Sinigang na Baboy soup had pork and vegetables. I found it really sour, but I guess they are supposed to be. Since it was the first time to try them, I couldn’t really compare with any others. Whether I liked it or not, I don’t think I would order it again for myself. It wasn’t that delicious or anything.
We also ordered a whole deep fried chicken. Is everything deep fried here?? But it was good. Bacon Express was with a lot of sauce but good.
Pancit Palabok had rice noodles topped with a thick red-orange sauce with veggies and boiled egg. This was really good, and interesting texture. The sauce went really well with the garlic rice.
Finally for dessert, we each had the leche fran. It was super rich, creamy and way too sweet for my liking. Barely could finish it…I felt I was going to become diabetic…argh…
Being the first time for Filipino cuisine, I must say that I did enjoy most of the foods. It was a new experience, and went in with an open mind. I guess I will need to try out more Filipino restaurants before I can really assess the taste of Max’s dishes!
Dinner Second Time
A friend wanted to try out MAX, so we went. Since we weren’t really familiar with Filipino cuisine, my friend ask the server for recommendations. He suggested and helped out order some dishes.
Classic Adobo Chicken $12.99 is chicken marinated in soy sauce and vinegar. I think my friend was hoping for a great dish, but for both of us, it turned out to be the least liked. The flavour didn’t seem that rich or appetizing, and there were a lot of bones which made it eating a pain.
Pancit Bihon $10.99 is rice noodle sauteed with vegetables, pork, chicken and shrimp. It was quite good.
For that night, they had a special promo and all tables seemed to receive the Sizzling Tofu $11.99 which I had originally thought of getting. But we got if for FREE!! And, it turned out that we both loved the dish! It was soooooooo good. For those that love garlic – this is it! You have to try it. We were both extremely happy with this dish, and I’d be certain to order it again for next time.
Steamed rice $2.99. When we got the rice, we thought that the server had brought us a Large, instead of the Small…but apparently, the huge amount was a Small when we later looked at our bill, so we were quite surprised. It went really well with the tofu!
Summary: having been there twice, I would have to say that the dishes are a hit and miss. Perhaps it just have to due with the fact that we’re not familiar with the taste, but hard to eat something that you just don’t like. The server didn’t come to our table at the beginning for a while, but service after that was great. We froze sitting by the table, so next time, I’d ask for somewhere more interior on a cold winter day.
They have ample underground parking which is always a plus.
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