i was on holidays in manila for two weeks and boy it felt good to be back. well it's good that i can gear away from all my household chores and happy that someone else is doing my laundry and ironing ;). as soon as i landed i had myself a palabok-chicken joy meal, i had to pass on jolly spaghetti this time around. a couple of hours later, i started ticking off my must try list.
first stop was agave. read a lot of good reviews and since i have been craving for mexican food this was the perfect choice. the nearest to me was at the sky garden at sm north edsa. here are the items we got.
queso fundido (PHP 300++) supposed to be a mexican version of a spinach artichoke dip. this one has melted cheese, chorizo, spinach and artichoke with grilled bread, fried flour tortilla and corn chips. i was pretty disappointed with this. the artichoke was chewy, the cheese doesn't have the silky melted texture i was thinking similar to chilli's skillet queso. if you check out the online menu the platter has blue corn chips which i didn't get. i liked the grilled flavor of the bread but somehow something was off the oil didn't look that appealing considering it just looks like plain vegetable oil doused over the bread...think minola basted on your bread...aaack!
do you still remember miggy's? they serve good chimichagas which is my mom's favorite. however, it was far from agave's chimichanga (PHP300++). agave's version is rolled and it was not plain meat inside, loads of rice if you ask me. it was mexican rice with chicken pieces and that was it. i didn't even notice the cheese. though i liked the crisp tortilla and the salsa and sour cream on top. i really wish it had more chicken inside. if you remember miggy's their chimichangas are stuffed with cheese, corn and chicken as plain as that. you'd really be stuffed with all the protein. and not being a rice lover this added to my displeasure.
not only was i disappointed with the dishes, which probably were just misses but the service was uber slow. and this was around a time that only 3-4 tables were occupied. the meal wasn't that bad but i really expected more. maybe my orders were just misses. anyway, i would still try it again but maybe at a different branch.
agave mexican cantina
sky garden sm north
I've yet to try Agave, but some friends have told me that even the branch at Shangri-La Plaza has slow service and mediocre food.
ReplyDeleteHappy new year! :D
ReplyDelete@midge - maybe it's really just not as good as it used to be
ReplyDelete@aline - hny!
Hi Shella,
ReplyDeleteGreetings from Agave! I'm sorry you were disappointed with the food. The Queso Fundido is a personal favorite of mine, but maybe they made a mistake preparing it. We actually baste the garlic bread with real butter and garlic. No oil involved. We have indeed phased out the blue corn chips though. We now fry our chips fresh at each restaurant. Unfortunately the fresh chips aren't available in blue anymore...
The Chimichange you ordered should have had about 1/4 pound of chicken inside. Along with Mexican red rice, refried beans, lettuce, cheese and pico de gallo. But perhaps they left something out by mistake.
I'd love to invite you to visit our newest branch on High Street in Fort Bonifacio. The service there should be a bit zippier. Look for me (Chris) or our Operations Manager Mat and we'll take good care of you and make sure everything's prepared properly! Just email me through our website (http://AgaveCantina.com)if you'd like to drop by. Thanks again for visiting. :)
hi chris,
ReplyDeletethanks for the comment. unfortunately the bread really didn't taste and look like it was basted with garlic and butter i was actually surprised when i looked up the description in your website. it really did taste like just grilled bread which i actually did love by the way. and yes, i forgot to mention that the chips were freshly cooked which was one of the things i enjoyed.
i did see the the bhs branch and would love to give it another try. if i find myself in manila i'll do let you know.
p.s. hope that the service and food at the sky garden will be much better.
We're always working to improve our service and we'll give some special attention to the SM North branch. Normally the items you ordered shouldn't take more than 5-10 minutes to get out. But I'll definitely look into it. Thanks again for visiting and hope you have a much better experience next time!
ReplyDeletehad the same experience! the food was not good and the service was very very very slow despite the fact that there were just 3 tables occupied. i dont recommend this place to ANYONE!
ReplyDeleteby the way, even asking for water seems to take forever in agave! this is in the sm north branch. there were barely any people there but we still had to wait 30 minutes for the water! what the hell? and we had to update the waiyers 3 times before the water came..! but when we asked for the check, it arrived in just seconds! mediocre service and bad food.
ReplyDeletewas this recently? i would assume they made the necessary adjustments after chris read this post.
ReplyDeleteyup! very recent..just last monday, April 26, 2010. I dont know why their service is so bad. too bad, they have a prime location at SM sky garden.
ReplyDeletetoo bad. wonder why service did not improve. i'm afraid they will lose business in that branch soon. probably focused on more famous locations. but people from the north who wants to try agave will just be disappointed.
ReplyDeletethey should try to make it a famous branch, too. famous in a good way, that is. It is in a prime location and they should not waste it. I tried to email my concern to their website but the comments/suggestions option does not work. another mistake.
ReplyDeleteWe were at their opening a number of times. The service was great, staff was pleasant and more importantly the food was excellent. Tonight, Feb 13th my family went back to have dinner after returning back to town. SURPRISE!! The food was terrible, the service sucked and worse of all we all were sick after the dinner. I tried to air my complaint on their website but of course, the contact section didn't work! We eat out every night of the week and know most of the management in restaurants on Boni Hight St.I will make sure that I spread the word on the street and Facebook also. Interesting though, their Facebook page doesn't allow comments either........WHAT A RIP OFF
ReplyDeleteHi Sheila, are you kidding me?? Try Boni High. Where were you when our food was delivered cold as ice. The waitress was as dumb as a brick! The only thing that passed for what it really was, was the Coke. Interesting that we've already heard other comments from friends that mirror ours. A bad day is one thing but it seems that the opinions are now, the place is off the list of most of the regulars........
ReplyDeletedavid, i'm sorry to hear that. i went to the bhs branch last december and food/service was quite acceptable considering the place is packed. i dont know what are they really doing if they run a sloppy, inconsistent resto. i hope they pull it together. but really, there are other options out there so just don't patronize the place.
ReplyDelete