Max’s Restaurant

We ordered a regular chicken, unchopped, and a pot of kare-kare for a late lunch at MaxÕs Restaurant at RobinsonÕs Metro East the other weekend. We were supposed to watch Constantine but the moviehouse was full. We decided to just eat out, do some shopping, go to the supermarket and then call it at day. Since shopping and supermarketing with the kids in tow means hours and hours of walking and deciding, my husband and I knew that it was going to be a long day at the mall. Best to eat a full meal. A whole chicken, kare-kare with rice and fruit juices seemed filling enough.

Max's fried chickenkare-kare at Max's Restaurant

As a child, I was not a MaxÕs regular. I only became a regular customer of MaxÕs after I got married. My husband grew up as a MaxÕs regular and, when we had our girls, he wanted to introduced them to something he thoroughly enjoyed as a child. So, for the last decade or so, we have been eating at MaxÕs branches all over the country. In other words, we know their stuff. We know that a MaxÕs spring chicken was small and good only for two people, a regular chicken was a little bigger and good for two adults and two young children, while the family-sized chicken was okay for four adults. We were so suprised that the regular chicken we ordered looked like a spring chicken. I donÕt know if theyÕre trying to minimize the increase in prices by serving smaller chickens. I also do not know if our experience is only peculiar to the RobinsonÕs Metro East branch. 

Anyway, aside from the shrinking chicken, MaxÕs has mostly retained everything that made it popular decades ago. Marinated whole chicken deep fried without being chopped, accompanied by a soupy or saucy Filipino dish, is really more than satisfying. The number of kamote fries, in lieu of the fastfood french fries that inevitably goes with fried chicken, that were served on the side have dwindled too but they were still good.

The kare-kare was not outstanding–some vegetables were cooked just right while some were undercooked–but the serving was substantial.

But what makes MaxÕs Restaurant still great is that it has retained the family-restaurant atmosphere. No blaring music, no sound systems where one can hear everybody elseÕs orders, no rushing busboys. The staff is friendly without the fake smiles and memorized greetings that young men and women behind fastfood counters almost always greet us with. The atmosphere is relaxed, the service prompt, the facilities (including the restrooms) clean. Everything is reasonably priced too–the meal cost PhP 745.00 (about US$ 14.00).

Rating: Okay. Nothing earth-shattering but not bad. If the food wasn’t spectacular, at least the ambience wasn’t bad. 

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March 7, 2005  Print This Post   
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