Max’s Restaurant

How THE F this can pass as «food», i dont know. The crispy pata was crispy alright — burnt to a crisp. It had no flavor, was waaaay overcooked, and looked like it was dropped on the floor. Kare kare? More like bits of tail with peanut butter. The most AWFUL version of this classic dish i have ever had. Absolutely HORRIBLE. Pancit canton. I couldnt even bring myself to even prod it with the serving spoon it was so disgusting. The noodles looked like strands of rubber band, the toppings were even dryer, and it just looked unappetizing. No one ate it. The chicken was, AT BEST, so-​so. Same with the lumpia. The best thing they served was the sizzling tofu — something a trained chimp can whip up.
The locals eating there are either brain dead or they haven’t had REAL flip cooking. DO NOT even think about going there. The food under the heat lamps at the local gas station is GOURMET compared to the swill served at max’s.
Being a resident of los angeles and having spent time in the PI, i can honestly tell everyone that vancouver completely FAILED with its version of max’s. It should be boarded up and never see the light of day again.

My review is based on having visited this place multiple times. Being a Filipino, I would say that their food is mediocre. it’s not bad but it’s not the best. I have tried other Filipino dishes from smaller «carinderia» places around Fraser, Richmond or Main St. If you are reading this review and want to try really good Filipino food, go to Coquitlam and seek this place called «Kulinarya».
In the Philippines, Max is known for their Chicken, however I think this Canadian location cannot match the authentic taste that you’d find in the Philippines. Would it stop me from visiting? No, I would still go here.
My personal favourite in this place would be the Pork Sisig and Pinakbet. Of course, this is the ONLY place that makes quite a GOOD «Halo-​Halo» — a popular Filipino dessert with mixtures of shaved ice and evaporated milk to which are added various boiled sweet beans, jello and fruits.
Perfect for summer.
Another detail that this place cannot seem to get right is their service. It’s not very consistent and I would say 90% of the time, my encounter with the staff has been disappointing. There are some staff that would treat you rudely by ignoring you or answering in a non-​friendly manner and are just stuck up. You can tell some pretend to be busy just so they are not confronted. Also, there are ALWAYS dirty plates not being cleaned off the tables promptly — contributing to long wait times for people who are in the waiting lounge.
I am not expecting to get my feet kissed. Vancouver has a lot of hardworking Filipinos that go here to feel at home — a simple welcoming gesture would do big.
It’s not just Max, I feel like most Filipino establishments here in Vancouver have that same service. It’s a bit sad because our culture is known for its hospitality. Max could learn from the Japanese restaurants in Vancouver I think when it comes to service.
With that said, there is a fellow that works in this place that I have encountered more than once and have given impressive customer service that it stuck with my memory. In fact, I decided to write this review after many visits just because I think this person needs to be commended for his service. I think his name is Yanel? something like that. If I own a restaurant or a customer service based business, I would poach this person. Good job!
P. S. Street parking is very limited, however there is an underground parking, which sometimes can also be filled up. especially on Saturday and Sundays (after church hours).

We were craving crispy pata so off we went to Max’s in Burnaby. Parking was a challenge to find in the rain (underground and across the street).
Leo was our server– very polite and efficient. Food didn’t take long to arrive. Crispy pata was spot on — the skin was perfectly crunchy and the tilapia Laing was oh so delicious! Ordered their buko pandan dessert and was very happy with our late lunch experience.
Reasonably priced and very good representation of Filipino specialties.

Was decently quick service I just found the lumpia overpriced for what you get. I didn’t try anything else as I only wanted the lumpia. Was a tad spicy and the sauce was a little too tomatoie.

First of all, everyone that gave crappy reviews to bring this place down to 2.5 stars should be ashamed. You obviously have zero taste buds and no sense of good food if it were to smack you in the face.
I had pork sisig and adobo with garlic fried rice. The rice was incredible even just alone. The sisig had a million flavors, crunch, and sweetness to satisfy literally all of my tastebuds. The service was super friendly and when they came back over to ask how it was, I couldn’t even find the words to say. The adobo was to die for. I could taste the flavors in the sauce and the sweet pork was incredible.
Secondly, I’m white not Filipino. I’ve had many dishes down in the US in this cuisine and absolutely NONE can compare to the amount of flavors I’ve tasted today. Don’t walk… don’t think about it… RUN HERE and get ready to have the experience of a lifetime. I’m pretty sure I never want to return to the US unless I’m headed to California where another location exists.
TLDR: AMAZING INCREDIBLE GODLY EXPERIENCE

My first thought upon walking in … wow … they still have their Christmas stuff up!
They had a coupon in the newspaper. Order $ 25 worth of food and get a free deep fried seafood dish. People have been telling me that eating the chicken here is a MUST. So that was one of the dishes I ordered tonight. I don’t know … maybe the chicken we were served had been sitting under the heating lamps and forgotten about all day? It was puny (is that how you spell pew-​née?) and DRY as heck! I needed a ton of the Banana Ketchup to get it down my esophagus.
I absolutely LOVED the surface area of the tables. VERY VERY roomy. It could give a double size bed some competition haha. It was weird to see people waiting for tables when half of the tables (seriously … half!!) were still dirty and had cups and dishes and food bits all over it. I think they are very under staffed. And very unorganized.
When the dishes started coming out … again … in no specific order … entrees came out before appetizers, we were not given dishes or water, we had to remind them to get our rice … really weird service. However … they were all VERY sweet and VERY nice! They did everything we asked with a smile.
We ordered a deep fried pork hock … omg … if you like crispy skin … this was AMAZING! The star of the show was the Halo Halo dessert. This is a MUST try. If we come here again I will order this over the chicken … actually … I’m sure we would NOT order the chicken again.
Another thing I noticed is … there are not a lot of vegetable dishes on the menu.
Overall … we are full and had leftovers to take home … buuuuuuut …

I love Filipino food, but this place doesn’t cut it, I come here only because it’s nearby. Their «famous Maxs chicken» is dry, pancit canton has more veggies than the actual noodles. I like their crispy pata and pork sinigang. Though, their sinigang can have a bit more meat. Service has always been poor since the beginning. Slow, not as attentive, even when they are not busy.

First experience with Filipino food and was sadly disappointed. I am not sure what I expected… I was probably hoping I’d find the culinary equivalent to the generally cheery friendly demeanor of most of the Filipino ppl I’ve met. Maybe bc Vietnamese, korean, Taiwanese, cantonese, Thai, shanghai-​nese cuisines are all so distinct even though the areas are geographically close, I thought Filipino food would be equally distinct. But sadly I found the food tasted like random asian fusion without its own flavor profile… who knows, mb we didn’t order «the right stuff.»
Based on previous reviews we got crispy chicken (very similar to chinese cha Gi chicken) but skin wasn’t super crispy and meat wasn’t very juicy. Banana ketchup sounded fun but tasted like regular ol ketchup. Garlic (fried) rice tasted like garlic + rice. Noodle dish was similar to Panda Express. We had a lot of leftovers that went to the trash (compost since this is, after all, vancouver) after the leftovers stoically served their term at the back of the fridge.
Disappointing.

While visiting Vancouver from Toronto, my girlfriend and I decided to visit Max’s as we frequent the one in Toronto!
Upon our arrival we waited at the front door for close to 4 – 5 minutes as there was nobody there at the «please wait to be seated stand» there were only 2 other families in this large place. After finally being seated we were offered water and asked if our server could place our drink orders.
Once our orders were placed the speed of service picked up a little bit. We ordered the Filipino spaghetti, pork adobo with 2 sides of garlic rice, and a half chicken dinner. The one thing we noticed is that the portion sizes and food quality is bigger and better in Vancouver Vs Toronto.
The restaurant really started filling up as we were finishing up our dinner but the service did get better as it seemed more staff were arriving for there shifts.
All in all. 4 star rating due to the poor reception but the amazing food. Next time we are in Vancouver we will be back!

Came in for the first time today thinking they only had fried chicken and was pleasantly surprised in the variety of filipino cuisine in the menu. The resto was clean and bright unlike other filipino establishments I’ve been to. The service was a tad slow: it took about 10 mins for the waiter to take our drink orders and another 5 mins to get our drinks. Luckily we got our food right away. Their garlic fried rice went well with the BBQ pork on sticks and the pork adobo. The BBQ was tender and moist with a bit of sweetness. The atchara (pickled papaya) that came with the BBQ was refreshingly tart but not too vinegary and cut through the richness of the pork. The adobo was a bit tough and could use a bit more time braising in the rich soy garlic vinegar sauce. The diced raw tomato and onion on the side of the adobo was cold and I had to wait for it to come to room temperature to eat with the adobo. Overall the food quality is good but it was a bit over priced.

I love their sisig! Sadly I have a long distance relationship with it. Sadly, Seattle is 3hours away just to get that sizzling goodness again. Let us not forget the other guilty pleasure, crispy pata. I know it is cliché, but let me say, «extra rice!»
If you are not willing to indulge yourself too much, you may just want to get the classics. Ofcourse their fried chicken and and lumpia. It is essential that you use the banana ketchup. Yes I said ketchup. Not «banana sauce» as appropriated by the western marketing.
As we say. «Sarap to the bones.»

So when I was in the Philippines, we didn’t get a chance to eat at a Max’s there, so when I heard that there was on in Vancouver, i put it on my to-​do list to visit so i could at least say I tried it!
Let me tell you, I felt like I was literally back in the Philippines… because of the service… (but at least they had a nice and clean bathroom with a flushing toilet hahah).
The restaurant itself is pretty big. Lots of seating, but the servers were pretty slow at seating people. Half of the restaurant would be empty, but still had to wait to be seated.
We ordered the calamansi juice, garlic fried rice, lechon kawali, and shrimp rebosendo (Sp?). Overall the food was very good and not bad at all.
Our server was nice but it was just … we weren’t wow’d by the experience. But hey, I can at least say i tried Max’s.

My friend and I (who aren’t Philippino) came here for lunch. The food was ok. We ordered milk fish in leaf and marinated sirloin strips.
The service was absolutely HORRIBLE. it took us 10 minutes just to wave someone over. Then the food took 30 minutes to come. Everyone around us who ordered after us already had their food. When the waitress came over I explained to her she doesn’t seem to fully understand what I was saying.
The dessert took another 10 minutes to come even though I asked for it with the meal. That was one of the worst experience ever.

I think it is safe to say that the Max’s Restaurant in the Philippines is much better than any other location outside of the Pinas. Max’s in Vancouver is the closest location I can go to considering the fact that there is no Max’s in Washington State. The service, location and overall area is kept very clean.
I suggest ordering Sinigang (Baboy which means Pork), Palabok and Crispy Pata! The Sinigang has the perfect tangy, sour tamarind taste and the Crispy Pata is cooked at a level where it is crunchy and melts in your mouth at the same time. If you order the famous Max’s Chicken, please do not order it thinking that it tastes exactly like how the Philippines cooks it because it doesn’t taste anything near to it. This is a casual place, good for big groups and it does get loud! As for the desserts, try the Sago’t Gulaman and Halo Halo if available. I personally think the Buko juice tasted a little off, due to a lot of artificial sugar added. To sum of Max’s I personally think that is a good restaurant to satisfy your Filipino food cravings, but to all of you who crave the authentic Max’s from the Philppines– this is nowhere near it.

The boys, my brother and I came here last year looking for decent Filipino style fried chicken, crispy pata and other favourites. Apparently, they have underground parking as well as on the street, but we were too hungry to notice…
We started with buko (young coconut) juice with green apple jelly. I think they added extra cane sugar syrup since it was a lot sweeter than what we were used to. My son loved his mango juice!
Max’s signature fried chicken: perfectly seasoned, juicy, and finger licking’ good!
Crispy pata: very fresh, crispy and tender.
Garlic rice: fairly tasty, but PinPin Restaurant kicks up their garlic rice another notch.
Chicken sisig: this dish paled in comparison to the pata and fried chicken. The sizzling platter of chicken looked a bit insipid (no colour or flavour) and you couldn’t see or taste any chicken livers there (either that or they were overcooked and mashed up with everything else).
Halo Halo: my hubby didn’t want to share this with me, but I managed to taste it anyway. It was a refreshing dessert with fruit preserves, red beans, coconut milk, and ube (purple yam) ice cream. Yum!

****MUST READ****Time for my rant. can only unleash it in this review. Been here to max 3 times.
First of all. i am filipino and love filipino food. and love filipino people, but the service in this restaurant is very very bad. Let me start with the waiter and waitress, all of them seems to dont care what is happening. I remember my first time visiting there was a line up of 2 to 3 families… BUT the funny thing is there are like 3 to 4 tables that are ready to be served. Instead of welcoming them and letting them sit and relax. they make us wait and clean other table. like i said there was more than enough for people that are lined up. It drive me nuts!!! also if you are done eating or other people eating the plates and glasses will be in the table for another 20 to 30 minutes. the waiter or waitress will not bring them to the dishwashing area. it is not pleasant to see if you are eating. u see dirty plates on empty tables… to continue this. imagine this. there was 2 or 3 tables that was empty with customer leaving.1 of the waiter was cleaning the floor for no reason. he coulda cleaned the table and move all the dirty dishes to the back and entertain other customer to sit down. who has been waiting to be sitted. UNACCEPTABLE!!!
one other thing i notice. one of the customer asked for water… and the waiter said ok. it took them 15 minutes to give water to the customer. I was entertained just looking at the customer frustrAtion…
one more incident… yes i have a lot. one of the waitress was about to clean the table and bring the plates to the back… but the other waitress said…“Mamaya na yan. pag dating nlang ni Megan”. in english.“Do that later just wait for Megan to clean it once she is here”. i was so shocked and look to my wife.
If you come here expect the umexpected.

I’d been here a few times. My previous experiences were okay. I was gonna keep mum about them but last night was really bad. I don’t think I’ll be back.
We ordered the chicken sisig, garlic rice and pandit canton. The pandit and garlic rice were okay — nothing spectacular. They were even lukewarm. But the chicken sisig was yucky! The menu said it would be served in a sizzling plate. When it arrived to our table it was in a sizzling plate alright — but it wasn’t sizzling! I didn’t get it! Why not use a regular plate? Also it was glossy. My friend made a comment that it looked like chicken salad!!! Well it was bathing in mayonnaise!!! And it tasted like chicken salad. It was really gross.
It’s apparent that sisig is not your forte. The table next to us were complaining with their bangus (milkfish) sisig too. Theirs had scales!!!
Please do something about this! You will lose customers.

Im one of the filipino-​canadian whose very greatful that we have max’s branch here in vancouver… famous restaurant in my country that serves filipino traditional fried chicken… big retaurant can house over a hundred people, free underground parking, casual attire, credit/​debit/​cash ok, group, family & kids friendly, decors shocases portraits of max restaurants wayback home and abroad, noise level moderate, service is very homey .a good place to bring your friends to try on filipino cuisine… neat place wash room very clean…

Under no circumstances should you order any of the set menus. «Soup of the day» when we went on a Saturday night tasted suspiciously like Campbell’s Cream of Mushroom watered down with some kind of broth (beef?). And the «caramel bar» dessert — I’ve uploaded pictures, so you can judge for yourself.
Max’s Fried Chicken was sadly dry. Fluke kitchen error? In any case, a small, whole fried chicken for $ 14.99 felt steep. You can do better (and get tastier and moister) at KFC.
What they do nicely is crispy pig skin. So if you don’t mind fat, go with Crispy Pata or Lechon Kawali.
Desserts are priced quite cheaply as well. Skip the rather firm leche flan and instead try the Buko Pandan or the generously portioned Halo Halo.
All the other items we tried were sad — Miki Bihon, Kare-​Kare, Filipino Bistek.

We had my birthday party here with a large group in the middle of the week. My friends from the Philippines always talk about the chicken here, so I was excited to try. Because we were a large party, we ordered the following samplings:
(1) Soup of the Day — mushroom soup (the waiter wouldn’t answer my question of whether or not it was made fresh in-house…I suspect it was from a can).
(2) Max’s Fried Chicken — Perhaps it was overhyped to me and my expectations were too high. It just didn’t taste any different than the chicken my mom cooks in the turbo-​oven at home. In fact, I think it taste a little dry and bland. The skin was not as crispy as I would have expected.
(3) Pancit Canton — Nothing special.
(4) Pinatyuong Adobo — Usually one of my favourite Filipino dishes, but I would not order it here again. Very disappointed.
(5) Chop Suey — Disappointing. Not sure if it was all just veggies or if there was meat in it. There was a lot of this leftover.
(6) Steamed Rice — Everyone got one small bowl of rice. For a Filipino family, that is just not enough!
(7) Pop — No free refills!
(8) Caramel Bars — I did not try one of these because I had birthday cakes, so I cannot opine.
(9) Miki Bihon — I do not remember eating this.
(10) Lechon Kawali — This was the best part of the meal. It was krispy, but the meat chosen had a lot more fat on it then I am used to. Not the best lechon kawali, but if I were to return to Max’s, I would just order this.
(11) Kare Kare — Always a favourite, but not very striking in taste at this restaurant. There was a lot of this leftover as well.
Lastly, it was my birthday, so the staff insisted on singing me the Max’s Chicken birthday song. The song did not include me name (I do not think anyone working there even asked me), but it did include at least THREE instances of them singing «Max’s Chicken is delicious» at least three times. Talk about shameless marketing. Hey, Max, it was MY birthday, not yours! :P
This review is based on my personal experience and all statements made herein reflect my personal opinion only. Your experience may be completely different.