Resto Pinoy – Fine Filipino Cuisine

So after trying to head to a place down the street that was now closed, then heading to a super crowded and poorly run Chinese place diagonally across the street we ended up at Pinoy and I’m glad we did.
We had always intended to try it, however, yesterday it wasn’t originally in the cards.
The staff is friendly. The Lumpia is good. The chicken dish we got was perfect. The prices are great, especially considering the portion size. We got a soup we weren’t really into but it still was fresh. We just ordered wrong.
Looking forward to many future experiences here.

I’m not filipino food expert. And from my non-expert’s opinion, the food was really greasy with ok flavor (we asked for additional fish sauce and vinegar to season it ourselves). The portions were big. We were very stuffed after the meal and still with leftover. We had sisig, stew, and halo halo. My favorite was halo halo! I didn’t quite enjoy the food. The staff was really nice & attentive.

Filipino breakfast for dinner?! Of course! I had the longanisa dish and it was delish! The karaōke gets a bit loud at times, but it wasn’t too bad.

If you are looking for Filipino food on the North side you definitely need to check this place out. Cozy, clean, and most importantly delicious.

Had high hopes when they became new owners or new management whichever. However it’s like the previous management or owners when a customer shows up with 5 of his friends until 5 minutes before closing you let them in. You might want to have your hours on the doors also if you close at 10 p.m. The door should be open and welcoming at 9:55. If you really want to be close to 10 should have the sign for 9. We came in more than one occasion shortly before closing and were turned away both times. Bo more second chances.

I’m torn between 3 & 4 stars because I realize as a first time Filipino food consumer I really don’t know what I’m talking about in regards to this cuisine. The staff were exceptionally friendly and helpful, and I felt as I left the restaurant with my take-​out that I had made all of the right decisions.
And maybe I did? But as a Filipino n00b I think I might have been better dining in and eating with an expert. Case in point… the «Sizzling Sisig» aka the crispy pork belly mixed up with a citrus mayo and some chopped up onions and other bits. It’s obviously not sizzling when sold via take-​out, but it was barely warm… in fact it was closer to room temp than warm. A little research shows it’s probably awesome served hot.
I am one that loves weird flavor combos. I am not scared by any food, even the stuff I’m not a super fan of. Hell, put peanut butter and mustard on a corn chip and I’m happy. But never have I consumed shrimp paste, vinegar, soy, sweet curry, peanut butter, garlic, eggplant, beef, some sort of unknown organ flesh and mini egg rolls in one meal.
SO back to my take out. Some of it was fresh and hot like the Kare Kare, with bok choy, eggplant and beef in a super mild, almost bland peanut sauce. Other than the tripey like protein (not listed on the menu) it was ok. Just, as mentioned, bland. It was more about the textures than the flavors.
I had ordered the Menudo which featured beef, hot dogs and raisins (!!!) but they called back and said they couldn’t make it, so we switched it to an order of beef caldereta. The menu lists it as «rich tomato based beef stew with bell peppers» which sounded good. I would describe it as «sweet, super oily, slightly separating curry like stew with fatty meat on the bone and some raw peppers on top.» The flavors were great, but it was served (to me) room temp and I felt a little uncomfortable digging in.
The teeny tiny pork egg rolls were good, but really… egg rolls are almost always good. No matter what. It’s a universal truth. The super crisp texture made these.
We enjoyed the garlic rice side. The sweet rice biko dessert was underwhelming. The homemade spanish peanuts I bought were interesting but nothing to write home about. The sides of vinegar /​soy sauce, lechon sauce as well as the shrimp paste sauce, the sriracha… everything was interesting but it felt like nothing went well together.
The atmosphere was killer, with some older ladies singing karaōke, and the host was SUPER friendly and personable. I feel like if I had dined in, it would have been a completely different experience.
I know. I’m the dummy. I’ve never had Filipino before. I’ll try harder next time.

This place has become one of my favorite Filipino restaurants in Chicago. Great affordable prices, friendly staff, and the food taste great!
Stop in Sunday morning for some tapsilog that will cost you less than $ 6!

Came in with my wife to try it out, we got the lumpia, mixed pansit and Sig Sig and I almost had to be rolled out from how much I ate! It was amazing. Super friendly staff and the prices are very reasonable. I will definitely come back to try much much more!

Try the pork sisig (sizzling plate), so yummy! The staff are also very nice. Looking forward to trying the whole menu.

my bff & I went here cuz I got her likin flip food. she loves the little egg rolls, lumpia, and was so excited to eat them. but after 5 minutes of orderin them our waiter came back & said they were out of them so she was very disappointed! we got the pork bbq on a stick, palabok, pancit and a sago & gulamaan. I wasn’t impressed by the palabok and I like my dads better. but the bbq pork sticks were good, just a bit too salty. we both enjoyed the pancit. even though I wasn’t impressed by this place I wanna give it another try with my mom since she doesn’t get a chance to go to flip restaurants that often &I wanna get her opinion too. I wanna definitely try other things on the menu.

We took advantage of the Living Social coupon and ordered (please ignore this post Crestor) Sizzling Sisig (pork) and Crispy Pata (deep fried pork leg) and it was really good. Now my father always told me that good Filipino food takes a long time to cook (contrary to Chinese wok cooking) but this place was not that busy and it took some time to get our orders. As for the food itself, the pata was a generous size and we ordered the Sisig without the egg, ahem, as we’re trying to cut down on our cholesterol. The bench seating is a bit hard on the gluteus maximus but we appreciated watching TFC on the flat screen.

So. Freakin. GOOD!!!
PORK BELLY PORK BELLY PORK BELLY!
Very comparable to the Filipino food I’m missing from California! Plus they’re next door to a Filipino grocery! Love!

Had lunch here yesterday. The place was empty. We had a party of 9.
Walked inside and it’s very casual. Wooden benches as seats, the most uncomfortable seats to sit on… picnic seats/​tables in a restaurant? Ambiance, not the best. Service, terrible. The lady taking our order was VERY LOUD and yelling. Her voice gave me a headache. Yes, I’m Filipino/​American and yes, I know sometimes Filipino’s talk loud, but this was ridiculous. Restaurant wasn’t busy, she was screaming and was at the edge of our table taking our order. You would have thought she was across the restaurant. I actually plugged my ears while she was taking our order from my Mom. The server also answered the phone for take out orders, screaming. To add to the loud talking, what else gave me a headache, the little kid in the restaurant, not sure if that was the server’s son or what, but he was running around and around and screaming. It was pretty ridiculous.
What did we order?
Chicken Joy appetizer
Beef nilaga
Max style fried chicken
Liempo
Shrimp fried rice
Kare kare
Menudo
Stuffed bangus
We wait… and wait some more… then she stacks up a pile of plates with spoons and forks and puts it at the end of the table. No napkins. She can’t give us each our plates and silverware, separate it out? Guess she was too busy. Now there are 2 other tables one was a party of 3 and the other 4. So the chicken joy comes out. Fried chicken wings. Okay, not greasy and crispy. Next the beef nilaga comes out with a bowl of rice and it sits on the table for literally 5 minutes… why? She doesn’t give us any bowls. She is no where to be found. My Lola (grandmother) was cold and really wanted soup. We told her just to put rice on the plate and eat it that way, but she wanted a bowl. Finally about 10 minutes have passed, and OH, there is the server, we ask for bowls… we get lovely styrofoam bowls. Can you say TACKY? I know it’s not a fine dining establishment even though the name says «Fine Filipino Cuisine,» but they give you plates, silverware and glasses and yet they don’t have real bowls?
Liempo comes out along with the Max fried chicken. Liempo not what I was expecting. Usually liempo is long strips of pork, this was cut up like lechon and grilled. Meh, it was okay, have had better. Didn’t have a smokey flavor, the good thing was it wasn’t greasy. Max fried chicken, they need to remove the Max from the description because this is not by any means anywhere close to Max fried chicken. They only do dark meat and it’s breaded. Max isn’t really breaded and they serve it with sweet and sour sauce? What? No banana ketchup? Was okay. We get one bowl of rice, there are 9 of us… we had to ask for 3 more bowls and it took awhile to get to our table. They don’t even fill the bowl up with rice, the huge bowls were maybe only half full.
Didn’t eat the nilaga, kare kare or menudo, not my favorite things, but I was told they were all okay, not bad, not the best… so just okay.
Fried rice came at the end of the meal. Really? Didn’t know we were doing a 10 course Chinese type meal. Fried rice was good, not greasy, but shouldn’t have come at the end. What took the longest, the bangus. It was good, but took way to long, we were almost done with lunch when it came. The server said, well bangus takes a long time. Maybe you should have told us that and we probably could have found something else to order.
What else ticked me off, my Dad spilled one of the small sauce containers. We asked for them to wipe it up as it was under my mom’s plate and the center of the table… what did they do? Put a napkin on top of it to absorb it, but not wipe it up or clean it? Really? Then they tell us, oh we ran out of dessert, but we see them run out to the store next door and drop off a tray there. It’s 1pm. You ran out? So after we paid, we ran to the Filipino store next door where they had all different kinds of dessert like puto, ice cream and turon.
Anyhow, service was horrible, ambiance not so great, food was okay. If I want Filipino food, I will ask my Mom to cook me a good home cooked meal or run on over to Isla. We wanted to try something new and did, lesson learned. Isla, you can take your American friends to, Resto, not so much… it would be embarrassing!
Couple other things, big sign on door CASH ONLY. Explanation from server that yells, oh because we use to take credit cards and someone’s credit card was bad. Huh? Also, they added 19% tip to our check for HORRIBLE SERVICE. For 19% you would think we were at a restaurant downtown. I don’t mind tipping for good service, but for the service she gave, she would have been lucky to get 10%.

I am rating this place 5 stars because of our customer experience and tasty food!
This place is awesome. Friendly and fast service, cozy atmosphere, good prices and great food. It is also a BYOB place. My bf, a couple of our friends and I love to try different Filipino restaurants in Chicago from time to time. We have been to a few places such as Isla, Uncle Mike’s, Little Quiapio and another place that closed down in the North side but Resto Pinoy beats them all.
The ambiance was very suiting for a family owned Filipino restaurant. It was nice and cozy with bamboo’ish décor and a mini stage in the middle of the restaurant (hehe)… The TV’s had the Filipino channel on so you felt like you were back home having a nice home cooked meal with your family.
The waitress was extremely nice and patient with us. We got there an hour before closing on a Sunday so it was not too busy, however it seems that there was only 1 person working the floor. No worries because we were excited to be there and eat some good food.
There was a special check-​in offer on Unilocal,where if you check-​in you get a free order of the pork shanghai egg rolls… what an awesome deal! We also ordered another order of PORK SHANGHAI ROLLS, which are Egg rolls filled with ground pork, celery and carrots. Served with a sweet and sour sauce. An order of KARE KARE, a peanut sauce stew with beef tripe, oxtail, eggplant, sitaw and pechay.
PANCIT — mixed noodles cooked with pork and shrimp and mixed vegetables.
SIZZLING SISIG — Finely chopped fried pork, tossed with onions and peppers, seasoned with lemon sauteed served on a sizzling plate. CRISPY PATA — seasoned pork leg, deep fried and served with atchara. CHICKEN ADOBO — Cubed chicken boiled in a vinegar and soy sauce gravy and rice.
WOW that was a lot of food for 4 people but we wanted all those dishes. You can taste the authentic spices in every dish. You can tell most of those dishes have been stewing all day. Good portions and decent prices.
At the end for all that we ordered, it came out to be only $ 85 before the living social coupon that our friend had. I couldn’t believe it was that cheap, especially with all the left overs we had. When we go to another Filipino restaurant called, Isla in the North side, we leave a slight bit hungry and a much higher bill. To top it off, at the end they had us chose a plastic Easter egg from a basket (For Easter week) and it was a 10% off coupon for the next visit… this made our night.
We will definitely be back with more friends and recommend Resto Pinoy to anyone looking for a good and cozy Filipino restaurant to eat!

There isn’t a lot of Filipino places around where I live, so I don’t mind making a trip up here for good authentic Filipino food. Hiked up here on a Wednesday night with a friend to give this place a try. As we walked in, we noticed the place was pretty empty but had a homely atmosphere. We were greeted immediately by an elderly couple and was offered a place to sit.
We stared at our menu for a while because there was a lot of different choices. We finally made up our minds and ordered:
— Lumpias (shanghai egg rolls): small fried egg rolls filled with pork and vegetables which are served with sweet and sour sauce. It was ok but nothing to rave about.
— Beef Pochero: cubed beef with potatoes, bananas, tomatoes, & cabbage in a soup. The different flavors from sweet, sour, and salty came together to give its unique taste. In my opinion, this dish was delicious!
— Menudo: small pieces of fatty pork with carrots, potatoes, raisins, and hot dogs in a tomato sauce. Was not a fan of this dish, but maybe I’m bias because I’m not a big fan of fatty pork. I didn’t like the taste of this dish, the texture of this dish, or anything really about this dish.
— Halo-​Halo: milk and shaved ice over a mixture of fruits, beans, and jellies. Topped off with ice cream and corn flakes. Halo-​halo is one of my favorite Filipino desserts and this one doesn’t fall short from it. There was a good amount of everything (just a little too much shaved iced though) and the right amount of sweetness. Just a great ending to our meal.
There was a couple of desserts I wanted to try, but they were out of stock. I was a little disappointed. Oh wells, guess this gives me another reason why I should come back. Overall, the service was great, huge & good quality Filipino food, and a cozy atmosphere. There is not anything else I ask for in a restaurant, but this restaurant does by offering free wi-​fi and karaōke on the weekends.

I’m a waitress in this joint, maybe I will be a little bias but so far since I’ve been working here (only weekends) the people that I served always have a smile on their faces when they leave, maybe its the alcohol but who cares! As long as people leave happy :)
The most common comment I get from the dinner menu is that its great and a huge for its price!
Tips:
Checked if theres a private party, the boss tend to throw private party on the weekends.
Reservation on the weekend is helpful if theres an event! Trust me, it gets a little crowded.
Also, dinner menu ends at 9pm. So, if you want more variety on the menu get there by then!

On an adventure down Lawrence Avenue I happened upon Resto Pinoy and though it is in a very interesting part of the city I decided that since I am always looking for good Philippine cuisine, I stopped. I’m not sure about some of the other reviewers opinions on ambiance but this BYOB definitely gives the diner an at-​home Asian feel – though the seating did feel a little stiff it reminded me of my Grandma’s kitchen with vinyl tablecloths ready to catch any noodle that may fall from your plate of pancit. The Philippine channel was on and the sound of it in the background was very dramatic and exciting. There is a stage in the middle of Resto Pinoy and apparently it is for entertainment which occurs on the weekends.
Service over-​all is important to me and they do an amazing job to make you feel at home at Resto Pinoy. No seriously. The server actually brought his manager over to introduce himself and he in turn invited us to come back again.
For those who like pancit – a noodle dish with veggies and meat which every family makes it differently. Resto Pinoy’s is a two-​noodle pancit (thick and thin). It is very tasty and when I asked for lemon/​lime the server smiled and was sure to oblige. We also ordered the calamari which was divine along with some lumpia which were equally as tasty. We did have to wait which from most reviews is common, but isn’t a little wait worth amazing food that is being made fresh for you?
I will definitely visit Resto Pinoy again!

I have never had Filipino food and I don’t know why I waited so long.
It was great. Lots of fried food, interesting flavor combinations, and it is BYOB. So much fun. I cannot wait to go back.
The karaōke is a little bit loud and obnoxious, but it is worth going on a Thursday anyway. It is like a party. I also went with a big crew of Filipino friends so that could have helped, but it was a good time.

Awesome service.
We ordered the Max’s chicken, spaghetti, longsilog, tocsilog, and lumpia.
Food was pretty good. The rice could have had more garlic.
But it was an awesome place.
I’m tired of going to Ruby’s and finding out that they are closed or have run out of food.
BYOB.
Tip: Gratuity added for groups of four+.

First time coming here and it reminds me so much of the Philippines. There’s FREE karaōke and wifi. TFC & sports and live entertainment on a «bahay kubo» stage. They cater and are on
!
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