Max’s Restaurant

I love the Max’s in Philippines. This one is horrible. All the menu items were overcooked. In fact the tapsilog and the chicken both tasted like they were leftovers and refried.
When we pointed out the obvious issues to our server he just shrugged his shoulders and said the cooks are responsible. DUH! We already knew that. He offered no recourse and actually giggled when I suggested that the service and the food was extremely substandard.
Let’s put it this way… I have been to literally 20+ Max’s restaurants in the Philippines and two here in the states. NEVER have we ever had such horrid food and totally sloppy service. Do not eat here. You have been warned. It is obvious that the owners don’t care and it shows.

Ordered some take out chicken tinola for the cold. Added some garlic fried rice with that. I must say it was very good! Some big portions. The waiters were all polite and very attentive. I’ll have to dine in next time.

The service here is really bad. The waiter took forever to come and help us. When we asked for more water, he had a smirk on his face as if it was too much for him to do. The food is good but I don’t think I would come back because the service is that bad. This isn’t a one time visit, I’ve been here a few times and it’s always been like this. If you look at all the reviews it’s pretty much the same. I guess management doesn’t care about taking care of the customers and giving good service

I’ve been working at the gellert plaza for a while now and had yet to try this place out. My coworkers all have said they had good food, so I decided to try it out.
I ordered white rice, with chicken adobo. It was so good! I paid around $ 15 which I thought was pretty pricy, but it’s really filling and enough for 2 people. 1 thing I didn’t like was the fact that the sauce was really oily. So I had to drain it out a bit.
Overall the food was great, and the people were friendly! I do recommend trying this place out, I know I’m going back to try more things from their menu.

I came with coworkers for lunch here per their suggestion and desire to try this new location of Max’s after having gone to the one off El Camino Real in South San Francisco previously.
To put it simply, the service was terrible. There were at least three people I notice working the floor and only one of them paid us any attention. Even with that guy it took a long time for him to respond to any request that we made, starting with how long it took for us to be able to place our order. There seemed to be no pleasantness shown by the staff to our table, yet from where I say I can see them being nicer to other parties. In the end, we even left a reduced tip and comment on the receipt commenting on the poor service.
The consensus amongst our group was that we’re not coming back. If we want Max’s, we’ll go to the one in South San Francisco instead because we had better experience there.

Came here with the lady and it was alright!
This place is rather small on the inside. When we arrived there were no seats available at all. We looked around for a greeter and there was no one available. But, luckily one of the other customers waiting informed us to put our name on a waiting list to be seated. We had no idea how long we would be waiting for but I guess that is just how it goes. After 10 minutes someone finally came over to check the board, aggghh!
After waiting for about 20 minutes were finally seated because some of customers were lingering at their seats with no food just chit chatting, SERIOUSLY!!!
When we were finally seated it was time to review the menu. Fortunately, we had been to the Max’s in Vallejo before so we knew what we wanted to order. When the server came over we placed our order and got our drinks placed as well.
After being seated for about 20 minutes this placed cleared out and plenty of seats became available, what a joy!
As far the food goes, it was alright. It was nothing close to homemade but a good effort. The chicken adobo was just OK. I was expecting more chicken rather than bones but I guess you just deal with what you get! The rice scoops were good but I went through that rather quickly. The calamari was not my favorite by any means but once again it was a good try.
I’m just overall disappointed by this Max’s. In having been to others I know the quality of the food that is served here and this place dropped the ball for me. There are so many locations and this one is first that I have been to in which I was left feeling uneasy and a bit squeamish.
Hoping that improvement comes in the future so that I can leave another review, a better review.
#postivestrides

From reading previous reviews, I think things have changed here for the better. We (I) had very decisively already made up our minds to have Filipino for dinner and were parked in front of Max’s when I discovered the abysmal Unilocal reviews. (I know I’m supposed to check first but oh well too late). Given the low star average and the high number of reviews, I was immediately apprehensive. But more powerful than apprehension is hunger and the commitment to stick to a dinner choice. I digress.
It was a Monday night, a few tables occupied, and my family was seated quickly. A couple of tables had minor debris around them, but nothing egregious.
We ordered the «Teaser» appetizer combo — fries, calamari, lumpia Shanghai. My Unilocal fears came to surface as the fries were mostly small bits and pieces aka fryer bottom leavins. Relief came as everything tasted as it was supposed to — no cross-​fryer cohabiting of different flavors.
The remainder of our meal was very good and left me with the impression that this place is currently undeserving its low ratings. Here is what we had and my family’s collective opinion:
Crabmeat Fried Rice: Eh. Not awful but garlic rice would have been better
Nilagang Baka (Beef flank soup): Not too salty, nice tender meat, lots of veggies. Great for a cold night.
Pinotuyong Pork Adobo (Braised pork adobo): Yum! Served sans sauce, just in its own marinade.
Lechon Kawali Sisig (Pork belly diced & sautéed. It’s a lil more than that but I shouldn’t have to explain the goodness that is Sisig): Served sizzling. Hot crispy fat on a plate, with garlic and peppers for just a little kick. Nice.
We also left with something a family of five doesn’t always get after a meal: leftovers. Victory. We didn’t order drinks, and our bill came out to $ 66 with tip, very reasonable.
Our server was courteous and professional, and our water was served in good-​sized mason jar mugs — not the smallish cups described in another review. We got refills when needed, and were attended by other staff members regularly but not annoyingly.
I’m hoping our positive experience is indicative of an improved direction that this Max’s location is taking, because it is nice to have multiple Filipino eatery options, and I’d really like to come back.

If I can give this place no stars I will!!! I’ve been dying to come here since they opened my husband finally took me we were greeted and seated right away with very good hospitality… Our sever comes a lady named nelde with a very nasty attitude towards us I thought that maybe she’s having a bad day until I see her smiling and engaging with the other tables. I ordered chicken adobo came out cold they took 15 mins to reheat I asked for extra sauce another 15 mins then my food got cold and 20 mins for soy sauce.
I will NEVER. Return this was my first and last experience at Max’s what a shame because it’s so close and great location

Bad service. Food is decent to say the least.
Went to this location for dinner with my parents. Service was so slow that even as my dad who came back from home after having dropped off my mom and I to order ahead did not have his food ready. We ended up asking for the food to go and even that took forever.

I’ve been to Max’s about 4 – 5 times now, usually during off-​hours. Never too busy. The service was decent. They got new waiters that are Respectful and kind.
Pros:
–I love the fried chicken!
–food is freshly cooked to order
–restaurant/​bathroom is clean and spacious.
Cons:
–canton noodles had way too much onion!
–water cups, kinda small!
–sometimes they ate sold out on certain menu items… happen ²⁄₄ times I’ve been to max’s

They were out of everything.
The ones that were available, were okay, but nothing to write home about.
The dessert have pieces that were still hard. Also, way too sweet for my taste.
Bathrooms were quite disastrous too.
The waiters were trying hard, but management needed to step up.

My boyfriend and I came in on Wedesday night on a whim. We walked in and saw a few dirty tables, but none that were open at the time. It took a minute before we were even addressed. Eventually they sat us at a two-​top and gave us a couple menus to look at.
They have a pretty good selection. we decided to get the pork sisig, calamari, garlic rice, and kare-​kare. While we were waiting, a waiter told us that they had run out of the pork sisig so I decided to go with the chicken sisig.
While we were waiting we noticed that it was relatively cold. There was cold air blowing through the restaurant although it was already around 60°F outside so that wasn’t the best.
We finally got our food after waiting and there was a lot of it. The kare-​kare was really good and so was the galic rice. The calamari tasted a little rubbery, not quite the quality that you would expect from olive garden or the cheesecake factory, and the chicken sisig was definitely dry.
While we were eating we didnt get too much attention, no refills, rarely any check-​ins, and it took a whiiile until we got our check and to-​go containers.
So in all, the food is good depending on what you get, but you’ve got to be real patient to tolerate how slow and unattentive the service is here.

VERY SLOW AND BAD SERVICE.
They may be nice workers but its very slow!
Great filipino food though.
Im eating out with my parents for three for dinner and all seats were filled. As time went by, three tables were available.
Two girls got seated at a four person table when there was a two person table available also. So my dad had complained to the worker about were they were seated because we have been waiting for 20 minutes for a table. And we couldve sat at the four person table and they sat at the two person table to make things faster but no. We waited another 15 minutes for a table to be available again.
As we sat down, it took them awhile to bring water and come to take our order. My dad got utensils that werent completely washed. The fork still had rice on it and a worker apologized and replaced it. Still disgusted. The worker had took our order and I was upset they didnt have anymore crabmeat fried rice!
As we were waiting for our food, some old man had slipped out of their chair due to the slippery floors. I felt bad but he was okay!
Other than that its over all slow service but great filipino food if youre willing to wait.

Uh-​oh! You know something’s about to go down when you hear an older Filipino lady tell the waitress «‘wag mo kong gawin tanga.» (Don’t make me look stupid)
*This review is solely on the drinks/​desserts*
Today my family visited a restaurant we thought would be a gem to the area. Max is a well known nationwide Filipino food chain that holds the reputation of having the «best fried chicken.» They have quite the number of restaurants in the Bay Area.
Growing up, I remember Max as being the only Filipino restaurant my parents would mind splurging for. I recall memories of ordering countless mango juice and picking out just the fried chicken skin to eat! Since my family was in the area, we decided to go bring back some of those memories and grab a merienda (a snack) before heading home!
My parents thought it would be a good idea to order some Halo Halo and a Buko Pandan.
I don’t have much to say about the Buko Pandan other than they add a vanilla ice cream on top, which gives it a nice touch. It didn’t taste that special, but it definitely wasn’t worth the price of $ 4.95. In just 5 spoonfuls, my dad finished his dessert and watched us chow down ours.
The Halo-​Halo looked real grand in the picture, but don’t be deceived! Their Halo-​Halo doesn’t look, or even have the same ingredients as the picture. They also don’t seem to be that consistent in their servings. My brother’s had too much milk, while my sister’s and mom’s had too little. The patrons to the right of my table seemed to have black beans and jelly on top while ours just had some jelly. Not to mention that the menu boasted of Leche Flan on top, but we didn’t see any… The Halo-​Halo had a good ratio of the goodies to ice. So many ingredients were used, but there were very little of each. I wish there were more of lets say three or four beans/​jellies inside, instead of four pieces of six different beans/​jellies. But of course that’s just my personal preference! The Magnolia Ube Ice Cream added all the favor to the dessert and made it a bit more worthwhile.
The lady and her husband, to the left of me, ordered their Sago Gulaman. I heard her complain to the waitress that her drink had too much ice and less syrup, of course out of my curiosity I looked over. And yes, her drink was pure ice, with a double layer of red and brown sago and little syrup at the bottom. There was definitely something wrong. (You see, Filipinos grow up with all these special dishes and have memories of watching or helping our relatives cook our delicacies. Even a child could tell something in her drink was missing!) The waitress told her all the syrup was at the bottom. After the waitress left, she struck a conversation with my sister, dad and me. She complained that they tried to rip her off. The waitress eventually returned with her drink and it finally looked right! It was no longer just clear and icy, but that caramel-​brown color it’s supposed to be.
+1 Ambiance: It’s a quaint, tidy location that is much smaller than it’s sister location on El Camino. The store’s décor doesn’t have the Philippines written all over it. Instead, they use rather rustic, modern lighting, artwork and utensils. Not to mention they have a gorgeous, picture-​worthy presentation of food, drink and dessert.
+1 For the benefit of the doubt: I LOVE MAX’S! And that’s a lot to say considering I have Filipino food pretty much every day of my life. I do understand that this location just opened so there will be blunders for everyone… I just really want to believe they will be up to par with their sister stores.
I do plan on coming back one day to relive my childhood nostalgia of mango juice and fried chicken, but probably not for a few months. If you do find yourself craving Max, I suggest you check out their more developed stores.

ACTUAL UPDATE/​REVIEW:
We showed up at a rather empty restaurant. Once we put our order in our rice and palabok arrived shortly afterward. Awesome! One would assume that the main dish would come soon after, right? No. We also failed to receive our drinks as well, but we began eating our palabok anyway. We hardly noticed our last dish (which is supposed to accompany the rice) hadn’t arrived when we finished said palabok. We thought we’d give them more time but only enough before we grew annoyed. Once we flagged down a waiter, we canceled our order and decided to pay for the food we got. As we were paying, a waitress tried to give us our chicken but we kindly rejected it wanting to get out as soon as possible. Also we had to navigate through the huge crowd waiting for all the empty tables no one was willing to seat them at LOL
Tl;DR If it doesn’t personally offend you when rice is left to go cold before the actual dish arrives, this place is for you.

Mediocre. The chicken that they’re known for was dry, the kare kare was bland, the garlic rice was mushy, the chop suey was flavorless, the caramel bar was more like a peanut bar, the halo halo had hard beans in it, and the best part of the meal was the calamansi juice.
People often ask me «what’s your favorite Filipino food?» I tell them I don’t like Filipino food. It’s very rare that I crave it because it can be too fatty, greasy, and salty. Definitely not healthy at all. I lived in the Philippines for 6 months and lived off of grilled chicken and rice. I’m just not a fan of it .
If it weren’t for that cute server named Neldie (sp?) who was super helpful then I would’ve given maxs 1 star. There are PLENTY of great restaurants in the city but I wouldn’t consider max’s one of them.

It makes me truly sad of the disappointment experienced dining at this restaurant. My family and I have been acclimated with this restaurant brand since I was a little girl. Memories of deliciously crispy fried chicken and other Filipino food items still visualize before me. About a month or two ago, I finally went to to the other location. Acknowledging the fact times may have changed, therefore the décor has shifted as well as the menu, the warm and friendly service was top notch. In fact, today’s visit to this specific location was due to the fact the waiter from the other location shared the exciting news of the expansion.
Yet, today’s experience was definitely not up to par — or can we say, this specific location has opportunities for a handful of improvements moving forward. They are in following:
1. Improve overall employee morale, specifically greeting through eye contact and/​or verbal greeting when customers arrive.
2. Smile and chillax among other employees and customers.
3. Let foods sit/​marinade/​simmer longer before serving to remove grease and the flavors and sauce to further minimize which would enable the enhancement of flavor.
Other than that best of luck of regarding the improvements and sustainability of business.

More like Max’s dry chicken.
Ordered the whole chicken with a friend and an order of lumpia.
Have to say I was not impressed.
Upon entering the sign says, «Please Wait To Be Seated.»
Fine, so we stood there and waited for what seemed to be forever in a non-​crowded restaurant.
By the time we ordered, with menus that look like clipboards, we were starving.
The chicken really didn’t look appetizing, kind of yellow and fried, but not in a good way. The chicken looked like it had been deep fried Simpsons style with radioactive yellow.
But, that didn’t keep it from being dry and chewy, like old supermarket chicken.
Speaking of which, I could have gone to Sprouts across the street and bought a rotisserie chicken for half the cost that would have been better tasting.
The lumpia was lukewarm, and not hot and crunchy, and it took a long time for them to bring us water.
2.5 stars rounded up to 3.
Will not be returning to this sad place.

So awful. I don’t know if it is because they just opened and haven’t gotten it together… but damn…10 mins to take our order and 15 mins after we ordered I had to get up to ask them for our drinks. They didn’t have a lot of the items on the menu available.
We should have gotten a clue when people who had ordered items to go, were getting pissed off because they were telling them «2 more minutes» after telling them «2 more minutes» 10 minutes ago… and when their food finally came out, there was something wrong, either a super greasy plastic bag or soup that spilled. Food finally came after another 10 or so minutes…
Sago’t Gulaman: had a strange burnt flavor. We couldn’t figure out if they burnt the sugar or the actual gelatin… gelatin was still hard… it was all wrong…
Sizzling Tofu: BURNT and bitter. Wow! (See photo)
Shanghai Lumpia: Luke warm on the outside and cold in the center. How can you mess this up?!?
Whole chicken: was OK. Kind of dry.
Pancit Bihon: good flavor, but there are much better at other restaurants.
Moral of the story: if really craving Max’s go to the other location… but want good Filipino food with proper service, go somewhere else.

I ordered «Max’s Budget» which is a quarter leg, lumpiang shanghai and fries with a caramel bar all for $ 9.76. Being that this is my first time eating at Max’s restaurant I expected a lot from what they’re known for which is their «max’s fried chicken».
It was «ehhh… I’ve had better (for a cheaper price)» fries was fries and their lumpiang Shanghai was three small sizes cut in two.
Not a fan of their chicken but will come back to try other entrées. Hopefully, the second time I come back I won’t be disappointed.
Also, service was 5 out of 10. Why that low? Experience it yourself to see why, you’d be lucky to get a superb service out of the staff that works there who’s always on their cellphones.