WAA Kitchen

Stopped in and had some lumpish and long amiss. For a quick stop it was very good. The people working were very nice and helpful.
Not like your mothers recipe but some decent grub.

If you’re looking for a fancy restaurant, this is not the place. If you are looking for a huge variety of fancy Asian cuisine, this is not the place. If however you are a native Pacific Islander or from the Philippines and you are looking for some good ‘ol fashioned, down-​home cooking, a place that will remind you of Momma or Grandma’s cooking, this is the place for you!
The food is cafeteria-​style, where you get to point out the food items you want. The cost is very inexpensive, the food is made fresh, and the flavors are awesome. The customer service is pretty amazing as well — very nice people that care for their customers, and actually want their customers to enjoy their food.
Yes, this is a new regular spot for me!

The place looks dated and uninspired. The food looked unappetizing, but I didn’t want tacos today, so I thought I’d give it a try.
The food is not made to order; it’s cafeteria-​style, like Panda Express. There are no printed prices on the board, but there is a tattered print out of their price adjustments due to rising costs of ingredients and such. I don’t care about that; I just want to know how much you’re going to charge me.
Well, I had the person behind me go ahead so I could see what he ordered. He got a barbecue skewer of pork, beef kare-​kare, and rice.
My turn: That guy got the last pork skewer, so I got chicken. I got half rice, half pad thai, with lumpia (my favorite!!!). THEN I saw the sign at the register that said they charge 50¢ for all credit card orders under $ 10! What?! 1) That’s pretty steep for a lunch order, and 2) that’s illegal, last I checked. But whatever; I got an over-​priced side of beef kare-​kare, to put me over $ 10, because the chicken dishes were BONE-​IN. (Really?!)
The rice was OK; the noodles were a little dry; the chicken was really dry, which is weird because it’s coated in sauce. The kare-​kare was sold to me as «like peanut butter.» Well, it was peanutty, but no saltiness nor sweetness that’s topical of Thai peanut sauce. It was very one-​dimensionally bland.
Lastly, $ 1 for a canned soda?! Give me a break.
Summary: Bland, cheap food, that is overpriced and not even made fresh.

Authentic-​tasting food. Yummy. It would be better if the food is served in actual dishes and bowls instead of the styro-​plate, styro-​bowls, plastic spoons n forks. Service is usually good. The first time i came here, i came with my classmates to have lunch, and i had brought some homemade lunch, so i ddnt buy anything from them that time. I saw that they have a microwave on the counter, so I asked if I can heat up my food there. So i handed my tupperware of food for the worker to put in the microwave, he told me I can sit in our table while I wait, so I did. After about a minute, i got surprised; the worker brought my heated-​up-​food to our table. I was expecting that he would call me to the front to take it from there lol. But nope, he brought it to me to our table, which is really nice. And when u go, they usually shout, «THANK YOUU!!! Have a nice dayyy!» Lol.
The only thing i complain about is they dont have a consistent price, and they are not even displayed. I feel sometimes they are making up numbers of how much they wnna charge u. Usually a combo meal is around $ 7 smthing like that. One time i got charged $ 15 for two combo meals and two tall cans of coconut juice. The next day i had one combo meal and one tall can of coconut juice… charged me $ 9 plus.

Good Filipino food that’s cheap. I tried their mung beans with green leafy vegetable soup, daing na bangus (dried, deep-​fried milk fish) and the halo-​halo. They all tasted good. The owners are friendly and accommodating.

Great food, and cheap! I’m Filipino, so nothing is as good as the food at home, but this came close! I got a 2 item combo with ½ pancit (thin noodle dish) and ½ rice for only $ 6.50. Pretty big portions too. $.50 charge for using a card, though :(

I’m wondering whether this place was much different a few years ago considering most of the 4 star reviews were from 2010 – 2011, because this place is pretty disgusting. And I tend to like hole-​in-​the-​wall places more often than not.
Came here very recently, and first thing I noticed was how hot it is inside. AC is not turned on, and instead they are using several portable fans, which are practically useless when the weather is in the 100’s. Doors was open as well (No ILAY), which did not help. I understand businesses like this try to make ends meet, but they need to focus on the comfort of customers who choose to dine in as well. Not good to eat at a place and have to put up with the heat. The table I sat in and others around it felt sticky as well.
As for the food itself, it wasn’t too bad. What was lacking were the items. Many of the items they advertise on their menu are not even available. Instead, it is only about 8 – 10 items that they have ready to go, served buffet style unfortunately. The Beef Caldereta was not bad, and actually tasted pretty authentic. This Ginger Chicken I ordered on the other hand, did not have much taste to it and tasted kinda old like it has been there for a while.
I want to give this place a higher rating because the people working there seem pretty nice and helpful, but the food options and cleanliness is just kinda too much to put up with.

This place was a little difficult to locate. I drive 2.5 hours just for their Halo-​Halo dessert. I am from San Luis Obispo County and we haven’t a Filipino Restaurant at all. For me it’s worth the drive since their food isn’t bad at all. I actually enjoy the authenticity of the filipino cuisine prepared to melt my taste buds and bring me back to my childhood when my mother would cook all the filipino dishes to our hearts and taste buds desires. It’s a little hole in the wall but those are the best places to eat any authentic ethnic dishes.

Food was yummy and guy was super helpful even though I got there at closing time he still made me some pad thai. Found my new spot for pad thai, lumpia, flan and then some.

Good food at a great price. I don’t always know what it is, but I do know it is all Filipino comfort food so that is really all that matters. If I am really interested I look it up on the internet. Waa is really sweet and she is constantly bringing out fresh dishes, so don’t fear the cafeteria style service. Even so, she has a small made-​to-​order menu that includes what I think is the best Pad Thai in Fresno.

It has a good, Filapino buffet at a reasonable price.

Mislabeled restaurant. This is not an Asian-​fusion restaurant. Asian-​fusion blends flavors and foods from all over into a new concoction. This is Filipino food with Pad Thai available on the menu.
Cafeteria-​style presentation is okay, but it would really help if:
1. They had labels on the dishes
2. Given the size of the dining area, had more of a surplus of food for each dish. (It feels like they’re a few orders from running out)
3. They had menu signage. Not better, just have one. While ordering, I had no idea of whether or not I had one, two or three choices. And had no idea of what it would cost until I got to the cashier.
4. They did not store kitchen ingredients in the same cooler as sodas for the customers.
The food itself is okay. I am not from Fresno and if I never return to Waa’s, there will be no moment in the future where I will reminisce fondly of this food.
While this is a lofty trait for a hole in the wall cafeteria, they should at least aspire to be a standout representative of Filipino cooking.
I can’t imagine there being many Filipinos in Fresno, and the few that are here are likely to be able to cook Filipino food for themselves.
Waa’s should at the very least be better than what can be prepared at home.

I had to round the stars down to a 3, because i really felt this place was probably a 3.4 or so. The most frustrating thing to me, or any potential new customer is the lack of a menu, or useful label maybe? Here’s a word of warning, don’t even look at the menu. It may contain things that they make, but more than likely half or more of it isn’t being cooked the day when you go in. Just look at what’s out in the warming trays. Everything looks delicious, and maybe if you go there a LOT, or really know your food, you’ll have an easy time picking and ordering what you want. But to me most of it is unrecognizable. There was a dish that looked super-​good and I asked what it was. The response was «meat, tripe and a peanut-​butter sauce, i’m not sure you’ll like the flavour…» Well, that’s helpful! I point at what I think is chicken and i’m told «chicken,» no kidding?
So I ended up getting a combo of chicken adobo (amazing!) and the peanut-​butter-​tripe-​mystery-​meat thing (also wonderful!) steamed rice which was cooked perfectly and a small bowl of fried rice which was also perfect (i think they put cilantro in it which was different but surprisingly good)
If there were labels on the available food, or even a instead of the permanent menu, replace it with a chalkboard of the things being prepared on any given day, this place would easily be 4+ stars. I gambled and got lucky with two really good dishes, if you’re comfortable just pointing and saying «i’ll try whatever that is» then you’ll be fine.

went here this morning with my DH, they have good bbq pork and pad thai. only down side was going here at 11am and there is only couple of dishes cooked :(and they open at 10:30…
we will probably come back but maybe around 12 or 1 lol!!! so, we can have more selections to choose from.

I am kinda torn on how to rate this place. On one hand the food itself was pretty good, it was like having a home cooked meal at someones home. Everything I had tasted good and was cooked well, and for the price I thought everything was pretty filling.
But I feel compelled to knock this place down a few stars because I am not sure what exactly it was that I ate. Despite my best attempts to have the person behind the counter tell me what exactly I was looking at, they pretty much refused to tell me.
This place has no actual menu, where you might traditionally find a small explanation about what each dish is. There is a menu board behind the counter that just has names of the dishes on it, but nothing else. You then see in warming trays a few dishes, but the number of dishes presented is far less than what is on the menu.
I wanted to know what was in some of the dishes, or at the very least, the names of each dish. But all I got was generic answers like «that is pork» or «that is beef.» And like I said, while the food is good, I like to have at least some idea of what the hell I am eating. Perhaps its an odd complaint, but to me it is a little aggravating. However with that said, I would probably go back again, because the food was pretty good.

I’ve been wanting to stop in for years and a flat at the gym finally gave me a chance. (Always turn bad luck into good!) Unfortunately, even though it was an hour and a half to closing, they had already stopped cooking; the owner told me they do that because they only cook big trays at a time. Makes sense, but very disappointing, as there was no Filipino food left.
I tried a combo plate of green curry chicken and fried pork, which came with a heaping potion of white rice. I should have trusted my eyes on the pork, it was dry as a bone and half fat, and probably should have been thrown out at least a half hour before. The curry on the other hand was good, chicken legs with lots of meat and veggies well marinated in a mild green sauce. No kick to it at all, it tasted like the Thai Kitchen curry we make at home, without the spice. But like I said, good and filling.
Everyone was very nice, and I’d like to go back to try their real specialties. As it is, I’m a bit disappointed, and I think that policy probably loses them a lot of customers.

Great, affordable family dining! Cafeteria style environment with everything from Adobo & Pansit to Pad Thai!
The Pad Thai is served on a nicely sized dish and includes shrimp, fried egg, peanuts, and all the usual fixings. You can order it mild, spicy, or very spicy!
This dish, alone, is worth the visit. It has the almost too perfect balance of it’s sweet peanut & tamarindo sauces & chili spices, with just a teeny tiny hint of the dish’s traditional fish sauce, it all still blends together like a work of art.
Beautifully crafted and delicious! The service is excellent too! The chef herself, brings the food to your table & makes you feel welcome.

This place is not owned by filipinos, regardless, their dishes are on point and they definitely satisfy my filipino food cravings.
For around 6 bucks you, get a two entrée meal with rice, or half pancit (noodles)/rice. I havnt tried everything, but I recommend the bangus, lechon kawali, and lumpia, and if it’s available the SISIG. We ordered a party tray and it was a banger.
3.5 stars for the food
4 stars for friendly service

Great food! Great service! Great price! What a hidden gem in the middle of Fresno.

Let me start with individual ratings; might be a little easier for future customers to understand:
Price: ³⁄₅
Taste: ⁴⁄₅
Appearance (place itself): ³⁄₅
Number of selections: ⁴⁄₅
Not too, shabby. WAA Kitchen serves Thai, Filipino, and Chinese food, but when you get there, the entire selection is Filipino food; even the menu. I don’t go here during lunch, but based on what colleagues tell me, it gets pretty packed here. Walk in and you have yourself a decent and fairly clean place to dine. By the way, the family that runs this place seems to be Thai or Lao. I’m about 85% sure that they’re not Filipino. Yet, they still impress me with their knowledge of Filipino cuisine.
Let me say this… they have certainly mastered many Pinoy dishes; from ingredients and often, taste. My parents have asked the owner’s wife how they know so much, but it seems like a secret or something they aren’t open to sharing with their customers.
Taste wise, it’s quite tasty. Like other Filipino restaurants I’ve eaten in, rice is plenty. No need to order extra, you WILL be full. The selection is more than others. Different dishes sit in heated metal trays, so that they’re constantly hot and «fresh». Some foods may be a little dry to the Filipino palette, but every thing else seems right. They’re is a large variety of desserts on the right side of the place, so have yourself a full-​course meal.
The price is reasonable if you’re ordering a meal or just a dish by itself, but if you want the BBQ stick, the price is too much. Per stick, there are about 6 nice chunks of meat. They taste great, don’t get me wrong, but at $ 2.00 A STICK, I’ll save my money for a small dessert. I ordered a tray of chicken skin rinds and it cost me well over $ 40. Again, it’s just a little too much for me. Portion size shouldn’t be a problem for most people. They always give you a great serving, and sometimes ask you if you want a bit more. When you order, you can see the food and you can see them serve you, so there’s no waiting without knowing what’s going on. Parking might be a little troublesome, but there is usually at least two open parking spaces.
I honestly gave this place an extra star. Now, I occasionally go here because this place isn’t bad, but it certainly isn’t great either. If I could, I would give this place 3.5 stars, but with my generosity and amazing math skills, I decided to round up to ⁴⁄₅. Compared to other Filipino restaurants in Fresno, WAA Kitchen is better. However, they could definitely add more to their menu and lower their price by just a bit.