Barrio Fiesta Restaurant

The food was really good– had the pancit and crispy pata, also very big portions. What I don’t like is the service, it was aweful! Went on a Tuesday night, not very busy. Server never smiles and seems angry or something. Instead of taking our order, she makes us wait like 15 minutes, cleaning tables and doing other stuff. Another lady, maybe manager, is at a table in full view doing some book keeping– while customers are waiting for some service. Customers should come first, that other stuff can wait until closing time. It seems they really didn’t care about patrons, I felt uncomfortable– probably not returning there.

I am a proud Pinoy and am picky with restaurants that serve food from my country. With that said, This place makes Really good Filipino food. I’ve tried like half the menu and liked everything, especially the Crispy Pata and Garlic Rice. I also liked the soups, stews, pancits, calamansi juice and desserts.

Two stars not because of their food but their employees… Super bad service i mean really bad! By the time that we were seated we waited for water for almost 15 mins. This one server a guy whose wearing a glasses was putting water on glasses to the tables that no ones even seated their. Like really??? The young server needs to be more mature about her job. This place use to be my favorite place but now because of its disgusting horrible service i might stay away. How pity. I mean before theres only 2 server but they had the best customer service but this new servers no manners not even polite… no words.

Ahhh… A taste of the Philippines in the most elegant way possible! I’m glad my cousin introduced me to this place because it reminded me so much of Ft. Ilocandia in Laoag City at the Philippines when I was stuffing my face with delicious Filipino food!
Location:
The restaurant shouldn’t be difficult to find. As long as you find the colorful «Barrio Fiesta» sign and the Dixon Laundry, you know you’re definitely in the right spot. There are few parking spots to choose from in the private lot, but if this place were to get popular, good luck with finding one!
Ambiance:
It felt like I was eating at my Lola’s home for some reason. There were the hats that you use for rice picking hanging on the wall and of course your wooden spoon and fork! However, I wondered why they didn’t hang up the last supper picture on their wall… I mean… It’s almost essential at almost every Filipino’s house! *gasp* Nevertheless, I love the glass tables and the decorations all around. Not to mention the staff were pretty friendly despite some of the snobby Pinoy customers we sat next to. Hehe.
Food:
Most of the food they offered were very good at reasonable prices! I really love how they served all their dishes family style! Even though I like buffet style, I want my adobo and all that fun stuff fresh from the oven!
— Pork Adobo: I love the adobo just the way that it was cooked. If you’re not used to eating pork adobo with the bone in it, you’re truly missing out on some good stuff! The way that they blended their spices and sauces together came out beautifully and reminded me of my Lola’s cooking. It wasn’t too salty or drenched in soy sauce.
— Crispy Pata: I LOVE how this dish tasted. It was super crispy and not oily. I thought the soy sauce mixed with vinegar and garlic made the best dip for the Pata!
— Kare-​Kare: Mehhh… I had better. Of course I have to judge hard on this one because I love my Kare-​Kare cooked in a certain way. Although they had the main ingredients like the oxtail and vegetables, the consistency was way too thin for me. I prefer my kare-​kare a little thicker with heavier peanut butter flavor. However, if I have to overload my rice with bagoong then that’s a sign the kare-​kare is too bland for me to handle.
— Pork Sisig: I think this is their strongest asset on their menu. If you don’t like fatty stuff then this dish ain’t for you. I can never get sisig to sizzle like how Barrio Fiesta does theirs. It was spiced and garnished well especially when you add some calamansi on top of it! It goes well with the white rice, and if you decide to bring it home, you can possibly pull of the dish as a taco with some tortillas. ;)
Customer Service:
They’re so warm and welcoming! If my fellow Pinoys running this place didn’t have the hospitality, then there wouldn’t be any point returning back to this place!
Overall:
I wouldn’t mind coming back if this place wasn’t so far away from Fairfield, but for now, I would skip out on the kare-​kare and try something else on the menu.

I have been to their San Jose Branch and it was my first time to visit this branch. I can say they are both great places. This branch is a lot bigger. It was busy when I visited but we didn’t wait too long for our orders to come out. The service was good. friendly servers. Their Crispy Pata and Garlic Chicken are still the best! I love this place!

HORRIBLE MANAGEMENT, STAFF AND CUSTOMER SERVICE. NO STARS FOR THIS STINKING PLACE! THIS PLACE IS GARBAGE! We went there today to celebrate my mom’s bday because we heard the good reviews. Unfortunately it’s not what we got. We ordered 5 different dishes but we only received 4 because the person forgot to write down one of our orders that she said we never ordered. She brought out the crispy pata first but dropped a piece on the floor. Even though one of the servers asked us if everything was ok and we told her we were waiting for another order she didn’t even follow up with our server where it was at. We waited another 10 mins and finally decided to ask where it was at and told us we don’t have any more orders. They then put in a rush on our order and still didn’t get it on a reasonable time so we decided to cancel it. We were never asked if we needed more water or rice or even gotten our bill. We had to get up and ask for it ourselves. Well to sum it up. Service was HORRIBLE and don’t plan to go there ever again. Now it explains why the place was empty when we got there.

The food here is AMAZING, the shrimp sinigang, kare-​kare, and crispy pata are my favorite dishes !! My family and I always eat here and have always been 100% satisfied. The atmosphere inside is positive. The customer service is ⁵⁄₅ as well! They have a very friendly staff! Very clean facility. Definitley order some dessert! Their halo-​halo will be the cherry on top of your whole dinner! I will continue eating here w my family and friends! It’s the best place to have a family dinner! Always bring something home because you’ll regret it if you dont!

We ordered the Kare Kare, and it sucked. I heard that they were known for there Kare Kare and I bought it, it tasted like the sauce was made strictly from packets. There was no peanut butter in the dish. If you know how to make Kare Kare, you know how the taste should taste like. I don’t know if i would go here again. Sorry guys, but I would rather go to Seafood city to eat my Filipino food.

It was almost a good experience, though it wasn’t catastrophic. Let me elaborate:
There was nothing wrong with the food. I actually enjoyed the Bicol Express and lumpiang Shanghai appetizer that we ordered. The coconut milk stewed meat had a nicely balanced ginger/​cream/​spiciness to it. The finger-​sized fried rolls were crispy and well-​seasoned. There was nothing wrong with the freshly squeezed Calamansi juice. That was a drink to make lemonade feel wholly inadequate.
There was nothing wrong with the atmosphere. Granted, it was a Saturday afternoon and there were a couple names already on the waitlist. But the hostess immediately gave us estimated wait times, handed us menus, and took our orders while we were waiting for a table. By the time we were seated, the wait staff had already placed the lumpia and our drinks on the table.
There was, however, a huge oversight in booking a large private party during normal business hours. Barrio Fiesta is only a medium-​sized place and they don’t have special rooms for a dedicated private party. While I understand that it was their choice to allow this booking to happen while also seating guests at other tables, I question the logic of it. Not only was there no way to visually tell that tables were reserved for a private party (no sighs, no roping off sections), there was an unbalanced reallocation of wait staff in favor of the private party. Because most of the staff were attending to their needs, the needs of other paying customers, like ourselves, suffered. Only once did someone pass by our table to check on us and we never received our requested water refills until after we had paid our check and were getting up to leave. There were at least ten wait staff manning the floor that day, by the way. As for that check, we had to walk up to the cashier’s station to ask for it.
I hope Barrio Fiesta will rethink their private party scheduling and staffing allocation. This restaurant has the potential to be a top Filipino establishment in a market that is ready for top Filipino establishments. I am Filipino-​American myself and nothing would make me more pleased to see Filipino cuisine rise to the higher standard it deserves. Fix this problem, and Barrio Fiesta will go very far indeed.

I came here for lunch. I ordered Kare-​Kare and Shanghai lumpia to go. They did not have lunch plates and prices were a little over priced, but I could understand since it does seem like a nice sit down. I was excited to get back to work and finally enjoy the peanut buttery taste of the Kare-​Kare with some salty shrimp. Sad to say just opening the container I was brought to disappointment. The bright orange color, the weird cornstarch consistency and no peanut buttery smell had me at dismay. I reached for the shrimp paste and it looked funny too, I opened it up and it was sweet and sour sauce. Oh well, I decided to give the KK a try and YUCK! NEVER AGAIN! This is not authentic AT ALL. I did give them one star though. The lumpia was tolerable, not as good as Goldilocks, and that’s saying something. Good Luck if you’re trying this place. If you’re Filipino don’t waste your time

Dont bother coming… they serve nothing good! Kare kare was watered-​down and absolutely no flavor!

According to the other reviews, we went on a STELLAR day. Service was good all the way around and the food was good… soooo I’ll be back even if umpteen naysayers aren’t. The décor is really cool. They did it in a way that didn’t seem tacky. I really enjoyed the ambiance.
Having said that, this was my second time having Filipino food, so take this with a grain of salt. Our waitress was attentive, filled our water glasses, and made some suggestions (albeit probably for the less adventurous) when asked. We ordered the Kare Kare and Dinuguan with Plain white rice.
I wasn’t all that into the Kare Kare at first, but that’s because I didn’t try it with the shrimp paste/​sauce that came with it. THAT STUFF IS DIVINE. I’d like a jar of THAT please. Oxtail and tripe are always a win, but it was a little sparse on the tripe. The Dinuguan was good, but a little… sour/​salty? I couldn’t quite put my finger on which it was too much of, but a little extra rice smoothed that out nicely. I love just about anything involving blood and organs so this one gets a thumbs up from me too. Both dishes were super filling and I got to take some home for leftover dinner.
Looking at the reviews, this place is hit or miss, but we definitely got it on a hit! We’ll be back :)

Service is okay. I came here just to eat the famous deep fried pork leg which reminds me of home.

I came here on a Friday night with the family around 8pm. We put our name on the waiting list. I totally understand that it was a Friday and it was getting late so the wait time was pretty long. 45 mins. passed and we decided to leave and go somewhere else since Bario Fiesta was closing at 9pm. As we were walking away, one of the ladies told us that they were going to seat us next.
when we sat down, we noticed that one of the plates had some food particles stuck on it. We didn’t even have all of the utensils on the table. some of us had a spoon and one person had a fork. They did not even come around and offer any water. then I noticed one of the glass had a crack on it. The service tonight was extremely horrible. I kept asking for water and it took three tries to even have someone bring out water.
Even the couple sitting across from us were having horrible service. Some of their food never came out. The food tonight was sub par. Probably due to the fact that the kitchen was closing.
Next time if you are closing, and know that the kitchen is closing soon, DO NOT accept more customers if you know that your service is going to decline.
This will be the last time I come here!

If you are introducing someone to Filipino food, this is the last place you want to bring them to.
The food was very dry, if not overcooked. The garlic rice was a joke. A few sparse pieces of dried garlic here and there, on top of steamed rice and you call that garlic rice. I am sorry, but I have been eating garlic rice my whole life, and there was no trace of garlic in there. I expect a restaurant to focus more on the basic elements. Rice is a huge staple in filipino cuisine, especially that of garlic. It is not that hard to screw it up.
We also ordered lechon. Very salty, and dry. The flavor profile of the cooks gives filipino food a bad representation. I am not saying filipino food is not good, since I eat it every day, this restaurant makes it seem like nothing amazing –nothing that sparks your interest.
Also, the lumpia was sub-​par. Very generic and something anyone can make, really. There is no aroma, no garlic or shallots that really works wonders. Filling was mundane.
Pancit = average, boring, mediocre.
The barbecue chicken was at least decent. It was well balanced, but still, not I cannot say it was something special.
All in all, the food was whatever. I’ve tried other places, this place is just below average. It’s not very authentic, and not worth the money.

Delicious food but crappy service. I love to eat their authentic Filipino food; however, time & time again, I was extremely turned off with their awful service. In addition, space is so tight! Hardly any room to move around.
— extremely slow service
— none of the waiters come to your table unless you call them
— very rude

Before I start my review…
I’ve always wondered what it would be like if Robert Irvine and Restaurant Impossible went to a Filipino restaurant to do a show…
1) I would love for him to try the food and try to correct it. Boy, if he ordered dinuguan or pinapaitan, I would pay to see that! And not just the eating part. I would love to see the pronunciation of the dishes.
2) Taniya better leave the huge fork and spoon on the wall and also the Sto. Nino statue.
3) Tom would have it easier. No dry wall to knock down. Only bamboo.
4) And, after the big reveal, it would be awesome to see the owners get mad at Robert for changing it too much.
With that being said, luckily, Barrio Fiesta doesn’t need to call up Robert. It seems like they are doing pretty good. And after eating the food here a few times, I can understand why. This isn’t your fancy schmancy, Asian fusion food. Nor, is it street-​style food you might find at one of these Filipino food trucks. Don’t get me wrong, I love me a longanisa burrito or a big plate of tocilog. But, sometimes, I just want a good plate of kare kare or pinakbet. And, Barrio Fiesta delivers those and other Filipino favorites. I’ve also had the Bulalo, crab torta, bbq, and all of the different types of pancit, to name a few. I haven’t been disappointed with any of them.
Now, with another sit-​down-​type Filipino restaurant a few blocks down (Kalesa), I’m sure most people would probably try to decide between the two. Let me go ahead and help you out. Choose Barrio Fiesta. Kalesa used to be better when it first opened and probably would give BF a run for their money. But, it seems to have changed a bit, and in my opinion, can’t compete with Barrio Fiesta.
Also, don’t worry about service. It’s always been pretty good. Even if you’re not Filipino (or can’t speak the language of the homeland like my Americanized lame ass), no need to fret. They can speak English just fine. In fact, if you went to Manila, you wouldn’t have a problem at most of the places, too!

This was your second chance Barrio Fiesta.
You screwed up the first time, and you screwed up the second time I came back.
First you can’t even hear my to-​go order over the phone. Don’t multi-​task if you don’t know how. But first, get a better cordless phone.
Second, don’t tell me to come in 20 minutes if it actually takes 30 minutes.
Third, you then get my order wrong.
You have decent food and poor customer service. Get it together.
And yes, I gave you a review while I waited for you to fix my order.

Went here for my mom’s birthday.
We ordered:
garlic chicken
sisig bangus
chopsuey
rice
fried pusit
the food was good. very flavorful. however i felt like the garlic chicken was too oily for us. service was okay, i had to track 3 people down just to get a refill on water. i also did not like how they would only talk to my mom in tagalog and not even try to talk to me or anyone else at the table in english. its like the server didn’t care for us because we didn’t speak tagalog… it was incredibly rude.
i would not come here again just because of the service. it’s a shame because the food was good.

My cousin and her boyfriend were visiting from Honolulu and she was craving for Filipino food! I’ve never been to Barrio Fiesta before, but since they close later than most Filipino restaurants in the S. Bay we decided to take them here! Not sure how I feel about the décor, but their food is not bad at all! The service on the other hand was a little slow, but there was also a couple of big parties in the restaurant the same time we were seated, so it was understandable.
FOODS
— — — — — — –
— Lumpiang Shanghai — Perfect appetizer for our table of 7!
— Garlic Rice — *good for four serving*. The rice was a little mushy, and lacked the garlic flavor…
— Adobo Fried Rice — Delicious! *definitely made up for the not so garlicky garlic rice we were served*. One order is enough to feed four people!
— Kare-​Kare (oxtail peanut stew) — Their big bowl of Kare-​Kare had more veggies than meat! However the oxtail was tender and good, I just wish they put more. Some people aren’t a fan of tripe, but I liked how they added some in there. Also, their shrimp paste is fried, which is good! (I dislike using raw shrimp paste with Kare-​Kare, so kudos Barrio Fiesta for the fried paste.)
— Sinalab — This was listed as a must try on their menu, and it was also recommended by some family members. I liked the variety. It came with grilled seafood (clams, mussels, fish, squid, and two gigantic oysters…), grilled meat, grilled eggplant, and boiled okra. Not a big fan of how they presented this dish. They could’ve made it look as festive as it sounds IMO!
— Lechon Kawali — Good deep fried pork belly, and generous portion. *Ask for onions and tomatoes like a true FIlipino, lol*
— BBQ pork — (One order comes with two). DELICIOUS and juicy! We ordered five orders, and I must say it was my favorite for the night!
Overall we were satisfied and my cousin and her boyfriend were not disappointed with the food. Word on the street is that Barrio Fiesta is opening a new location! I can’t wait to check that one out when they open!