Sampaguita Fil-Am Cuisine

Came here on a last minute request for Chirstmas eve and new year’s eve. They came through! The casava cake was sooo good! Pancit, lumpia, and other dishes were good. It’s a little costly though. The little rice cakes (puto) was too expensive. They make it on the chinese style (a little stickier). A more Filipino style I think is cake-​like.
I would go back no doubt!

I was excited that there is a Filipino restaurant near my place but after trying the longanisa and egg breakfast, I was disappointed. The portions were huge but the longanisa was not that great!

I found the lunch portions to be generous enough to more than fill me up and the people working there were super polite and helpful. I do think there may be a difference in the portions in carry out containers. I would recommend eating in. I am not an expert in Filipino food, but the food really hit the spot, and were well prepared.

The employee who helped me seemed like she hated life and basically made my ordering experience pretty awkward. The food looked stagnant and did not look appealing at first glance. Or second. On top of that, it was below average tasting and at least twice as expensive as it should’ve been. Pass

The food was pretty tasty but a bit pricey. For the 5 items it was $ 40.The set up is like a Chinese fast food, they have about 10 options for you to choose from. We tried the longanisa, fried chicken skin, pork blood soup, some sour soup sigh green mustard green and pork, and some pork stew with salty fish.

Went in to order. Was not acknowledged. I spoke they did not. I guess I was the wrong nationality.

I come here because there simply is no other Filipino restaurant in Alameda or downtown Oakland where I work and when I get the craving I submit to being gouged. The food is ok, but my main complaint is the portions. They serve out portions as though they are rationing during an economic depression, plus they’re overpriced for what you get. Don’t get there after lunch time or you’ll really get even smaller portions because they don’t seem to replenish their serving trays. Come on Sampaguita, really?

We got out from Oakland Zoo and found this restaurant on Unilocal so we headed over to have dinner. The food was authentic filipino carinderia style, the owner’s cousins were currently servers that day, with roots from Pangasinan. Now we have a go-​to place to eat our comfort foods when we pass this way again.

Forced to leave a star. THIS PLACE IS HIGHWAY ROBBERY! The large container they use is basically the size of a bagel spread! I will let you view the picture, the inhaler is a reference to see how they rob you blindly! Paying $ 40 for all of the food could’ve been simply $ 20 else where!

Still the small food joint next to the Laundromat. No improvement in place and space. Not the best I’ve tasted. I started coming here 25 years ago. At that time, their food is just enough to eat as there were no other Filipino restaurants in the area. I have eaten better Filipino dishes outside of Alameda. Anyway, I stopped going here because the employees’ attitudes are just as bad as their cooking. Rookies cook better than theirs! We started going to Union City for a better tasting authentic Filipino dishes. 6 years later, I thought I’d give Sampaguita another try. Well, honestly, there was no improvement on the restaurant and the food has gotten worst. The place does not really meet the standards of cleanliness. They started putting big garbage cans in front so people can just take their plates into the garbage cans, and tables weren’t washed/​cleaned after each customers. Fine. I did not have to waste my time and money on food I don’t think is authentic. And just last week, we were in Alameda and I was surprised to see them still open. I went in to see how they were doing. Most of the ladies who were there years ago are still there with the same bad attitude! The space is still the small space I’ve seen years ago, and there were no improvements at all. I don’t know about you, but flies are still present. Wonder why this place has not been closed for not meeting Health Inspection standards. Their halo-​halo has not improved — still the same shaved ice with just tiny little bits of ingredients on the bottom of the glass and a scoop of ice cream does not meet the standards of a good halo-​halo. Their Kare-​Kare is nothing because all it consist of is plenty of soupy water and a little bit of meat and a not much of vegetables. Not hardly a Kare-​Kare at all. They never use oxtails for their Kare-​Kare. The absence of peanuts to make a peanut stew is not there. So why even call it Kare-​Kare? Anyone who can taste better Filipino cuisine will never come back here. By the way, if a foreigner orders, they have a different set of price for them –usually a little bit more. I’ve seen a couple of ladies there pocket the «cash» without ringing the bill/​receipt. They used to do that before and they were still doing it today. They seem to always treat the newcomers «nicely.» Overall rating is substandard then and even today 20 some years later. Their food has not improved. This restaurant is a «low class» Filipino restaurant. Not to disappoint anyone, but look around you — go to Union City for better Filipino cuisine. Restaurant owners here should move on and improve their food and appearance of their restaurant. Get rid of the flies too! Better yet, change the name of the restaurant to remove the bad image it represented/​represents. Move forward for a better business! Get that Filipino pride back!
By the way, Fil-​Am cuisine: is there any American dish on the menu? Not even a burger? Just saying.

As good as it gets for Filipino, really enjoyed the food and service. Buffet style with very friendly service. The person who helped me explained every dish to me and helped recommend a dessert which was delicious! Also, I wanted breakfast and it past their breakfast hours but the made an exception which was great!

Sampaguita has regained my trust in Filipino restaurants outside of the Philippines.
I don’t know what is it, but lately I’ve been craving Filipino food. Call it homesick, call it too much American junkfood intake, but Filipino food has been on my mind nonstop this past couple of weeks.
I Unilocaled «Filipino Food» in Alameda and Sampaguita was the first business to come up. Boy am I happy it did, because this place is the bomb. I’m not sure about the other reviewers but for lunch, the side dishes they gave were perfect. The rice was almost too much also. The service was very hospitable and my coworker and I were greeted with smiles.
We ended up ordering lumpias, a fried Tilapia and adobo, two rice, 2 turon and I ordered a coconut juice. Everything rang up to be about $ 25. I must say the price could be about $ 5 cheaper for everything, but we left happy and stuffed.
I really liked how they have packed food also for those that need to grab and go! Can’t wait to be back!

Great food great service. I had bangus and pork sinigang… very delicious! FELT LIKE I WAS AT HOME. very hospitable people.

I’ve been coming here for a while now. Their food are sometimes leftovers. The employees here are ok. They seem to always have an attitude. Other than that food is either hit or miss.

My day begins here
Great food
I get tapa and eggs and rice
Best breakfast and all in a timely manner
Always friendly to me
Sometimes they make garlic rice what is even more delicious
Thanks for breakfast

Sampaguita, has breakfast silogs (6), lunch specials, steaam table items and some items listed ona a whiteboard
steam tables had 10ish entrees, no labels and some fried items.
eats: 1 item w/​rice (lunch special5.5)
–pork adobo was the item i pointed to (looked like beef brisket)
pork tender with mild taste, potatos had vinegary taste.
–interesting taste, lingering aftertaste (msg?)
3 stars cuz of the aftertaste.
foodnotes:
–2 items specials excludes fish items
–fast, friendly service
–limited parking outside

warm day in Alameda with my sister and we were craving for halo-​halo.
Of course, unless we want to drive all the way to Union City, we didn’t have much choice but to check this place out.
It was mid afternoon so the place was pretty dead.
we ordered halo-​halo and also ended up getting sinigang lunch plate.
Sinigang was good. portion was good. price was decent.
Halo-​halo was disappointing. Needs better ingredients.
food selections were good. I can cook filipino food and from the looks of their dishes, they looked promising. I’ll have to come back for other dishes.
Yes, their pricing for their lunch plate is confusing. I mean c’mon, just set one price instead of making exceptions.
As for service, no complains. Not sure what other Unilocalers were talking about.
clean tables, bright and well ventilated room.

Pros: It gets four stars because I love the pork, chicken, and noodles. Good food with fair prices.
Cons: I was contemplating giving this place only 3 stars because the customer service is lackluster. I am big on service and a simple smile goes a long way with me, and the main lady there just seems miserable and doesn’t even say ‘hello’ or ‘goodbye.’
But I will still frequent this place because I enjoy the food. I love filipino food!

Great place to order party trays. The pancit is very tasty with ample amount of pork vs. noodles and vegetables. They also have chicken and pork adobo, kare kare, chicken fritatta, fried fish and great tasting lumpia. Lumpia is a filipino party favorite… yumms!
Show up at a party with some tasty filipino food and you will not be forgotten. I usually do take out here, because they are lacking parking spaces. Prices are fairly reasonable.

Yummy