Grill City

I mean its supermarket fast food you can’t expect much. All the food in the display looks fresh, moist and delicious but once I took my first bite… ehhh disappointment. There was a pretty consistent line so maybe I ordered the wrong thing.

This joint is hysterical. First of all, the food is displayed and they all look attractive, especially to Pinoys who don’t really get to eat that kind of food, it looks very tempting and mouth-​watering.
However, that’s just for looks. I admit, I fell victim to this and fell in line. Besides they do have a lot of patrons and they seem like repeat customers.
The worker seemed like she got a attitude when I asked about the grilled squid. She retorted that it was one of the more popular items, and gave me a glare as if to say why I even bothered asking.
I barely have grilled squid so I figured I’ll give it a shot. I got a side of rice and took it back to my place, which was just 2 minutes away. I noticed the squid was sort of warm, and not freshly grilled, and when I took a bite, it was like biting a tire or something. It was extremely rubberized!
To compound things even more, the squid had fats too, which I don’t like. So I ended up discarding this nastified food, and I also chucked the rice which did not seem fresh, it was like what you would call «lamig» that they just reheated.
I now see commercials on TFC for Grill City and they make it seem like the food is the best. Yea right! I’m never having their food again! Yea, you can say it might just be this branch, or the particular item that I ordered, but I really don’t think so! A couple friends had terrible experiences with their food as well and they ordered from different branches.
Grill City is a must to avoid!

Barbeque is good. Grilled fish is good. 2 large scoops of rice and a choice of side. How can I complain? Excellent Filipino fastfood.

Food is great! But customer service is terrible! They don’t smile, they all look unhappy with their job. My cashier was Geneva. And I asked her for soy sauce or toyomansi (since they sell grilled food, and you should have soy sauce with it), but she said they didn’t have any. I know for a fact that they have toyomansi because I got 2 from the last time I went there. She lied and said they don’t have toyomansi. Yes! You GENEVA! Stop being lazy and do your job right! Ayusin mo ugali mo, girl!

Line so long, only 2 peeps working on a peak time. And sadly, the bbq and pancit ‘midweek special’ is not special at all. They don’t make enough pancit to accommodate patrons.

Such an amazing place. Don’t let the fact that it is in a food court at a grocery store. Their food is top notch. Their chicharron (fried pork skin with meat) is the best I’ve ever had… And I get that everywhere I can. Also their grilled squid is amazing. They also have us free soup. Seriously made my day.

Overdue for this one.
As I sit here in Polly’s Pie by myself as the rest of my family eats at Grill City and accepts whatever little food they have available on this Sunday morning. In typical Filipino (inconsistent) fashion, they only cook what they feel like cooking. There is no menu. What they have one day, doesn’t mean they’ll have it the next day.
HORRIBLE BUSINESS MANAGEMENT, to think that you can’t wait to have your favorite dish, only to find out they didn’t feel like making it. SHEESH.
We will not eat here again and will not visit Seafood City again. Going to Island Pacific from here on out.

this place does not know how to plan what they cook. It is Sunday and they have no liempo, sinigang, pork bbq, and even sago’t gulaman. I hope you fix this because this is not acceptable.

There was a long line so we asked if they still have breakfast. The lady said they only had 2 items left so we decided to wait. When it was our turn we were told that there were no more eggs and garlic rice, just the 2 items she mentioned. It’s basically getting a lunch combo with the 2 breakfast item. This was my first time coming here and its highly doubtful that im coming back.
Avoid this place at all cost.

Their service sucks! I ordered grilled garlic pork chops. It says on the picture that it comes with cucumber relish, steamed rice and naked salad for 7.50 but I didn’t get those salad and relish. Instead they ask me for a side and I chose pancit. They ring it up and the pancit is $ 1 additional without telling us. Like isn’t that hard to explain? There’s no hype and the food is not that good. It’s like basic

Burned Tocino review
So aside from waiting on line for a long time, they decided to stop cooking breakfast at 9am. They ran out of food and there was more than 5 – 7 people behind me who were more upset than I was.
I ordered tocino for my parents and what they got was BURNED Tocino. 90 percent of they were given was burned to a crisp. They could not even taste the flavor. It was more of burned meat chips.
What a waste. Ended up spending more money on actual food that they were able to eat.
Don’t get me wrong, they had a lot of customers and miss judged what their sales could have been this weekend. Their food must been good but unfortunately I was not able to experience it.
Honestly not sure if I’ll be back because if I wake up wanting something specific and know where I can go to get it. I want to make sure I can get it. Not take the chance of it running out again.

Terrible… went there on a Sunday they ran out of bbq. They should know people eat out on a weekends and properly estimated the portions. When they finally got the bbq to me it was still raw. Not to mention the unprofessional staff present. I’m filing a complaint to the health department. It’s not right that they serve undercook meat and charge a ridiculous price.

Worst! We ordered 40 pieces pork bbq. They gave us half chicken/​half pork. It was supposed to be 9 inches, but they gave us 4 inches meat. The meat is burned, and some are not edible already… We are returning the food and will flag this place as a no go.

My big problem with this place is they use so much MSG. I ordered Egg rolls/​Shanghai rolls and the taste of Knorr was over powering. I’m sure they use Knorr in other «Ulam» /​dishes too.
The other thing too is they dump the soy sauce, lemon and other condiments inside the styrofoam container mixed in with your food. How dirty is that? So now your food is contaminated ! Kulang sa pag-​iisip yong mga empleyado. I’m giving ZERO STARS!

Ha one star only because of the cashier that helped us with a big smile! We usually don’t get our breakfast here but decided to try it anyway! The lady who helped us seems like she was not in the mood to work, or do anything with her life, sorry I’m not trying to be mean but I hate it when I get bad customer service, esp in the morning, and come on you’re at work do your job right! Ughhh. Anyway she served our food all splattered, all over the place, but it was A LOT of food, like I can probably eat it for breakfast lunch and dinner, like really? On the other hand her coworker was serving the food all nice, with presentation. Seems like she wants to give us all the food they have so she can get it over with. Relax lady! Bahaha! I think it was pretty hilarious. She was basically just giving out food, when she’s supposed to kinda measure it before serving it. I ordered tocino and it was pretty good but my sister got the beef tapa and that was really nasty, more like you’re chewing a rubber. Definitely a bad experience!

I went in earlier today to order chicken inasal and grilled bangus. The display is empty so I asked if there were gonna be any more. The lady gave me a short «no» answer. I asked if I can place an order so that I can pick it up later (I don’t know they’re ordering policy), she told me that she can’t accommodate my order right now because they were swamped, and then walked away.
I get that it’s the holiday season and the place is busy, but I felt that that response was very poor customer service.

I kept coming back, why?
Convenience? Affordability? Was the food better? Did the service improved (a tiny bit)?
Well it’s all of the above to a point.
Of the bat, Service: it’s always been friendly and in some instance, they’ve been very helpful! A definite plus.
The food: not everything is good and they’re still not consistent (it’s good one day, then bad the next time). But they do have some gems too. I like the Naked Salad option they have now. It’s an Ubod Salad (Hearts of Palm) it comes with a garlicky caramel sauce (I call it caramel, because it’s sweet). A better option than rice IMO. You can get the naked salad with most items.
What they’re good at is their name sake, Grill. The grilled squid is good here. Grilled tilapia, grilled pampano, BBQ pork sticks & BBQ chicken sticks too.
Their breakfast selection is pretty standard.
Tip. For an extra $ 1 you can get an extra entreè choice. It’s a good bargain.
Was I being too harsh on them with my 2 star rating? Probably, but with good cause.
My expectation might be too high as well, I really want this place to succeed, but they determine that by providing good customer service and consistently good food.
It’s still hit and miss here, but they’re at least heading in the right direction.
Rating: 3 ½ Stars
Try them out for yourself and decide.
2014 Review #361/​365

have been here a couple of times now and have to say, I was half expecting not great food, just the usual run of the mill Filipino take out.
I am REALLY HAPPY: Got the Whole TIlapia stuffed with some tomato/​onion mixture. Fish grilled to perfection — tender, flavorful, no off putting «muddy» taste.
Served alone or in combo. I judge FIlipino take out’s and restaurants by the quality of the rice — they used long grain jasmine cooked perfectly too.
Counter service is exceedingly gracious, courteous
and patient, yet another plus.
They quickly run out of food as we sat eating the meal at the few availalbe tables. So come early or order ahead.
They also served other cooked food (not grilled) and I enjoyed the Laing with Shrimps, plus of course the complementary sinigang soup.
What’s a Filipino meal without sabaw, ulam, gulay (the trifecta of soup– entrée and veggie side).

3.5 stars
Gettin fishy with it! Na, Na, Na, Na, Nana, Na!
Grill City, located inside of Seafood City, specializes in fried & grilled meats catering toward Filipino tastes.
Pork belly, BBQ pork on a stick, squid & tilapia are just some of the items available to dine-​on. Diners can purchase these a la carte or as a combo including rice & soup (sinigang or nilaga).
Also available are some hot Filipino dishes such as bopis & ampalaya (bittermelon).
My tastebuds were going poopoo for pompano, so I ordered the grilled pompano combo. I was told the usual soup options, sinigang or nilaga, weren’t available. However, I could have a large container of mongo (mung beans), instead. Including dipping sauce of choice.
Sarap na! (Delicious!) A large grilled pompano stuffed with onions & tomatoes. Pompano is a very mild tasting fish with no bones, other than the spine. Tender white flesh with my absolute favorite part being the fatty belly skin. The pompano laid on top of a heaping mound of jasmine rice. The mongo was also very tasty! It was more of a soup, which paired nicely with my meal.
For those with a sweet tooth, bibingka & various smoothies are available for dessert or just as a snack.
Seating is available & shared with Chowking, another fast food eatery inside Seafood City. Parking is in a shared private lot with Polly’s Pies, Jollibee, Valerio’s etc.
I was going to purchase a pre cooked pompano at the fish section of Seafood City for $ 6+, but when I decided to check first with Grill City, I found a grilled pompano combo with rice, dipping sauce & soup was only just $ 8+. Good deal!
I enjoyed my quick & ready meal at Grill City. I must come back to try their Binalot Breakfast, which includes free coffee. For lunch & dinner, the grilled squid has my undivided attention.
Recommend!

I believe that Grill City is owned by Seafood City Market. I could be wrong though. All the Grill City branches seem to be inside the food courts of the various Seafood City Market locations. Normally, when we visit this Seafood City Market in Cerritos, we will order something from either Chow King or Red Ribbon. This time, we decided to also try something from Grill City.
Since we had already ordered some food from Chow King and Red Ribbon, we just ordered an a la carte Grilled Pampano. It was 2 pieces for $ 12. A fair price to pay for the portion. It tasted good with the rice that was included.
If they were more prepared, then I’d give them an upgrade. Unfortunately, during our visit… they were out of so much food. Sure, they were busy… but come on. They should not have been out of their top sellers!
Oh well, we will try them again in the future for sure. We’re always going to this Seafood City when we visit family in the area on weekends.