Goldilocks Restaurant & Bakeshop

As a kid we have always gone here to remind us of home. Recently the name was changed to Leelin’s Bakery and café (I think this was the owners name) and the food still seems to be the same… I am not sure why they changed the name.
We can get filipino food elsewhere but we go to goldilocks because like red ribbon or jollibee these are popular franchises in the Philippines. It creates a link and a memory of our homeland. Changing the name severs that link, maybe it is not important for the 2^nd generation but I know that from the day I went there last week many people were saying its no longer goldilocks and simply walked away.

So far every item I have tried here has been pleasantly good. Those items include asado siao pao, lumpia (the fried ones), puto, and polvorons. The workers here are extremely nice and the place is very clean. My only complaint is that I wish that they offered single portions for the bakery items so that I could try one to be sure I will like it before committing to buying a dozen of something.

You know what? I had really low expectations going in due to the number of people eating at this restaurant (1), and the cafeteria style set up. But, the food wasn’t bad at all. The portions were large and the taste was pretty good, actually. I mean, I’ve had better filipino food but for the price, and for my expectations, it was pretty good. I’d rather eat here now than at the neighboring jollibee or the other two fast food places in this same mall.

They have the best Ube sliced bread, I can eat the whole loaf myself! They have a Panda Express (Filipino food is obviously more exotic) style layout where you get rice and then pick two entrees. They have the basic filipino food, but also a bunch of stuff that is foreign to me. I’ve been going and just picking whatever or copying the person in front of me. I haven’t had anything I didn’t like yet :)

I’ve waited too long to try Halo Halo, so my awesome BF drove me to Eagle Rock Plaza to show me around Seafood City Supermarket (whoa the fish smell LOL!) and Goldilocks!!! We bought warm pandesals, ube pastries, lemon sandwich crackers, coconut pastries, and Halo Halo!!! My bf says the Halo Halo we tried tastes better than the others he’s tried. I love the multitude of ingredients, very delicious!: sweet preserved red/​chick beans, coconut, jack fruit, dried rice, ube ice cream (purple yam!), leche flan, saba (shreds of sweetened plantain), crushes ice, coconut milk!!! Also love the pastries and pandesals! :) Can’t wait to try their food next time :)

I love Goldilocks… All the comforts of home cooking without having to wait for my mom to cook it.
This particular goldilocks is located inside the eagle rock plaza. It’s a little strange because you can order from the counter or be seated and have a waiter hand you menu and serve you.
The food itself is what you’d expect for Filipino fast food. It’s what my mom would make, but not quite as good as she would make it.

They have this new «Merienda Menu» where you get pancit palabok & lumpia (egg rolls) for 5 bucks! This is a score if you are looking to get full & are on a budget.
The drinks are buy 1 get the 2^nd ½ off… so we opted for the sago gulaman and halo halo.
If you present your receipt at the bakery, you get 10% off…
Caution when buying the mamons in 6 or 12 packs… unless you plan on eating them all that day, they get moldy in 2 days… ugh!

I have no complaints for the bakery because I’ve never had a problem there, but the restaurant part could use some work. My mom loves coming here most Sundays because it is so cheap! I’ll give them that. $ 3.99 for a 1 item meal that comes with a cup of soup and altogether fills me up.
The only thing I really get is the fried fish which is pretty good. But the sinigang tastes so watered down that it’s almost close to tasteless. What bothered me when coming here was twice (once on separate occasions) I had to ask for utensils when we got our food. It’s be easier for them if they just displayed their utensils but inconveniently it’s on their side and sometimes they forget to put it on our tray.
But still my family continually comes here cause their food is still good and seriously affordable.

Good selection on their breakfast buffet. They offer great desserts as well. I think it is a bit overpriced and you’ll definitely find other Filipino places who offer better dish variety but I’d still recommend it. They have very friendly staff and they will make you feel like nostalgic via thinking you’re eating in the Philippines.

As this Goldilocks is divided into two sections — bakeshop and restaurant — I’ll offer my thoughts on them separately.
Bakeshop: They have a wide selection of specialty breads and cakes, and they even carry warm pan de sal which is how it’s supposed to be enjoyed — warm, fresh, steamy. A bag of 10 costs only a little over $ 2.00 — that is a good deal. They have loaves of ube bread, red bean bread, egg pie (a sweet, custardy pie) and many other varieties of pastries. Trademark staples such as ensaymada (sweet brioche) are sold individually or in multi-​packs where you get a discount if you buy more.
((I’m not sure why it’s so dimly lit in there. I guess it adds to the mood~ that bread-​buying, bread-​eating mood.))
Restaurant: This location features a la carte dining and turo-​turo (ready-​made dishes in food warmers). That lunch hour when we went, they had about 20 different choices covering every food group. Fried fish, meat, seafood & vegetable, dinuguan, tripe stew… they had it all. Fresh lumpiang ubod, which is julienned vegetables in a crêpe-​like wrapper, drenched in a sweet soy sauce concoction and sprinkled with very potent minced garlic & chopped nuts, was a flavorful vegetarian treat. And was only $ 3.99.
All of their combos were very modestly priced — no wonder the place always had people streaming in. This must be one of their busiest locations.
Staff (especially the guys working the dining area), was pleasant and attentive. The dining area can get loud and hot — we didn’t notice they had «patio» seating which was a charming li’l area of a few tables out on the mall floor. We should’ve just sat there.
To sum it up: Goldilocks in Eagle Rock is a fast, easy solution for your Filipino food fix!

decent food. decent service. Halo-​halo is good. Shanghai lumpia is good. Bakery is great. Price is a little on the high end. Overall atmosphere is unique.

Sorry folks, I just can’t get with this Goldilocks.
I’ve been to some Goldilocks where the food is bomb despite it being a chain restaurant, but the food here just did not look very appetizing. The strong food smells, warm temperatures, dim lighting and McDonalds-​esque vibe probably also had something to do with that.
The bakery section is a little nicer. Good deal with the 3 pieces of hot, fresh puto for $ 1.99. The puto with cheese is way better than the ube puto, which was really disappointing. The puto itself is too starchy… I remember it being way better made at these places. I also got a small pack of assorted polvoron — which ended up costing me $ 8.99! Kind of a ripoff if you ask me.

Service: Great staff, polite and friendly.
Recommendations:
1. Breakfast buffet for $ 8.99. At least 12 items to choose from and a table of great desserts. Can’t beat the price.
2. Chicken and Pork Adobo
3. Bangus Sinigang Soup (Milk Fish Soup with Vegetables). The soup broth is a Filipino sour soup that is somewhat similar to the Thai Tom Yum soup.
4. Pancit Palabok
5. Pinakbet (Stir fried vegetables with this peanut spicy sauce you can put on there as well).

This Goldilocks location is split in two sections: bakery and restaurant. I rarely go out of Filipino food and had this food here only a few times. I do recall service was good.
Before this location opened up only a number of years ago, I used to frequent the East Hollywood location which was always a mess with crowded parking.
This review is for the bakery which is what Goldilocks is know for anyways. A few good things they make:
–Yellow bean hopia — Better than the Chinese and Vietnamese versions (to me at least).
–Cassava — Damn good. Not too sticky and has cheese and macapuno which is a sugary glazed coconut product. (Don’t tell my mom, though she makes a great cassava)
–Ensaymada with macapuno.
–Brazo do Mercedes — Has nothing to to with a car. It’s a roll in a sweet meringue in a thick caramel lemon flavored custard.
–Ube/​macapuno roll –Ube sponge cake (like taro) with a buttery icing with rolled in macapuno.
–Pastillias de leche — Sugary milk candy. No makes this better than Bulacan Sweets.
This review is made by a «coconut». Taste and judge for yourself.

Pretty good Filipino bakery that my friend has been craving about. Although their goods are delicious, the service and place can definitely improve.
Wat i always like to get are the empaynadas with coconut or ube. I tried the steamed buns of ube that you can get 3 for $ 1.99, and it was really bland and didnt have much flavor besides egg.
Still I’m willing to come back and get my Filipino fix again.

So, Goldilocks is a true Filipino establishment where I feel like a kid in a candy store… Ok I’m obsessed with two things from here… Sans Rival and Cheese Rolls. Yes, there’s bread and other stuff, but this is all I can see here.
FOOD — 2.75 Stars: Let’s get down to business. The cheese rolls are sooo good here, but I have had slightly better from Porto’s. Their cheese rolls are really good when they’re fresh, but what messes it up is when it’s freshly baked and stuck in a bag. Then the condensation from the heat makes this lovely and beautiful cheese roll become soggy. =/​Usually the cheese rolls are really good, but it depends how they’re packaged.
The Sans Rival cake is also good, but I think Red Ribbon does a better version of it. This one is not as tasty and flavorful with the cashew taste. I’ll admit I’m by no means an expert, but I’ve had both once and I preferred the other one though this one is OK.
I’m not a fan of the frosting though on any of their cakes… it’s too greasy/​buttery and not in the good way. I love me some butter, but the frosting just doesn’t do it for me.
I’ve had the other stuff like their ensaymada, pan de sal, polvoron, hopia, etc. and it’s all good. I’d rate it pretty good from here.
I tried their Halo Halo for the first time and I was not impressed at all. It tasted chalky and it was just off. Would I order it again? Probably not. Will this prevent me from coming back… heck no. Haha.
ATMOSPHERE — 2.5 Stars: This location has a seating area, but I typically go in to grab food and go.
SERVICE — 2.5 Stars: The people at the register are nice and friendly, but when I needed help getting cheese rolls, some people behind the counter were so focused on cleaning that I had to flag them down to get them to look up.
RECOMMENDATION: Take your bakery goods to go from this place and you’ll be fine. If you need a sugar fix, you can get plenty from here just don’t go crazy.

Restaurant:
Food is okay. I’ve had better. Service was not that good. We ended up getting our food before our water. Usually it’s the other way around. Not super attentive either. Rating: 2
Bakery:
The young guy working the bakery was so nice and friendly. I had questions about some of the pastries, and he was very helpful. I suggest you try the ube cake, ube & red velvet cupcakes, and puto.
Rating: 4
Average of my two ratings come out to 3, so all in all, I give this place a 3.

Time to kill
I stopped in here with my sister to get some food for a friend and to browse. I’ve been to Goldilocks years ago and havent been back since. She got some dim sum and some meat stuffed pastry. I was curious and got a box of 4 purple potato muffins. We ate them the next day and they were still really good. They tasted like they had been steamed and the flavor did not really taste like anything. I liked though them. They were very fluffy and smelt like taro. There was a a piece of cheese filling inside. I could have skipped on that.
I think for my 4 muffins, the total was only $ 2.50. The people working were really helpful and nice. The girl that rung us up said I could buy fresh hot ones for a little more money but I liked them in the box.
This place is located in the mall. They also make ready to go cakes and cakes to order. They have different Filipino pastries, breads, and sweets.

I grew up eating at Goldilock’s Restaurant. I think most Filipinos have. It had been awhile since I have eaten there. But a few weeks back my mom and aunts wanted to go there for the breakfast buffet. I was pleasantly surprised. For about $ 8 you get a traditional Filipino Breakfast buffet. They had Chicken Adobo, Longanisa (Sausages), Tocino (Pork), Tapa (Beef), Fish, Eggs, Rice, and much more. The price also includes soda and coffee, as well as desserts. For $ 8 I think that this is an great deal!
Afterward if you still have room you can even try their Halo-​Halo dessert. It is probably one of my favorite things at Goldilocks. They make it really well there.

I like Goldilock’s bakery more than its restaurant. I went there for lunch one time and couldn’t even finish my food. Another time I came with some Pinay friends for lunch and all of them said no to Goldilocks restaurant.
Sometimes I get Red Ribbon & Goldilocks mixed up. My Pinay friend said that I liked Red Ribbon more than Goldilocks. I honestly don’t remember because they taste very similar to me but I believe her.
So we came back here to get dessert after Chow King lunch. We saw mini bite-​sized turon, karioka and kamote by the cashier. The only one that looked very appetizing was mini turon. Those mini turons were actually pretty good. It’s sweet, crispy and I didn’t feel too bad after eating them. My friend actually came back for the second time later on that week.
1 star for the restaurant and 3 stars for its bakery overall.
Goldilock’s Mini bite-​sized turon is yummylicious!!!